Enough room on the wagon for Richard Justice?

Nope, no room for bandwagoners. Once you're off, you're off, so says T-Mac:

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/channel?section=news/sports&id=5755231

 

the streak will not end today according to tmac

 

That's your first mistake. You can get everything you need here, not via the Chronic.

Justice is just another blowhard who thinks he is more important than the sports/athletes he covers. This is a troubling trend that has been permeating the world of sports journalism for the last decade or so. I guess we have ESPN to thank for it.

 

Justice is the biggest bandwagoner in the city. He is so predictable it isn't funny.

 

Yet, on his horrible HORRIBE radio show, he still only talks Astros spring training.

 

Which is why I turn him off.

 

Richard Justice was tough? Please post links where he unneccessarily/unfairly criticized us? Anyways, why are we all of a sudden criticizing the "national" media for jumping on the bandwagon? The fact is we have a lot more people jumping on the bandwagon here in this bbs than anywhere else. Remember all those Adelman sucks posts? Lazy TMac posts? Alston is DLeague player posts? Shane < Rudy Gay posts? How about the numerous Trade TMac posts?

 

I don't think it was that he unfairly criticized the Rox, I think it was that he completely ignored the Rockets until we went on the streak

 

Oh right, but that probably has to do with the fact that Fran Blanberry is in Mexico covering boxing and the slow news in other sports. Anyways, OP should listen to Justice's emotional talk with Adande about the Rockets, he bleeds Rockets.

 

If a fan was a bandwagoner, he wouldn't be in here talking Rockets when he probably should be working.

Just because someone criticizes and wants the best out of his team does not make him more or less of a fan. We all care and if you think the people on Clutchfans who post ALL YEAR are bandwagoners, you are sadly mistaken.

On a related note, I move to have the word "bandwagon" officially barred from this message board a la "***" and "***".

 

So true.

 

Wow, a Bison Dele sighting.

 

Seems like the bandwagon disease is infectious. Who else heard Andre Ware this morning on SR610 refer to the Red Rowdies as the "Crazies"?

 

Word. I also hate how they have "a source" when in reality most of the time, it's just them starting the rumors...

 

I heard that. I thought he was just referring to all crazy fans in general, not just the rowdies.

 

Ugly? This win was a masterpiece - by R.Justice

I thought this was a great article, good enough to warrant starting my first thread. Hopefully I am the first to post it.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/5615173.html
----
March 13, 2008,

Ugly? This win was a masterpiece
Rockets seal 20th consecutive win for a piece of NBA history

By RICHARD JUSTICE

ATLANTA — This is the one the
Rockets might
remember after all the others are a
distant memory.

This one tested their resolve unlike the others. This one was about grit and will and all those things championship teams absolutely must have.

If you think the Rockets won ugly Wednesday night, you simply don't understand. This one was beautiful.

The Rockets won because they are a relentless defensive team, because they went hard after every rebound and be-cause they took care of the ball.

Normal teams don't win this game. Normal teams get discouraged that shots aren't falling. Normal teams don't weather storm after storm.

Defense and hustle and poise kept the Rockets in a game they shouldn't have been in. Down the stretch, it was Chuck Hayes and Luis Scola scoring with offensive rebounds that got the Rockets some breathing room.

It was Shane Battier making Joe Johnson work for every shot, and Hayes going after every loose ball, every rebound.

And then Tracy McGrady finished it off, doing what great players are supposed to do, what he has done again and again the last two months.

It all sounds like a cliché, right? Like a remake of Hoosiers. That's how it feels.

There are nights when you watch the Rockets play and you wonder if aliens abducted last season's underachievers and replaced them with a team Bob Knight and Dean Smith would love as much as Rick Adelman.

So we inch along down the road of history. The Rockets beat Atlanta 83-75 to become the third team in NBA history to win 20 straight games.

"It wasn't pretty," Adelman said, "but it might have been the best one yet."


A giddy locker room
That's how it felt inside their locker room. There was a sense of giddiness, a sense that they'd won one of those games that should have proved something to themselves and to those of us watching.

"Of the 20 games, this one is the most appreciated," Hayes said. "We really had to fight for this one."

Check it out. The Rockets shot 33 percent from the field. Rafer Alston was three for 18, Luis Scola two for nine and Battier four for 11.

The Rockets trailed by 10 points early and by a point at halftime. They were up by one with five minutes remaining before a 10-0 run finished the Hawks off.

Amazingly, they never got discouraged. Even when it looked like they'd never find a productive offense combination, they never blinked on the defensive end.

"We stayed within striking distance," Adelman said. "Chuck was incredible. He's amazing to watch out there. You can't give Shane enough credit. Defense is the only thing that kept us in the game."


Escaping the trap
This was a trap game in every sense of the word. It was a quiet arena, a bored crowd.

If there was going to be any excitement, the Rockets were going to have to create it themselves.

Carl Landry's injury and early foul calls against Hayes and Scola shortened the bench even more.

And the Hawks are 19-13 at home and fighting for the Eastern Conference's final playoff berth.

"The stars were aligned for us to get beat," Battier said. "But defense gives you a chance to win every night. You can't control whether your shots go in. You can control defense and effort. That's the thing that has been consistent."

McGrady joked that he'd given himself more than a chance by taking 28 shots. No problem there.

The Rockets got points from nine players, but McGrady was the guy who was going to have to win it.

Part of being a great player is understanding when to take games over and when to get others involved. McGrady again got it just right.

"I'm going to do what I have to do to get us a good shot," he said.


Hard week ahead
Yes, it's going to end someday. They've got both the Lakers and Celtics next week followed by a three-game road trip. They play 10 of their final 15 on the road.

There will be plenty of grousing if McGrady doesn't get out of the first round again.

But nothing should detract from this amazing streak, this 28-3 run, this stretch of games when the Rockets have been almost perfect.

There was nothing artistic about Wednesday's game and maybe that made it even more special.

"We have great belief and trust in each other," Battier said. "It's hard for people outside of this room to understand."

 

kept doing the same jumbling up for me too. but, like the group of players we're going for, had to fight through and persevere it