Well Rocket fans.. As a King fan I am really bummed at how this game turned out. I still think the Kings would of won the game, but the ejection of Steve was just over the limit.. It kind of tainted the win for us. We have had some good games this year and this is a hell of a way to end the series. Like I said, I still think we would of won, but you guys do have a right to b**** over that call.. Good luck the rest of the season guys! ------------------
Thanks! Good luck to you guys as well. It's good to see the class of Kings fans and players (CWebb said it after the game) to admit that things did not turn out the way they should've. You guys definitely could have won-- you guys were up 7 at the time-- but we had a chance to win a crucial game, and to have it taken away like that hurts a lot. Maybe we'll see you guys in the first round! ------------------ "We're not settling for just getting in the playoffs." "We want a higher seed. There's no doubt. We expect to get in."-- Steve Francis President of the Mo Taylor and Jason Collier fan club! Draftsource.net ClutchTown.com
How do you know they still would have won? The Rockets came back on a better team than the Kings, the Spurs, and they were down by more in that game. I have a feeling the Rockets could have come back in this game, but that f*cking called basically sealed that fate. ------------------
Its good to see that even Kings fans were baffled by that call. It proves that all this isn't just bias. Of course, anyone with half a brain would realize what a monstrous call that was, but nice post SandB/Bill ------------------ Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon is the greatest player in the history of basketball. If you disagree, you are not a Rocket fan.
Pooh, In his defense he said he thinks the Kings would've won. He wasn't trying to be cocky-- it's a very valid statement. If you were a Kings fan you probably would've thought the same thing. ------------------ "We're not settling for just getting in the playoffs." "We want a higher seed. There's no doubt. We expect to get in."-- Steve Francis President of the Mo Taylor and Jason Collier fan club! Draftsource.net ClutchTown.com
I think he just has confidence in his team. I am confident the Rockets would have won, but that was made impossible... ------------------ Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon is the greatest player in the history of basketball. If you disagree, you are not a Rocket fan.
I really don't think the kings would have won, at least not that easily. We have been coming back on teams left and right lately and there was still a lot of game left at that point. I think any Rockets fan has seen this team do a lot more amazing things than comeback from 7 early in the third quarter to ever give up hope. Everything they do makes the believers smile and the doubters close their mouths. Honestly it could have been done, but unfortunately we'll never truly know. Maybe in late april we'll get to find out for sure. ------------------
I think we can all agree on this: With the Rockets down by 8 one minute into the third, we could have had a VERY exciting game on our hands. My opinion, I still think the Kings would've found a way to hold on and win (and I'm a Rox fan), but I'm wrong alot. This game COULD have gone either way FROM THAT POINT. We'll never know because one bad ref decided ahead of time who he wanted to win the game (and who he didn't want to go to the playoffs). If the NBA has an image problem, calling games like that is NOT going to improve the situation. ------------------
The second trechnical on Francis was a joke...It was very similar to one called on Webber in their win over Philly last week. The league has to let guys get excited when their team is making a run....Francis touched the ref when arguing for the first technical. That should always be off limits, and the first was certainly valid... Absolutely no argument on you guys opinion about the second though. I disagree with the concept that the Rockets were surely going to win. This was a game IN Sacramento. Houston has a bunch of heart, but you have to be pretty much championship caliber to go into ARCO Arena and get a win off Sacramento this season. The Kings play about 10 times better in front of their home crowd than they do on the road. It was about to get thunderous in that place if Houston had shaved another point off that lead. ------------------
Sacto_Jeff: Who knows who would've won had Steve been in the whole game? Like I said, you guys probably would have, but we've been watching Steve go off on teams for huge 3rd/4th quarters all year... Who knows? He's amazing. That was a crappy way to lose. And it tainted your win. I'm just glad you guys are smarter than the ref who made that decision - at least you guys WANTED that challenge... ------------------
Yes, I completely agree, the call is bull****, with Francis in the game, there was a very big chance of a comeback, but I think the key here is to rebound back because looking at the schedule, we might be in front of a 5 or 6 game winning streak or something like that, they just have to keep the intensity up like we've been doing so far, and in my opinion everything will be OK. ------------------ against all odds
The Rockets set the concepts of team defense back 40 years in that 1st quarter last night. My friends and I play better defense than that at the YMCA. How many times did JWill get to the tin, with Cato and Co. just watching him score? (And speaking of Cato, it should be a law that he is not allowed to have a pass thrown to him for the rest of his career. It's not like he's going to catch it anyway.) Or how about Divac's impersonation of Shaq, getting position in the paint so deep all he had to do was turn, put the ball up over his head, and release it? Yeah, there were some bad calls made by the refs, but there are always bad calls made by the refs (I hear that they ARE human)! Fact is, I don't know if this team is quite ready to take the next step. They weren't ready to compete last night, whereas the Kings obviously were. And before someone starts writing, "OH YEAH, well what about that Spurs game?" Well what about that '95 championship, huh? Or what about Dream's rookie year? How 'bout that Barkley trade? How about that season sweep of the Sixers and Bucks? I mean, if you're going to rest on past accomplishments, REST ON ALL OF THEM!!! Fact is, the Rockets still lost that game last night, Spurs victory or not, winning streak or not, optimism or not. And they lost that game by ONCE AGAIN arguing with the refs, not playing D, and not stepping it up in a game they desperately needed. Yeah, they did a nice job working into the lead, but they wouldn't have had to if they had come out ready to go. And that's the crux of my post: THE ROCKETS WERE NOT READY TO COMPETE LAST NIGHT! Not exactly the stuff of champions!! But I still love 'em anyway! ------------------
How can we know that when they weren't given a chance to finish this game, or should I say production? ------------------ "We're not settling for just getting in the playoffs." "We want a higher seed. There's no doubt. We expect to get in."-- Steve Francis President of the Mo Taylor and Jason Collier fan club! Draftsource.net ClutchTown.com
The Rockets were competing when Steve was kicked out. They were making their comeback. In nearly every game in the NBA, every team has at least one good quarter and one bad quarter. The Kings had their quarter in the first. Unlucky us, we had an early deficit, but the Rockets were erasing it against a championship caliber team on their floor. Are teams that are ready to compete not allowed to play bad defense for one quarter? ------------------ "Any event, once it has occurred, can be made to appear inevitable by a competent historian." Lee Simonson
In a way (granted a small way) I am glad the Rockets lost last night. Hopefully it will serve as a wake-up call for the defense. We can't allow easy buckets, we can't relax on the defensive end, and the help defense needs, well, alot of help. We scored 109 points and lost! By double digits! The Kings set a team record for shooting. These are not good things. Hopefully, we'll learn from the experience. ------------------
Thank goodness for the bench last night!! They were the reason the Rocks made their runs last night. ------------------
Yeah, and it would be even better if we had Francis there to help out, peace ------------------ against all odds
