I think Steve Kerr said the same during the TNT telecast. He talked about Francis in comparison with Iverson. Keep in mind that the game got out of hand basically after the 1st quarter. Steve became the freewheeler, and it didn't matter because the lead was just so big that Van Gundy allowed it.
This is one the best picture I have seen from an NBA game. And it is completely nature from a nice dunk.
This board is so funny. SF has a good game and it seems like everyone is back on his bandwagon. Same goes for JJ. Mobley is playing his best ball of his career. How about him basically shuting down Marbury when he was guarding him. We have ourselves a good team with ALOT of room to grow.
I looove nationally televised games that are hyped up by the media. TNT hasn't been on TV for so long, they were actually complimenting the Rockets at times (Barkley excluded). The Pistons game and tonight's game was like night & day. Agree with most of the posters though. This team showed their potential tonight, albeit versus the lowly and newly built Knicks.
Where can I get me one of them there leg socks? Academy? I wanna wear one while I mow the lawn. And, y'know, do it.
I didn't get to catch the game... Did the crowd chant JVG's name? Who got the biggest ovation in the pre-game intros?
not enough credit is given to Yao's command of double teams and defense... not to mention Yao's high post pick is the best in the league... there is a reason why JJ, mobes and piatkowski (although dude is struggling) gets wide open looks
Almu - Slight mod to my original post. In my haste, I accidentally wrote 3 more seasons. I meant 3 seasons total...so there are only 2 more. But that's still enough time to groom JJ's replacement. Thanks for the "live" report. This entire thread has some of the better "live" recaps that I've read.
>>>>Jim Jackson has been disappointing most of the season. I don't know how many WIDE open shots he's missed this year- too many Are u kidding? He is improving from Oct to Jan (only 4games). JVG is relying too heavily on him. JJ is a wise player that never tries to do home runs SPLIT MPG FG% 3P% PPG _In October 30 0.417 0 10 _In November 34.8 0.349 0.358 9.5 _In December 37.2 0.43 0.35 11.4 _In January 37 0.524 0.55 14.3
I agree with all this. The game was incredible. My first time in Madison Square Garden, and it couldn't have been a better game. I disagree about Cuttino, though. He was defending very well all night. 3 steals, 3 assists, 0 to. Only 1 foul. 50% shooting from 3. I'll take that. My girlfriend and I were wearing our retro shirts we got at the Orlando game in Houston last season (which was also a blowout win), so now I've decided that this is my lucky Rockets shirt. We sat behind some Knicks season ticket fans, and they got tired of the Knicks after the first quarter, so they entertained themselves by starting "fire Chaney" and "fire Layden" chants. I think maybe they even started up a "fire Thomas" thread at one point. One guy also kept chanting "Maciej Lampe". They showed a video of Marbury in a Knicks jersey at what I assume was the Knicks practice court, saying "I'm home. Best move I ever made." They showed it several times, and at one of the later times (after the rout was on), the guys in front of me said, "We traded away all our draft picks for this?!?" It was great. Something I noticed about Yao, it's easy to tell when he's going to make a shot or not. Several times, he made weak moves, and I said, "that shot has no chance" just before it clanged off the rim. Other times, he made strong moves, and it was obvious he was going to make the shot. I'm not talking about going up strong near the basket or anything so blatant, it was really an issue of him just being decisive with his moves. Not necessarily aggressive, because this observation was true on his turnaround fadeaway. When he went into the move like he meant it, the shot would fall, other times, he looked like he was just going through the motions, and he would brick it. I was also glad to see Moochie outplay Marbury, even if a lot of it was during garbage time. Something to remember is that most of the game was garbage time, but that didn't help Marbury much.
Memo to all the JVG bashers out there: - Did the offense (the one that is not supposed to even exist, according to some of you) SUCK last night? - Isn't it just a matter of the players hitting their shots and moving the ball around like their coach has been preaching? Funny, I was beginning to think that it was nearly impossible for the Rockets to score over a 100 points while JVG's non-existant offense was run... guess a lot of people are eating crow today. As for Francis, I'm not jumping off the trade bandwagon until games like this become the rule instead of the exception. Funny thing is, have you guys noticed how the team seems to play with more passion when it's on National TV? Last time around it was that victory against the Lakers... it's about the players, not the coach.
So the Rockets are at their best once again on national TV. It's like they need the spotlight in order to put forth their best effort. The two best played games of the season were last night's nationally televised Knicks game and Christmas day's nationally televised game against the Lakers. These are probably also the two most hyped games the Rockets have played in this season. Maybe their problem the rest of the time is simply a problem of motivation. I hope that's not the case as that would be a bad sign.
I've been noticing that Yao's high post pick is very, very good on most possessions. Granted being able to deliver the best pick in the high post is not like being a great rebounder, it's definitely something that has gone under the radar.
What you said would have been true last year after certain games too, just substitute "JVG" with "Rudy."
No, what sucked was the Knick zone and lack of effort. Take a look at what shots they took to get to the lead. 1) that wasn't "JVG" offense, that was the Knicks standing around in a crappy zone while Cato and Yao threw in 18 footers and SF played SF ball (do you think he was going to play that JVG crap against Starbury in MSG?) 2) Even the announcers, the halftime show, everyone was commenting on how stupid the Knick zone was and on their total lack of effort.... Glad to see the Rox use the old Rudy style offense and hit some shots though. Thanks Steve.... it brought back memories. Now you can return to the paint drying offense.
The reason Mobley has historically led this team in minutes is because there was no other viable option at two guard.
