We set ourselves up for this. Francis played 43 minutes, and Cat played 41. Hakeem is out. Do you know what this means? That means the following players have to carry us tommorow: Mo Shandon Cato Rogers Walt Norris KT That's our whole frontcourt and Norris, and when the Rox have to rely on their frontcourt, they're in trouble. i concede that Mo might have a big game, coming off a bad loss and playing something like 25 minutes. Walt might hit a couple of threes, and Shandon may light it up. But it's highly unlikely that all three will happen. Doesn't look great. As ZRB said, we should've made the GS game an easy to rest our starters. I think if Rogers has a big game (15pts, 9reb in 20 minutes), cato blocks 6 shots, Francis gets 10+ assists, Mobley gets 5+assists, and mo has a huge game, we can win off hustle. Here's hoping for the best, but Phoenix have rested well, and the Rox are dead tired and without the HIGHLY INSPIRATIONAL Hakeem. Any chance Hakeem will play? ------------------
Not you too Sane. I think that you're concerned about the Rockets from three years ago. These Rockets have won the 2nd game in their last 5 back to backs. They'll be fine. ------------------ git it tag, git it!
Don't think Dream is making the trip, much less playing. Mango ------------------ Get it right or just don't do it! Special Assignment: ZRB Patrol
This are a bunch of young guys. Back-to-back games will not hurt them as much as it would hurt a veteran player. I'm not that worried about the minutes they played, and I don't think the Phoenix game is going to be a disaster. I can't TELL you how many times a well-rested team lost to a team that has played 3 games in 4 nights let alone back-to-back games. This is the NBA, if you can play 82 games a year you can play back-to-back. ------------------ Rocks2001 in disguise. . .
I really believe that this game will end up being close in the 4th quarter no matter what happens in the 1st half. I wouldn't be surprised to see one of the teams have a fairly large lead, maybe 10-12 points at the half...the team down will likely then rally back and make it a close and exciting game. A lot of people will be on the edge of their seats at home just like in the Reliant Energy commercials. Ah, this brings back memories of the good old days in the playoff games vs Pheonix...maybe Cuttino can hit a "kiss of death" shot with Mario on him tonight. I'm sure Elie will want to get some good minutes tonight, but Mobley would light him up going to the hole every time. ------------------
I think Steve will have another big night knowing the importance of this game. Cuttino's FG shooting has been awful so I expect him to have a real good game. If Mo and Shandon are on then it's going to be hard to beat us. I also expect close to 20 bench points with Mooch, Rogers, KT and maybe a couple of 3s from Walt. Both teams want this game, but I would unbiasedly have to say that The Rockets want it a just a little bit more. Here's to a good game. ------------------
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a pessimist. I'm just worried cause our guard duo played 43 & 41 minutes, and Hakeem, who can get everyone to play defense, isn't with us either. i really think that the Hakeem void will be a problem. All I'm worried about is that we have tor ely more on our frontcourt this time, and Phoenix is great at defending frontcourts. Before Utah, no one shot better than 50% against them in 20 games. Hakeem is always reminding the players to play D, and honestly, I think that's missing. Warriors are a great scoring team, but they didn't have Marc Jackson, Larry Hughes, and Mookie Blaylock. Also, our rebounding is a little weak. the only reason I'm pointing out the problems is so that we'll know what has to go right for us to win. Francis almost always outplays Kidd, and no one in the NBA (other than Kobe) can contain Mobley. So if they can create easy shots for everyone else, we'll be fine. Like I said, big 3s from Walt, great spark from Rogers, and average~big game for Cato. That's what it'll take. I'm pretty sold on Mo having a big game, cause their best defensive player, Cliff, is gonna be at C and SF most of the time since Gugliotta's emergance. But you know how easily this game can go into overtime, and even for young legs, that's ahuge load. I just wish the Warriors game could've been easier. Rox 90 Suns 88 Francis 12pts, 9ast, 9reb Cat 22pts, 5reb, 3assts Walt 15 pts (3/5 on 3pt) Cato 10pts, 9reb, 3blk Mo 28pts, 9reb ------------------
The Rockets have got to force the Suns into shooting jump-shots. They can not allow players like Kidd to penetrate at will, or that will leave guys like Rogers and Robinson open. Also, they must box out Marion. If they can do that, it will be an easy win. ------------------ Re-elect President Gore!
Just like there's no boxing out Steve, there's no boxing out Marion. If Steve slightly plays D on Kidd, Kidd's percentage will plummet since he's not the best scorer in the league. I'm not worried about the Kidd vs Francis matchup, I'm more worried about Marion vs Shandon and Cato vs Cliff. ------------------
Something tells me Los is gonna log most of the minutes against Robinson since Robinson thrives outside of the paint. Cato just sucks when he gets drawn outside. ------------------ IT'S THE BAND GEEK MAFIA!!
But then again, Shaq sucks too when he gets drawn outside, lol. What I meant to say was, Cliff would do a great DEFENSIVE job on Cato, limiting him to almost nothin, and Marion would do a great offensive job on Shandon. ------------------
I think any center in the NBA can limit Cato to almost nothing on the offensive side. Adonyl(sp?) Foyle held him to 2 points last night. That's why I assumed you were talking about Robinson's offense. He always seems to light it up from 3 point range against the Rockets and he hits them at the worst times for the Rocks. ------------------ IT'S THE BAND GEEK MAFIA!!
Even I could limit Cato's offensive to almost nothing. C'mon, he admits he's only striving for 6 pts a night. My mom's limpy left leg could probably limit Cato's offensive to almost nothing. This pen on my desk could limit Cato's offensive to almost nothing. This penny between the cushins of my couch could... My point is that I think individual success and suckness in a game balances out between players. I think the keys are the rocks need to shoot the three well and outrebound the Suns. If that happens, they should hopefully win. ------------------ When I die, I want to be reincarnated as that chair in the Britney Spears video.
Obviously they can't contain Marion all night, but if they at least make the effort, they should be okay. ------------------ Re-elect President Gore!
All of those things can't stop Cato from posterizing somehting/someone though, and that's what Cliff can do. Put Cato in tough situations. I'm just hoping he gets a couple of alleyoops, a few dunks, and a hook shot. That's good for 10 or 12 pts, which would be fine. [This message has been edited by Sane (edited March 11, 2001).]
I hope Carlos gets a lot of minutes. I think he matches up better with Cliff than many other teams' big men. And we need his energy. If we can get the energy, and minimize silly mistakes, get good ball movement, I think we'll pull it out. Go Rockets! I believe. ------------------
Obviously we can't fall behind for long periods of time and play catch up in the last minutes of the game. Believe me, Phoenix remembers all to well what happen a couple of nights ago with Sacremento and, this time, at the first sign of blood they'll come in for the kill. We must bring it from begining to end and not allow phoenix a chance to go for the jugular, early on. But It's going to be tough, especially without Dream. Also, Mobley is really beat up. He looks like he's about 40% with that bad ankle. So Walt is going to have to pick up the slack. I know his shooting has been atrocious from the field of late but I'm looking for him to break out of his slump tonight and ultimately become the diffrence maker in a tight game. ------------------
Wouldn't it be amazing if the Rockets dominated from start to finish? Maybe Phoenix will come in so eager to win, that they will end up floundering. I would like nothing more than a dominant performance from Houston. It seems that they have been holding back their dominant play lately, so maybe they will have their game tonight. I hope so, because I think this game is the one that will decide the season. ------------------ Re-elect President Gore!
This game would seem to shape up as a huge one for Stevie.He usually spanks Jason and I would expect more of the same.Missing Dream hurts,but against Phoenix,I believe we can beat them with small ball or with a combo of Mo,Los,and,Cato having big games.I think we are ships passing in the night.Rudy has us peaking,even though it hasn't been pretty of late.Yes,we're on back to backs,but it's not b and b road games.The Rocks should find a way to get it done and Stevie should dazzle. I think they were looking ahead to Phoenix and are going to win this game easier than first thought. ------------------
Its a disaster so far. The Rockets are turning the ball over non-stop, and letting Tony Delk destroy them. They blew a 10 point lead, and it isn't looking good at all. ------------------ Re-elect President Gore!
