In the fourth "lightening and thunder" (AB and Artest) took over the game. Yao played very, very well. He has some of his best games against the Mavs. TMac struggled, but if he ever gets 100%, this is team will be scary. Barry has shown "nothing" so far. Scolandry are good, but not fully up to their previous performances. Ron Artest is a perfect fit for the Rockets, and A.B. is hitting another level. Rafer still can't shoot and if I were Adelman I would sit him down everytime he throws up one of his miserable floaters. Great game, great win.
I can't create threads but I just checked on rockets.com and saw that we now have 19 nationally televised games, 20 if you count last night's. I think it was only something like 13 a few weeks ago when last I checked.
My thoughts on the game: Yao- Great game. His biggest weakness is obviously when the other teams big man is a perimiter player. But now most teams in the West have a Center who is a post player or not really an offensive threat which is great because it allows Yao to rest more on the defensive end and focus on help d and rebounds. Scolandry- Both are not quite back to last year and I think Scola will struggle against teams with that perimeter or really athletic PF. Suns, Mavs, and Lakers come to mind. In these situations I think Landry is crucial. Artest- dude is legit, took a few shots i'd rather him not but he more than makes up for it TMac- obviously still struggling, great to see him impose his will to start the second half and drive the lane, and I think if we had ever got down by more than a few he would have been back in immediately in the fourth. Alston- the floater was ugly but he nailed his open 3 and he was offering a ton of encouragement and such when he was on the bench which is great for AB. Bench- Barry looked better still seems somewhat confused when he isn't the primary PG. AB looked great and kept his mistakes to a minimum and closed out a high pressure game, all when he wasn't supposed to play for like 2 weeks?? He needs to refer Yao to that doctor. Hayes did a great job on d and missed some layups, same old thing for him (for the record I cherish everytime he has the ball on offense because its an opprotunity for some chuckthrows). Only negative I took from the game was the number of minutes Yao played, but he wasn't having to do a whole lot defensively and he was flat out owning them on offense. It would be nice to see us get Dorsey some minutes against poor teams so we can get him to a place where he can spot Yao for a few minutes against good teams. Oh and that Tech on RonRon was nonsense.
I loved seeing all you guys at the game last night. I was excited enough going as a rockets fan, but seeing all ya'll support our boys destroy dallas was even better. If this is how our team looks without Tmac turning it on late in the game and Battier not even playing, I can't wait to see our squad in full health and bringing the heat full blast.
Game's in Dallas. Dallas brings their "A" game offensively. Most of the game Houston has no real defensive answer for the Mavs two stars and they get off. The game goes over a hundred. It's actually a fun game to watch rather than a bog you down half-court slug fest. Yet despite all that, Houston wins. That is new against the Mavs. In the past when I watched the Rockets play the Mavs I always felt that the Mavs were the deeper more talented team and that if the Rockets won, it would be due to the stars playing at their peak, the bench playing over their heads and the Mavs playing below their full potential. In short, the game was always the Mavs to lose rather than the Rockets to win. Last night was the first time in years I felt the roles were reversed. The Rockets looked like the better team on the court. Right now, could change, but right now I think if both teams brought their "A" game, Rockets win handly.
Are you out of your mind? Trade Alston, Head, and Hayes for a PG? Which one is in your mind? IHMO the three rox are worth a superstar PG, but no superstar PG is available! And the rox does not need another superstar! Plus, Head may be expandable. There is no way the rox is going to give up Alston and Hayes in this season.
I just saw First and 10 in cafeteria on ESPN 2. Pretty much wanted to make me puke my guts out...Houston is still an unstable team, even though they won 55 games (portion w/o T-Mac and Yao) and No Artest. Yao is still soft and no killer instinct, as T-Mac is not good enough to make out of the 1st Round. Even after playing an average game and beating a rival by 10 on the road without Tracy playing a single minute in 4th Quarter. Yet, Kupachak is genius for signing a still unproven Andrew Bynum to an almost maxed out salary. These people talk about Bynum, like he is putting Shaq's old numbers. I hope we sweep the Lakers in regular season or go 3-1 against and play them in playoffs blow them out by 25+ in every single game for the next 4 years.
I consider myself a realist... As excited as I am for this game (Not a negative post). The team played great. I just want to address Tracy Mcgrady Tracy took what...10 shots last night... He usually takes 24 shots per game. In the past two years he averaged over 17 shots per game. You guys are complaining about him taking 10. All of you thinking that he is trigger happy should be happy that he is taking less shots and still averaging 16 ppg. THOSE ARE AMAZING NUMBERS for MCGRADY. If the old Mcgrady was there last night...he would have 20+ points on 20 shot attempts. You guys are forgetting that he is not 100%. He also sat out parts of the fourth quarter to rest. Adelman obviously is holding him back. 30 mpg is nothing for Mcgrady. Positives for Mcgrady that everyone is missing... 1. This guy went to the line 9+ times in the past two games and made over 80% of his FTs.....THAT IS SUPERSTAR NUMBERS 2. This guy averaged 16 ppg in the past two games taking almost 50% less number of shots. Look at the bigger picture. I do not see how you can be logical about Mcgrady when he doesnt play as many minutes as he did last year AND does not take as many shots as he did last year. He also still averages 16 ppg. Be reasonable guys, yes he has slowed down, but he is still our best shooter and clutch guy.
My thoughts on the team from the past two games: I speak for most Rockets fans when in past years, when we lead for majority, no matter what the lead is, we still fear the 4th quarter. With Ron Artest here, the past two games, we actually pulled away and increased our lead into double digits! Last year, t-mac would have an awesome third quarter and would later fade in the fourth (as seen in the dallas game), but since we have ron artest now, t-mac can have his big third quarter and RA can step in during the fourth quarter and completely take over. i dont see why that would work because RA has been killing us in the fourth quarter in the past when he played for the Kings. I was really impressed with our free throw shooting. They shoot basketballs for a living! they should be shooting free shots for a high percentage every night. NO EXCUSE! Lastly, i like rafer but i think the offense runs a whole lot smoother when Brooks is in there. there were stretches in the game when rafer was in, and the offense looked completely lost but when brooks was in, he just cut to the basket and kicked it out to wide open shooters. My biggest problem with brooks is his decision making, inexperience, and his small stature for defense. Of course, he cant do anything with his size but if he can improve on his decision making, i think he should be the starter but until then, rafer will do.
as much as i would like to defend mcgrady, he is definately not our best shooter (3-10 fg), i think that belongs to either brent barry or AB. as for most clutch, that may be true but Artest is a very close 2nd if not as clutch as macgrady IMO. but i will say that i think he is one our best passers because so much attention is on him. when he wants, he can make the people around him a whole lot better, especially this rockets team. so i think he is still a very important factor.
Coincidence? I think not. http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081031/D945F5V80.html 2 minor earthquakes hit Dallas-Fort Worth area Oct 31, 7:54 AM (ET) DALLAS (AP) - Two minor earthquakes have shaken the Dallas-Fort Worth area, but no significant damage has immediately been reported. The U.S. Geological Survey says an earthquake with a 2.5 magnitude was reported at 11:25 p.m. Thursday, centered in the Grand Prairie area. The agency says a slightly stronger quake, at 3.0 magnitude, occurred at 12:01 a.m. Friday, centered in Irving about 10 miles west of Dallas. USGS geophysicist Randy Baldwin says aftershocks could last several days. Law enforcement agencies across northern Texas say they received some 911 calls from people who had felt the quakes. An April 7 earthquake in southern Texas had a 3.7 magnitude.
Is anybody else as happy about the early year and preseason free throw shooting? The Rockets lost about 3-4 games last year almost totally because of poor free throw shooting.
Wow, didn't notice that in the game. Certainly looks intentional. Imagine if he had turned an ankle or something.
