Besides the obvious mismatch up front, this game could have been had but was lost with poor substitutions by coach Adelman. Rockets..McGrady...cuts it to 10 at the end of the 3rd. Adelman puts in a totally different lineup to start the 4th, and the Suns go back up by 16. Bobby Jackson is the only one playing well late, and he gets subbed out. Why Luther Head was in the game in the second half is beyond me. When the guy is a joke, he's a joke. When he has a good game, we give him the potential tag. Let this guy go. He has 0 basketball I.Q. and is a VERY streaky shooter. The thing with his streaky shooting is that it lasts for WEEKS. It's not on one night and off another...he's good for two weeks, then stinks it up the next two. I'm being more and more convinced that he is the SG/PG version of Stromile Swift. Never the less, good effort by the Rockets. Keeping it close against two of the faster teams in the NBA on back to back nights...and actually winning one. Let's go back home and take care of business. Sacto is in town next, and they've got revenge on their minds. NOVAK TIME
Yeah he was 11-31 but when most of them was hard drives to the basket against Amare and Shaq I don't mind. T-Mac played a very good game today. Scola and Alston might lose their spots if they don't come with it. And somebody tell me where was Woods? Did we sign him for this types of games?
Right. And you can't say anything about Rafer, Luther? Right? 9 aist to go alsong with 30 points doesn't mean anything? I know we lost but this time we better blame Rafer.
PHEW!!! I've missed the last two games, and I have to say, I was kinda worried about how this game was going to turn out, especially about Tmac having one of those disappointing games that just wanna makes you wanna tear your hair out. But fortunately, he apparently put in some effort tonight and had some pretty good stats, which means atleast he and the team tried-and thats all I can hope for while I'm away. So can someone give a recap of what happened, in Clutchnese terms?
Yes, the Suns announcers were cocky SOB's. They were referring to the Suns 7th straight win at the 7 minute mark, and the other announcer said he thought the same. Such low class homers. I would love to play the Sunsets in the first round. Shaq will be on the IR, no Marion, and they will not shoot lights out like this again. The Sunsets will fade by the playoffs. Heck, the Rox outplayed them for 3 quarters after 4 games in 5 nights.
L. Scola F 33:28 7-13 0-0 2-2 -9 4 2 6 2 6 2 0 1 0 16 S. Battier F 41:35 5-9 0-1 4-4 -14 0 2 2 2 3 1 0 1 1 14 D. Mutombo C 27:34 2-4 0-0 2-2 -3 1 2 3 0 4 1 0 1 0 6 R. Alston G 32:31 6-15 3-4 0-0 -7 1 4 5 1 1 1 0 0 0 15 T. McGrady G 39:07 11-31 1-5 7-12 -3 2 6 8 9 1 1 3 1 4 30 B. Jackson 22:18 5-10 1-1 2-4 -1 0 2 2 2 2 2 0 0 0 13 C. Landry 18:04 4-8 0-0 1-1 -12 3 2 5 0 4 0 0 0 2 9 L. Head 11:32 1-5 0-0 0-0 +2 1 0 1 0 2 2 2 0 0 2 C. Hayes 08:45 2-2 0-0 0-0 0 3 0 3 0 2 1 0 0 0 4 L. Woods 03:20 1-1 0-0 0-0 -5 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 S. Novak 00:39 0-0 0-0 0-0 +2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 M. Harris 01:07 0-0 0-0 2-2 +5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Total 240 44-98 5-11 20-27 15 20 35 16 26 11 5 4 113 For all you guys bashing Tmac... He was -3 on a night where we lost by 12. . Besides Bjax and Luther Head thats the best on the team. He facilated the entire offense and kept us in the game. HE HAD 12 free throws (which means you cant complain about him not driving). I don't understand how you people can call him heartless... Did you see how hard he was playing? You guys probably hate babies and your own mothers too. Beyond ridiculous
I'm not a hater, just a realist. Tmac's miserable performance during hell week has proven me right. And believe you me, I did NOT want to be right.
I don't think there's any point to blaming anybody. The Suns were just the better team tonight and the size they had in the paint (Shaq and Amare) was just too much to overcome.
Proud of the team tonight. There was every excuse to just take the loss after a murderous week, especially getting down huge early. But, they fought, showed a ton of heart and made it a game in the end. Tough week resulting in them going 2 and 3. Would have loved for them to have a winning record for the week obviously, but they treaded water so to speak. Can't under-estimate the physical and mental fatigue they had to fight off at the end of 'the streak'. Six of the next seven games are very winnable games. Let's hope they continue to take care of business.
refs awarding amare touch-fouls + phx shooting 70+%FG in the first half+ mutumbo shooting 15 footers (wtf?)= Rockets FAIL.
Actually this game may give the Rockets confidence. I don't think the defense a against Suns could improve too much because after all Amare and Shaq are too big a lineup for the Rockets. But if the shooters in the Rockets lineup (Luther, Novak, Rafer) pick up their touch beyond the arc, they will have a chance playing this Suns team. Another point, Carl Landry won't be effective against Suns. Compared to Scola's, Landry's game is single-dimension. When facing defender like Amare, Carl will be eaten alive. I know he is not 100%, but Amare is simply taller and maybe even more athletic. I am glad that the Rockets have both players, but think that popular opinion that Landry is much better than Scola is way off the mark.
what? yesterday and today's performance from tmac was very well accepted and appreciated. there are way more obivious things to blame for this loss. as earlier posters mention, luther head, rafer alston, coach's weird substitution pattern, and us not having the front line to match with theirs.
Amare was 9-15 which meant there were six missed shots where he was awarded 2 FT's for a total of 12 ft shots, and then of 9 made shots he was awarded 8 and 1's. That is ft's on 14 of his 15 attempts. Well we know who the new DWade is. I don't ever remember a game in the last five years where the Rockets have been awarded a huge margin of ft's greater than their opponents. I remember a lot like this game where we have been hosed by the refs. Tmac has been picking himself up off the floor a lot lately with a disgusted look on his face after being hammered and no call. And how did you like little Manu Nash's little flop dribbling into the top of the key on Rafer? The NBA's reffing just plain sucks. Makes me want to ask what was the betting line on this game that the refs were protecting?
