"Yao was phenomenal," Stephon Marbury said. "Yao was very tough.", said Wilkens I'm very surprised at Marbury's complement of Yao. Here's the rest: Knicks finally lose under Wilkens as Yao (29 points) looms large BY FRANK ISOLA New York Daily News HOUSTON - (KRT) - Yao Ming seemed to grow taller and more imposing with each passing minute. The more Yao touched the ball, the more futile the Knicks became. The entire night resembled so many of those games Jeff Van Gundy coached with the Knicks: Dump the ball into the big man and dare the other team to score. Yao, playing the role of Patrick Ewing, celebrated the Chinese New Year on Wednesday night by pulverizing the Knicks inside for 29 points in the Houston Rockets' 86-71 victory that ruined Lenny Wilkens' perfect record. Happy New Yao. "Yao was phenomenal," Stephon Marbury said after the Knicks had their four-game winning streak stopped. "Maybe we could have done a better job doubling him," added Wilkens, who won his first three games as Knicks coach. "Yao was very tough." The Knicks lost for the second time in two weeks to their former coach and failed to break 80 in the process. The Rockets won both games by a combined 47 points. Van Gundy's club held the Knicks' four best players - Marbury, Allan Houston, Keith Van Horn and Kurt Thomas - to 39 points on 13-for-44 shooting. "They are a very good defensive team," Marbury said, "but the problem was us, not their defense." Yao played 29 efficient minutes, making 12 of 15 shots, mostly against Dikembe Mutombo and Michael Doleac. The Knicks were also bullied inside by backup power forward Maurice Taylor, who scored 21 points on 10-for-15 shooting and managed to outscore the Knicks, 13-9, in the second quarter. The Rockets scored 31 points in the period, including a 19-1 run to open the quarter. Mark Jackson, the former Knick point guard, was on the floor as the Rockets extended their lead from 29-27 to 41-35. "He's got great basketball vision," Van Gundy said of Jackson, who was making his season debut. "He is probably as slow laterally as any human who's ever played in the NBA and he's still one of the great players and arguably you could say he's a Hall of Fame player." The Rockets humiliated the Knicks two weeks ago at the Garden, beating them by 32 and inspiring fans to chant "Fire Chaney." Hours later, Knicks president Isiah Thomas began work on Don Chaney's dismissal by meeting with Mike Fratello. Six days after the loss, Chaney was replaced by Wilkens. "I looked at it and I didn't like what I saw," Wilkens said after watching a tape of the game. "I stopped looking at it. I didn't like our defense; I didn't like that we turned the ball over." In many ways, Wilkens saw a repeat performance. In that first meeting, the Rockets opened the game with a 23-2 run and the Knicks never recovered. Wednesday night, Houston fell behind 20-8 while Yao, having picked up two fouls in the span of two seconds, was on the bench. Yao was limited to only 11 first-half minutes. The Knicks were limited to just one quarter. Wilkens' team self-destructed in the second, finishing with as many turnovers (nine) as points. With the Knicks leading 26-16, Houston scored 11 unanswered points to start the second quarter, including seven from Taylor, who exploited Doleac's lack of quickness. Yao scored 13 in the third quarter to help the Rockets go ahead by 18. The Knicks got to within nine with 8:38 remaining, only to come up empty on their next five possessions. Taylor's jumper with six minutes left sparked a 12-2 run that included six points from Yao. "In the second quarter we shot ourselves in the foot," said Wilkens, whose team trailed over the final 32 minutes. "We got in a hurry against their trap and didn't run our offense. We shut down their backcourt but Yao and Taylor killed us." http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/7767059.htm
ROCKETS 86, KNICKS 71 The Fast Break Is Halted, as Is the Winning Streak By RAY GLIER Published: January 22, 2004 HOUSTON, Jan. 21 — The Houston Rockets took away the Knicks' new toy, the lickety-split fast break led by Stephon Marbury, and reduced the Knicks to a jump-shooting mess Wednesday night. One 15-footer after another clanged off the rim in the fourth quarter as the Knicks scratched and clawed to stay in contention without the speed game that had accounted for an average of 104 points over a four-game winning streak. In the end, Houston's deliberate style and accurate shooters finally slowed the Knicks' joy ride under Coach Lenny Wilkens. The Rockets won, 86-71, snapping the Knicks' four-game winning streak. The Knicks made just 29 of 73 shots (39.7 percent) and had their second lowest-scoring game of the season, behind the 70 they scored against the Indiana Pacers on Nov. 27. If not for some excellent offense off the bench by Penny Hardaway (6 of 11 for 12 points), it could have been a much worse defeat. "I don't think you automatically say we're not a good team just because we didn't play well," guard Allan Houston said. "We're not going to overreact, because when you have four good games, you are doing something well." Nothing came easy on offense for the Knicks. The Rockets made 48 percent of their shots, and when the Knicks are not rebounding an opponent's misses, their fast break has no chance to crank up. The starting forwards Keith Van Horn and Kurt Thomas made just 6 of 25 shots. "We should play a little more up-tempo, we like that," Wilkens said. "But when you get in a half-court game, you really have to execute." Houston center Yao Ming did not give the Knicks a break, sinking 12 of 15 shots and scoring 29 points. The reserve forward Maurice Taylor made 10 of 15 shots and had 21 points; he was averaging 11 a game. "Yao Ming and Mo Taylor just lit us up," Wilkens said. "We couldn't stop them." But it was not just the Rockets' offense that stymied the Knicks. Houston used some traps out front to make the Knicks give up the ball, and it worked in the second quarter when the Knicks lost a 10-point lead. "For some reason, we got in a hurry to get rid of the ball," Wilkens said. "The trap wasn't really on us, and we got anxious to try and find people. That's something we really have to learn. If you look at that quarter, we put ourselves in a hole." Marbury said, "I should have been attacking it the whole time." The Knicks committed nine turnovers in the second quarter by rushing to escape trouble. The Rockets, who rank second in the N.B.A. in field-goal percentage defense under the former Knicks Coach Jeff Van Gundy, went from 10 points behind after one quarter to a 47-35 lead at halftime. The Knicks missed 12 of 16 shots in the second quarter and lost control of the game. "I think we settled for too many jumpers offensively, myself included," Van Horn said. "We should have penetrated and taken it to the bucket." There was no running game to bail out the Knicks because the Rockets made so many shots (14 of 18). The Rockets won even though guards Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley shot 8 for 26 from the field. The Knicks' effort was a contrast to what happened two weeks ago, when they were embarrassed by the Rockets, 111-79, at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks asserted themselves in the first quarter because the Rockets could not keep Yao, their center, on the floor. He picked up back-to-back fouls midway through the period and went to the bench. Yao played just five minutes in the quarter and the Knicks built a 26-16 lead. But the Knicks' early edge was more than Yao's sitting. The Knicks committed just one turnover in the first 12 minutes. They made 9 of 19 field-goal attempts, with Marbury working the ball around the floor to different teammates. The Rockets surged ahead in the second quarter, though, and their lead swelled to 58-40 as the Knicks struggled to make a defensive stand. REBOUNDS The Knicks added height on Wednesday, signing the 7-foot-2 center BRUNO SUNDOV to a 10-day contract. He replaced the rookie forward MIKE SWEETNEY, who was placed on the injured list because of tendinitis in his left knee. ISIAH THOMAS, the Knicks' president, coached Sundov with Indiana. Sundov, a five-year veteran, appeared in four games for Cleveland this season and averaged 2.3 points, 2.5 rebounds and 7.3 minutes before being waived on Jan. 15. He has also played for Boston and Dallas. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/22/s...00&en=b7b44060b369e11c&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE
No, Steve says it differently. He says "We did not lose because they were better. We lost because we missed shots we normally make."
No, Steve would say: "We did not lose because they were better. We lost because the rest of team couldn't make their shots and play defense. I'm the superstar on this team!"
That's just r****ded. Francis may have some shortcomings, but he has never dogged his teammates or proclaimed himself the superstar of this team.
Well, Marbury, before last night's game, said this about the 111-79 Rocket thrashing of New York in Marbury's home Knick debut: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/story/156775p-137733c.html "I was pretty much out there by myself, as far as trying to play basketball," said Marbury. "And you can't take basketball by yourself. It takes four other guys." At the first sign of problems in New York, look for Marbury to pin it on his teammates (see also: previous stints in Minnesota, New Jersey).
Who could forget the classic Starbury moment, when he was with the Nets -- scribbling "ALL ALONE 33" on his sneakers. Talk about a boost to team morale.
How did I know this thread would become about Francis? Can't we have JUST ONE THREAD that isn't about Steve Francis?
I've noticed that a lot of teams and sometimes announcers (The ABC guy that took Bill's place, the chubby guy.) say pretty much the same thing, "It's not The Rockets defense, the opposition just sucked that game." (Just paraphrasing....well with the exception of the ABC guy) It can't be a coincidence that every team has a bad night when they lose to The Rockets. Maybe I'm being a defensive Rockets fan..............I don't know.
Yep, he can't praise someone with sneaking in some knock. "He is probably as slow laterally as any human who's ever played in the NBA. . . " That's just classic.
I'll take Francis over Marbury any day. Francis seems to be a good person. Marbury seems to be a punk.
My sarcasm detector is badly malfunctioning today, which happens every time I enter the GARM. So who is the loser?
