# Game 61: Official Houston @ Phoenix GAME THREAD. 3/11. 8:00 CST.



## The_Franchise (Mar 30, 2003)

Probably the toughest team for us to beat in the NBA right now. Matchup nightmares everywhere, especially Marion-Howard. Sura will be starting for us in this game, so except us to break the 100 point barrier with ease. This will allow Wesley to guard Nash, and if Wesley doesn't get the job done we always have James coming off the bench. 

Last time Amare could do nothing to stop Yao, and Yao's size really bothered Amare on offense. We need to keep feeding the ball to Yao, wait for the doubles and kick it out to McGrady or Wesley. Sura's penetration can't be underestimated, hopefully he will do a good job creating for other's in his first game back.

Keys to winning:
-Control Nash's penetration
-Rebound
-Guard the perimeter, no easy shots for Johnson, Q and Jackson

I honestly think we can pull this one out...

Houston 108
Phoenix 106


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## Sweeper (Dec 7, 2004)

Phoenix is a nightmare matchup for all teams! Luckily we have Yao who's been able to keep Amare in check.... as he'll need to. Watch those fouls big bella. Amare coming off a 17 of 22 performace for 44points....though it was against an undermanned San Antonio. Great also to have Sura back starting (if he is), would be good to see how Mike James performs coming off the bench which is what most think he should be doing. Well, never fail to support my team, so I say we go down by 10+ early but drag ourselves back and win 100-98.


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## Hakeem (Aug 12, 2004)

How is Howard going to guard Marion? (We need that Wayne Siemens guy you people keep talking about. Or was it Malick Badaine who was supposed to be the good rebounder and defender?)

The Suns generally play well against good teams. They seem more focussed when they are challenged. They've won, what, four in a row? Including Detroit, Seattle and the injury-depleted Spurs. However, Yao does well against Amare. T-Mac's been looking kind of lethal lately. Howard's been crashing the boards to the best of his ability. Mike James and Wesley will be useful against Nash (who will, as always, be a liability on defense). JVG is a better coach than D'Antoni (who I loathe).

Still, I say we lose. 116-111.


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## ThaShark316 (May 7, 2004)

The White Boy Power Squad > the Suns :banana: 

If Sura can be a factor, and we can stop the kick-out,I think we'll be able to pull this one out. We have to shoot well, thats a must..can't go into cold spells against the Suns, or it might get ugly.

The Suns have NO answer for Howard,McGrady, or Yao defensively, so we should take advantage of that. Slow the game down to a playoff pace, and be physical with the Suns. I like us in this game, and don't be at all surprised if the Rockets pull a Double-digit win out their *****.

Rockets 113
Suns 107


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## jibikao (Nov 14, 2004)

ThaShark316 said:


> The White Boy Power Squad > the Suns :banana:
> 
> If Sura can be a factor, and we can stop the kick-out,I think we'll be able to pull this one out. We have to shoot well, thats a must..can't go into cold spells against the Suns, or it might get ugly.
> 
> ...


Suns has no answer defensively most of the time but they still win. That's not the problems for Suns. 

If anything, I except Yao gets into early foul trouble if Amare keeps going inside. It's on Suns' court and we need to take advantage of that. 

Once Yao is on the bench, then Amare can have his way. 

I don't think we can blow you guys out like in the first game but I except a W for Suns. Every team brings their A game against Suns now so it's harder and harder to blow them out.


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## Rickbarry (Feb 22, 2005)

If I remember the last game they played correcty they dropped a franchise record of 3's on us. Something like 16. The game was still winable until the last few minutes when they put us away. 

Barring a massive 3 barrage I say the rockets will win.

Rockets 109
Suns 100


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## Ballscientist (Nov 11, 2002)

4 requirements to beat Suns:

1. No foul trouble, Refs let the player play the game,
2. Get close to Q and Johnson (body to body defense)
3. J-Ho follows Marion to 3 point line.
4. Let yao take 15 to 20 shots.

In this case: Rockets 105, Suns 95

If Rockets do 2 of 4: Suns 110, Rockets 105


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## Ballscientist (Nov 11, 2002)

does it televise in ESPN or national TV?


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## MightyReds2020 (Jul 19, 2002)

I'd love to see JVG puts Sura on Marion defensively. It will be interesting to see if Sura can contain Marion on the break.


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## Rickbarry (Feb 22, 2005)

Nah it's not coming on tonight. There's a lot of college tournament play on tonight. Unless ya got the dish looks like you'll be checking NBA.com like me.


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## FirstRocket (Mar 10, 2005)

jibikao said:


> Suns has no answer defensively most of the time but they still win. That's not the problems for Suns.
> 
> If anything, I except Yao gets into early foul trouble if Amare keeps going inside. It's on Suns' court and we need to take advantage of that.
> 
> ...


Suns did not really blow out Rockets. The last game Rockets lost to the Suns, it was a close match for three quarters until Rockets ran out of gas in the fourth. It should be noted that Rockets of now have basically changed its rosters. I should say a much stronger team with more depth than the team, we lost to Suns. Rockets confidence is also high at this stage, and this game come at a right time.


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## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

wow,great job,rox guys!

that back pass of yao on the ground was great :banana:


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## ThaShark316 (May 7, 2004)

We're down 12...81-69 Suns mid-3rd qtr. Basically, we've been off in the 3rd and the defensive rotation is killing us, cuz their getting wide open 3s. So for the next 18 minutes, we need to step it up or this could be a blow out.


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## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

lol,how many blocks Amare got from Yao?


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## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

hell yeah! I heart Mike James :clap:


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## Raxel (Nov 10, 2004)

When Yao is dominating the boards. :banana:


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## ThaShark316 (May 7, 2004)

Yao Ming so far.....

24 pts,19 rebs(7 off),5 blks!!

You can't stop Yao, you can only hope to contain him.


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## Rickbarry (Feb 22, 2005)

Holy crap, this is awesome. Yao has 19 rebounds? Holy crap this is a scary rockets team playing right now.


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## laserboy (Jul 5, 2004)

Wow! Yao 2X + 2X !!


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## Raxel (Nov 10, 2004)

Rickbarry said:


> Holy crap, this is awesome. Yao has 19 rebounds? Holy crap this is a scary rockets team playing right now.


It's 27/22/5(blk) and 127-107 win on Suns court. :banana:


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## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

yao almost got 10 offensive rebs


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## ljt (May 24, 2003)

This is the best game our duo played! 
PLAYOFFS,we are coming:banana: :banana:


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## Khm3r (Feb 10, 2005)

Watch the whole game. What an awesome game seesaw motion. LoL We were up by 13, then suns goes on a 22 - 3 run and we go on a 11 - 0 run..etc back and forth..awesome defense from rockets! 

YAO 
22 REBOUNDS!!! :clap: 
5 BLOCKS!!! :clap:


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## Rickbarry (Feb 22, 2005)

Hey and I bet 50 dollars on that thread earlier on the rockets! OMG I am rich!


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## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

> "This is a big win for us," McGrady said. "This is a high-powered offense. And for us to hold them to 17 points in the fourth quarter shows how good a defensive team we can be.
> 
> "I've got to tip my hat to the big fella (Yao) tonight. I just hope he continues to play that way. There aren't too many players who can stay with him when he plays that way."





> "I don't think we can play any better defensively than we did at the end of the game," Yao said. "And to have a guy like Tracy McGrady, who's such a great scorer ... when they go out to double-team him, it opens up the middle."


(The following errors occurred when this message was submitted: 
The message you have entered is too short. Please lengthen your message to at least 2 characters.)
what?


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## The_Franchise (Mar 30, 2003)

What a sweet win for us... I'm at a loss for words at McGrady's performance. Yao was phenomenal on the boards, fighting the entire 2nd half in limited minutes. Sura coming back not only helped us offensively, but had Wesley and James on Nash the entire game playing great defense. Once we figured out their pick and roll, there was no looking back. 

I guess we realized how important Marion's rebounding ability is to Phoenix, but a great win nonetheless. Nice to see us at full strength.


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## Sweeper (Dec 7, 2004)

brilliant, simply fricking brilliant! Ever since TMac came to Houston, this is the kinda performance all fans have dreamed of! Yao's 27/22/5 blocks and TMac 38/9/6assists!! heeeehaaa!

We outrebounded them 56 - 38, though must say if Marion didn't have his knee problem, the result could've been different! What a win!


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## FirstRocket (Mar 10, 2005)

Even if Shawn Marion is healthy and play in the game, we will still win. I don't he would make any different. His replacement did quite well too.


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## Ron Mexico (Feb 14, 2004)

suns best team in NBA no respect for the spurs at all


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## The_Franchise (Mar 30, 2003)

*JVG changes game plan in the 4th quarter*

From CF.net:



> http://sports.sohu.com/20050312/n224656498.shtml
> 
> Translation from an interview with Yao
> 
> ...


Great move by Gundy, it was clear that Amare was burning us on the pick and rolls, and was struggling to score with Yao in front of him. Yao isn't super quick anyways, so I really don't see why we were letting Amare roll to the basket for easy buckets in the first half.

In the 2nd half, with Yao staying close to the basket instead of chasing Nash on the perimeter, Amare had to resort to plowing into Yao to get to the FT line, and was held to only 7 2nd half points. Just something to keep in mind since in all likelihood we could be seeing these guys in the 2nd round.


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## TheRoc5 (Mar 1, 2005)

im so proud of my rox great yao.... our team is changing form to a title contender just in time lets try to get this and make a run for the number5 seed go rox


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## Hakeem (Aug 12, 2004)

I'm a bit late, but this was one of the very best regular season games that didn't go into OT that I've ever seen. It was easily the most entertaining game of the season. And, while I'm spewing superlatives, I may as well add that of all Yao's performances that I've seen, this was the best. An all-round terrific showing from him.


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