# NBA Regular Season GAME 8: Houston Rockets v.s. San Antonio Spurs



## spirit_cro (Nov 13, 2005)

will we win tonight ? high scoring or low scoring game?


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## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

ok might as well make this into the game thread

yes we will win tonight, 'cuz we always own the Spurs (right Koko?  )


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## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

LMAO,the crudest and most shabby Game Thread :biggrin: 

But we will get this one,trust me.


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## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

kisstherim said:


> LMAO,the crudest and most shabby Game Thread :biggrin:
> 
> But we will get this one,trust me.


better than the last one that started in the middle of the game with yao mania's post, "wheres thaShark's game thread"

anyways, lets do this right










*@*











*ROCKETS​*




































C: Yao Ming 
PF: Juwan Howard 
SF: Tracy McGrady
SG: Derek Anderson  
PG: Rafer Alston

*SPURS​*





































SF: Bruce Bowen 
PF: Tim Duncan 
C: Rasho Nesterovic 
SG: Manu_Ginobili 
PG: Tony Parker​

We're overdue for a win in san antonio. they are going down today


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## sherwin (Mar 21, 2005)

can't wait to lose this one. sorry, but we havent won there in like 8 years. and we're definitely not rolling right now.

missed like the first 4 shots already. gonna be a long night.


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## sherwin (Mar 21, 2005)

Seriously, im starting to hate Alston & Anderson. these guys are just brick machines.


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## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

Only TMAC knows how to utilize Yao's ability.


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## TManiAC (Dec 19, 2004)

Pick and roll is working well. We should keep going to that. I want to see more penetration from Alston but he and DA are playing with good intensity. I like the putback over Horry by DA.

Bowen is playing incredible defense.


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## sherwin (Mar 21, 2005)

We CONTINUE to be horrendous when it comes to getting long rebounds. Man we need Sura badly.

yao cant even hit layups

we are bricking everything.

just go home


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## TManiAC (Dec 19, 2004)

Yao is shooting like hes TMac. I like the confidence. He doesnt seem to be thinking much about the play and more going with the flow. His footwork is smooth and theres no hesitation on his shot.

This may be the game we need to spark the season. Like against Dallas last season when Dirk and TMac exchanged shots.


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## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

Who's Melvin Sanders??


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## sherwin (Mar 21, 2005)

12 points in the first quarter. :laugh:

I think our offense is worse than it was at this time last year.

Derek Anderson is horrible. He doesn't even bother to play D. what were we thinking, putting a former Jailblazer on our team?


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## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

sanders was signed like a week ago to help do bowens job.


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## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

Good news: Yao took 10 shots in the 1st Q and has no fouls

Bad news: We're down by 9 after the 1st Q, and only managed to score 12 points

uhm.... time for some McGrady?


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## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

What does everybody what? HEAD!!!

What a great match-up against the speedy Parker


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## sherwin (Mar 21, 2005)

How does Yao miss all the easy shots but makes the hard ones?


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## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

sherwin said:


> How does Yao miss all the easy shots but makes the hard ones?


im not gonna complain considering most of the team cant make their easy or hard shots.


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## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

Is it a routine for Tracy to start off cold??


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## TracywtFacy (Mar 29, 2005)

we're getting totally outplayed... but if we can stay in touch TMac will take over, as long as Yao can keep us close until the 4th


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## TManiAC (Dec 19, 2004)

It isnt that Tmac is cold, its more like Bowen can lock anyone down.


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## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

Mutombo is playing like 60 years old.


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## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

TManiAC said:


> It isnt that Tmac is cold, its more like Bowen can lock anyone down.


I refuse to believe that anyone can lock T-Mac down except T-Mac!


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## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

It isnt that Tmac is cold, its more like he is having back problems again.


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## TracywtFacy (Mar 29, 2005)

TMac will do what he did against New Jersey... go 1-9 from the field in the first half, then light it up for 35 pts when he gets to the 2nd half


and please keep feeding Yao the ball


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## TracywtFacy (Mar 29, 2005)

Head is great... keeping us close...


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## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

Head,again!


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## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... parker rapping


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## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

David Wesley+Tracy McGrady+Juwan Howard+Rafer Alston=0-14? :dead:


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## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

kisstherim said:


> David Wesley+Tracy McGrady+Juwan Howard+Rafer Alston=0-14? :dead:


isn't that 4 of our 5 starters? :dead:

49-36 Spurs at half. Yao accounts for 50% of Houston offense.

Again, it's T-Mac or bust in the 2nd half.


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## sherwin (Mar 21, 2005)

I doubt T-Mac breaks out in the 2nd half. He's not playing the Nets its Bruce Bowen.


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## skykisser (Nov 10, 2005)

we are not on track!
the guards suck!(except for head)
TMAC seems still have back problem.


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## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

sherwin said:


> I doubt T-Mac breaks out in the 2nd half. He's not playing the Nets its Bruce Bowen.


c'mon guys, Bruce Bowen didn't prevent T-Mac from putting 13 pts in 35 seconds now did he??


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## tone wone (Jan 30, 2003)

see what happens when Yao "stays" on the court. He's dominating out there

Outside of Head the rest of the Rockets should give yao their game checks


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## skykisser (Nov 10, 2005)

assistant 6vs15 
does that mean the spurs play a good defence, while our guys just cant throw in the ball.


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## spirit_cro (Nov 13, 2005)

horrible offence first quarter.  gotta pick it up 3/4


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## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

TMAC is BACK


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## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

Luther Head is officially the 2nd best guard on this team,this kid always looks composed and confident.

TMAC starts to feel it,watch out! :wink:


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## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

how was yao called for that o-foul?


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## Hakeem (Aug 12, 2004)

That call was freaking ridiculous.


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## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

Pimped Out said:


> how was yao called for that o-foul?


cuz he is Yao


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## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

So Yao just got one shot in the whole 3rd quarter? :angel:


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

Alston has been a bum so far. How many wide open shots is he gonna miss?


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## Pasha The Great (Apr 9, 2005)

when is sura coming back? I miss him, and Rafer sucks, he never passes to McGrady, even when McGrady is asking for the ball.


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## sherwin (Mar 21, 2005)

God we suck. We just straight up suck.


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## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

Crap, all this effort in this Q and we're losing even more... 

Get Skip outta there and put Luther back in

EDIT: Thank you JVG!


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## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

Pasha The Great said:


> when is sura coming back? I miss him, and Rafer sucks, he never passes to McGrady, even when McGrady is asking for the ball.


Rafer and DA r two morons that never even look for Yao & TMAC.


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

I think JVG needs to remember what kick-started this team last year. I don't know wtf the Rockets are doing on O. Just give the no masked cursing, ****ing would be fine - YM ball to T-mac and let him do his thing. Rockets roleplayers quite simply look much better when everything is running through T-mac.


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## tone wone (Jan 30, 2003)

Houston has to hit shots...period.

When they make shots they can beat anyone....but when their jumpers aren't falling they'll loose to anyone


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## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

so, is sura going to be healthy again anytime soon?


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## Pasha The Great (Apr 9, 2005)

i sure hope so.. maybe rafer and DA can be traded.


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## Pasha The Great (Apr 9, 2005)

Spurs missing 8 shots in a row, this is our time to take over!!! theres still time


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## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

Pasha The Great said:


> Spurs missing 8 shots in a row, this is our time to take over!!! theres still time


we gotta score though


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## sherwin (Mar 21, 2005)

pathetic. spurs havent scored in like 5 minutes yet we cant take advantage.


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## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

What an off shooting night for T-Mac... this is the time where he's suppose to pick it up too


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## putilaomu (Nov 14, 2005)

give yao ming the BALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 :curse:


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## dychen85 (Nov 14, 2005)

Pasha The Great said:


> i sure hope so.. maybe rafer and DA can be traded.


the rockets need better role players
anderson and rafer cant shoot at all.
They need someone that can knock down the open shots


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## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

wesley just made a 3pter. i had to post that because i didnt know what else to do. it confused me.


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## sherwin (Mar 21, 2005)

God rafer alston is an idiot!!


we get a chance and cant hit free throws. of course.


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## dychen85 (Nov 14, 2005)

why dont they play jon barry more often
he can actually hit shots


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## Pasha The Great (Apr 9, 2005)

dychen85 said:


> the rockets need better role players
> anderson and rafer cant shoot at all.
> They need someone that can knock down the open shots



Is it that hard for a coach to coach your players how to shoot? JVG needs to start focusing mainly on his players shots


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

Yao Mania said:


> What an off shooting night for T-Mac... this is the time where he's suppose to pick it up too


Y does he always get the ball behind the 3ptline and run that pick n' roll? JVG seriously needs to get a bit more creative.


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## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

TMAC is ice old today,let Yao rock!

And there were actually many oppurtunites to get back,but…:curse:


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

Rockets have split their last 4 trips to the FT line. This could/should have been a 7 point game right now.


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## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

ouch, close one for timmy.


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## sherwin (Mar 21, 2005)

LOL ginobili's entire defense on mcgrady is a hand/body check. wesley lays a finger on ginobili and its a foul


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## sherwin (Mar 21, 2005)

get a rebound.

OF COURSe we have to leave Horry open 

in the words of van gundy, "time ****ing out"


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

Yao's inability to get the rebound ends this game.


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## dychen85 (Nov 14, 2005)

wow robert horry hitting the 3
thats what happens when you give up 2 offensive rebounds in 1 posession


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## Pasha The Great (Apr 9, 2005)

yea there goes our chance to come back


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## sherwin (Mar 21, 2005)

just let tmac take it over. seriously. rest of the team is worthless.


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## dychen85 (Nov 14, 2005)

WOW DAMN thats why i love tmac
he jacks up 3s from insane positions


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## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

mcgrady is taking this game over. and not just on offense.


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## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

SPMJ said:


> Yao's inability to get the rebound ends this game.


I gotta agree with u. We just can't grab a board to save our life.


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## dychen85 (Nov 14, 2005)

tmac is taking over the game
why didnt he start earlier


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## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

And Tracy suddenly remembers we're playing against the Spurs....

this guy's insane


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

Dumb defense by the Rockets guards.

WTF was Alston doing by fouling Parker there?


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## sherwin (Mar 21, 2005)

well we blow it again. there goes any chance.


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## sherwin (Mar 21, 2005)

tmac should just launch it when hes hot like this. forget yao. hes worthless.


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## ChiBron (Jun 24, 2002)

I hope JVG can learn something from this game. Notice how easy things looked when they just decided to give T-mac and let him score? Starting off games through Yao was a humungous FLOP last season. Everybody else is out of rhythm when he's being force-feeded down low.

FREE T-MAC!


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## sherwin (Mar 21, 2005)

that turnover killed the game.


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## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

32 seconds left, down by 9..... u know what this mean.....





















we lose


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## Pasha The Great (Apr 9, 2005)

McGrady needs to starting playing as a point gaurd so he could have more control of the game, giving less to rafer.


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## sherwin (Mar 21, 2005)

yeah rafer sucks. same with DA & Swift. give us the old team back. newcomers are garbage.


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## sherwin (Mar 21, 2005)

Bowen Had The Ball, Foul Him!!!


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## mjm1 (Aug 22, 2005)

? why didnt Head foul? when your down 6 with 15 seconds left and you have tmac on your team, YOU FOUL!


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## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

sherwin said:


> yeah rafer sucks. same with DA & Swift. give us the old team back. newcomers are garbage.


Except Luther Head 

anyway, as mentioned many times before, we started 6-16 last year, and criticized Howard and Wesley just as bad as we did these guys in the beginning.... 

Final score 86-80. game was never as close as the score indicated.

Yao needs to learn how to show up in the 2nd half. T-Mac needs to learn how to show up in the 1st half. The rest of the team needs to learn how to show up, period.


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## Brian34Cook (Mar 26, 2003)

mjm1 said:


> ? why didnt Head foul? when your down 6 with 15 seconds left and you have tmac on your team, YOU FOUL!


He made a mistake.. It happens.. Good lord.. The Rockets had a chance even if he fouled but no matter what I didnt see them coming back.


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## Pasha The Great (Apr 9, 2005)

Its alright, our record is pretty bad right now but we have a long season ahead of us and plenty of time to fix it.


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## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

yeah, head made a mistake, but if jvg wanted him to play he should have given him more minutes earlier, especially when hes the only gaurd who can make a shot. you put him in with 30 secs left, you are just setting up a rookie to fail. shame he is gonna get it for that.

whats with kenny and charles complaining about tmacs shot selection. he still shootin better than alston, da, or wesley when they are wide open.


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## Hakeem (Aug 12, 2004)

Yao didn't play poorly in the second half. He had as good positioning as he did in the first. But no one was looking for him. The reasons why we don't play well when we go through him is that our post feeders suck and that we can't hit any outside shots. Alston is an especially poor post feeder. He seems to only go to Yao as a last resort. And when he does, his passes are often ill-timed.


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## Pasha The Great (Apr 9, 2005)

> he still shootin better than alston, da, or wesley when they are wide open.


that doesnt say much


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## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

Head definitely needs more minutes,especially considering the way Rafer's been playing! And Head is clutch.

Yao was ignored again after he scored sth close to 20 pts.Nothing has changed. They just stopped going to yao when he was hot. Anyway Yao looked great stamina wise for 40+ minutes of play!


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## skykisser (Nov 10, 2005)

freaking that Yao didnt have a single shoot in 2rd half,and only got 1p!!!!!!!! 
it seems when Yao is in charge ,we cant see TMAC.when TMAC is taking over the game, Yao 
is having hard time.
we need CHEMISTRY REACTION between them! :curse:


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## sherwin (Mar 21, 2005)

Hakeem said:


> He seems to only go to Yao as a last resort. And when he does, his passes are often ill-timed.


This is the story with every PG we have. What else is new? Maybe it's Yao not them.


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## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

If we rebounded better we won this game. :angel: 

But what the heck can DA and Rafer contribute to the team? At least Wesley's defense is excellent. Maybe we should start Swift and Head. Head needs to play more mins than all the guards,but I guess that's sth JVG will never agree with.


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## skykisser (Nov 10, 2005)

kisstherim said:


> If we rebounded better we won this game. :angel:
> 
> But what the heck can DA and Rafer contribute to the team? At least Wesley's defense is excellent. Maybe we should start Swift and Head. Head needs to play more mins than all the guards,but I guess that's sth JVG will never agree with.


yeah. trade DA/Rafer for Parker..............................


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## Hakeem (Aug 12, 2004)

sherwin said:


> This is the story with every PG we have. What else is new? Maybe it's Yao not them.


Sura was getting it to Yao OK in the second half of last season. It took a while for him to adjust, but then he isn't even a real point guard. When Yao is scoring 18 points in a half on 50% from the field and still playing defense, it's not his fault at all if we're losing. If the plan is to feed the post, it must be done passably well and the perimeter shooters must hit a few shots. Not only did we not do either of those things, but we weren't playing any defense in the first half. They shot at something like 53%. The guards sucked. T-Mac's shots selection was poor. Yao can't rebound.


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## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

ok people, follow me for a minute. what if tonight we had gone with the following line up:
pg: head
sg: tmac
sf: howard
pf: swift
c: yao

if the opposing sf isnt fast, i seen no reason why we cant move howard over. bowen wouldnt give him any trouble on defense and it would either cause bowen to stay on him or manu to try to defend howard and howard should be able to take advantage of that on the block. it should also help with our rebounding troubles since swift/howard is a better rebounder than anderson. we technically lose some range since howard doesnt have a 3 pt shot, but lately neither does DA. i think this would have been the perfect game to try howard at the 3. if it worked we could have tried it in other games agaisnt sfs that wouldnt give howard many problems on defense.

and when tmac is taking over tha game and yao is being fed the ball, i think deke should be checked in. late in that game i was screaming at the tv to put him in. he is a better rebounder and will help stop the penetration which is what we needed at the end of that game.


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## Minstrel (Dec 31, 2002)

I think Head has a good chance to be the starter mid-season. Right now, he's not ready. Until tonight, he's really been quite bad, with little flow or direction. Tonight was encouraging though.


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## edyzbasketball (Nov 16, 2005)

I'm really mad we didn't win against the Spurs. Freakin 6 points!!! :curse: 

Damn, we're 3-5. :curse:


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## OneBadLT123 (Oct 4, 2005)

im really not liking our backcourt right now.

Tmac is injured
Sura is injured
Head is good outlook for the future

The rest are scrubs running around
DA - Horrible
Skip - HORRIBLE
Wesly - Horrible


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## TManiAC (Dec 19, 2004)

Skip is not playing horribly. Besides an ill-advised no-look on a break to Juwan Howard, IMHO he played as good of a game we can expect out of him against the Spurs. He still needs to penetrate to the basket more often, I saw some aggressiveness out of him in spurts throughout the game, I want to see this on a more consistent basis.

Derek Anderson played well. I didnt like how often he got beat by Manu, but Manu seems to destroy his opponents indiscriminantly so we cant really put it on DA. DA made some good hustle plays and I appreciate his willingness to fight for rebounds.

Jon Barry played great defense. Still, I saw him make about 3 back-to-back ill-advised pass attempts.

Luther Head is playing great defense and showed great poise on his three-pointers. He had good understanding of team defense as he continued to lead Parker into the help defense of Stromile Swift and Yao Ming. Unfortunately, Yao and Swift seemed ineffectual as Parker had his way whenever he got into the red-zone.

I saw that last year Yao would often float out to the perimeter to help trap the guards. Now that we have faster guards i.e. Skip, Head and Derek Anderson, we are seeing less of Yao floating out and this should translate into fewer fouls as soon as Yao picks up on the system (stand his ground inside and raise his hands to change shots instead of trying to defend faster players). Ideally, we want to funnell players into Yao as the Lakers did with Shaq. Right now, we need to develop Yao's understanding of positioning before we could execute this effectively because it seems Yao is still prone to committing fouls even when camping in the post.

Altogether, this was one of the best defensive games Ive seen out of San Antonio. The Rockets tried, its just San Antonio proved to be the superior team, which is a truth obviated by their championship status and the improvements added since then.

Tmac had a rough game.... It was painful to watch him try and put up shots against Bowen. Bowen did an excellent job of sticking Mac. I applaud Mac's effort as he tried as well as he could to draw defenders towards him with shots. Unfortunately, Bowen did a good enough job one-on-one to discourage double-teams.


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## JuX (Oct 11, 2005)

Minstrel said:


> I think Head has a good chance to be the starter mid-season. Right now, he's not ready. Until tonight, he's really been quite bad, with little flow or direction. Tonight was encouraging though.


It'll take him a while to understand how to play at this level especially at the last 2 minutes of the game within 6 points. It's a rookie mistake, though.


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## Rockets111 (Oct 29, 2005)

yeah our guards do suck but we still have t mac and yao which will keep us in every game. this is going ot be the hardest strecth of the season for anyteam because of who we have to play. the defending champs and the ecf champs, how much harder does it get. if we win 2 out of the next three thats really good. so stop complaining all of yall and just let the time roll


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## Hakeem (Aug 12, 2004)

TManiAC said:


> Skip is not playing horribly. Besides an ill-advised no-look on a break to Juwan Howard, IMHO he played as good of a game we can expect out of him against the Spurs. He still needs to penetrate to the basket more often, I saw some aggressiveness out of him in spurts throughout the game, I want to see this on a more consistent basis.


Skip's passing into the post has been horrible, and he is shooting horribly from beyond the arc, and he is a horrible finisher. So, I'd say he is definitely playing horribly. He's probably not a horrible player, but he looks like that so far. He can penetrate, but he can't finish, which is a real pity. He did play some decent defense, though.


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