# 2007 NBA Playoffs Game 2: Houston Rockets vs. Utah Jazz



## Block (Apr 22, 2007)

*Game 2*
Utah Jazz @ Houston Rockets
Monday April 23, 2007
9:30 EST
TV Coverage: TNT


*Expected Starters*























































































*versus*











*Fisher knows beating Rockets involves more than slowing Yao, McGrady*
April 22, 2007

HOUSTON (AP) -- Utah's Derek Fisher understands the danger in trying to contain Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady in the hope other Rockets won't score.

The Jazz guard was one of the "others" who stepped up when teams employed that tactic against Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant during the Los Angeles Lakers' run of three straight titles from 2000-2002.

Yao and McGrady carried the load in Houston's 84-75 win over the Jazz in Game 1, but as the teams prepare for Game 2 on Monday, Fisher knows overlooking the Rockets' other weapons could be dangerous.

"I think it's just difficult when you decide that you're going just wipe two guys out and allow everyone else to play," Fisher said. "They're in the NBA also. They may not be as talented as Tracy or Yao, but they're good basketball players."

The Rockets haven't won a playoff series win since 1997, and the Jazz, in the postseason for the first time since 2003, haven't won one since 2000.

Fisher remembers his time in Los Angeles when he averaged 8.4 points and almost three assists in the finals. In the 2002 finals sweep of New Jersey, he connected on 8 of 12 3-point attempts.

"I made a living myself playing around two guys that people thought you could just guard those two and leave everybody else open," he said. "Guys are good enough in this league to make you pay."

The Rockets' only double-digit scoring Saturday came from Yao (28) and McGrady (23). But Rafer Alston (13.3), Shane Battier (10.1) and Luther Head (10.9) all averaged more than 10 points a game during the regular season.

"These guys are not bad players around these two," Fisher said. "That's why they've had the success they've had this season. So it's important that we focus a lot of our attention toward the two best players, but we can't just leave guys open for wide-open shots and expect to win."

Alston, who was 3-of-10 from 3-point range in Game 1, knows he has to score when he's open because of a double team on Yao or McGrady.

"They are going to make a conscious effort to stay on Yao and Tracy and make guys like myself and Luther and Shane beat them," Alston said. "They were leaving me a lot. I was left alone."

He's hoping to see more of that in Game 2.

"I'm capable of knocking down five or six in a game," he said. "They're going to take their chance with me shooting the ball from beyond the arc."

McGrady, who is winless in five career playoff series, said things will be difficult if Houston's role players don't step up when he's being trapped.

"If we're not knocking down shots then they're going to continue to do that and it takes the ball out of my hands," he said. "It's very important that when they trap like that we're knocking down shots so they can go to something else."

The seven-time All-Star struggled en route to a one-point first-half performance Saturday before scoring 16 points in the third quarter to lead Houston to its come-from-behind win. After the game, he blamed his poor start on nerves and admitted his palms were sweaty as he drove to the Toyota Center for the game.

McGrady said the anxiety is behind him and that there will be no similar problems in Game 2.

"It's real big for us to get out to a great start tomorrow," he said. "We got the first-game jitters out of the way, so now it's time to play our basketball for four quarters."

Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy thinks Houston's slow start Saturday may have been a product of being burdened by outside expectations.

"Sometimes you want something so bad it has a negative impact," he said. "Instead of seeing it as a great opportunity, I thought we were very discombobulated. We're going to have to have the right level of intensity and be emotionally solid so that you can play poised, efficient basketball."

Utah coach Jerry Sloan was concerned about the mind-set of his team as well, but for a different reason. He said some of his younger players got too worked up for Game 1 and that there was no way for him to talk them down.

"Some of those guys were ready to play at noon," he said. "I told them and tried to explain to them, but they've got to learn on their own. The game doesn't start until 8:30 and that's the only time you want to get yourself pumped up to play."


The first round thread got really messy; a new game thread should be easier for us to post on.


----------



## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

orlando is going to draw out this game and its going to take forever for us to get to the rockets game


----------



## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

Great job with the game thread Block

I got a work meeting to go to now, but should be back by the 2nd half... I wanna see a 20pt lead by the time I'm back!


----------



## Block (Apr 22, 2007)

*NOOOOO Dick Stockton Again NO*


----------



## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

Which thread are we supposed to post in? :biggrin:


----------



## CbobbyB (Feb 16, 2006)

i hope we can contain cry baby Kirilenko...


----------



## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

Yeah, nice job on the G.T. A better pic of for the Rockets, maybe?


----------



## Block (Apr 22, 2007)

AllEyezonTX said:


> Yeah, nice job on the G.T. A better pic of for the Rockets, maybe?


hehe sure.

Chuck Hayes is giving us plenty of energy early. Boozer is hot though


----------



## chn353 (Mar 12, 2006)

damn poor shooting and unneccessary turnovers


----------



## jdiggidy (Jun 21, 2003)

60% shooting for the Jazz? WTF! Why do the Rockets make it so hard on themselves every season they are in the playoffs? Truck'in piss'in me off!


----------



## Block (Apr 22, 2007)

3 by Alston


----------



## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

we got some Rocket basketball going now...down 4


----------



## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

Where's TMAC?


----------



## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

^I jus' asked my boy that same question.....all these Timeouts making me sick


----------



## OneBadLT123 (Oct 4, 2005)

-Yao has been having the crap end of the stick as far as the refs
-Tmac needs to be aggressive, and not take so many 3's
-Boozer was on fire in the 1st Q
-Chuck having one hell of a offensive rebounding game
-We need to make our 3s


----------



## Block (Apr 22, 2007)

Tracy is off to a much better start tonight. If we keep shooting, the shots will fall eventually. Our looks have been great


----------



## jdiggidy (Jun 21, 2003)

The refs owe houston about 4 calls in the second half to makeup for the misses in the first half.

Let's go. Second Half!


----------



## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

AK, just alittle too aggressive tonight...4th foul


----------



## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

Tmac in Ball Hog mode? WTF?


----------



## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

TMAC can you just stop jacking up BS shots, geez


----------



## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

Terrible shooting AGAIN. T-Mac needs to get the team back into it, not just by jacking up shots.

Good news is we're low on TOs tonight. Down by 2 after 2 FTs by Chuck.


----------



## Block (Apr 22, 2007)

Hayes faked out 3 Jazz players


----------



## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

that's what I am talkin about!


----------



## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

54-53 again, Fisher again :wink:


----------



## jdiggidy (Jun 21, 2003)

Thank God Mac is hitting his free throws. Hate to be mean but it was pretty sweet when TMac popped Fisher in the mouth.

How was that out on Hayes?


----------



## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

Hayes has been solid tonight, that's the KFC we all know and love.

We're making a lil' run... c'mon, lets pull this one out!


----------



## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

How many outside shots have T-Mac actually hit tonight? You'd think a NBA player, a star NBA play at that, would be able to knock down SOME... 

2-19 3pt range tonight uke:


----------



## jdiggidy (Jun 21, 2003)

```
TMAC can you just stop jacking up BS shots, geez
```
Can TMac just keep driving to the basket please! That last wide open jumper was so bad.


----------



## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

Wow, we have a grand total of 4 bench points so far. Juwan and Luther combined 2 pts. Ugly.

FINALLY T-Mac hits a trey, yeesh.


----------



## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

wow, TMAC made a 3pter


----------



## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

im surprised no one has drawn blood in this game yet


----------



## Block (Apr 22, 2007)

Crowd is into it now; awesome quarter


----------



## jdiggidy (Jun 21, 2003)

Don't tell me that the three of us are the only rocket board fans watching this game.


----------



## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

anybody want some team Basketball? Tmac was holding us back??


----------



## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

Man, I have all kinds of ppl @ my crib....so I'm posting when I can


----------



## Block (Apr 22, 2007)

The Jazz is rattled right now


----------



## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

I've been popping back and forth on this thread and the one in the playoffs forum.

Utah's got some good players on the bench, I don't know why Sloan doesn't go to them. AK and Okur are just stinking it up.

Fisher's back, woohoo!


----------



## jdiggidy (Jun 21, 2003)

Here we go again. Can't we just put them away. That would be big for us going into Utah.


----------



## Block (Apr 22, 2007)

holy crap...


----------



## jdiggidy (Jun 21, 2003)

Please Go To The Hole Tmac!


----------



## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

i feel bad for deron, but what a bull**** call on battier


----------



## Block (Apr 22, 2007)

Tough call on Battier; two guys being basketball players. Deron is getting up though


----------



## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

i wonder if refs purposely make bad calls to make up for other bad calls because that out of bounds was clearly jazz ball


----------



## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

i wanna see tmac and yao run the pick and roll like that more. you dont see yao get a lot of oops


----------



## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

Utah offense looking scary all of a sudden.... we need stops!


----------



## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

i love that tmac is converting at the line. that has been huge today


----------



## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

Pimped Out said:


> i love that tmac is converting at the line. that has been huge today


I'd rather him hit his 3pt shots than 1pt shots... but guess I can't complain


----------



## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

Chuck Hayes for MVP!


----------



## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

Yao Mania said:


> I'd rather him hit his 3pt shots than 1pt shots... but guess I can't complain


yeah, but if he gets fouled on a 3 point shot, those 3 one point shots are just as good


----------



## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

this vaunted rocket defense needs to get some stops.


----------



## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

Wow, Boozer is a man on a mission... T-Mac's gotta answer to that, this is your time T-Mac


----------



## jdiggidy (Jun 21, 2003)

Boozer can score 50 for all I care as long as the score ends with the rockets winning. I will TMac would continue to go to the whole. Note to TMac, NO JUMPER TONIGHT! Go to the hole!!!


----------



## Cornholio (Feb 13, 2005)

Still with a 6 pts lead.


----------



## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

2 possessions, unless Fisher goes crazy and we choke this is OVA


----------



## OneBadLT123 (Oct 4, 2005)

Yes yes yes!


----------



## Cornholio (Feb 13, 2005)

Why are we shooting like crap again?? Is the Jazz' defense or what??


----------



## jdiggidy (Jun 21, 2003)

Kind of a positive that TMac didn't play well. Hopefully he will go off in Game 3 or 4 and we can come home up three or SWEEP!!!:cheers:


----------



## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

now we need to take care of business on the road


----------



## Block (Apr 22, 2007)

Great second half; 2-0 Lead!


----------



## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

Rockets win baby!

Can't believe free throwing shooting won us the game tonight! 34-38, that's the best shooting from the charity stripe I've ever seen from this team (that I can recall).

What's with Yao blowing so many buckets down low? He's gotta pick up the playoff aggressiveness.


----------



## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

2 down....pack up, were heading to Uath up 2-0


----------



## Krimzon (Feb 26, 2007)

Rockets win! :yay:. Just two more wins.


----------



## OneBadLT123 (Oct 4, 2005)

Pimped Out said:


> Chuck Hayes for MVP!


yep :cheers:


----------



## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

Krimzon said:


> Rockets win! :yay:. Just two more wins.


Unfortunately that was the same situation in the Dallas series, and we had 2 road wins too... so lets not jump ahead of ourselves guys.


----------



## unluckyseventeen (Feb 5, 2006)

Ugghh.. terrible game on this end. Hard to watch so many players just struggle their guts out, and then one guy doing everything he possibly can to get a win after so much criticism.

The Jazz definitely have some growing up to do.


----------



## bronx43 (Dec 9, 2005)

I'm terribly scared of going into Utah for games 3 and 4. The homecourt should definitely rouse up their role players and increase their fg %. The only bright spot I can see is that Rockets have alot of room for improvement as far as the three point shooting is concerned. I can't see us shooting 4/24 for an entire series.


----------



## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

hopefully going on the road will take some pressure off our guys. they just dont look like they are playing loose at all. maybe not having to worry about impressing the home crowd or protecting home court will loosen them up and we will see our FG% go up. maybe head, juwan, and snyder will actually produce off the bench too.


----------



## HayesFan (Feb 16, 2006)

did yall see my boy!! Second playoff game of his career and he gets a double double! 

just think what he would have done in the last game running on more than a couple hours sleep! LOL

Glad we squeaked this one out. hopefully we bring our shooting touch to Utah.


----------



## darkballa (Sep 19, 2003)

WOOHOO! Yea we gotta finish this series off with a sweep. And chuck hayes kept us in the game and i hope t-mac's shot selection should improve as he was jacking up horrible shots but he should make them. First of all 7 points from our bench is not enough, we should be able to get at least 18 or 20 out of juwan, head, snyder and mutumbo. second, horrible shooting night from 3, head should make his shots, mcgrady shoulda made at least 2 or 3 out of his 8 attempts, battier and alston can shoot better than that and once again chuck saved us that first quarter.


----------



## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

HayesFan said:


> did yall see my boy!! Second playoff game of his career and he gets a double double!
> 
> just think what he would have done in the last game running on more than a couple hours sleep! LOL
> 
> Glad we squeaked this one out. hopefully we bring our shooting touch to Utah.


Didn't know Chuck just became a dad, congrats to him! You know if its a boy or girl?


----------



## Aylwin (Jan 29, 2007)

McGrady shoots 9/29, Yao shoots 9/24, the team shoots 36% and despite a monster game from Boozer, you *still* win. Good job! :clap:

Utah has of work to do...


----------



## darkballa (Sep 19, 2003)

I could live with Boozer scoring 40 a night on us. It's deron williams performing well that i'm afraid off. He just creates so much offense while we still have the lockdown on Okur after game 2.


----------



## CrackerJack (Jul 2, 2005)

hayes is a beast, we play very average ball and we still managed to run away with a win, if we get our **** together we should be playin 20 point blowouts:biggrin: now we jus need to win 2 in utah and we wait for golden state to beat dallas, which would be very bad or our matchups


----------



## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

Yao Mania said:


> Unfortunately that was the same situation in the Dallas series, and we had 2 road wins too... so lets not jump ahead of ourselves guys.


That's what I am thinking too


----------



## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

Post game interview: 


Funny stuff at 00:07:54 :biggrin:


----------



## houst-mac (Aug 7, 2004)

What's wrong with Luther?? He was on fire at the end of the regular season but now he's ice cold. I know that these were his first playoff games but we need him give some energy and scoring off the bench.


----------



## HayesFan (Feb 16, 2006)

Yao Mania said:


> Didn't know Chuck just became a dad, congrats to him! You know if its a boy or girl?



It was a boy, born around 9:30 Saturday morning. He was a month early, weigh 6lbs 7oz and 19 inches long. They named him Dorian Titus Hayes


----------



## jdiggidy (Jun 21, 2003)

```
I'm terribly scared of going into Utah for games 3 and 4. The homecourt should definitely rouse up their role players and increase their fg %. The only bright spot I can see is that Rockets have alot of room for improvement as far as the three point shooting is concerned. I can't see us shooting 4/24 for an entire series.
```
Agreed. I said this earlier. The other positive is TMac really hasn't played well despite the 7/8 3rd quarter in the first game and the fact that he got scored an UGLY 31 last night.

I'm pumped for games 3 and 4. If our supporting cast can bring our shooting percentage up and TMac can raise his shooting percentage up then we should be able to take one of these games.


----------



## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

Confession time (although some of our more astute readers already know what we’re talking about): Because we didn’t pay attention to Utah’s last couple games of the regular season — seeing as they didn’t mean anything as far as playoff seeding — we assumed Andrei Kirilenko’s thumb injury was a season-ender. We approached it as such while putting together our playoff previews and everything. Turns out AK-47 was activated for the postseason, but as of right now, he might as well be wearing a suit and sitting behind the bench. Kirilenko has done nothing in Utah’s first two games, playing backup minutes and not contributing on offense or defense. If nothing else, a defender of AK’s class should be an effective weapon Utah can use against Tracy McGrady; last night he was so out of it, T-Mac got to slice up Derek Fisher and Gordan Giricek while Kirilenko picked up five fouls in just 17 minutes … 

Whatever the issue is, Jerry Sloan wouldn’t even discuss AK-47 after the game. Later in the locker room, Kirilenko didn’t wanna talk about it either … 

McGrady had 31 points, 10 boards and five assists in Houston’s win. You know, people don’t mention T-Mac as one of the game’s elite leapers, but his hang-time is ridiculous. He hit multiple shots where the in-air creativity was incredible … 

E-mail from Christian during the fourth quarter: “Carlos Boozer has a doctorate in *** Bustin’. He is prescribing the drugs to all of Houston’s bigs.” Boozer dropped 41 points and 12 boards in the loss … 

One more “little thing” Shane Battier can do to help his team win: smack Deron Williams in the head with a (unintentional) shoulder …


----------



## TRACIELOVESCOMETS (May 14, 2003)

I was at last night's game. It was AMAZING!!!!


----------



## OneBadLT123 (Oct 4, 2005)

HayesFan said:


> did yall see my boy!! Second playoff game of his career and he gets a double double!
> 
> just think what he would have done in the last game running on more than a couple hours sleep! LOL
> 
> Glad we squeaked this one out. hopefully we bring our shooting touch to Utah.


He was the SOLE reason why we were not blown out in the first quarter. All the attention was on Yao/Tmac but none on Chuck mutha ****in Hayes


----------



## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

TRACIELOVESCOMETS said:


> I was at last night's game. It was AMAZING!!!!


Tracie! We miss you!! Where's Stacie at?


----------



## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

TRACIELOVESCOMETS said:


> I was at last night's game. It was AMAZING!!!!


I thought you twins had quit Rockets?

Anyway, good job in the arena, it was real loud in the 2 games. :clap2:


----------



## TRACIELOVESCOMETS (May 14, 2003)

Yao Mania said:


> Tracie! We miss you!! Where's Stacie at?


I miss you guys (kisstherim and Yao Mania) also. Stacie is around. 

Kisstherim-I watched every single game this year. I just don't write on here anymore. I had nose-bleed seats(429) but I still had fun.


----------



## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

TRACIELOVESCOMETS said:


> I miss you guys (kisstherim and Yao Mania) also. Stacie is around.
> 
> Kisstherim-I watched every single game this year. *I just don't write on here anymore. *I had nose-bleed seats(429) but I still had fun.


ummmmm, I guess you guys must have joined theShark316, left us and started posting on other boards. :brokenhea


----------



## Krimzon (Feb 26, 2007)

We might not win Game 3, but I have a feeling our shooting touch will be there.


----------



## TRACIELOVESCOMETS (May 14, 2003)

kisstherim said:


> ummmmm, I guess you guys must have joined theShark316, left us and started posting on other boards. :brokenhea




Actually we don't. I don't write on sports forums at all. Well I'll see you in about 6 months. 



I'll probably write again if we advance to the second round or the Western Conferance finals.


----------



## Minstrel (Dec 31, 2002)

I wouldn't be too terribly overly concerned by the poor shooting...Utah is a physical, grind-it-out team that creates ugly games. I think the important thing is that Houston played Utah's game and beat them at it. They didn't do it with flashy "shooting percentages"  they did it with hard work on defense all game long, hard work on the boards and attacking the defense to create a huge free throw disparity. They ground out that win, and showed that they can win that sort of game, too...everything doesn't need to be falling for them to win.

I think against other teams, Yao and Mac will shoot much better. This series won't be about efficiency, just about surviving and winning. Bludgeon them with superior talent and hard work and then go back to pretty offense against the Mavs or Warriors.


----------



## bronx43 (Dec 9, 2005)

I wouldn't mind our low fg % if Utah also continues their shooting trend in Salt Lake. However, I think that the home court will inspire their role players to step up and hit their shots. In that scenario, our 36% from the field won't hold up even if we do get to the line.


----------



## Minstrel (Dec 31, 2002)

bronx43 said:


> I wouldn't mind our low fg % if Utah also continues their shooting trend in Salt Lake. However, I think that the home court will inspire their role players to step up and hit their shots.


I think a good deal of that is Houston's defense, though. Houston has been playing hard on defense basically wire to wire, creating turnovers and pushing Utah into taking longer shots. They may hit more shots at home, but they aren't a terribly talented offensive team and if Houston keeps pressuring them into longer-range shots, I think it's unlikely Utah will be an efficient offensive team even at home.


----------



## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

HayesFan said:


> It was a boy, born around 9:30 Saturday morning. He was a month early, weigh 6lbs 7oz and 19 inches long. They named him Dorian Titus Hayes


Dorian? Everyone in school's gonna call him Durian and say he's stinky! Titan's a cool middle name though.

They should've just taken the easy route and call him Chuck Jr.


----------



## Hakeem (Aug 12, 2004)

Yao Mania said:


> Dorian? Everyone in school's gonna call him Durian and say he's stinky! Titan's a cool middle name though.


I don't think many American kids know what durian is. Titus is good, though. Wonder if he's read the Gormenghast novels. I was going to name my dog that.


----------



## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

Hakeem said:


> I don't think many American kids know what durian is. Titus is good, though. Wonder if he's read the Gormenghast novels. I was going to name my dog that.


Oops yah I meant Titus, that's a cool name. Since Dorian is an ancient Greek Tribe, I'm guessing Titus is a reference to the former Emperor of Rome.


----------



## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

yeah, not a lot of people in the US know what durian is. but if he does end up smelling like feet, thats gonna suck for him.


----------



## HayesFan (Feb 16, 2006)

Yao Mania said:


> Dorian? Everyone in school's gonna call him Durian and say he's stinky! Titan's a cool middle name though.
> 
> They should've just taken the easy route and call him Chuck Jr.


Chuck is already a Jr. His daddy's name is Charles (I am fairly certain)

So educate me.. what's durian?


----------



## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

HayesFan said:


> Chuck is already a Jr. His daddy's name is Charles (I am fairly certain)
> 
> So educate me.. what's durian?


The King of Fruits!


----------



## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)




----------



## HayesFan (Feb 16, 2006)

okay... lol someone over on NBA china is very dedicated... even I didn't capture the pic of Dorian off Chuck's cell phone!! LOL

Thanks for sharing it though. Oh and.. Chuck and I have the same phone.. its a Razr... I can tell by the top right corner! LOL


----------



## Block (Apr 22, 2007)

kisstherim said:


>


<3


----------

