Game 17 - Houston Rockets vs. San Antonio Spurs, Saturday 7:30PM CST
Yes, I'm still mad that the Rockets lost on Wednesday. I'm even more upset that the Rockets blew a win versus a division rival in the Spurs when they only had Tim Duncan on the court.
I am so sick of seeing players come back to play against the Rockets. I truly enjoyed our break from this last year during the 22 game winning streak where it seemed like we got lucky a decent amount. It's back to our historical unluckiness with players coming back to play against us tonight though as Parker is back just in time to play the Rockets.
The Match-ups:
Alston vs. Parker: Those of you that know me well know that I am not a big fan of the Frenchy (Now if a French company wants to buy my company then I'll be all for that, but that's not the point). He has been under- and over-rated at times in his career. If he plays like he did early in the season though, he's never been rated high enough. Rafer has regressed terribly this year. He does get some quiet assists and doesn't turn the ball over as much, but in general, this is his worst season as a Rocket. Let that sink in, Rafer Alston is worse than he's ever been in Houston. That makes me want to cry
Edge: HUGE for the Spurs: Parker is not a big guard, at 6'2 Aaron Brooks can play with him. Here's hoping we get a lot more of Brooks tonight than we have seen lately. In a lot of our wins Brooks has seen his playing time go down from 28 to 17 to 15 to 10. There is no excuse for that but bad coaching. Adelman, you are a really good coach, let's get it together big guy.
Ginobli vs. McGrady: I know Ginobli comes off the bench, but that's only because Poppovich is the smartest coach in the league. Soon Artest will be coming off the bench in a similar manner. Well, if everyone eventually is healthy together that will happen anyway. Ginobli has become one of the best players in the league. I'd put him in the top 20 easily right now. I haven't seen if McGrady is playing yet, but it doesn't matter, Ginobli is better than anyone we have at the two.
Edge: Spurs: I hate that I like Ginobli as much as I do, he's just really, really good
Artest vs. Bowen: I don't think I dislike a single player in the NBA more than I dislike Bruce Bowen. He's a good defensive player, but he's also the dirtiest player since Karl Malone retired. And no rational person would disagree. He is dirty, period. Ron has to learn shot selection, even when he feels the team needs him to score. Take the ball to the hoop, very few guys can muscle you out of position. And those that can will have to foul you to do it.
Edge: Rockets: I hate Bruce Bowen, I really do.
Scola vs. Duncan: Scola was a man amongst boys in that Indiana game, and if he was ever consistently given 30-32 minutes a night, that is exactly what I would expect from him. In fact, he would probably shoot better. For Duncan, see the Q&A with Pounding the Rock.
Edge: Spurs: Duncan is the best power forward in the history of the game. I love saying this as it gets a jab in at Karl Malone. There aren't many things better than getting to knock The Mailman down a peg.
Yao vs. Oberto: Yao had 9 shots in the first game. That is just pathetic. I see no reason for him to ever shoot less than 15 times. The Rockets have to be the worst entry pass team in the league when McGrady is out. And even McGrady goes into no pass mode about 65% of the time. You will never convince me that Yao cannot catch a pass that goes over the top of the defense. You will even get a lot of fouls called when he jumps to catch that pass because people will get underneath him because the double teamer has no real choice there. Fronting Yao should be the worst decision a team could make, unfortunately the Rockets either are incapable of putting that pass in place, or just refuse to. Either way, I'm dissapointed in Adelman.
Edge: Rockets: Again, if the Rockets feed Yao they should win 60% of their games
My Prediction: I'm going back to not predicting games. It's too early in the season and I'm too biased. I'm going to wait until game 25 to start predicting again.
Comments
T-Mac not playing
today and Sunday
by goingforthecorner on
Nov 29, 2008 6:50 PM CST
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I'm so scared to comment right now
The Rockets are killing
by UofTOrange on
Nov 29, 2008 8:18 PM CST
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luther really?
luther head leading scorer right now with 9
by displacedHTOWNfan on
Nov 29, 2008 8:27 PM CST
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Boxscore watching
What the heck did the Spurs do to Yao? He’s barely on the scoreboard and is -9, worst on the team.
by Jeffrey on
Nov 29, 2008 9:00 PM CST
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Rebounds
Only Artest is rebounding well. Our 7’5 center has just the one. What’s up with that?
by Jeffrey on
Nov 29, 2008 9:22 PM CST
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Where are you getting your live +/- from Jeffrey?
by UofTOrange on
Nov 29, 2008 9:24 PM CST
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Yahoo. Mind you, he’s improved since then to +1.
by Jeffrey on
Nov 29, 2008 9:27 PM CST
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Awesome
Thanks for that. I hadn’t found somewhere that had it. Much appreciated.
Are you at least listening to the audio feed on NBA.com?
by UofTOrange on
Nov 29, 2008 9:29 PM CST
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Doesn't seem to be working for me
No biggie.
by Jeffrey on
Nov 29, 2008 9:34 PM CST
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Oh ya, you said you were in Australia, right?
by UofTOrange on
Nov 29, 2008 9:36 PM CST
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Yeah
But there’s like 6 minutes to go in the fourth, I think I can spare that much bandwidth.
by Jeffrey on
Nov 29, 2008 9:37 PM CST
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Good stuff!
It still is crazy to me that the rest of the world hasn’t caught up on high speed internet.
I’ve got a buddy in China right now and while I know China and Australia are completely different, but he wasn’t even able to get to ESPN.
by UofTOrange on
Nov 29, 2008 9:39 PM CST
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Luther Head
is our best player. I’m not sure how to feel about that.
by Jeffrey on
Nov 29, 2008 9:28 PM CST
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He's playing like it's his last chance
And it probably is
by UofTOrange on
Nov 29, 2008 9:29 PM CST
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Dwight Howard and David Lee both with MONSTER games tonight
by UofTOrange on
Nov 29, 2008 9:31 PM CST
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Great googly moogly
Lee had 37 and 21 and Harrington had 36 and 12 for the Knicks as they put up 138 as a team
by UofTOrange on
Nov 29, 2008 9:33 PM CST
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Chris Duhon?!?
Duhon with 22 assists?!?!?! Wow.
by grungedave on
Nov 30, 2008 9:02 AM CST
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If Rafer Alston played like this every night
I would never complain about him again
by UofTOrange on
Nov 29, 2008 9:37 PM CST
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So you originally from Australia?
How did you become a Rockets fan?
by UofTOrange on
Nov 29, 2008 9:40 PM CST
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Nah
I’m actually Malaysian, I only just got my permanent residency status in Australia on Friday in fact. I was originally more of a Jason Kidd-era New Jersey Nets fan. Yao Ming came into the NBA and I started following him out of curiosity. Then the first Shaq/Yao game and Yao blocked Shaq’s first two shots. I’ve been hooked since.
by Jeffrey on
Nov 29, 2008 9:43 PM CST
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yes!
that’s still one of my favorite basketball games ever
by displacedHTOWNfan on
Nov 29, 2008 9:44 PM CST
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Good stuff!
I have some really good friends in Kuala Lumpur right now. They moved there last year. I’m very jealous of what he gets for his six figures there.
by UofTOrange on
Nov 29, 2008 9:45 PM CST
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Good Turnover Margin
Spurs 13 Rockets 6
by displacedHTOWNfan on
Nov 29, 2008 9:42 PM CST
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And Luther with the steal
I love this kid again, but I’m afraid he’ll hurt me if I do…
by Jeffrey on
Nov 29, 2008 9:44 PM CST
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I was a huge Luther Head guy until the playoffs 2 years ago
Since then it’s been nothing but heart ache
by UofTOrange on
Nov 29, 2008 9:46 PM CST
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As much as we've been complaining about the lack of blowout wins
I don’t think any of us expected it to finally happen with the Spurs…
by Jeffrey on
Nov 29, 2008 9:47 PM CST
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No doubt
And if it did I surely didn’t think it’d be with us scoring 100. I figured 94-65
by UofTOrange on
Nov 29, 2008 9:48 PM CST
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good bounce back
after the last game
by displacedHTOWNfan on
Nov 29, 2008 9:50 PM CST
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announcement
Luther Head still sucks. I refuse to get sucked in by one game.
by grungedave on
Nov 30, 2008 9:02 AM CST
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