Game 12 Preview: Houston Rockets at Toronto Raptors
by ak2themax on Nov 19, 2010 9:00 AM CST
in Game Previews
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PrintCheck out the fourth episode of the DreamCast, where Tom and Xiane welcome Tas Melas (of the Basketball Jones fame-now with The Score) to the podcast. Melas and the other three guys (J.E. Skeets, Jason Doyle, and Matt Osten) met in Toronto, so he knows the Raptors better than almost anyone else. There's some good stuff about Joey Dorsey and David Andersen in there, if you're like me and like to hear about how former Rockets are faring with other teams.
The Raptors are 3-9, mere percentage points behind the Rockets in overall NBA standings. I think this quote is pretty telling (link):
“We just ain’t no taking pride, no passion, no dedication, nothing like that. It’s more like going through the motions and stuff like that. We just need to go find a couple of new hearts, get a couple of heart surgeries or something. I don't know what it is, but it's definitely something."-F Reggie Evans, on his team's work ethic, or lack of it.
Sounds pretty familiar to me. Alas, someone has to win tonight. Hopefully, it's us.
Keys to the Game: Pretty much the same as always
Consistency
DEFENSE
Limit turnovers
Bench play
FREE JORDAN HILL!!!
Check out the matchups after the jump.
Matchups:
PG: Kyle Lowry vs. Jarrett Jack:
Does anyone know why Jack starts over Calderon? I always like Calderon, and I honestly don't know (about) Jack. I know he's getting 11/4/3, and I know he's started before. I don't mean this as an insult to Jack. Really, I don't.
Maybe a kind Raptor fan can help me out?
Kyle is a mixed bag right now. Mike's insight is better than mine.
Advantage: Rockets, maybe
SG: Kevin Martin vs. Sonny Weems:
I have a friend from Arkansas who can't get enough Sonny Weems. So I kind of don't like that guy. But he is really good. And his name is pretty cool. It's no Magnum Rolle, but it's a second tier star. Certainly worth a mid-level exception, with the potential of landing a Scola-type deal.
Weems is shooting 53% from the field in the early going, and he's shooting 43% from behind the arc. He's athletic and has a great shot. He reminds me a little of Jermaine Taylor, if JT had a jump shot. The athleticism is how they are similar. And Weems is a little taller.
Kevin Martin, you gotta step it up, dude.
Advantage: Rockets
SF: Shane Battier vs. DeMar DeRozan:
DeRozan has four capital letters in his name. That's awesome. Also, he's great at drawing an elbow.
DeRozan was shut down by Evan Turner in the Raptors' recent game against the 76ers. If a rookie can hold him to 4 points, then Shane should be able to do a decent job.
But, you never know with the Rockets at the small forward position. Chase Budinger may return for this game.
Advantage: Even
PF: Luis Scola vs. Reggie Evans:
Do you even have to ask?
Advantage: Rockets
C: Brad Miller vs. Andrea Bargnani:
Bargnani is averaging 21 points per game and shooting 44% from the field. He doesn't grab many rebounds, but he does spread the floor and open up the paint for the slashers on this team.
Would the Raptors have taken someone else at number one overall in the 2006 Draft if they had a chance? Probably. LaMarcus Aldridge, Brandon Roy, Rudy Gay, and Rajon Rondo were all in that draft class and have had better careers so far. Paul Millsap was in that class, too.
Advantage: Raptors
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Bench:
Raptors: Jose Calderon, Leandro Barbosa (questionable), Julian Wright, Amir Johnson, Joey Dorsey, David Andersen
Rockets: Ish Smith, Courtney Lee, Chuck Hayes, Jordan Hill, Jared Jeffries, Chase Budinger (maybe)
Advantage:
Injuries:
Raptors:Barbosa questionable, Ed Davis out
Rockets: Brooks out, Yao out, Budinger questionable
Prediction: We should win
Yaseer: "Rockets."
Ben: "Rockets win. The Raptors are so bad, they're worse than...the Rockets. If you lose today, I'll lose all faith in you."
Prediction records:
Yaseer: 2-1
Ben: 2-1
AK: 6-5
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Comments
Efficiency's normally boring, but wowza
Melo is averaging 18.8 attempts (24.4 pts/game), Kobe takes 19.7 (26.3 pts/game), Durant takes 21.6 (28 pts/game); Martin? 11.8 attempts (23.1 pts/game). Granted these three contribute much more than mere points to a team, I can’t say I’m not impressed by the man’s efficiency (despite turning it over 2.8 times an effing game). No more handouts Rockets, quite turning that damned ball over.
I know we want to be an efficient team but
If we ain’t winning then fuck that shit. We are just finding efficient ways to lose right now. We are going to turn this around one way or another.
GO ROCKETS, GO TEXANS, GO ASTROS (EVEN THOUGH THEY SUCK)!!!
Keys to the game for me
Closing out on Bargnani, transition defense, and dominating the glass. Need to slow them down so they don’t run all over us, and make sure Bargnani and others don’t get hot from outside. I wonder if we’ll see much of Joey Dorsey and David Andersen.
by twinkilling0303 on Nov 19, 2010 10:09 AM CST reply actions
FREE JORDAN HILL
Seriously, this is getting stupid. I’d rather see him play a lot and fail instead of right now we have no clue how good or bad he is.
"I was laughing at you" - Jayson Werth explains to Brett Myers why he got picked off 2nd base on an intentional walk.
by RocketsAstros on Nov 19, 2010 10:20 AM CST reply actions 1 recs
I already have a HILL-YEAH jersey
If my money was right, I’d defenitely get a FREE JHILL jersey!!
by bigalshouseoflove on Nov 19, 2010 10:45 AM CST reply actions
Two questions
Can you double bold something for more emphasis on the Jordan Hill liberation front? Glad I’ve got fellow supporters now.
Also, Martin has one off game and he has to step it up? Oh and a typo that made me laugh:
“DeRozan was shit down by Tyreke Evans…”
Not criticizing, sharing if you want to correct.
I'm always right, this isn't conjecture, merely statement of fact.
haha
How many Biletnikoffs does he have? NOT TWO!
whoops
misunderstood the question. Martin didn’t have a stellar game against OKC either. And he needs to step it up for the sake of my fantasy team as well.
How many Biletnikoffs does he have? NOT TWO!
in the same both re: fantasy team
luckily i’ve got scola who has been dominating stats except that his boards are down
Dude is averaging over 23ppg.
And he’s always in the 50/40/90 discussion. I don’t know what else people want from him. He rarely has the ball in his hands in the 4th quarter, that pisses me off. He could be averaging closer to 30ppg if we ran the offense through him.
by basketball is cool on Nov 19, 2010 11:17 AM CST up reply actions
Yao's STILL OUT???
that’s 9 days already! i thought it was just like a week off.
don't bully me, i am from the D(etroit)!!!
Numerous reports
about his prolonged shelving. Also, now two posts under this one to answer it further. Google = easiest resource.
I'm always right, this isn't conjecture, merely statement of fact.
why need Google while I got all the experts here to ask Qs?
don't bully me, i am from the D(etroit)!!!
Keys to the game?
JUST WIN DAMNIT! BY ALL MEANS NECESSARY!
GO ROCKETS, GO TEXANS, GO ASTROS (EVEN THOUGH THEY SUCK)!!!
Feigen just tweeted
that Yao is out another 2 weeks. Bone bruise on ankle. Great
by twinkilling0303 on Nov 19, 2010 11:22 AM CST reply actions
Seriously Yao!!
This is way past ridiculous now… When/If Yao ever comes back I say do away with the stupid time limits and restrictions! If anything the start to this season should prove limiting Yao just adds stress to the team, play him, and play him a lot when ready. He’ll either(probably) get injured again in which case we dump his sorry ass or he’ll play a lot help the team to 40 wins and then we’ll see about resigning him at a HUGE discount… Idk playing Yao sparingly obviously didn’t help or work, so let’s play him 30-35min a night and stop treating him like a franchise player who’s going to bring Houston it’s 3rd championship, cuz its been almost a decade and yao’s only taken us out of the 1st round once! However management chooses to deploy Yao they definitely shouldn’t be careful with him cuz IT DOESN’T MATTER! Let’s see what he’s really got left and go from there… I’m done ranting now…
by Travis Juszkiewicz on Nov 19, 2010 12:33 PM CST via mobile up reply actions
Splendid.
"Each in turn... volunteered his suggestions, his invaluable suggestions."
Twitter - xiane1
The Dreamshake
Not another 2 weeks...
…a minimum of two weeks. Expect a month, knowing Yao’s non-advanced healing factor.
by Former Poet Laureate on Nov 19, 2010 2:14 PM CST up reply actions
Or...
Keep playing Yao 24min, but bring him off the bench that way he can theoretically dominate the opposing teams back up center and maybe be useful during our fourth quarter meltdowns…FREE J HILL!!! I just think it’s time the rockets stop being so careful, take some risks! Play hill 35 min, play Yao a lot, bring back Patterson, something,…
by Travis Juszkiewicz on Nov 19, 2010 12:43 PM CST via mobile reply actions
im tired of it
hopefully this is the last year of this t-mac/ now yao injuy saga im tired of it, it brings fans and the team down to plus its a distraction for an already struggling team!
points off turnovers
rockets are second… to last, only worse than the nuggets.
theoretically, we should shoot, rebound and defend better than the raptors. which means we just need to stop giving them the ball to pull out the W.
fingers crossed
Raptors
Sonny Weems and Derozan are playing pretty good o, and tolerable d. does shane battier still corner three you to death? i think this is going to be a good battle. i like the matchups, you guys are as equally crap as us, but with more experience. excluding reggie evans, the raptors starting group is an average age of 23. i like these kind of games because they are usually competitive and fun to watch.
I like these early gametimes
only an hour and a half until the game. And I just realized that Yao won’t be playing when I see them against the Thunder. Damn it
by twinkilling0303 on Nov 19, 2010 4:30 PM CST reply actions
I was listening to the radio 610 on the way home from work earlier tonite
and i think Jason Friedman said something where it should be easy for the Rox this game. He said the Raptors were terrible. I don’t think he really has watched any Raptors’ games this year. They played the Heat and Lakers pretty tough. They might be bad, but they’re still probably better than the Rox at this point.
Another veteran PG....
called Calderon destroyed us. When will Morey finally recognize that we cannot play three young mediocre PGs? Brooks is a great PG on a weak, run-and-gun team (that’s why he looked good last year). Lowry is and will always be a backup PG. Ish Smith cannot shoot but he has the potential. Adelman is a coach who would not call every plays like JVG did so he must have a good PG in his team…no wonder why we look so bad.
It’s time to stop this nonsense. It’s not even about whether to rebuild or not. We need to trade out Brooks and Lowry to get a quality PG here. Nash, Kidd, Billups, Hinrich….whatever. The bottom line is that we need someone who knows how to play in the 4th Q. If we want to win, we need a good PG. If we want to rebuild, we still need a good PG to teach Ish Smith to unleash his potential. The stupid 3 young PGs experiment have to end soon before things turn real ugly.
I'm not sure if you noticed
but Kleiza and Bargnani fucking wrecked us too. Your PG focus and hate is misplaced like every other person that feels the need to complain about our point guards. Brooks’s absence has proven he’s a very good point guard considering with him and without Yao we finished over .500. Without him we are 3-9. Add to that mix that before all of this crap, he was the man responsible for flaying LA alive in the playoffs and people couldn’t stop praising him.
I do agree that Lowry is at best a back up, capable of amazing games but when you need a guy for energy, you can’t tap that resource for over 30+ minutes a night. As for Ish. This may shock you but he’s an undrafted rookie cut him some slack. If he ever learns to shoot or look more like an alien (a la Rondo) then we may just have something.
Go be fickle somewhere else.
I'm always right, this isn't conjecture, merely statement of fact.
“Billups, Hinrich”
please don’t tell me either of these is the answer. Billups will be out of the league in 2 years and Hinrich is the answer for nothing.
Calderon’s line: 4-9 shooting, 2 reb, 7 assts, 10 points.
That’s destoying us? We lost because of that?
That fact that we let Bargnani and Kleiza go a combined 18-28 for 43 points is no big deal?
I think the Rox are showing signs of desperation since there is a report that the Rockets wouldn't mind
renting Melo for this season. Looks like Morey is not sleeping easy these days.
by inquisitiveman on Nov 19, 2010 11:59 PM CST reply actions
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