I missed this one tonight - it's still the break, so it happens. Didn't remember to TiVo it either, but from the looks of the stat line, maybe I'm better off having missed it after all. Here's the stats:
Houston Starters Min FG 3Pt FT +/- Off Reb Ast TO Stl BS PF Pts T. McGrady G 33:45 2-11 0-3 7-9 -11 0 5 4 3 0 0 1 11 R. Alston G 31:14 1-10 1-5 0-0 -11 0 2 3 1 0 0 0 3 3 Y. Ming C 34:00 6-13 0-0 7-8 -11 3 12 1 2 0 0 1 5 19 L. Scola F 34:31 3-9 0-0 4-4 -10 1 8 0 1 2 0 1 5 10 S. Battier F 29:12 2-6 1-5 0-0 -14 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 Bench Min FG 3Pt FT +/- Off Reb Ast TO Stl BS BA PF Pts B. Barry 20:50 2-4 2-4 2-2 +4 1 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 8 C. Landry 20:37 4-5 0-0 1-2 -2 2 4 0 2 0 0 0 3 9 A. Brooks 16:46 4-6 1-2 0-0 +2 0 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 9 L. Head 12:13 2-6 0-0 1-2 +3 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 2 5 C. Hayes 6:51 0-2 0-0 0-0 +5 1 1 1 0 2 0 0 2 0 V. Wafer DNP - Coach's Decision Totals 26-72 5-19 22-27 9 39 13 13 5 0 2 22 79 Percentages: .361 .263 .815 Team Rebounds: 7
New Orleans Starters Min FG 3Pt FT +/- Off Reb Ast TO Stl BS BA PF Pts C. Paul G 37:28 8-18 2-3 8-8 +14 1 4 10 4 2 0 0 4 26 D. Brown G 18:02 0-6 0-4 0-0 +7 1 5 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 T. Chandler C 30:49 7-11 0-0 0-1 +6 5 12 0 0 0 1 0 4 14 D. West F 43:02 8-19 0-0 7-9 +13 1 6 2 1 1 0 0 3 23 R. Butler F 41:32 6-9 1-2 0-0 +9 1 7 2 0 2 1 0 2 13 Bench Min FG 3Pt FT +/- Off Reb Ast TO Stl BS BA PF Pts J. Posey 29:58 1-3 0-2 4-6 +2 0 5 0 2 0 0 0 3 6 M. Ely 16:15 2-3 0-0 0-0 +2 1 4 2 2 1 0 0 4 4 A. Daniels 10:32 1-2 0-1 0-0 -5 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 2 2 M. Peterson 6:28 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 S. Marks 5:52 0-2 0-1 0-0 -3 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 R. Bowen DNP - Coach's Decision J. Wright DNP - Coach's Decision Totals 33-74 3-14 19-24 11 47 18 13 6 2 0 23 88 Percentages: .446 .214 .792 Team Rebounds: 4
From the looks of things, it's quite obvious that a few things went wrong:
- Tracy McGrady didn't show up.
- The real Rafer Alston showed up.
- Our combined number of assists was 13, the first game in which we hadn't combined for at least 20 assists since the Memphis loss. Since that time, we had put up 100 points in 5 of our 8 games.
- Shane Battier still hasn't found his stroke.
- While Yao Ming had some good numbers, he once again struggled from the field, shooting 6 for 13.
- We let New Orleans's only two offensive threats in the game lead the game in scoring. Ron Artest would've been the perfect person to guard David West.
- They out-rebounded us 47-39.
- Not sure if we can blame this one on fouls - they had 23 to our 22. However, not having seen the game, maybe a few key calls didn't go our way.
- We once again had a poor showing in the fourth quarter, and according to the AP recap:
The Rockets were only 2-of-14 shooting in the fourth quarter and did not hit a field goal in the last 8:47 of the game, stayed within striking distance only because they hit 11 of 13 free throws in the period.
That's just some statistical observations. If you watched the game, please leave a few comments on what you thought went wrong for us tonight and what you think we need to work on for the Utah game tomorrow night. I'll be watching that one for sure.