<div align="center"> <font color="red">Rockets (10-4)</font> vs <font color=""darkorange"">Phoenix(7-6)</font> Wednesday, November 29, 2006 8:00 Central; FSNSW </div> [div=50%] <div align="center"><font color="red"> <font size="1">(R. Alston, T. McGrady, S. Battier, S. Novak, M. Yao)</font></font></div> <font size="1">Leading Scorer: Yao Ming - 26.3 PPG Leading Rebounder: Yao Ming - 10.4 RPG Assist Leader: Tracy McGrady - 6.7 APG</font> [/div] <div align="center"><font color=""darkorange""> <font size="1">(S. Nash, R. Bell, B. Diaw, S. Marion, A. Stoudemire)</font></font></div> <font size="1">Leading Scorer: Steve Nash - 20.3 PPG Leading Rebounder: Shawn Marion - 8.9 RPG Assist Leader: Steve Nash - 11.0 APG</font> <div align="center">Keys To The Game</div> <font color="blue">Running/Fast Tempo Game Should Dominate:</font> The Suns are one of the top team in scoring points with their efficiency on putting points within 10-15 seconds on their every possession. Combined with their excellent passing and capabilities on shooting from the perimeter they would make every Rocket defender chase them all over the court. Their quickness is an advantage here. <font color="blue">Put a Defender in Front of Yao:</font> Yao has a hard time getting the ball when a defender is always in front of him. The Suns know that the Rockets have a big advantage on the center position so closing the passing lane for Yao would do a damage on the Rockets offense. <font color="blue">Defend the 3pt Line:</font> Like them the Rockets are just as capable of putting a lot of outside shots with their revamped roster so always be alert to defend the open person especially with the double team Yao and TMac commands. <font color="red">Guard the Pick and Roll:</font> Same as always, the Rockets main weakness is guarding the pick n roll especially against a team with an excellent passing guard. Putting extra pressure on Steve Nash and limiting his passing game would be an advantage. <font color="red">Take Advantage of the Suns Weak Defense and Rebounding:</font> Here's another category where the Suns are also tops in the League in negative terms, they also lead the league on points allowed second only to Denver giving up 104.5 points per game. Like the Rockets their losses involves 4th quarter collapses. The Rockets should be able to put a lot of points tonight. <font color="red">Let the Defense Rule:</font> The Rockets take their pride on being the number one on limiting opponent points as well as disrupting FG%(3rd in the League). Making the Suns take difficult shots and work for their shots takes their game away. Predictions: The Suns and the Rockets are both riding a 4 game winning streak but one must lose. The Rockets success depends on TMac's condition tonight as well as Yao's aggressiveness. Barbosa might play tonight so that's a big plus for the Suns. If the Rockets win it would be a close one but if the Suns win it would be a double digit advantage. We just hope TMac suits up tonight. Sorry Guys for almost forgetting the preview tonight. Thanks a lot igotask8board for starting the thread and doing the graphics I truly appreciate it man.
Thanks a lot igotask8board, I think durvasa forgot to make the thread. Anyways, it'll be a tough game for the Rockets. Shawn Marion's quickness might give Hayes trouble, but wait till Howard gets on him. The Rockets will need to get their rotations right and make sure the Suns don't get off easy outside shots. Yao should have another big game tonight; it seems now that 25/12 should be the norm for him. Get the Suns big men into foul trouble and the Rockets should be able to take advantage, once Pat Burke gets on the court at least.
Man 11-4 sounds gooooood. And for the record, Nash looks terribly fugly in that picture. Not that he looks good normally, but that should have been redone. Goodness. I think the Rockets are going to pull this one out. It'll be a hard fought game, Amare will be pumped for Yao. Though Yao usually dominates him when they play head-to-head, this might be different. Come on ROCKETTTTTTTS.
<div align="center">Keys To The Game</div> <font color="blue">Running/Fast Tempo Game Should Dominate:</font> The Suns are one of the top team in scoring points with their efficiency on putting points within 10-15 seconds on their every possession. Combined with their excellent passing and capabilities on shooting from the perimeter they would make every Rocket defender chase them all over the court. Their quickness is an advantage here. <font color="blue">Put a Defender in Front of Yao:</font> Yao has a hard time getting the ball when a defender is always in front of him. The Suns know that the Rockets have a big advantage on the center position so closing the passing lane for Yao would do a damage on the Rockets offense. <font color="blue">Defend the 3pt Line:</font> Like them the Rockets are just as capable of putting a lot of outside shots with their revamped roster so always be alert to defend the open person especially with the double team Yao and TMac commands. <font color="red">Guard the Pick and Roll:</font> Same as always, the Rockets main weakness is guarding the pick n roll especially against a team with an excellent passing guard. Putting extra pressure on Steve Nash and limiting his passing game would be an advantage. <font color="red">Take Advantage of the Suns Weak Defense and Rebounding:</font> Here's another category where the Suns are also tops in the League in negative terms, they also lead the league on points allowed second only to Denver giving up 104.5 points per game. Like the Rockets their losses involves 4th quarter collapses. The Rockets should be able to put a lot of points tonight. <font color="red">Let the Defense Rule:</font> The Rockets take their pride on being the number one on limiting opponent points as well as disrupting FG%(3rd in the League). Making the Suns take difficult shots and work for their shots takes their game away. Predictions: The Suns and the Rockets are both riding a 4 game winning streak but one must lose. The Rockets success depends on TMac's condition tonight as well as Yao's aggressiveness. Barbosa might play tonight so that's a big plus for the Suns. If the Rockets win it would be a close one but if the Suns win it would be a double digit advantage. We just hope TMac suits up tonight. Sorry Guys for almost forgetting the preview tonight. Thanks a lot igotask8board for starting the thread and doing the graphics I truly appreciate it man. I wish I could put this one up on the first thread but I don't have a moderator's editing capabilities.
tmac should really stop faking....no body will ever fall for them since they look so fake!...who would shoot with the ball 2 feet above his head?? why does he continuously throwing pump fakes this year???
We can still pull this off. I think JVG should stop trying to keep up with the Suns playing small ball. Let them play our style and dictate the pace with our size and strength. You guys are reffering to the game in the past tense. We still have 24 minutes to catch up and maybe win this. They're not gonna give up. C'mon Rockets! I believe in you guys!
<div class="quote_poster">steam03 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">tmac should really stop faking....no body will ever fall for them since they look so fake!...who would shoot with the ball 2 feet above his head?? why does he continuously throwing pump fakes this year???</div> They use to work. That was back when T-Mac was a fearless scorer. Now people look at his FG% and PPG and want him to shoot. T-Mac needs to put the fear back in his opponents, because he use to go to the line at least 1-2 times a game because of pump faking. JVG is willing to try everyone. With the exception of Head, no one has stepped up. If Juwan enters the game, you can guarantee a loss and a huge blowout. No offensive game and bad D is not what you want to do against the Suns. Finally, I think Wells would have been good for us tonight. He might be able to put os over Phoenix (with his rebounding and post ups) if he can get his act together. The only way to beat Phoenix is to post them up and out rebound them, but you still have to hit the majority of your open shots. <div class="quote_poster">Eduardo Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">We can still pull this off. I think JVG should stop trying to keep up with the Suns playing small ball. Let them play our style and dictate the pace with our size and strength. You guys are reffering to the game in the past tense. We still have 24 minutes to catch up and maybe win this. They're not gonna give up. C'mon Rockets! I believe in you guys!</div> It's nice to read something positive in this thread. The 04-05 Rockets would have pulled it off (with a great McGrady.) If T-Mac or Yao can step it up I think we have a good chance to win it.
omg, we're taking waaayyy too many 3 pt attempts.... we shot 19, while the SUNS only shot 10. We're not even hitting from there (21.1%). Overall we got more shots, but are just not hitting them. We need Yao back in there to get those high percentage shots. It was 15-13 for PHX, before Yao got into foul trouble. Then when Yao left, they went on a 14-2 run and it just went down hill from there. I still believe we can win this game, judging the Rockets (mainly Yao) stay out of foul trouble.
Thanks igotask. Nice to know someone else believes we have a chance to win this. Crap, Yao just got his 4th foul. Please please no more fouls, Yao.
Yes!!! Yao by himself has trimmed the lead to 9 pts. Mike D'Antoni just realized how much we depend on Yao and is probably going to have his guys get Yao in foul trouble. Go Rockets! help Yao out! Edit: Get Rafer outta there. He's ruining 'the run' that we're supposed to make. Luther should replace him!
Anyone else confused why Hayes didn't start in the first place? He's certainly being a lot more productive than Novak. Plus, its never good to try to run with Phoenix, instead, the gameplan should have been to try to slow down the ball and make them play to our game.
It's a game again!! But Damn!!!! Tracy needs to stop settling for jumpers!! It's getting real old watching him jack up out of balance shots expecting to hit.
Small ball sucks! Go get em Yao! T-mac pleeease drive to the hoop. If he's just gonna settle for jumpers just give it to Yao man. I regret saying Alston should get outta the game. He and Yao are the reasons we're back in it. 3 triples from him Here's to a good 4th quarter!
