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Yao vs. Spurs - 2/09/04
 The Spurs' Tony Parker drives past Yao on Monday night in Houston. Yao had an excellent game, scoring 25 points on 11-of-16 shooting, but the Rockets lost again to San Antonio 82-85. To see more photos from the game, click here for the topic in the YaoMingMania.com discussion forum. (Photo courtesy AP). |
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Manu manipulates, Horry haunts Rockets
MONDAY, 2/9/04 - The Rockets lost another game to San Antonio, this time 85-82. Nothing new there. The Rockets have now lost six in a row to their I-10 rivals. They came close to pulling off the upset of the defending World Champions, coming back from 13 points down in both halves to give them a run for their money. But they couldn't stop role players like Manu Ginobili (7 points in the fourth quarter) and former Rocket Robert Horry (three 3-pointers and 13 points overall) from burning them. Every time Horry hits one of those 3-pointers, they are like daggers. And you can't help but lament the fact that perhaps he could have returned to the Rockets this season as a free agent. Anyhow, despite one of Yao's best performances of the season scoring 25 points on 11-of-16 shooting (his third highest total of the season), the Rockets had their 3-game winning streak come to an end. There was a silver lining to this loss for Rocket fans. The Rockets are showing they have an ability to come back, having done so against the Hawks in Atlanta on Saturday night. Yao is also showing more confidence by taking shots in pivotal moments of the fourth quarter, and making them! It looked like he wanted to take the clutch shots rather than pass off to a teammate. As we said after the Atlanta game when Yao only made 2-of-11 shots, we were pleased that he continued to take shots despite missing them. In the long run, the Rockets will be better off with Yao taking shots down the stretch. For some reason, the entire team cleared out on the final play of the game for Francis to do his one-on-one thing and try to close the 82-85 gap at the time (more about that later), but until the coaching staff starts drawing up plays for Yao in that situation and forces Francis to dish to him, not much will change. It would have been great if Yao could have taken the final shot against San Antonio rather than Francis, but I think it's up to Yao to DEMAND the ball in that situation. With his resurgent confidence, maybe that will happen sooner than later. Speaking of Yao's confidence, Jeff Van Gundy also came out before Monday's game to say how pleased he was with how Yao played on Saturday night against Atlanta. You can check out those quotes in the "What 'they' are saying" section. More fuel for the Steve and Van Gundy controversy? The magnifying glass still remains on Steve Francis, and after the last play of the game against the Spurs, it's getting even more uncomfortable to watch. After the Super Bowl Sunday fiasco when he decided to skip the team flight to Phoenix and attend the Super Bowl instead, then deny those charges despite his coach saying he talked to Francis while he was in the Super Bowl parking lot, Francis has really got the national media talking now. Countless articles appeared in sports pages this past week talking about "the problem" between Van Gundy and Francis, which has turned into allegations that Francis doesn't like playing for Van Gundy and that the two don't get along. As expected, this thing is taking on a life of its own...just like the Janet/Justin controversy did. Well, the way the game ended against the Spurs on Monday night can't help the situation. With 15 seconds remaining in the game but no timeouts left, Houston trailed 82-85. They could have tried to score a quick basket and get into a free throw shooting contest with the Spurs, or try to hit a three-pointer and send it to overtime. Francis brought the ball down the court on that final possesion and seemed confused on what to do. He ended up dribbling the entire possession without passing off, trying to find his own shot and hit another "home run" (as Van Gundy called it during the preseason). This is nothing new. By the time he found an opening, he was too tired to really have much "oomph" behind the shot, and it fell short at the buzzer, leaving the Rockets with another defeat to the Spurs. After the game, the TNT announcers commented how Francis dribbled the entire possession, was too tired to put up a strong shot, and replayed Van Gundy's anguished looked walking off the court with obvious frustration. I'm sure that replay will be played over and over for the rest of the season. Of course, the way this game ended continued to add fuel to the fire about the supposed mismatched relationship between Van Gundy and Francis. Even Charles Barkley said after the game on TNT that he thinks that Francis is going to be traded. Not that I'm sticking up for Francis, but to be fair, the Rockets got possession of the ball after a missed Ginobili free throw with no timeouts remaining. So there wasn't much of an opportunity to discuss strategy beforehand. In addition, Van Gundy wasn't really motioning with any body language on what his point guard should do on the last possession. Francis seemed to be on his own, and he had to decide if he should shoot a trey or penetrate for an easier two-pointer, with no guarantee that a two-pointer would fall. Sure, it's painful to see Francis dribble an entire possession, but that's what he does and I think we learned a long time ago that he is not going to change his ways. Right or wrong, Francis still thinks the Rockets is still his team and he should be taking the last shot, no matter how badly he may be struggling from the field. This is the same kind of mentality that makes you skip team flights, and not show up to a corporate dinner event so you can stay home and watch NFL playoff games. As long as the Rockets decide that he helps their team more than hurts them, they will have to deal with the side effects. Francis is a risk-taker, and every time he fails (which is more often than succeeding), the speculation and the heat is going to get worse. The question is if Francis can turn the situation around like Allen Iverson did a few years ago when he was having issues with Larry Brown. If Francis wins, like Iverson did to take the 76ers to the NBA Finals, all will be forgotten (at least for a little while). If he doesn't win, then look for him to be traded next season a la Rasheed Wallace (who was traded from Portland on Monday night to Atlanta), and for the Rockets to become more of Yao's team. As you can probably tell, I spent more time writing this Latest Summary than working on the Detailed Yao Analysis and shot chart (which haven't posted yet). Because the game had a one hour later start than normal, and I've got a deadline at work tomorrow, I'm not going to have enough time to post those tonight, but I will try to post a Detailed Yao Analysis on Tuesday night. |
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