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| yoda9999 |
 Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 8:38 pm |
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Joined: 15 Dec 2006
Posts: 609
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We will be in 4th place tonight!!  |
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| pryuen |
| Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 8:45 pm |
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Joined: 25 Feb 2003
Posts: 46906
Location: Hong Kong/China
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| alpha_yao |
| Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 8:49 pm |
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Joined: 02 Oct 2006
Posts: 678
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It annoys me that JVG sits YAO out during end games!  |
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| TheRoxRedGlare |
| Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 8:52 pm |
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Joined: 05 Nov 2006
Posts: 4061
Location: Let The Good Times Roll!
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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2003659858_websoni09.html
Sonics fall to Rockets, 95-90
By Tim Booth
The Associated Press
Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming combined for 58 points, and the Houston Rockets ignored any distraction from a missing teammate to beat the Seattle SuperSonics 95-90 on Monday night.
McGrady was the offense in the first half, scoring 21 of his 27 points. Yao took control in the second half, with 15 of his 31 in the third quarter. Yao finished 11-for-11 at the free-throw line, and grabbed seven rebounds.
Houston didn't show any affects from the unknown absence of backup guard Bonzi Wells, who didn't join the team for its morning walkthrough and wasn't at the arena Monday night. Before the game, coach Jeff Van Gundy said he hadn't talked to Wells and his concern was that Wells was OK.
Instead, the Rockets won their fourth straight road game and continued to chase Utah for fourth place in the Western Conference. Houston started Monday night a half game back of the Jazz.
Rashard Lewis led Seattle with 20, but Shane Battier's physical defense flustered Seattle's main scoring option. Lewis shot just 6-for-24, missing four consecutive attempts in the fourth quarter when Seattle needed points. Most of those chances were contested by Battier. |
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| hoopfan |
| Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 8:55 pm |
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Joined: 21 Aug 2004
Posts: 692
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Thank goodness the Rockets won. They love to give their fans heart attacks!   |
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| pryuen |
| Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 8:56 pm |
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Joined: 25 Feb 2003
Posts: 46906
Location: Hong Kong/China
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yoda9999 wrote: We will be in 4th place tonight!!
Well, even if we can beat Utah Jazz for the home court advantage, officially we are just the 5th in the tough Western Conference.....cos the first 4 places will be:-
Dallas Mavericks
Phoenix Suns
San Antonio Spurs
Utah Jazz
as Utah Jazz qualifies as champion for their division. |
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| TheRoxRedGlare |
| Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 9:44 pm |
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Joined: 05 Nov 2006
Posts: 4061
Location: Let The Good Times Roll!
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 Ted S. Warren : AP
Tracy McGrady (1) had 21 points in the first half and finished with 27.
April 10, 2007, 12:23AM
Rockets gain edge in race by downing Sonics
By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
Game Statistics
SEATTLE _ Because they have cable television in Seattle, too, there was plenty to keep Bonzi Wells entertained in his hotel room.
Wells, who said last week that cable television was all anyone needed to know what he could do in the playoffs, went AWOL on Monday, skipping the game. But with a good cable hookup, he could still see everything from Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming combining for 58 points to McGrady turning into Yao's enforcer, as the Rockets knocked off the Seattle SuperSonics 95-90 at KeyArena on Monday.
With the win, the Rockets moved a half-game in front of the Utah Jazz for the fourth-best record in the Western Conference and home-court advantage in their first-round series. But with that series — expected to be tough and physical — fast approaching, the Rockets seemed to get ready when Yao was knocked down, and he and they got up stronger.
"We have a pretty tight group," Rockets forward Shane Battier said. "Any time we feel one of our guys, especially one of our main guys, is being bullied, no one reacts well to that. The best way to show that play is not going to be tolerated is to raise our game. That's what we did.
"We responded really well to that flagrant foul, and we were able to open a lead. That's what tough teams do. Toughness isn't beating your chest, swearing at the other team or being Mr. Macho. It's about raising your play when teams try to get tough with you."
The Rockets had led by as much as 15 in the first half, but then stopped playing defense long enough for the Sonics to make 11 of 16 shots to end the first half and begin the second before the Rockets seemed to notice. When they did, with the Sonics within three, Yao swatted a Rashard Lewis shot, which seemed to have inspired Nick Collison to swat Yao.
Collison threw Yao to the floor for a flagrant foul that brought a retaliatory shove from McGrady.
"That was an unnecessary foul," McGrady said.
"We did a great job responding to it, accepting that challenge."
Damien Wilkins' free throw on McGrady's technical foul cut the Rockets' lead to two. But Yao made both free throws and followed that with a jumper, two more free throws and a dunk.
When he grabbed an offensive rebound and slammed it back in, he had 10 points in the two minutes after crashing to the floor and the Rockets led 74-64 with 2:41 remaining before the fourth quarter.
"We made a concerted effort to get him the ball," McGrady said. "He asserted himself on the offensive end, drawing fouls, making shots as he normally does. It opened it up for us on the outside. After that flagrant foul, we just wanted to get him the ball."
The Rockets' defense, however, had not regained any control of the Sonics. Seattle came back within two, with Lewis, who was 3-of-14 through three quarters, making his first two shots of the fourth.
McGrady, who finished with 27 points, put in a pair of jumpers, and Luther Head made one. But when McGrady sat with 7:25 left, the lead was a shaky seven.
The SuperSonics drew within five with four minutes left before Rafer Alston put in a pair of free throws and Juwan Howard sank a jumper for a nine-point lead heading to the final three minutes.
For the second-consecutive night, after so many in which they crumbled down the stretch, the Rockets held on, without ever letting the Sonics get too close again.
"We need to stay together, just like tonight," Yao said after finishing with 31 points, making 10 of 19 shots and all 11 of his free throws.
With that, it was a pretty good show, assuming the cable worked at the team hotel.
jonathan.feigen@chron.com |
Last edited by TheRoxRedGlare on Tue Apr 10, 2007 3:10 am; edited 1 time in total |
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| TheRoxRedGlare |
| Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 10:18 pm |
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Joined: 05 Nov 2006
Posts: 4061
Location: Let The Good Times Roll!
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 Courtside
Live Rockets commentary & more on NBA with Fran Blinebury
http://blogs.chron.com/franblinebury/2007/04/the_best_12_punch_is_no_punch.html
April 10, 2007
The best 1-2 punch is no punch: Rockets 95, Sonics 90.
It would have been easy for Yao Ming to give in to the anger. When Nick Collison climbed on him like a backyard gym set and threw him violently to the ground in the third quarter, Yao could have retaliated with a punch or started a full scale brawl.
That would have satisfied the bloodlust of many TV viewers back in Houston and it may have satisfield Yao's own emotions in the moment. A little pain to pay back Collison.
Instead Yao hurt the Sonics more by kicking them all over the floor for the next five minutes. It was Yao using his head instead of his fists and it was much more devastating.
When Damien Wilkins made the free throw that resulted from Tracy McGrady's technical foul, the Sonics had climbed to within 62-60.
By the time the quarter ended, just five minutes later, Yao had squashed the Sonics like he was stomping on anthills. He took the ball down low, drew fouls and made his free throws (11-for-11). He stepped outside and hit a mid-range jumper. He took a feed from Juwan Howard for an inside hoop and he grabbed an offensive rebound off his own miss and slammed it home and shook the backboard.
Yao scored 8 straight points and 10 of the next 12 by the Rockets after the Collison takedown. He finished with 31 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocked shots.
Put that together with McGrady's 27 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists and that's the kind of 1-2 punch the Rockets will need in the playoffs. Not the kind that involves retaliation.
Fans can scream for blood and bruising revenge, a return takedown on Collison, as if they were watching Ultimate Fighting. And don't think it isn't natural for Yao to think that way.
"Yeah, I was mad," he said. "I thought it was a hard foul. He threw me onto the ground....But it is important for us to keep moving up in the standings."
Far more important for the Rockets to get the win and moved past Utah in the race for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs than to satisfy a primal urge by taking a swing.
It Yao or McGrady were to get into a fight and get thrown out of a playoff game and get suspended, it could cost them the season. Then many of the same fans who wanted blood would rip them for being foolish.
Those who harken back to the days of Detroit's Bad Boys and Pat Riley's brass-knuckle Knicks have clued into the fact that it's a different era now. In the aftermath of the Malice at the Palace, the NBA has a zero tolerance for fighting.
More important than making silly, childish statements about their manhood is for Yao and McGrady to continue the combination they threw at the Sonics.
"Tracy, in the last two games, he played very, very aggressive," said Yao. "He wasn't just pulling up at the perimeter and trying to make assists to his teammates and shooting jumpers. He was attacking the basket. That is the T-Mac we need in the playoffs. I really like it."
Yao and T-Mac. Using the ol' 1-2 combination for a crucial knockout. The smart way.
Posted by Fran Blinebury at April 10, 2007 12:03 AM |
Last edited by TheRoxRedGlare on Tue Apr 10, 2007 3:38 am; edited 1 time in total |
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| TheRoxRedGlare |
| Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 3:26 am |
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Joined: 05 Nov 2006
Posts: 4061
Location: Let The Good Times Roll!
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............................... Rox vs Sonics Game Highlight Video
............................ Player of the Game: Yao Ming
........................................ 31 pts. 7 Rebs, 2 Blks.
............ |
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