Lv06|ROCKETS-2| Officially Closed.

[Clutch]

Jing - yeah Najera isn't the best offensively or defensively but he's a tough, scrappy role player w/playoff exp and that's just what the doctor ordered;

kbryant24 - thx man! yeah the Playoffs are the goal but it's a tough road ahead especially in the wild wild West;

TheMC5 - 'Live n Die' by the expiring contract is the only way to fly; nothing funner than a huge contract ending to open up wads of cash then shopping the free agency market during off-season

hahah and a member of the 'Green Party' I see? I dunno, Graham's having a breakout year right now... before you take prisoners, I've played out a few games already (working on putting the recaps together) and there's some interesting developments with Gerald Green... stay tuned

Its_asdf/Devin112 - you guys pretty much nailed it, never too early to start setting up for next season (another thing too was that I got annoyed my trainer focused so much time on those rookie scrubs lol)

[Clutch]

PISTONS VS ROCKETS
Wed Jan 2, 2007 Toyota Center, Houston, TX

BOXSCORE DET 95 HOU 96 Final OT
Players at the Half
Player of the Game

Chow's Scouting Report - DET


The Houston Rockets faced one of the leagues toughest road teams, the Detroit Pistons, in an thrilling overtime matchup featuring player debuts and unsung heroes

Thoughout the night, both teams relied on tough pressure defense with neither team able to attain more than a single-digit lead. Point Guard, Chauncey "Mister Big Shot" Billups, led Detroit's well-rounded attack as all starters scored in double figures. The Pistons' hounding defense spoiled the debut of Rockets' new addition, Mike James, who struggled on 1-of-5 shooting to tally 2 points, 1 assist in 12 minutes of play

"Nerves I guess," said James following the game. "It's always a little adjustment playing with new teammates and tonight there was two new guys," referring to the Rockets' second recent addition, Edjuardo Najera. Najera played limited minutes as well but managed to connect on his only shot attempt

As regulation ran down and with the score close through four quarters, the Pistons seemed poised to snatch the road win, leading 83-82 with 13.2 seconds left in regulation. But after a quick timeout, Tracy McGrady inbounded a perfect pass to rookie, Jafari Cotton, who sliced down the lane, connected on the shot attempt and drew the foul. But after JC converted the free throw, giving the Rockets an 85-83 lead with 12.8 left in regulation, Detroit would find it's own late game heroics

With the clock winding down, Rasheed Wallace forced a bad shot in the paint but was bailed out as his shot clanked off the rim and fell into the hands of veteran forward, Chris Webber. With 0.4 of a sec left of the clock, Webber would chip the shot in off the glass and send the game into overtime

In the OT period, Houston's resolve would be tested as the Pistons infamous defense once again clamped down, giving Detroit a 95-89 lead with 1:22 left. However, Yao Ming and T-Mac would again lead the Rockets back, narrowing the gap to 2 and setting up Luke Ridnour's late game magic - with 11.9 seconds on the clock, Ridnour launched and connected on a trey from the top of the key, which gave Houston a 1 point edge; a missed desperation three-point attempt at the other end by Tayshaun Prince sealed the Rockets' victory

Coach Phil Jackson commented after the game, "It was a slugfest all night with some clutch shooting contributions from both teams. Luke's been hitting some huge shots for us lately with the game on the line; we'll have to start calling him, 'Mister Big Shot' as well pretty soon"

Next: Rockets on the road to face Jason Kidd and the New Jersey Nets


Mike James' debut almost breaks Webber's ankles | James hounding Billups on the defensive end

McDyess obliterates James' first shot attempt as a Rocket | Najera is a little luckier

Tough Pistons defense all night | Refs watch 'Sheed close as things get chippy


With 0.4 sec, Chris Webber puts it back to send the game into OT

In OT, defense rose to another level | Billups absolutely fearless


Ridnour sinks his own 'big shot' for the win
_____

NETS VS ROCKETS
Jan 5, 2007 Continental Airlines Arena, East Rutherford, NJ


BOXSCORE HOU 104 NJN 96 Final
Player of the Game

With New Jersey's superstar, Vince Carter, on the sidelines nursing a sprained foot, Jason Kidd would shoulder the offensive load and attempt to protect home court versus the visiting Houston Rockets only to fall short in the final seconds of the game

Rockets' point guard, Luke Ridnour, found himself in early foul trouble under Kidd's offensive assault which allowed recent acquisition, Mike James, to have a bounce-back game after a so-so debut versus Detroit. Although James was unable to slow the red hot Kidd down, but he was able to dictate the Houston offense smoothly and effectively, finishing with 12 points, 2 rebounds and a team-high 7 assists on the night

The Rockets two superstars would each have great nights: Yao Ming, finishing with a solid double-double of 20 points, 12 rebounds and Tracy McGrady ended with a team-high 30 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists. However, free throws would tip the scales in Houston's favor as the Rockets as a team went a perfect 25-for-25 from line where Jersey struggled with 11-of-18 shooting from the stripe

Jason Kidd lead all scorers with 36 points while pulling 3 boards in the Nets' home loss


James delivers a solid performance with Ridnour in foul trouble | Marvin Williams with a nasty flush

Jason Kidd on an offensive tear nearly wills the Nets to victory

[Marquis]

From what I saw this is very nice dynasty. I think I will have to read it whole.

Interesting game, Ridnour missed all 7 three point shots and hit the last one, which was decisive.

[Clutch]

Marquis - hey thx man; hope you can check it out when you have time and damn - nice catch too; i didn't even realize how many bricks Ridnour threw up; ah well, as long as he hits the one that matters

[Chaser7]

Nice this continues to be a top notch dynasty.... What happened to the power rankings though? P.S. what are we gonig to do in live 08 without Richardson they probably won't give great ratings to Belinni or Wright or at least ratings good enough to compensate for Richardson (just like in real life..) ...

[Its_asdf]

Man, that must have been fun to play that game in Detriot. It kind of reminds of a game that I played against the Raptors when Garbjajosa nailed a three pointer to put the team up by two and and then Roy nailed a hook a la Kareem with 0.9 secs to tie the game. It went into double overtime and I eventually came out on top, but the game crashed immediately after the game and I had to do it all over.

Boo to MC5. Graham is the shiznit. Glad to see Mike bounce back and have a good game off the bench.

[Clutch]

Nbarulez - sorry man, PowerRankings got nuked somehow this week but will be back for week 11; JRich? yeah, sucked to see him go but the Dubs are my hometeam and I've been a Dubs fan before JRich ever showed up (although I'll miss his wicked dunkage); i'm optimistic about Belinelli and Wright and they just signed Lasme (who reminds me of a young Kevin Willis for some reason) so i'm looking forward to the season; if i could get teh shoe patch to work, i'd be tempted to run a parallel Live 06 GSW dynasty but right now, i tried Andrew's v1.11 (via Remix's conversion) and they all run around with glowing pink shoes lol; as far as Live 08 stats? you can always tweak them to whatever you wish

Its_asdf - wicked fun game vs Detroit for sure! would've loved to read your recap on that lost Raptors/Blazers double OT game - sux big time it crashed out

Graham v Green? yeah i'm pretty torn right now; actually since adding James/Najera, the substitution pattern is all funky and the bench is struggling somewhat; Phil Jackson's got his work cut out for him lol

James is a trip so far; don't really know what to expect from him from game-to-game and his shot selection is questionable at times, just like real life it does make it funner in a masochistic way

[Clutch]

RAPTORS VS ROCKETS "Upstart Raptors down Rockets"
Sun Jan 6, 2008 Air Canada Center, Toronto, ON

BOXSCORE HOU 103 TOR 106 Final
Players at the Half
Player of the Game

Chow's Scouting Report - TOR
Injury Report - TOR

For the second time this season, Chris Bosh and co. proved to be an exceptionally tough matchup for the visiting Houston Rockets as the scrappy Toronto Raptors clawed their way to victory in front of their Air Canada Center home crowd

Matchup problems existed on almost all fronts for the Rockets: in the frontcourt, while Yao Ming and Chris Bosh effectively cancelled each other out, Houston's Jafari Cotton, the #2 overall draft pick this season, was once again abused… no - humiliated - by rookie forward, Hasani Bowelle, the Raptors' 42nd overall pick and surprise darkhorse ROY candidate. Bowelle, pumped by the roar of rabid fans, racked up an impressive 21 point, 8 board, 3 assist night while limiting JC to 4 points and 5 rebounds

"I don't care who got picked what or where in the draft," said Bowelle. "Dat's all behind us; when we out there on the court? Dat's where it's at. I love these fans, my team and Chris been the greatest mentor; we don't fear nobody"

The backcourt favored Toronto as well, as guards TJ Ford and Mo Peterson dominated over the Rockets' Luke Ridnour and Joey Graham; Ford single-handedly matched Ridnour and Graham's collective point output of 23 while Peterson was absolutely unstoppable, dropping in a team-high 30 points, collecting 2 rebounds, 5 assists and capturing 'Player of the Game' honors

"That team got nothin' on us. We own them," said Peterson post-game

The only mismatch for Houston was at the Small Forward position, where Tracy McGrady would explode in his best game of the season with 33 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, shooting a red-hot 12-for-18 including 5 from downtown

"Strange game," McGrady said following the match. "It was ours for the taking but we just kinda lost our focus and let it slip away at the end. It happens"

The final minutes of the 4th turned into a coaching duel between Toronto's Sam Mitchell and Houston's Phil Jackson. With less than five minutes, Jackson would set up a beautiful play which freed up Graham for the authoritative alley-oop off a McGrady no-look pass; but Mitchell would orchestrate a bold but decisive play, resulting in a 103-104 lead on a successful Bosh three-point basket leaving 15.6 seconds on the clock

After a final timeout, the Rockets would literally give the game away on Ridnour's easily intercepted inbound pass off a broken play; Ford was fouled as a result and his two free throws iced the Toronto victory

Next: Paul Pierce, Al Jefferson and the Boston Celtics come to town

Bosh with a vicious block on TMac | Yao inside for the flush

Yao gets revenge for his teammate | Jackson calls for the "No-look-behind-the-back-alley-oop"...

... executed to perfection!

Mitchell calls for a gutsy play... a Chris Bosh trey!

Jackson urging his troops to settle down but Ridnour's nerves get the best of him on a horrible inbound pass to... nobody

TJ Ford - ice water in his veins | Mo Pete - a cocky stare and post-game remarks, "That team got nothin' on us. We own them"

_____

CELTICS VS ROCKETS "Celtics keep Rockets Grounded"
Fri Jan 11, 2007 Toyota Center, Houston, TX

BOXSCORE BOS 103 HOU 92 Final
Player of the Game


With Joey Graham recovering from flu-like symptoms, Gerald Green would have the opportunity to start against his former team, the Boston Celtics and he did not disappoint

Green, who was traded in the off-season for the Rockets 2006 1st-round draft pick, Power Forward, Ayeshi Lee, and 5th-year sharp-shooter, Kyle Korver, had been struggling to find his niche since the recent acquisition of point guard, Mike James. But Green would find his groove against his former team, tallying a respectable 19 point, 6 assist and 2 rebound line by night's end

Meanwhile, Rocket's rookie Forward, Jafari Cotton, perhaps still affected by his humiliation in Toronto the previous game, continued to struggle and had the worst game of his young career finishing with 0 points, 2 rebounds and 1 block; luckily 3-year pro, Marvin Williams, would step up, scoring only 4 points but collecting an impressive 12 rebounds

Despite a nice night by Green and teammates, Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, it was not enough to overcome the well-balanced attack of the Celtics led by a young and hungry, Al Jefferson, who finished the night with 21 points, 11 rebounds, 2 blocks,2 assists and led an impressive 4th quarter defensive lockdown which held the Rockets to a meager 12 points

"It's a stumble, not a slide," said coach Phil Jackson after the defeat. "If we lose five or six games straight, then you can talk about slumps; but this team has some tough-minded leaders and I'm sure they just won't allow that to happen."

Next: Mike Bibby, Ron Artest and the Sacramento Kings at Arco Arena

T-Mac with a sweet assist right past Szczerbiak | McGrady serves up a facial on former teammate Kyle Korver

A slight scare for Rocket's fans as Yao appeared to injure his arm while entangled with Szczerbiak

Yao would return early in the second quarter and put on a defensive display

Gerald Green with a solid night against his former team | Al Jefferson hammered the Rockets into submission in the 4th

_____

ROCKETS VS KINGS "Kings dethroned in Arco"
Sat Jan 12, 2007 Arco Arena, Sacramento, CA

BOXSCORE HOU 106 SAC 99 Final
Player of the Game

Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady ended the Rockets' two-game losing streak on the road and in impressive fashion versus the Sacramento Kings at Arco Arena

The dynamic duo combined for 54 of Houston's 106 point total in one of Ming's most dominant games of the season. Yao would also collect a team-high 17 rebounds and 2 blocks

Gerald Green, in his second consecutive start, continued to struggle with 1-for-7 shooting from the beyond the arc but led a late 4th quarter run with 5 points and 2 key assists in the closing minutes. Green finished the game with 11 points and 6 assists

Sacramento was led by the solid front court play of Center, Brad Miller, who tallied 18 points, 14 rebounds and Forward, Shareef-Abdur Rahim, who finished with 18 points, 17 rebounds and 2 assists

Mutombo on patrol erases Bibby's shot attempt | TMac doesn't appreciate the tight defense of Ron Artest

Yao skies above the rest for 1 of his 17 rebounds | Green leads the 4th quarter surge that breaks the game open

Eric Musselman's timeout after a Rockets 10-2 run is too little, too late

_____

[Martti.]

Jackson calls for the "No-look-behind-the-back-alley-oop"...

I doubt that's a set play..

Too bad you lost though..

[Its_asdf]

Damn, you make Peterson sound like a cocky ass bitch.

And I seem to have a problem with the following statement in your recap.

but Mitchell would orchestrate a bold but decisive play

"Mitchell" and "plays" don't go together unless "doesn't execute any" goes in between the two. I have watched enough Raptor games to know that.

[Devin112]

"After a final timeout, the Rockets would literally give the game away on Ridnour's easily intercepted inbound pass off a broken play; Ford was fouled as a result and his two free throws iced the Toronto road victory "

ouch man, that sucks. heartbreaker! Mental lapse by ridnour, he'll do better next time

oh yeah, i love how u fit in all the action shots. gives us a real sense of the game

[Clutch]

km - it is man, i swear! they practice it for emergency situations btw, good to see your Bucks dynasty starting to roll again

Its_asdf - well, you'd be the expert on Mitchell; it's too bad because they've got some nice young talent now; ah well... at least he doesn't pout and stand there with his arms crossed like the Rockets' old coach, JVG

Devin112 - yeah man, definite heartbreaker loss; Ridnour was pretty gun shy in the follow up game vs the Celtics; coach Jackson must've tore him a new one in the locker room anyway, thx for the comments

[looser]

Man...I really love the new recap style
and your graphic card isn't that bad

[Clutch]

looser - "your graphic card isn't that bad" yeah? i'll trade ya heheh j/k but thx for comments and glad your diggin' the recaps; btw some major developments may be in the works so stay tuned...

[Clutch]

DAMN!

my laptop crapped out on me today and was taken in for emergency servicing; so everything's on hold basically at least til next thurs/fri at the earliest (hopefully not permanently!)

[Devin112]

Oh damn, sorry to hear that bro. I was thinking about using my laptop too, what were your specs man? I'm getting worried.

[TheMC5]

Yeah, that's pretty weak. This is one of the better dynasties going right now. Hope your laptop is repairable.

[Clutch]

Devin112 - the port where you plug the power cord is messed up so it's no longer receiving AC power/recharging; the laptop itself is fine running Live 06 with specs of like 2.0 GHz, 1024 ram but has a crappy vid card; so as long as the shop doesn't do anything funky and F up the harddrive, everything should be fine;

TheMC5 - thx man and as above, things should be up and running again by next wknd; good thing my housemate has an old desktop comp so i can at least live dynasty hoops vicariously through other people's; hmm... wonder if this old POS clunker can run Live '06...

[Clutch]

so I took my laptop to teh shop on Friday just before they closed; luckily i'm under warranty still so everything should be covered

i tell him the problem - it's not receiving power. teh port is loose in the back. i tell him i just replaced teh power cord in April this year

he 'tests' the cord with a different laptop and says "it's fine. now i need to keep it to open it up and see what could be wrong." he's supposed to call on Monday to let me know if parts need to be ordered

tuesday i call right before closing (never heard from him monday and probably wouldn't have tues if i didn't call); he tells me, "for one, the power cord is bad" whut? i explain he tested it on Friday and said it was good; apparently now it's no longer good for some strange reason and he ordered another. oh, power cords run $60ish bucks and are NOT covered by warranty

also says, "the hard drive SEEMS to be fine but he needs to check/test some other things" hard drive? there was nothing wrong w/it when i brought it in!? it's a Power supply issue! "I still need to check something else; i will call you when teh power cord arrives" WTF?

man... i didn't say anything. nor will i until my laptop is no longer hostage, but i've a feeling i'm gonna go OFF on that mo fo before all is said and done

feel like Mel Gibson in that movie 'Ransom' - "GIVE ME BACK MY SON!"

[Its_asdf]

This was my favourite dynasty to read through. I think it was your dynasty and a couple of others that helped inspire me to start my Portland dynasty, so I'm feeling a lot less motivated to update these days...

[TheMC5]

This was my favourite dynasty to read through. I think it was your dynasty and a couple of others that helped inspire me to start my Portland dynasty, so I'm feeling a lot less motivated to update these days...

Noooo, asdf, we need you more than ever now with BoomDizzle's dynasty possibly on extended hiatus. Keep the updates going, man, especially after that sweet D-Miles profile.

And BoomDizzle, that is even weaker than before. This guy sounds like he's might be jerking you around pretty bad.

[Clutch]

No man! i gaurantee TMac, YAO & Jafari "JC" Cotton will all be back in form soon enough; as far as being inspired? i know i took a look at a bunch of dynasties before i ever started my short-lived GSW dynasty which quickly evolved into the current 'Rockets: Redemption' thread; and i know your early Raptors definitely stood out to me, got me pumped and set some foundation

and IA, your current Blazer D is freggin' brilliant and compelling; easily my most anticipated from update-to-update; my point? you've gotta keep on it as MC5 put it, "now more than ever!"

and no worries MC5, i'll show that jerk he can't jerk this jerk around! wait... that didn't sound right lol

[Clutch]

Laptop back in business! Apparently it was only the powercord; almost turned into a major fiasco but to make a long story short, i just ended up buying a 'universal' AC adaptor (twice the price of a normal Toshiba brand adaptor) otherwise i would've had to order it and wait weeks but i can't afford to wait as i've got important projects to work on (not to mention a Dynasty to continue )

currently in the process of moving at the moment, but updates to resume very soon...

[Clutch]

ROCKETS VS NUGGETS 'Davids' take out Goliath in OT
Jan 14, 2008 Pepsi Center, Denver, CO

Chow's Scouting Report - DEN
Injury Report - DEN
Bettman's Weekly Training Log

GAME RECAP

Two of the NBA's rising challengers for Western supremacy faced off in Denver's Pepsi Center as Carmelo Anthony and the Denver Nuggets, riding a 4-game win streak, defended home court against Yao Ming and the Houston Rockets

A lightning-quick, fast-break style and excellent passing led by the backcourt tandem of Allen Iverson and JR Smith gave the Nuggets an early 12-point advantage but the Rockets answered with tough defense led by Center, Yao Ming who recorded 6 blocks by the break and narrowed the lead to 3

After halftime, Houston continued to chip away at Denver's lead, this time powered by the offense of Tracy McGrady. However, his scoring was offset by Denver's versatile Allstar Forward, Carmelo Anthony, who matched McGrady point-for-point in regulation and forced an overtime period

In OT, despite, McGrady's explosive offense and Yao's tremendous defense, the Rockets finally succumbed to Denver's relentless fast-paced and well-balanced offensive assault. 'Player of the Game', Carmelo Anthony, finished the night with a solid 21 point, 11 rebound, 3 assist effort while Houston was led by 27 points from McGrady and a memorable defensive performance by Yao Ming, who flirted with a rare triple double of 19 points, 14 rebounds and season-high 8 blocks

"Man, that was fun," said Allen Iverson following the Overtime win. "Yao was like 'Goliath' out there and we were a bunch of little 'Davids' being tossed around; but I knew if we just kept attacking, he'd eventually get tired and we could pull off the win." Iverson finished the night with 21 points and 6 assists

"It's how they've been successful this whole season," said coach Phil Jackson. "Denver's an athletic, quick-strike team with a lot of depth and versatility; they'll keep coming at you the full 48 and if they get you into overtime? It's definitely in their favor."

With rookie, Jafari Cotton, struggling over the past few games, 3rd-year forward, Marvin Williams, got the start at Power Forward for the Rockets and collected an impressive double-double of 14 points, 10 rebounds; coming off the bench, JC ended the night with 2 points, 3 rebounds and 2 steals

Up next, the Rockets return home to host Zach Randolf and the visiting Portand Trailblazers

BOXSCORE
HOU 111
DEN 119 Final OT
Players at the Half
Player of the Game

One of Yao's season-high 8 blocked shots | Coach George Karl is amused as DerMarr Johnson fakes T-Mac out of his shoes

McGrady draws the charge against Anthony | 'Mello settles down and dominates the 2nd half

Graham throws down a nasty windmill | Marvin Williams impressive in his first start of the season

Yao at the mercy of the deadliest crossover in the league

Gerald Green and JR Smith battling for air supremacy

Houston rallys from 6 down with less 1:30 remaining in the 4th | T-Mac sends the game into overtime with the trey

JR Smith with a team-high 23 points, 7 assists | a dejected Yao walks off after his monstrous defensive night

[Its_asdf]

Damn, the Denver backcourt really raped you... They did the same to me when I played them earlier on in my dynasty.

Even though you lossed, I'm happy to see Marvin Williams finally getting some pretty good numbers in quality minutes. He's rotting away his potential on the bench.

Now if only you had two more blocks... I think that would've been Yao's first triple double.