Showing posts with label yao ming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label yao ming. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

NBA Tuesday Recap: Kobe Is Clutch And Orlando Sets NBA Record

There were seven games last night and five of the games were won by the road team.

The best game of the night was in Houston where the Lakers defeated the Rockets 105-100.

Shane Battier hit a three-pointer to give the Rockets a 100-99 lead but Kobe Bryant matched Battier's three with one of his own to give the Lakers a 102-100 lead.

Rafer Alston got fouled with about nine seconds left in the game but he missed both free throws. Pau Gasol made one of two free throws to give the Lakers a three-point lead with seven seconds left.

Yao Ming made a bonehead mistake and took a two-point shot instead of passing it to a wide open Aaron Brooks on the left corner for an open three-pointer. Ming missed the shot and the game was basically over after that.

Ming must have thought it was a two-point game.

Von Wafer, starting in place of Tracy McGrady, had 23 points. Carl Landry helped out with 21 points for the Rockets.

Kobe was the hero for the Lakers with his clutch shooting throughout the second half and finished with 33 points on 13-32 shooting.

In Minnesota, the Heat came from behind to beat the Timberwolves 99-96. Minnesota was leading for most of the game. The key to the game was the final quarter where the Heat outscored Minnesota 26-20.

Dwyane Wade had 31 points to lead the Heat Randy Foye continued to stay hot with 29 points on 12-21 shooting. Foye made five three-pointers as well.

Al Jefferson only had nine points on 4-14 shooting and was a non-factor in the game.

The game was tied at 91 when Wade took a wild shot and missed. Kevin Love got the rebound and tried to throw a long outlet pass to Rodney Carney but it was intercepted by Michael Beasley.

Beasley passed the ball to Marion who threw it up for Wade for a dunk to give the Heat a two-point lead. Foye hit a three to give his team a  96-95 lead but that would be the last time Minnesota would score.

Shawn Marion got to the foul line and made both free thows to give the Heat the lead for good. Marion was fouled on a dunk attempt after a great pass from Wade.

Carney missed a three-pointer that would have tied the game before the  final buzzer sounded.

Orlando clobbered the Kings at Arco Arena 139-107. Orlando made 23 three-pointers to set an NBA record.

The Kings were led by Kevin Martin's 30 points. Dwight Howard had 25 points and 15 rebounds for Orlando.

Raymond Felton was the hero for Charlotte as they upset the Pistons 80-78 in Detroit.

Charlotte outscored the Pistons 18-10 in the fourth quarter.

Felton had 23 points and nine assists and hit the game-winning jumper with 0.7 seconds left.  Felton was 5-5 in the fourth quarter and two of his shots were three-pointers.

The Bobcats went on a 13-2 run to end the game. Emeka Okafor played good defense on Rasheed Wallace in the final minute of the game.

Wallace was called for an offensive foul with the game tied at 78. This gave the Bobcats the chance to win the game and Felton's jumper over Rodney Stuckey sealed the deal.

LeBron James had  a triple-double with 30 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists as the Cavs defeated the Grizzlies in Memphis 102-87.

O.J. Mayo only had six points for Memphis.

Dirk Nowitzki had 44 points but that was not enough as the Nuggets beat the Mavs 99-97 in Denver.

Chauncey Billups hit two free throws with two seconds left in the game to give Denver the win.

Jason Kidd struggled with only two points on 1-9 shooting.

The Suns beat the Hawks 107-102 at home. Shaq had 26 points to lead the Suns and Josh Smith ahd 24 for the Hawks.

Joe Johnson struggled with only 11 points on 4-21 shooting.

The Hawks were undermanned without Al Horford who is out with a knee injury.




Saturday, March 15, 2008

Rockets 21 Game Victory Streak is Overrated

The Houston Rockets are on a 21 game winning streak and have won 25 of their last 26 games. A closer look at their schedule shows that they have beaten some of the worst teams in the league.

I am not impressed with their win streak at all. It is not like they faced a Murderers' Row of good teams such as Boston, the Lakers, and the Pistons. Who cares if they can beat losing teams like Charlotte, Minnesota, Milwaukee, Miami, and Memphis?

How about beating Indiana twice or Dallas on the road when the Mavs were without Dirk Nowitzki? Only seven of their 21 wins have been on the road and 12 teams they played were from the weak Eastern Conference. Their best victory on this win streak is against the Hornets on the road.

This win streak just shows how watered down the NBA is. There are more bad teams than good teams and some teams in the Eastern Conference probably will make it into the playoffs without a winning record.

The Rockets will be lucky to win one playoff series in April. They will miss Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady won't be able to do it all by himself once again. They have a lot of good role players but most of them don't have any playoff experience. No one knows how Luis Scola, Carl Landry, and Aaron Brooks will perform in the playoffs.

The city of Houston should enjoy this win streak because they will have a hard time making any noise in the postseason without Yao. The win streak will end eventually and probably sooner than later.

They should be able to defeat a Lakers team without Pau Gasol on Sunday
but the streak will end next week at home against Boston or on road against the Hornets, Warriors, and Suns. In fact, they might lose all those games. Houston, celebrate this great streak now because no one will remember or care about it next month when the playoffs begin.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Thursday Tidbits

  • Both Hermes Franca and UFC champion Sean Sherk who fought in a five round battle on July 7 have been suspended for one year due to failed drug tests after their fight.
  • Barry Bonds hit a monster Home Run vs the Cubs this afternoon as he nears Aaron's record. He had 2 homers and six rbis as the Giants lost again.
  • Milwaukee and Chicago both win this afternoon. This is one of the more exciting races this year in baseball.
  • Houston Rockets resign Steve Francis. Yao Ming and Franchise are reunited once again.
  • Look out for interviews soon from movers and shakers in the sports,music,and entertainment world.