The Mind of Mullin: POSTGAME: ROCKETS

Friday, December 5, 2008

POSTGAME: ROCKETS - 12/05/08

Stephen Jackson had his best shooting night of the season

MVW: Stephen Jackson

The Good
Stephen Jackson: 44 min, 11-18 fg, 4-8 3pt, 5 reb, 5 ast, 26 pts
Corey Maggette: 36 min, 7-14 fg, 8-8 ft, 10 reb, 23 pts
Jamal Crawford: 43 min, 4 ast, 3 stl, 22 pts
Ronny Turiaf: 22 min, 4-7 fg, 11 pts
Anthony Randolph: 26 min, 6-8 fg, 3 reb, 12 pts
Brandan Wright: 8 min, 3-4 fg, 1 reb, 1 ast, 6 pts

The Bad
Jamal Crawford: 43 min, 9-21 fg
Ronny Turiaf: 22 min, 3 reb

The Ugly
Stephen Jackson: 44 min, 6 to, ejection

Best and Worst +/-
Ronny Turiaf: +5
Anthony Randollph: -17

Team Statistics
Warriors : Rockets
pts - 112 : 131
fg - 45-83 (.542) : 41-84 (.488)
ft - 15-23 (.652) : 36-40 (.900)
3p - 7-19 (.368) : 13-21 (.619)
reb - 33 : 44
oreb - 8 : 16
ast - 17 : 23
to - 15 : 16
stl - 6 : 10
bs - 3 : 5
fastbreaks - 21 : 12
points in the paint - 48 : 50

Boxscore
Highlights
Popcorn Machine's GameFlow

Randolph finally has a high percentage shooting game

Notes

starting lineup: Crawford, Jackson, Maggette, Turiaf, Biedrins
shutting down Yao, double every time he touches it, forcing him to be a passer - unfortunately, Rockets shooting hot from outside
Artest shooting well
Rockets 7-10 from 3 at half
Randolph doing a lot of good things; not forcing shots, letting the game come to him, scoring efficiently, rebounding, passing
Jackson having his best game, 18 pts at half - moving the ball well, hitting his 3's
no bench production, only 4 pts thru 1st half
Biedrins rebounding well again
Turiaf gets 5 fouls in 1st half; fouls out with 9 min. left in 3rd
Kurz subs in for Turiaf - gets up one missed 3 pointer
Crawford ties game at 66 with 3 pointer
Crawford vs. Alston = great ball handler's dual
Alston and company shooting 8-12 from 3
Nellie gets ejected for arguing a unjust foul on Biedrins
Randolph gets a vicious put-back dunk on Yao - gets tech for showing him up
Wright and Randolph front court after Biedrins picks up his 4th foul
Wright finishing extremely well; runs the floor like a SF; nearly unblockable shot
Randolph/Wright/Biedrins are going to be formidable in a few years; no small ball
Von Wafer with 15 off the bench; 10 min. left in game
Wright will be a more versatile offensive threat than Biedrins
Yao gets deeper position now that Turiaf is not there to bump him out
Warriors worn down in 4th; Rockets go on 30-11 run after tie game at 101 apeice
Jackson gets ejected
Marco DNPCD; Morrow still not on track - rarely gets the ball passed to him, but when he does get it, he can't knock it down
Randolph got plenty of run, but Wright saw sparse playing time even with Turiaf in severe foul trouble; better rotation management could have kept the Warriors in the game longer
props to Maggette for doing more than just scoring; 10 rebounds primarily from the SF spot; still needs to be less selfish on drives and look for easier scoring opportunities for others
Jackson had one of his best shooting games but his sloppy play and emotions hurt the Warriors
Randolph is learning not to settle for the long jumper; love his aggressiveness and fire
don't mind the loss, as long as the young guys get plenty of run and they play good basketball for most of the game
Rockets win because of their superior rebounding, lights-out 3 point shooting, and the Warriors' inablility to defend Yao once Turiaf fouled out

Warriors get out-rebounded again

Postgame Quotes

Keith Smart
On Tonight's Game:

“Houston is a good team with Yao in the middle and a bunch of shooters around him. They made their shots and that was the difference. We know how talented Yao is. Our guys did a good job considering the situation. That’s the benefit when you have a guy like Yao that gets to the free throw line and he makes his free throws. He did a good job and took advantage of us.”

On His Team's Play:

“Our guys played a good game and had a chance to win. Houston hit some big threes and that killed us."

Corey Maggette
On Tonight's Game:

“Ron Artest hit two big three’s in the fourth quarter and Yao really got going in the second half. We did a lot of good things but Houston pulled away at the end.. Yao plays like he is 8 feet tall and there are not many people who can guard him. It’s hard for our small line-up to defend him inside and then when we got in foul trouble it was impossible to stop him.

Stephen Jackson
On Tonight's Game:

“We scrambled too much and they were hitting their shots. We doubled Yao down low and their shooters were left open and hit their shots. We played small and we had to double-team Yao and we gave them a lot of open looks.”

Ronny Turiaf
On Tonight's Game:

“We have a good basketball club and we can play against any team in the NBA. Inside this locker room everyone expects great things from us every night.”

Anthony Randolph with 2 nice finishes over Yao Ming
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