March 15, 2007
Raptors vs. Rockets Preview
Jay wrote this today:
For some reason, I never really give the Rockets the credit they deserve. They are 40-25, have two legitimate stars (T-Mac and Yao), have good supporting guys (Battier, Howard), but I still don’t give them a lot of credit. Why is that?
Maybe it’s because even with those players, they’re still 23rd in the league in scoring (note: but they give up the second fewest in the league). It could be that I expect them to be this explosive team with so many weapons, but they just don’t play that way. They have guys who can score, but they will shut you down on D and on the boards. It’s no secret about the Raptors rebounding problems.
The Rockets are a disciplined team, so they aren’t going to get suckered into a lot of poor fouls. They foul almost as infrequently as the Raptors do. They also do a decent job of holding onto the ball.
So what to do? Can the Raptors rely on TJ to attack early again and try to get the Rockets to force the ball, looking for some scores on every trip down the court? I think the key will be to try to use as much speed as possible, which could be a little tough with AP and Jose both working on ankle injuries (reports say they are both expected to play tomorrow), but it is something they are going to have to try to do. Yao can’t run and as talented as Battier is, he tends to trip over his own feet a lot. T-Mac won’t get back on D if it means hustling.
The Rockets are coming off a nice win against the Clip, so they will have some added confidence going against the Raptors. It all makes for an interesting game.
Now on to something else. I was checking out the Rockets site and came across this RIDICULOUS Yao Ming song, done to the tune of “Wild Thing”. You know those moments where you feel embarrassed for somebody else? Yeah, this is one of them.
Click here and then click on the photo that has Yao sitting at the drum kit. Enjoy.
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Filed under: Raptors Forum
March 15th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Jay- I thought I’d drop you a line and let you know that I’ve been reading all season. Scott Carefoot can eat a dick, because raptorsforum.com is the truth.
Say hi to snaggletooth for me.
Ian
March 15th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
Ian! What’s up? Thanks for reading. Hey, no harsh words for Scott, he’s good at what he does and that actually got him places doing what he loves. He knows his stuff (but personally, I like RF…it IS the truth. That is my completely unbiased opinion).
Anyway, we’re enjoying RF, have some great moderators on board now too.
Haven’t seen Snaggletooth in a while, different pub, don’t frequent that one much. Maybe I should make a pit stop today…hmm….CHOMP CHOMP!
Spread the good word on RF to your friends…
March 16th, 2007 at 10:30 am
To beat the Rockets Rasho/Andrea/Garbo have to do the job on Yao and the Rap’s outside game game has to make the 3’s by Andrea/Garbo/MoPete/AP, if he plays.
March 16th, 2007 at 10:32 am
According to the Toronto Star the Raptors Magic # is now 11. Any combo of Rap’s wins and Nets/Knicks losses equal to 11 and Raptors are Atlantic Champs
March 16th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
can I shamelessly plug things too??
March 16th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Gone!
March 16th, 2007 at 5:32 pm
I’m not sure if this has been touched on yet, but how nice is it to see this kind of recognition from the American media:
http://www.nba.com/powerrankings/
hell, they’re ranking us higher than our own guys (if TSN can still be considered Canadian):
http://tsn.ca/fantasy_news/feature/?fid=2864