Boxscore
Rockets Small Ball Just a fustrating game. Usually when you play small against teams like the Rockets as the Warriors did in the first two meetings you expect to win easy. Yet for some reason this was a complete opposite with Houston abandoning Mutombo starting at Center and putitng a body on Davis and Ellis. Generally the refs because of the physical nature called a few ones but Davis for whatever reason didn't post up Alston, Head or Jackson as much as he should have. Even though Monta had nice looking stats the ability of Head or Alston to stay in front of him was the difference maker. If Monta doesn't get it going then it spreads around like the plague
Rebounds The Warriors actually won the battle of the boards 48-41 and both Jackson and Harrington did a good job on Scola and Battier. Unfortuntately once Houston dictated the tempo Warriors never found their offensive rthym.
Tempo This was a game of runs. Towards the end of the 4th the Rockets went on a 8-0 run to go up 95-87 but then the warriors went on a 10-2 run with Davis tying the game with a 3 pointer over Shane Battier. However unlike previous Golden State games it just didn't feel right. Once Bobby Jackson hit that ridiclous double pump fake 3 pointer to put Houston ahead for good the dissapointment grew. Needless to say the Rockets are an excellently coached team who unlike certain other teams don't fold under pressure but you have to still add this game to the should have won list.
Pietrus: He's back. I honestly didn't think he could contribute as consistently right now after his 1st half performances. He had rebounds and actualy played smart Basketball with his hustling, rebounding and defense.
Al Harrington His shot wasn't going down he was 6-18 but he was active with 14 boards and kept attemtping to get hustle points in the paint since his shot wasn't going down. I liked the hustle but he's gotta fix that shot. He's valuable on the team if he can stretch the D with his 3 because it opens up the paint for the guards.
Baron Monta and Jackson This wasn't their most efficent game for some time because they didn't have a lot of assists as they should have. There was no off the ball movement with a bit too much one on one play involved. Out of all of them I think Monta had the better game having a spectcacular shooting night wasily getting to the Basket when possible and making a lot of impossible shots. His defense still isn't there. And Jackson was ice cold missing his clutch 3's. This trio was solid but against teams like the Rockets you need more out of them if you want a W.
Tracy McGrady Just ingnore the 11-23 shooting it was his lightout clutch play in the 3rd and 4th where he didn't miss a shot. He hit jumper over jumper against Jackson and Pietrus and played big keeping the Rockets lead and stopping the Warriors from making any run.
Carl Landry He's always looked good in his scouting reports and last night was no exception. In just 18 minutes of play he had 17 points (6-9 shooting), 8 boards, and a steal and caused matchup problems frequently. It was impressive to watch.
Officiating I didn't understand this. They can let a lot of physical play go under the basket probably contributing to that playoff atmosphere but then they call tacky fouls on drives to the Basket with barely any contact. It got confusing at times. Don't get me wrong no team received a better amount of calls but the amount of Tacky fouls called was remminscement of the way the refs treated D-Wade in the 06 finals
How the Warriors respond to this will decide their playoff destiny. With a doubleheader against the Lakers a team that plays the Warriors almost as good as the Jazz there is the possibility the Warriors could find themselves out of the playoff bubble. However this Golden State team thrives on these situations.Credit to the Rockets They play tough, tough D. They seem to challenge every shot, are physical inside, and nobody outhustles them. Their offense is disciplined and after wacthing their 22 game winning streak was no joke. On the other hand it was worrying seeing the signs free throws, ball-handling errors, missed lay-ups. This team is very resillent so come Tuesday morning it will be interesting to see just how
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