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Easy W for the Thunder.
Rockets-Thunder Preview
By DAN PIERINGER, STATS Writer
Posted Nov 16 2008 5:25PM
The Houston Rockets have been frustrated with their uneven play in the first three weeks of the season. Luckily for them, they've consistently dominated the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Rockets go for their ninth straight win - and 15th in 16 games - against the Thunder franchise as the teams square off in Oklahoma City on Monday night.
Considered one of the top contenders in the Western Conference following the offseason acquisition of Ron Artest, Houston (6-4) appears to be still adjusting to its new look. Though the Rockets opened with three straight wins, they've since dropped four of seven.
They were particularly disappointed with their performance Friday night in a 77-75 loss to San Antonio in which they gave up the game's final 12 points, but they bounced back with a 91-82 victory over New Orleans on Saturday.
"I felt that in the first couple minutes, the guys had a bad taste in their mouths and we needed to come out and get this one," said Tracy McGrady, who had 18 points, nine rebounds and four assists. "This was a great win for us collectively."
McGrady is scoring 16.7 points per game - his lowest average since 1999-2000 - and shooting a career-low 38.7 percent from the field. After a 2-for-12 performance against the Spurs, he was 5-for-12 against the Hornets.
McGrady now looks to help Houston continue its recent dominance of Oklahoma City (1-9). The Rockets have won 14 of 15 in the series against the former Seattle SuperSonics, including all eight meetings since Jan. 3, 2007. They've swept the teams' last two season series, and appear to be in good shape to do it again after an 89-77 home victory over the Thunder on Nov. 1.
Lately, everyone has been dominating the Thunder, who have dropped seven in a row overall. Oklahoma City, which is giving up 104.4 points per game during the skid, suffered its largest margin of defeat of the season in a 110-85 loss to Philadelphia on Saturday night.
"There's been too many of those nights this year, about nine of them," said Thunder forward Nick Collison, who was held to two points and missed all seven of his field-goal attempts.
Saturday's loss overshadowed another strong outing from second-year forward Jeff Green, who had 21 points and went 10-for-15 from the field. Often overlooked while playing next to reigning Rookie of the Year Kevin Durant, Green is averaging 15.2 points and 6.3 rebounds this season.
"Shots were just falling for me," Green told the Thunder's official Web site. "I'm taking the shots they give me. I'm working on my jump shot. I'm just knocking them down right now, and I'll continue to work." The Thunder and Rockets conclude their season series Jan. 9 in Oklahoma City.
Last edited by Indazone; 11-17-2008 at 04:54 PM.
Easy W for the Thunder.
BTW my boy will be back. He'll be ready by All-Star break! SF3 Returns by December! Crossovers, dunks, behind the back passes all of it!!
Last year on a player with one good leg...not bad.
A W endoresement from Dynasty. Thank you sir!
when will rockets fans learn to give up on steve?
Its not like he was that great in the first place.
Reasons why steve will never get playing time.
1) He sucks
2) He can't run adelman's system worth of
3) We have too many guards as it is
4) Von Wafer>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>SF
Sweet...betting heavy on the Rockets...THANKS SD!!
Dear Indazone,
Here are your choices:
The Team That Shall Not Be Named
The Seattle SloppySeconds
Kevin Durant's Team
The Bennett City Stranglers
Calling them by their legal name is not permissible
Why the fk is this a thread? The Thunder are worse than the Silver Stars!
Have you met SpursDynasty?
I really want to see what this kid looks like...
Scola is owning everyone so far.
tie game ughh
Damn Swift is a freaky looking dude. A Ginger with tatoo's all over him. An even whiter Cherokee Parks.
Alton misses the runner in the lane...is anyone suprised?
ugh i can't wait for battier.
Artest is good, but KD shot something like 20% vs us last season, Battier stuck to him like Glue.
1. He' recovering from injury
2. Nobody can run Adleman's system worth a right now especially T-Mac
3. ALL of our guards suck
4. Wafer is ok but no All-Star who averaged better than 18-5-5
Francis avgd that around the same time tmac avgd 32ppg so i don't know why you think that still holds valid...
westbrook, amazing
Scola is a motherfing beast, by far my most fav player on the rockets
1st T-mac now Ron Ron
hope its not too bad
and Yao got knicked up...now the mavs can get rolled on wednesday by the Rox by Brooks, Landry, Barry, Hayes and Von Wafer and get even more embarrased on national TV
why do we need a thread for garbage games like this
nice win
Hey Spursdynasty...tell me how my azzzzz tastes!!
The Thunder the gift that keeps on giving
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