Lv06|ROCKETS-2| Officially Closed.

[Valor]

Yao, Tmac, 4

love your recap style, as they say, pictures tell a thousand words XD

[-PeeBo]

nice

[kaiser_kobe]

Whoa, a very close fight...just good luck into ur next game against Dallas...

My entry
Yao, Artest
NO: 4

[Clutch]

thx guys; all entries above acceptable and chaser's finally in the hunt! nice; not sure what you refer to though as i change recap format often to keep me from getting zzzzzz; if it's a cool template it'll prob resurface sometime down the line;

kaiser kobe, yah that "Jumbo #" can definitely make or break you

[weechees]

Tough loss.

Yao, Mutombo
No: 4

[Ipsofire]

Artest, T-Mac

#4

[Martti.]

Yao, Battier.

#2

[OrlMagic]

Tough loss.

Artest, T-mac
#4

[newc]

i'm following this for quite a long time and i can say this is the best dinasty in this forum. Plus i decided to compete in this competition

so...

McGrady, Artest #7

[Oskar]

TMac, Yao, #4

[Clutch]

K. Bentley's Scouting Report - DALLAS MAVERICKS

STRENGTHS Strong offensive attack anchored by versatile Dirk Nowitzki, who can drain treys as easily as freebies from the charity stripe, often where he spends a lot of time incidentally; also tough at the point guard position, particularly with Devin Harris coming off the bench to starter, Jason 'the Jet' Terry, keeping up frantic pressure and pace the entire game;

WEAKNESSES Despite good forwards they aren't the best rebounders or defenders; may elect to 'run-and-gun' instead of playing tough defense; if their shots aren't falling, they have tendencies to derail and self-destruct

TEAM RATING - STARTING LINEUPS HOU (93) - Center Ming (94), PF May (69), SF Artest (89), SG Graham (75), F McGrady (94); DAL (74) - Dampier (66), PF Nowitzki (84), SF Howard (82), SG Demitra (69), PG Terry (78)

INJURIES None

___

all submissions acceptable for next game vs DAL
newc, welcome and i really appreciate the kind words and support; best of luck to you in the contest!

ETA recap... wednesday, maybe late tomorrow night; post entries if you haven't already

[Clutch]

Nov 1, 2008 Sat.

So far we're off to an expected start. The new 'face' of the team is as intimidating as last season if not more so, yet I am increasingly concerned at the drop off at the Power Forward position. Sean May, while strong and capable, hasn't the foot-speed to match with some of the league's more agile opponents; Les, Darrel and I discussed this earlier and it could come to affect us later in the season so we are looking for viable solutions.

We'd be hard-pressed to find a high-caliber replacement, ie., an Amare Stoudemire or even a 2nd-tier blossoming talent, like Al Jefferson. Such a player would come at the expense of weakening other parts of the team. But the Western Conference is particularly strong at the 4 spot - Nowitzki, Duncan, Martin, Marion etc. it's best to address it now rather than later.

A more realistic approach will be to up the talent level surrounding May, similar to how we used a 3-headed monster in Bill Cartwright, Will Perdue and Scott Williams for our Center spot back in Chicago.

Kareem Bentley's on a trip to Los Angeles scouting a skinny kid from Russia that the Clippers have deep on their bench but who really put on an impressive show against us early last season, Yaroslav Korolev. In his 4th season, Korolev is buried behind, Elton Brand, Jafari Cotton and now the acquisition of Kobe's nephew, Lorenzen, who seems to be living up to all expectations so far and has created an interesting cross-town rivalry. That reminds me; I've been meaning to contact Kobe and see what his take is on the matter.

Going back to Korolev, he's a relative 'unknown' in the NBA and not the strongest player at 6-10 and a mere 200 lbs; but something about the kid really caught my eye; his strengths lie in the ability to get up and down the court as well as a quick first step off the dribble. He's also an above average passer too, which could really work well in concert with Yao.

Other potentials I'd love to acquire would be Jason Maxiell from Detroit or Andris Biedrins from Golden State; unfortunately both fall under the category of 'blossoming talents' and we'd probably have to give up May or maybe some of our other young talent, like Graham or Webster. We'll see what Bentley says on his return.

Speaking of Graham, an interesting note; I've noticed he and Artest are not off to a good start. After last night's 36 point performance vs the T'Wolves, Graham accused Artest of shooting too much; Artest fired back, "I'd gladly give up the rock, if you could actually hit a shot."

At the time I laughed with everyone else considering Graham's 2-of-10 performance but didn't really realize how affected Joey was; he said nothing and just stormed off.

I should've anticipated some tension as Graham continues to develop into a fine player and likely expected to be more the '3rd option' after Tracy and Yao this season. In hindsight I should've addressed Graham's serious concerns at the time but things are always clearer in hindsight.

It boiled over this morning as we ran a light scrimmage to work out some specific plays Dallas likes to employ. It was red squad vs white and with Artest's red squad convincingly ahead towards the end of the 20 minute match, he drove to the basket and was going in for a dunk when Graham suddenly undercut him and took him out - hard. Artest immediately went after him and a small scuffle ensued; luckily Shane and Yao stepped in to restrain the two but there was definitely no love lost in the words they slung back and forth at each other

After some 'cool off' time, I called both players into the office to clear matters; while both responded the incident was, "no big deal," neither would address, let alone look at the other, the tension still very apparent.

I'm sure this won't be the last of it as their differences are obviously not settled but unfortunately there's no time to deal with it deeper; I'm just hoping it won't have too big an impact on tonight's game.

[Clutch]

GAME RECAP

Nov 1st, 2008 HOUSTON (AP) -- Dikembe Mutombo wanted to enjoy every moment of his final year in the NBA; and it seems he's doing just that, as he helped the Houston Rockets close out the visiting Dallas Mavericks in a 102-92 victory at the Toyota Center.

But early on, the game belonged to Houstons' younger, more capable anchor man, Yao Ming. Yao, off to one of the best starts of his career, dominated the Dallas frontline throughout the night. He would explode for 12 points in the first quarter; 18 by half time and absolutely punished Mavericks' veteran, Erick Dampier. By the end of the night Ming would tally 34 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks to Dampier's 5 points, 5 rebounds and an assist.

Dampier commented on Ming after the match, "Before I could contain him, knock him off the block and out of rhythm with a hard foul. Now he's gotten stronger and really improved his game; he was impossible to stop."

Ming could've probably topped 40, if not for a curious decision by Rockets head coach, Phil Jackson.

With under five minutes remaining in the game and the Rockets holding a 92-81 advantage but the Mavericks showing signs of life, Jackson elected to leave the 42-year old veteran, Mutombo, out on the floor and keep a winded Yao Ming resting on the bench.

In vintage fashion, the oldest active player in the NBA would respond collecting 2 huge blocks, a crucial rebound and sinking two big free-throws in the final minutes which prevented Dallas from making any serious run.

Yao cheered wildly from the sidelines for his senior teammate. "I was really proud of him. I've never watched my father beat someone else's father up, but I think that's what it felt like," Yao said jokingly after the game.

When coach Jackson was asked about his decision to sit Yao for the finish he replied, "He (Yao) wanted to return but I could see he was still catching his breath; I hoped for Dikembe to buy us a few more possessions; but then he started doing so well, we had him close things out."

The Rockets next play host to Rashard Lewis, Jermaine O'Neal and the Seattle Supersonics.

BOXSCORES

Notes


- Ron Artest and the Mavericks' Josh Howard began trash talking practically from the opening tip; their banter escalated resulting in two early fouls and extended bench time for Artest; Later, Artest would return in the second half only to lay the hammer on Howard as he attempted a layup; though no flagrant foul was called on Artest, Howard left the game with an arm injury; Artest finished with 9 points, 2 rebounds and an assist in 21 minutes of play; Howard left for the locker room at the 1:33 mark of the 4th ending with 4 points, 3 boards and 3 assists;

- Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry led the Mavericks' offense combining for 41 of their 92 points; Tracy McGrady was Houston's other top performer, finishing the evening with 24 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists

Pics

McGrady and Stackhouse throwin' it down with style

Yao Ming had an incredible night and was just too strong for Dampier in the paint

Dallas trailed in the final minutes but made a push led by Jason 'the Jet' Terry

Mutombo pleads with coach Jackson for some minutes, then makes an instant impact

After a hard foul, Artest has a few choice departing words for the injured Howard

Mutombo's strong finish puts the Mavericks' run on ice

___

THE 'JUMBO MUTOMBO' CONTEST RESULTS #3

[weechees]

Nice performance by Mutombo!

Yao, Claxton, 6

[Lamrock]

Shit, still tied for first. Congrats on the victory, though I wish you would have kept Yao in, for my sake.

Yao, Webster, #5.

[kaiser_kobe]

Nice win...great game by Mutombo! hope you could win against the sonics...

Yao, Artest
No: 8

[Valor]

woah, i'm tied for first

Yao, Tmac, 6

[Oli]

Great game by Yao, well done.
My predictions: Yao, Webster, 6

[Martti.]

Damn, great game by Mutombo..

Yao, May, #7

[newc]

Nice game, nice win. Badly i didn't got any points in cimpetition.

Yao, McGrady #5

EDIT: You just HAVE to get Biedrins

[Cartar]

McGrady, Artest
5

[-PeeBo]

yeah jumbo number was correct, way da go Mutombo

So my thoughts :

T-Mac, Battier
jumbo nr 11

[Oskar]

Yao, Artest
#5

[Ipsofire]

T-Mac, May
#4

[Chaser7]

Yao, Artest, 6

and I meant the format where you had this or something like this

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/6361/gotwcw4.png

I guess that takes a lot of work though.. anyways keep it up!