okay he never dunked on 5 people. he did back down yao once or twice (the big man has pretty damn good footwork) but the rockets were slow as ***** to crash don for help and by the time Shaq was hanging by the rim, there were finally 5 rockets gathering around watching him yak. crappy defense, but hey they won the game didn't they?

and the lakers are still not even close to 500 are they? haha

 

nope lakers are still waaaaay back the pack.

and it was two huge dunks... he did at will... it wasn't that rockets defense wasn't good... the fact is that there is no defense for shaq... they are loosing because no one else is stepping up hitting shots.

 

I don't know if you remember...about 3 years ago when Mutombo was playing for Atlanta, he pretty much stopped Shaq in his tracks that one game (regular season). I think he held Shaq to only 13 points if I can remember correctly. But when they met in the finals 2 seasons ago (LA vs Phi), he showed Mutombo a thing or two. Shaq, last night, just needed to figure out how to play Ming. He finally figured it out and schooled Ming 3 STRAIGHT possesions in OT (dunking on him twice). And Shaq is only at 75% strength according to him and his trainer. It will be different next time (meaning Shaq will score more than 31 this time). And don't forget that Ming is 7'6. Tall enough to block anybody's shot in this league. I guess slowing down Shaq is limiting him to 31 pts (Big WOW there).

~joe

 

the rockets showed that they could force Shaq to take a bad shot if only ONE other player dropped down to prevent him from getting close to the hoop.

and yeah i guess it is tough to win games when stevie francis is schooling kobe up and down the court the ENTIRE game. i absolutely could not believe how well he played last night. they were saying that he had been talking to jordan all summer about how to win close games (something must have worked). you can't tell me that francis wasn't on fire last night... he was unstoppable.

joe and SD, you're both right that Shaq had two big dunks in OT last night. iirc yao had 5 fouls and could not afford to bump with Shaq and pick up his 6th. yao will be able to hold Shaq to under 25 points a game by the end of next season.

oh and it was pretty funny when Shaq made motumbo look like a whiny beanpole in the playoffs and just destroyed him. flying elbows and all, it was fun to watch.

and damn SD, quit replying so fast!!

 

Fracis was not on fire...He was AMAZING! Kobe is a great defender but Francis is just too quick for him. They had better luck with D fish on him. At least Francis was not passing by him. He was just shooting the lights out from the perimeter....take your pick I guess. Oh well, I guess we'll just have to wait for the playoffs (where it really matters)...

~joe

 

i was in LA last year when the King went to LA to give the lakers a whoopin'... and we all know how that season turned out.

yes... this year is different... but i wouldn't be surprised to see the lakers in the playoff... (8th place hopefully) so they can knock out the queens in the first round.

you know whats great about the playoffs... its best out of 5/7.

u think the rockets can beat the lakers 3/4 times in a series... I just don't see that happening.


its easy to hate on the team that punked u... i can understand

 

Whoa, easy there tiger. Did you hear any one say the Rockets were gonna beat the Lakers in the playoffs? I know I didn't. They won't need to cuz the Lakers aren't even gonna come close to making the playoffs.

I can't wait for the next Lakers Clippers game. We should watch that one together SD so we can just sit there and talk trash the entire time.

 

for sure!

when are the lakers and clips playin'