Apologies for creating a separate thread on this, but I'm about to take off for the afternoon, and it doesn't appear that the Rockets-Suns game thread has been started yet. I'll be attending the game tonight in Phoenix, and I landed some sweet tickets. Sec 103, row 1 -- right behind the Rocks bench!!! A couple of reasons why I'm posting this info: (a) in case anyone else is going to the game and wants to represent cc.net (oops, cf.net now) -- beers on me. (b) some dude started a couple of threads a while back reporting what he 'heard' from behind the Rocks bench. I'm pretty sure that's B.S., because I have been in these exact seats before (of course, your relative position to the players depends on the venue). At any rate, I will at least be able to report anything that I witness during the game. (c) I'm so excited, I'm about to pee my pants. Thought that my fellow die-hard Rockets fans could appreciate that one. Of course I'll be bringing my camera to chronicle the event. Hopefully some cool stuff will happen. My buddy that I'm going with is a Suns fan, so maybe I can start a fight between him and Amaechi during shoot-around. cheers, dg
Ask one of the Suns where you can get a level, a nail gun, and 20 feet of chicken wire. When they look confused, say "I'm sorry, I thought you were a Home Depot employee."
welcome back, tranny~ seriously, I'm looking forward to hear some fun stuff from you after the game. have some fun there!
Well, I had a lot of fun tonight. I just got home, so I'll give a brief summary and follow up with some additional details tomorrow. Here it goes: The seats were great. Right at the top of the key, immediately behind the scorer's table (which is just to the left of the visitor's bench). I was able to watch some behind-the-scenes stuff with the Rocks and the TV dudes. IMPORTANT: never, ever think you are safe from the camera when you are at a game. One of the funniest things I have seen in quite some time happened before the game started. The graphics team for the television feed must have been messing around while testing their stuff, because they totally goofed on this dude wearing an Old Navy shirt in the stands. Brother was about 350 and was large and in charge. So, the TV guys center the camera on this guy (I could see the feed on a little plasma screen on the scorer's table in front of me) and call him the 'Old Navy Player of the Game'. Homeboy was wearing an Old Navy shirt, BTW. For the stat line, they substituted the following (instead of points, rebounds, etc.): 4 Pizzas 3 Sausages 2 Cakes Very funny stuff! I could stand to lose a few myself, but I was still laughing (got to have a sense of humor about this stuff!). Aside from the pizzas, I'm guessing on the other 'stats' in his line -- all I remember was there were three things that they listed under his picture. Another thing -- I had my picture taken with Calvin. That was pretty cool. Interestingly enough, I bumped into him (literally) as he was walking by my seat later on. Very nice guy.
I was at the game too- two rows behind the basket on the Suns bench side- it was absolutely amazing.. I also had a postgame to pass to go back to near the locker room after the game - and the players were upset about the loss. Yao only signed 2 autographs (i was one of them!!), Cato was really cool and talked to everyone. Cat met up with this woman, but was also really good about taking pictures with the fans, Jim Jackson also hung around and talked to the fans along with Mo Taylor, who came out in a bad mood. Oh yah and Pike was really friendly and I actually had a brief conversation with him. However, the worst was Ewing.. he was pissed and told all of us to move out of his way.. The fans in Phoenix got really loud in the second half and it only made me realize even more how quiet TC is compared to other arenas. I am convinced the fans took the Rockets out of the game. I will post pictures after I get them developed. Until then, adieu!
Probably because there are more supportive fans on the road than the 10 or 20 that show up at the TC. That place looks like a ghost arena on TV. The last few games it has looked like there were more people on the court than in the stands. I love the Rockets and I love Houston but the city and the organization should be humiliated that they can't get a better turn out on a Friday night then they had against the Clippers.
I think Lopez's article sums up why. Even me, as a die-hard fan, have trouble watching this team at times. Blame the players for NBA shortages By JOHN P. LOPEZ Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle RESOURCES EVER since Dr. Naismith invented basketball, even Dr. Seuss could explain the secret to playing the game right. One dribble, two dribble, three dribble, four. One pass, two pass, three pass. Score. It's simple, really. Pass the ball. Shoot the ball. Move your feet. Kindergartners should know this stuff. So why all the long faces and empty NBA seats? Why all the blown layups, the pushing and shoving, the tumbling shooting percentages and so many observers turning to the latest trendy term for describing everything wrong with today's NBA. Over-coaching. What a cop-out. Let's get one thing clear: NBA coaches do deflate the ball, right along with so many hopes of an entertaining evening at the arena. Mostly, coaches do these things for the sake of their livelihoods. They're trying to keep their jobs. Slowing the pace and trying to stay close at the end is the only way many might stay employed in the skills-challenged NBA of today. But it's more than over-coaching that accounts for scenes like that at the Toyota Center on Friday night. There were about 5,000 empty seats in the place. Here it was, a Friday night during Christmas break, with a new arena on display, marquee players and no other action in town other than traffic jams at shopping malls -- and the place was more than one-quarter empty. "When we go to an arena, and even here, there's a lot of empty seats," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "We need to make people want to come watch NBA basketball." We need to look at the players as much as the coaches. The players as much as the rules. The players as much as officials allowing games to turn into scrums. There are many ways to fix what ails this league. But of all the things that influence the way the game is played, and all the suggestions tossed about for improving pace and scoring, nothing influences future stars more than present stars. LeBron James, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett and Yao Ming are among the brightest, but let's think about what distinguishes these four from the assortment of other big names in the league. These are the throwbacks. The exception to the rule. They can pass. They have learned proper fundamentals. They can shoot. They use the backboard. Over-coaching might be real, but so is underachieving among the players. "It's not that NBA people don't have skills, but when to shoot, when to pass and when to dribble ... decision-making has dropped dramatically," Van Gundy said. "If you look at the really good offensive teams, they have some things in common. They can shoot and pass and know when to do both. And they have a (power forward) who can step out on the perimeter and make 17-, 18-foot shots and put it on the floor." There's no question the NBA game can be pretty and entertaining. There's also no question rules need to be tweaked -- specifically zone rules and perhaps even the size of the court. Every so often a team does all the right things and plays the unselfish, fundamentally sound game. Take Friday night, a 99-85 beauty for the Rockets. But inevitably bad habits and bad decision-making return. Inevitably, coaches take advantage of rules and over-coach, grinding out ugly basketball. "I know I'm guilty of it sometimes," Van Gundy said. But don't blame the coaches. They merely are using the tools they are handed by the league, which is to say the ability to run zone defenses and loosely called shoving matches that the league likes to call basketball. Don't blame coaches, either, for all those who influence today's players long before the elite get to the NBA. Youth leagues keep statistics on 7- and 8-year-olds, but don't teach the bounce pass or footwork. Summer-league "elite" basketball, which could be the perfect stage for learning, too often become exercises of individuality and one-on-one clear-outs. The 3-point line at the youth and even middle-school level is a sham. Here's a bet: Take five 12-year-olds to a gym and give each one a basketball. It's highly likely that the first shot any of those kids takes will come from behind the 3-point arc. Live scouting drains imagination from the NBA, too. It needs to be ditched, as it has been on the collegiate level. There is too much video research, too large coaching staffs. The me culture of today's young stars is a part of the lost art of basketball, too. And, sure, there can be such a thing as too much athleticism and not enough skill. We see it every night in this league -- a bunch of brutes slamming into each other in hopes of tipping in a miss. But no NBA coach teaches bad shooting, poor decision-making and selfishness. No NBA rule limits basic lost skills like spacing, cutting and court sense. It's a players' league. It always has been and always will be. It's up to the players to fix what ails the NBA. One pass, two pass, three pass, score. It's not that hard.
But.......... many people think Tim Duncan is a boring player though he is fundamentally good All the TV highlights are dunks and impossible plays..and not the good passes
The good thing about the NBA is that there's a 82-game season. It sounds as if the players were completely unfazed by the smooth assraping they received in Phoenix. The main reason for the lack of crowd noise in Houston is because most of the die-hard holdovers from the mid-90's have since jumped ship. Attendance is below expectations despite a new arena, and most of the seats between the baselines belong to corporate vendors in Houston. Not only that, but the NBA is not delivering the kind of product that it did back in the early-mid 90's during its boom. You see too much dribble, iso-oriented, one-on-one basketball which puts you to sleep. You want to watch a fun team, watch Sacramento play -> flashy, but crisp passing all around. We're also forgetting that historically, Houston is a predominantly football city. The Oilers wre the toast of the town throughout the "Luv Ya Blue" 70s, 80's and early 90's. Now the Texans are the toast of the town in only their second season. Despite a poor win-loss record, they are building the right way with a franchise QB and a stud WR.
