Posts tagged ‘yao’

Your Warriors danced a torrid Texas tango on Tuesday night, but eventually got straight torn apart by a tall, dark stranger.

Box Score

It appears that Yao Ming has gotten over his aversion to scoring massive amounts of points against the Warriors. Al and Andris played their hearts out against the mysterious giant from East, but Yao came out way on top with 36 points and 19 rebounds.

Skip To My Lou (Rafer Alston) went jaw to jaw with Baron in the first and backed it up with solid play all game. Add a little Luther Head to the mix, spice it up with some Scola for flavor and you’ve got yourself a Rockets victory stew (I personally think the foul called on Andris off the ball with less than a minute left and the Warriors down two made the base taste rather bitter).

The Warriors shot disgustingly bad for the first and most of the second quarter, with the worst offensive odors coming from Al’s direction. They got fired up and started swiping the ball and running out on break in the third and completely turned on the BELIEVE juice in the fourth, but couldn’t quite pull off another comeback win.

Andris kept his motor running all game and fought hard for position and rebounds against Yao’s massive frame and ample elbows, earning another double-double to go with a new black eye. Jack played remarkably under control (one turnover), shot a gorgeous 7-14 from the field, 5-7 from deep, along with dishing out seven dimes.

Al battled himself and Yao before exploding for 10 big points in the fourth. Monta pulled out some incredible finishes and was very efficient with his jumper, but didn’t score as much as his last few games. Peety showed good energy and hustle on defense when needed, proving that he still might be worth something trade-wise.

The first two quarters were borderline unwatchable, the fourth was a vintage Warriors blockbuster. The Dubs finally got serious on D and took the lead for the first time all game behind massive 3-pointers by Al and Baron. But the Rockets were able to dump it down to Yao and he stayed rock solid, making his free throws when he didn’t convert outright. The refs warmed up their whistles and eventually the flash of the Warriors was overcome by the substance of the steady Rockets execution. Game over.

It was a fun game, but a tough loss. I really liked the effort from Andris against Yao and the run to take the lead late in the game was massively exciting.

The guys are going to have to shake off the loss and ice down the bruises because the crazy dominant Hornets are sharpening their knives for a showdown tonight.