主题：【原创】Don't Cry, Houston! Rockets vs. Mavericks show down. -- 林木森森

Finally curtain was down and long exciting series ended with sweet and bitter memory.

The series preluded with fantastic first win of the series for rockets. Certainly coach Jeff surprisingly activated Ryan Bowen to defend Dirk with huge success. T-mac came out very hungry in offensive play, in the mean time rockets defensively shut down opponents. The second game would be the highlight of the series to rockets, it was awesome. Yao Ming and T-mac just dominated the game, the first time Yao showed everyone with his super star like presence in play off season.

Rockets didn’t come out with a sense of urgency to close up. They were ahead of mavericks in third quarter and lost mysteriously at the end. Certainly the way referees were officiating the game flamed controversy. Rockets made same mistake twice at end of fourth quarter, mavericks kept hassling until whistle was blowing. Two costly steals at rockets back court sent them to misery later on. Unfortunately, rockets didn’t take care the business at their own home court. It was all downhill at that moment. When enemy is down, you should make the kill, otherwise they really make you pay.

The fifth game was crucial. Yao Ming was young I guess, he wasn’t catching up the game after Howard fouled on him hard. Luckily T-mac got help from the bench, rockets turned the game to a home court win.

The final show down of the series was disappointing to rockets fan. It was a disaster. There was no defense at back court. Rebounds were not in position. Basically rockets couldn’t handle the speed of mavericks. The matchup was terribly wrong. More importantly, Terry and Howard got hot, the momentum was building for mavericks. Clearly coach Jeff failed to adjust their new game plan. Through out the game, there wasn’t any sense of urgency and aggressiveness. Offense was ice cold. There wasn’t any strong desire for winning and thought-out execution shown from rockets. The game plan wasn’t effective at all. The rockets went home with 40 points loss and huge disappointment. Don’t cry, Houston!

What can rockets go from here? well, as first year Yao Ming and T-mac played together, the chemistry was there but more to come for sure. The aged bench players need to be concerned. A good power forward is a must for rockets, so Yao Ming can focus under basket instead of doing pick and roll all the time, the good center dominates basket, period. There are areas that Yao Ming needs to work upon, such as physical training improvement, positioning in offense play, rebounding, foul problem…. The most important thing is mental toughness and leadership. If rockets are going to build the team around Yao Ming and T-mac, they need to work on their passing and play more to get chemistry going. This summer, management is going to work on all aspects of team re-building.

It was a disappointing and heart broken for rockets and their fan tonight. But it is a good start, we see two young stars are getting mature and making substantial contribution. We can’t wait to see rockets deliver what they are capable of. What can I say? I LOVE THIS GAME!!!