Gloria’s blog about Houston Rockets

As I said before, the best part of basketball is it could be like a drama, and Monday’s game definitely proved this opinion. It was a big shock of Rockets got a 100-92 victory against Lakers in the second run.

I wished Rockets could win the game if they were lucky enough, while the result turned to be they won the game but not because of lucky, their performance deserved the victory. They showed us that they are a strong team!

The scores are as followed:

It is a huge relief to hear about Yao’s knee is fine, and also for Battier. If Vujacic’s haymaker had landed just a little bit lower, we might won’t have chance to see Battier in this series again. For Lakers, I am not quite sure when Luke Walton will be back, but his absent makes percentage of Rocket’s winning much higher.

Before worrying about the future, let’s screaming for Houston’s victory of get the ticket to second round! From 1997 to 2009, 12 years is such a long time for Rockets to win a playoff series. I can imagine Rockets’ fans were as nervous as the players and as happy as the players’ super big smile during the post-game news conference.

To be honest, I was not confident of they can win a series. Rockets’ performance was so unpredictable. But, also because of this, they gave me many surprises. Yesterday’s game was one of them. Beating the Portland Trail Blazers 92-76 in Game 6 last night was very impressive. Yao Ming had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Ron Artest scored 27 points. The scores for the four quarters were: 19-21、18-31、19-22、20-18. (Blazers-Rockets)

After screaming, let’s think about how far they can go. I don’t really like this question, especially when the opponent is Lakers. I know this is a really cliché, but Lakers is a great team, and Rockets, I don’t think I can predict their future based on their previous performance. Think about McGrady’s long-time rest, Uncle Mu’s retirement, Artest’s unstable performance…But Rocket’s made it to reach second round. And they also broke my heart during the fourth quarter, when I thought they already had 99% chance to win.

So, the question is: when a strong team meets an “anything-could-be-possible” team, what is the result? I really need some time to adjust myself to be not that nervous next Friday. 

“Crazy for you”

This song always reminds me of the time as a teenager. It’s the theme song of a Japanese cartoon—Slam Dunk. I was accompanied by this cartoon from 11 to 17 years old, and it’s this cartoon brought me to the world of basketball.

Searching “Slam Dunk” in google, I try to find the pieces of the memory. The characters in this cartoon became alive again: 樱木花道，流川枫，三井寿，仙道彰，and 赤木…Please forgive me use Chinese names, these Chinese translation already have their special meaning for us, every name has its soul in it. From not interested in sport at all to be engaged in playing basketball with my friends, the initial passion for basketball is due to Slam Dunk. And basketball, from that time on, was no longer just a game, it recorded our footsteps of growing.

Basketball is never an individual game, it is all about team. And a team, should not have the word “give up” in it’s dictionary. I still remember the super cool coach 安西 said: Never give up till the last second, or the game ends at the second you give up.

The cartoon has it ending, but my life is still going on. What I want to do right now, is listen to this melody again…

The following is the Chinese version of this article, I am sorry I can’t express the exact feeling in English, but Slam Dunk means too much to me, and to people who about my age in China and Taiwan. I can’t help write writing this in Chinese before English, so I also post Chinese version. Hope people who like this cartoon could enjoy.

灌篮高手－－－曾经的记忆

每当这个旋律响起，10几岁的青春年少就会在记忆里鲜活起来。这个曾经陪伴着我度过人生里最单纯无忧的漫画故事，每次想起，都如此感慨。

从小学五年级，第一次看灌篮高手，到高中三年级，下午学校广场上回荡的这首歌，我的花季雨季连同豆芽季，都有这部漫画的痕迹。樱木花道，流川枫，三井寿，仙道彰，还有大猩猩赤木…原谅我使用中文译名，毕竟从一开始，这些名字就被角色赋予了特殊的含义，日文原版的名字，对我来说也只是陌生而已。那几年的日子，因为灌篮高手，爱上篮球。从规则到战术，从懵懂到热爱，最初的篮球知识和热情因这部卡通而激发。还记得从来不爱运动的我，在盛夏的傍晚和邻居小孩，同学成群结队的去打篮球。篮球于我们，从来都不只是一项运动而已。它记载着最初学会坚强和努力的脚印。

于是打开百度，键入灌篮高手，搜寻着那些曾经感动到流泪的情节。篮球从来都不是一个人的游戏，团队合作才是胜利的钥匙，还记得赤木，曾经英雄无用武之地，在樱木和流川加入之前，那时湘北的胜利，也只是奢望而已。篮球，也从来不是可以放弃的游戏，还记得安西教练说过：直到最后一秒的哨声响起，比赛都没有结束。如果自己放弃了，比赛也就在当下结束。

漫画结束了，我的人生还在上演，当下我想做的，是再听一遍这个无比熟悉的旋律。

The podcast link of this article (with the theme song)  is as followed:

http://www.mediafire.com/?4itgtnvamvj

April 26, 2009, Rockets beat Blazers again, and now the Rockets took a 3-1 lead in their playoff series with Portland. It was an unbelievable 89-88 win that gives Rockets a big chance to go to second round, which has never happened during the last 7 years to Yao.

They made some effective adjustments, I have to say although Artest shot only 25% from the field, he did a lot of job of pass up several wild shots and got the ball to teammates, including Yao, for a team-high 9 assists.

Rockets still need to improve their defense in the fourth quarter, and also field goal percentage, they missed their last seven shots of the third quarter to fall behind. And there is no doubt that Game 5 will be tougher for the Rockets. To overcome a cornered Blazer team in Portland, rockets need to do their best. 

Chinese fans like to call Dikembe Mutombo, Uncle Mu. Maybe because it’s hard to call his name, and don’t even mention his full name: Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean Jacque Wamutombo, which if translated into Chinese is: 迪肯贝·穆托姆博·莫普隆度·穆卡姆巴·尚·雅克·瓦穆托姆博…almost the same length of ten Chinese names.

But we might won’t have chance to mock about uncle Mu’s name during the game again, his 18 years basketball career is facing its ending, in Houston Rockets center, a knee injury knocked him out of the Rockets’ playoff game Tuesday night (April 22, 2009) against the Portland Trail Blazers.

He is a great player. Uncle Mu is an eight-time All-Star who won the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award four times and stands in second on the NBA’s career blocks list with 3,289. He has played for Denver (1991-1996), Atlanta (1996-2001), Philadelphia (2001-2002), New Jersey (2002-2003), New York (2003-2004) and Houston (2004-2009). In 1,196 career games, Uncle Mu has averaged 9.8 points, 10.3 rebounds and 2.7 blocks.

He is a nice person. His humanitarian work makes us respect him more than a great player. Dikembe Mutombo Foundation, found by uncle Mu in 1997, is to benefit the people of his homeland of Kinshasha in the Congo. In 2007, he opened the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital and Research Center there, named after his mother. And because of these, he won the 2008-09 recipient of the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award in April 23, 2009, which is presented annually by the Professional Basketball Writers Association. He said: “This is something I will do for the rest of my life. No matter what I go do, whether it is working for the league or business for myself, doing humanitarian work, I don’t think there will be anybody who can stop me.”

We definitely will miss him, his “super iron elbow”, defensive rebound, leadership, and love for basketball. Good luck, uncle Mu. 

Beat Dallas, Houston will have chance to be the No.2 in the West Division.

There are two possibilities:

1: Houston Rockets win, Denver Nuggets win, San Antonio Spurs win, Utah Jazz win. Then the ranking is: 1 Lakers; 2 Nuggets; 3 Rockets; 4 Spurs; 5 Trail Blazers; 6 Jazz; 7 Hornets; 8 Mavericks

So, Rockets (3) will face Jazz (6)

2: Huston Rockets win, Denver Nuggets lose, San Antonio Spurs lose, Utah Jazz win. Then the ranking is: 1 Lakers; 2 Rockets; 3 Nuggets; 4 Trail Blazers; 5 Spurs; 6 Hornets; 7 Jazz; 8 Mavericks

So, Rockets (2) will face Jazz (7)

If Rockets lost this game, then, bye, Jazz.

I prefer beat Dallas, anyway, Jazz is not the Jazz before, and it will be very exciting to beat them, Rockets can’t always avoid Jazz. Yao’s condition is pretty good right now, as we can see in the game vs. Hornets. And I wish Artest’s performance could be stable tonight, then there is a big chance to win. I strongly agree that Artest should learn how to play smart, then he would contribute much more for Rockets in the future.  

Data in papierdoll.com shows that Kobe Bryant had beaten Yao Ming in jersey sales figures in China. Well, this is strange enough to be a news, but not as much as Yao only ranked No. 8 on the top best selling jerseys board. Rounding up the top best selling jerseys are: No.1 Kobe Bryant (Lakers), No. 2 Kevin Garnett (Boston Celtics), No.3 Tracy McGrady (Houston Rockets), No. 4 Paul Pierce (Boston Celtics), No. 5 Allen Iverson (Denver Nuggets), No. 6 Gilbert Arenas (Washington Wizards), No. 7 LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers), No. 9 Dwyane Wade (Miami Heat), and No. 10 Dwight Howard (Orlando Magic).

Kobe is the next Jordan in China, and Garnett, God, we love him, Iverson, he is too cool, McGrady, Howard, James…Yes, all of them are super stars in China, but why Yao’s ranking is so low?

The answer is a lot of Chinese love NBA not only because of Yao. Why he should be the No.1 ranking? We love NBA because we love basketball, and people enjoy the world’s best basketball games with or without Yao. But, yes, most Chinese support Yao because he is Chinese, but that doesn’t mean nationality is the most important reason to become a fan and buy his Jersey. We love a player because of his excellent skills, nice personality, even good looking. So, many Chinese love Kobe or James or other stars and support Yao at the same time. But when it come to Jersey, choose the one you love. I have to say Yao Ming is successful enough to become get the No.8 ranking, if he didn’t go to NBA, his name won’t show up on this board at all.

Friday night, March 3, 2009, Lakers won Rockets 93:81.

No, no, no.

If Yao can run faster, if the rockets had less mistakes, if they had better execution…I know “if “is “if” because it won’t come true…

I am not that disappointed about the Rocket’s lose, I just disappointed about they didn’t improve of their execution and brought a more exciting game when they actually could.

Yao stayed in court for 12 minutes in the first quarter and first 5 minutes in the second quarter which caused him to be really tired and thus poor performance during the forth quarter.

And the biggest problem, as we all know, the execution, which already bothered the Rockets since the first day of the season. “From the first minutes of the game up until the last minutes we didn’t run our plays,” Yao said. “We keep saying that from the first games of the season till now and we have two weeks left until the playoffs. We’ll see if we execute.”

Yes, we will see.