Francis ate a big bowl of Campbell's Chunky Soup

I've been saying it for a while now, Steve Francis is the answer at PG. He doesn't even have to start, he's a great 6th man, but I really like Mike James in that role with Towelie being left at home, his home, NY, not home as in Houston.

Steve Campbell of the Chronicle wrote an "article" before yesterday's, well...I'd call it a coming out party but Steve has played well in every game he's been in this year. Last night he just played like he did 7 years ago and delivered in the clutch. This article by Campbell basically said "Trust Adelman's choice", so I guess if his choice is to play Stevie then that is trusting his choice as well, but that wasn't his point. His point was to say that Steve sucked, I mean, he has to if Adelman isn't playing him.

This quote in particular made me laugh out loud: "Does Adelman's past make him immune to scrutiny? Of course not. It's possible he's wrong, that there's more left in Francis than meets the coach's eye. If so, then Adelman has plenty of company around the NBA."

Seriously, the guy wrote an entire article saying that Adelman is right, and then completely unraveled his argument with an out. That's just pathetic. Seriously, have your take and stick with it.

I am horribly tired of sports writers being this lazy. Just because I'm not a coach doesn't mean that I can't possibly know what I'm talking about. Just because I'm a fan doesn't mean I should shut my mouth over something I PAY to see and don't get paid to see. It's boring and sad. I know I don't have to write every day with deadlines and bosses breathing down my neck, but you will never see me write something and then give myself an out unless it's in jest.

On to last nights game:

The Rockets played as well as they could defensively against the Suns. They didn't let Nash get into a rhythm passing the ball and made him shoot. That's fine by me because it took time off the shot clock, that's the best I've ever seen this team defense the Suns, and exactly what San Antonio does. I'm not saying we should be sucking each others dicks just yet, just that they played extremely well and as a team last night.

Game ball would have to go to Steve Francis, not because he was the best player or even in the top 5 out there last night from both teams, but because he gave us exactly what we needed. Up tempo, yet in control heart. The driving layup at the end was a thing of beauty. Maybe TMac will remember that it's okay to not shoot 27 foot jumpers and you CAN drive to the basket in the last 5 minutes of the game. Even Yao realized that as he gave the game ball to Steve last night right after getting the game ending layup.

Speaking of TMac, he really looks scared to go to the rim. Not because he's afraid of the contact or if his shot will go in, but because, as Dave said last night "He has Nick Anderson's disease". He can't hit the rim on some of these free throws. I don't know what's going on with him.

The greatest quote I saw anywhere from the game is:
"Just knowing a lot of us were settling for jump shots late, we needed to be aggressive and try to get to the basket," Francis said.
Now THAT is what I'm talking about. When jumpers aren't falling get thee ass to the basket.

There is more fun tonight, and I'll be doing a running blog over at basketballforum.com. I tried to do it last night but when I went to spell check it deleted half of the blog entry.