A case for both sides. I loved the 04-05 squad and where they finished the season was tainted by dirty officiating. It was McGrady's last year to really dominate in scoring, J-How was injured for the playoffs and Bob Sura's body fell apart. Our 13-14 squad has more wiggle room it seems. With lots of assets, Morey is far done dealing. Dawson didn't have the draft pick stockpile that Morey has now.
No one could stop TMac, mainly because of the elevation on his jump shot. Also TMac was often double teamed. Also TMac had a less talented supporting cast. Iggy can stop Harden, and certain other defenses like Memphis can really slow down Harden. Even Courtney Lee minimized Harden. When was the last time you saw Harden get double teamed? Harden is good; Tmac was better. Also TMac was a really good defender and put up better-than-his-average numbers in the playoffs.
Oh I forget. Juwan Howard who was the starting PF missed that series. Also Sura played most of the series with the flu. The Rockets lost in seven to the mighty Mavs. Not bad. That 04-05 team was better than last year's Rockets for sure; whether they're better than this year's remains to be seen...
whoa there. I love lin and harden but sura and wesley would have turn them over every other play. and the way harden plays d, wesley would have an open three pointer every time down the court. Bev wouldn't be able to hold ' amityville horror's' jock. when james had it going, there was no stopping him. yao always out worked howard on offense and defensively. that 2004 team sweeps 4-0 nine out of 10 times. oh yeah and before everyone turned on tmac, he was considered a fantastic player.
Don't need to think hard about it. 04-05 is a FAILED squad. This year, we have a chance to win it all... Whats so hard about that?
Not the 04 squad..but I'd take our healthy 07-08 squad any day. Yao/mutumbo Scola/Landry Artest/battier Tmac/wafer Brooks/Lowry Probably the deepest rockets team of all time
I would take TMac and Yao over Harden and Howard. But the supporting cast this year blows 04/05s out of the water.
We need a Bobby Sura on this team. That guy had more guts than this entire team combined! The reason everyone loved Bobby on this team was because he was fearless of any opponent and was exceptionally loyal to his teammates! Those who had the pleasure of watching him play for us get it. Sadly, not everyone here has as much Rockets history under their belt as others, (myself included). Never got to watch Sampson, Tomjanovich, Murphy and the earlier years. Wish I could have.
Without this turning into a s*** show, why are some of you guys picking Lin over Sura? We are talking about a snapshot of the player without considering his future or past performance. Sura was the 3rd option so he averaged less attempts and thus less ppg. IIRC he was a very ideal complement to TMac-Yao's style of play. One on one, even with Sura's age, his bull dog mentality would take Lin out of his rhythm and result in TOs <PRE> Season Age Tm Lg Pos G GS MP FG FGA FG% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS 2012-13 24 HOU NBA PG 82 82 2640 5.4 12.2 .441 1.2 3.5 .339 2.9 3.7 .785 0.4 2.9 3.4 6.8 1.8 0.4 3.2 2.8 14.9 2004-05 31 HOU NBA PG 61 59 31.5 3.5 8.3 .427 0.9 2.5 .355 2.3 3.1 .750 1.3 4.2 5.5 5.2 1.1 0.1 2.4 2.8 10.3 </PRE>
true. but if we're using a time machine, they're going to stay the same ages. lin is going to be 24 in 2004 not 15 and posting derek fisher head band pics! yao was dropping 30 points on shaq since he was 22. he could do that to a 27 year old howard. GREAT SCOTT!
I guess you checked out before the Jazz were single covering McGrady with the likes of Gordan Giricek and Derek Fisher. Harden was better this past season than McGrady ever was with the Rockets.
Come on now, I hated the way McGrady did us with the surgery but 04-05 T-Mac would make Harden look like a scrub. Again 04-05 T-Mac...and hell I don't even like the guy after all the drama he put us through.
You're flat out wrong. Harden scored more with less shots than McGrady, who's 'supporting cast' included Yao Ming.
This current team. I think, on paper, T-Mac and Yao were a better and more potent combination than Harden and Dwight. But they had no real role players, no bench. It was all on the two of them. We still have a lot of unknowns this year, but we have Garcia (who played well last year) Lin, Asik, Parsons (ditto). That's better than Bob Sura, David Wesley, Jon Barry, and Juwan Howard, no?
Look at the supporting cast, you switch the Harden and Mac around on that team and who has the better team?
Harden and Mac are pretty comparable for both seasons, but JVG ran a defensive oriented team, no way would Harden average what he did this season with the 04-05 team.
