We could have beeen up 2-1 have feel like we have a legit shot to beat the lakers, and then have yao be done, devastating everyone. Instead it looks like the lakers are a better even with Yao so him being out doesn't hurt as much. So there is at least some light in an otherwise dreary day.
At least the "OMG WE CAN'T GET THE BALL TO YAO" threads will go away. Now commence the "Battier sucks offensively", "Brooks TOO MANY TO", and "CHUCK WAGON!!!" threads.
Now we have no pressure on us to win at all just like last year when Yao went down and we won 11 more straight games.. Anything can happen in sports.
Why is it everyone looks at this notion of addition by subtraction. Losing a player is never a good thing. We are without Tmac, we're not a better team because of it. Losing Tmac shows us we need to play him less, not cut him. If we do the same without Yao it shows the same thing. Realistically, when you lose a star and the team plays better it shows you one thing: your role players are not giving it their all when the star is in uniform. More than anything, improvement is an indictment against the role players and not the star in question... I still believe, don't get me wrong. In game 2, Yao hardly played and we still had a chance to take it. We can do it without Yao, but if we do do it (haha i said dodo) it doesn't necessarily prove that Yao, or even Tmac is the problem. Correlation is not proof. Please don't offer it as such...
Losing a lazy, no D, hogging the ball on O, never hustling 2008-2009 TMac was a good thing. Losing Yao is a disaster.
I can't wait to see the GARM after tomorrows game. No longer do we have someone in this team to properly challenge shots. No longer do we have anyone that creates so much space for guards to get to the lane. We no longer have someone to create a double team. You know those open looks Ron, Shane, and Aaron have been getting, considering them done. Rebounding wise, we are going to get fried. Sorry guys this team has hustle and I love them. I still have faith but Yao going out is not helping out our chances.
tomorrow is the day that will go down in history as the day the chuckwagon Sir Chuck Hayes has 40 points and 40 rebounds in a game! mark it down people!
It's now time to start thinking about the future. It's a proven fact that we cannot trust Yao or Tmac to be healty. Real talk, I trust Morey and hope he sees what is going on.
Are you telling me, if Tmac could play right now, you'd sit him? I don't like to diss Adelman, but Tmac's attitude is a testament to RA's inability to put Tmac in his place. RA, Morey and Les need to sit down with Tmac and tell him who is in charge. They never did. How is that the team's fault? Losing Tmac hurts this team, but I digress. If we decide to argue more on this I will gladly post in the original thread. It's my fault for hijacking and diverting the subject.... Back to the topic at hand. Yao is a cornerstone of our intense defense. Look at the Celts sans KG. They can't even stop that Chicago team. Boston had to change when they lost KG, instead of scoring and playing hardnosed defense, now they have outscore their opponents (a la Phoenix Suns or Dallas Mavericks). Near the end of our 22 win streak, we did about the same thing (in losing Yao). I think with a healthy Artest and good role players we can do the same. The thing is, when you live and die by your offense, if you're losing you have no way out but to shoot until you start making shots. This team is not better without Yao, far from it, but they can in fact score a hell of a lot more. All the games from here on out will be in 100's at the least, maybe even the 110's.
