I don't mean to be negative, but if the Lakers team that played last night shows up it will be really tough to win on Tuesday. Kwame is as strong as an ox and PJ has them playing very good team defense. They can't play much better. Someone on the Rockets must step up and drop 15-20 points unexpectedly.
God is jealous. He won't let us have a great Yao and a great TMAC at the same time. This lakers game means a lot less than our long term plan - championship.
wouldn't read too much into the snowflakers record right now. they've played a total of 20 games. 15 if those were at home and 5 on the road. they're 2-3 on the road with those two wins coming against the warriors and clippers. not too impressive. anyhow, with another day of rest hopefully tmac will be fine by tomorrow. if not, forget about him and play with the players we have. if yao says that he knows how to play without tracy, i believe him.
Shane can defend Kobe or Odom, not both. Don't forget that Walton, Farmar, Evans, and Turiaf are doing a good job as well. Walton is nailing 3's, although he doesn't take too many of them. Defensively we're very good, especially at home. But we will suffer there because Head will probably replace T-Mac in the line-up. That's why we need to step it up offensively. We need to feed Yao early to open up the game. Having Alston, Head and Battier gunning from outside is no joke - together they shoot well over 40% and take 15 3-pters among them. The only thing I worry about is Bynum and Kwame are two good big men. Kwame is a good defensive player, probably the strongest guy in the league. They will both make Yao work defensively and offensively. I hope Yao can sustain it. We need Spanoulis to penetrate a lot, get some unexpected 3's from Noval or Padgett, and a good performance by the Hayes/Howard tandem.
Any chance Novak could get serious minutes if MAC is out to help take some pressure off YAO? If YAO gets swarmed he and Head could get some wide open looks.
Let us assume, TMAc will not play on Tuesday. Sura is out, Snyder is still injured, Bonzy will hardly play. I predict: Battier will play 40 min on 3! For the guard positions: Alston 40 min, Head 30 min, Span 26 min
One thing Rockets lose with TMac is perimeter size. With Snyder and Wells on the shelf already, the Rockets are kinda back to the midget guards era. I'd imagine Rafer and Head both play a ton of minutes with Spanoulis playing plenty of reserve minutes. Spanoulis is the only guy with any kind of bulk among the 3 guards. Since the Lakers start Brown, Odom, Walton, Bryant, and Parker, that probably means either Head or Spanoulis is going to be going to be guarding someone much bigger than himself. They are gonna get posted up a lot, whether by Kobe, Walton, or Odom... so the Rockets better be ready to play some help D.
I would actually like Yao to have the "aggressive" mentality more often even when Tmac does play. I think it might help him cut down on his TOs and get more foul calls.
whats all this business about kwame being strong as an ox and the strongest guy in the nba? did i miss something?
Actually MJ has really picked up his game this past week to my suprise, finally getting minutes and getting acclaimated, bout time...
Couldn't Novak be inserted into the rotation a la the Phoenix game? That would solve the size problem and they sure could not leave him open on the perimeter. Not that still leaves the Defense problem...
i thought the exact same thing.... especially after the blowout, there's no way we dropped 2 spots in point +/-. good call.
I've been saying it all year. McGrady's back was not 100%, and it's unfair to expect to every be 100% again. He's been unfairly criticized in the media and on this BBS for playing to passively, when the truth is, he simply can't blow by his man at will or finish like he lives in the Matrix. We should be thankful for every game he suits up, and ever year he doesn't have surgery and become the next Larry Johnson. Degenerative discs do not heal. Evan
We won't see Bonzi tonight nor Novak. I highly doubt those 2 guys will play, even with Snyder and Mac out. Novak needs to go out with Bonzi a couple of days to the buffets and bulk up a bit, then go to the gym and learn some defense. I can already see it.. Kobe exploding for 40+ on us with no answer. JVG should either send Hayes to give Kobe the Shaq treatment with his healthier knee or VSpan out to tackle Kobe.. do something! Btw, I liked how in the interview Yao ming forgot Deke.. hurt a man's feelings:
TMac going down was the only reason I felt the Bonzi signing could be a positive. I am always against the knuckhead signing but I thought that Bonzi at least could help if we lose TMac for any period of time. I get more and more pissed at Bonzi as time goes by and this loser proves to the world why we were the only idiots willing to pay his worthless a$$. I sure do wish we had resigned bogan with that money .
You're right, it was an impressive performance. Kwame's block on Tony Parker was a thing of beauty and kept the momentum for them on the final stretch. You rarely see Parker denied at the rim while driving full speed. Their offensive rebounding also gave them the scoring they needed to finish the win after the Spurs put the clamps on. Everyone's perimeter shooting better be on, and the frontcourt better put on their rebounding hardhats as well.
Any word on when we can expect Snyder back? I'm hoping that he's been keeping in shape while he's on the shelf (since he only has a broken hand he should be able to run drills, etc.) and will be able to get back into the rotation in a minimal amt of time.
