I hate to say it, but this game showed our limitation against teams with top-tier frontcourts. Against such teams, we may be able to make a few adjustments and steal a few games in the playoffs, but it'll take a miracle to go any further. That said, I love that the Rockets did not give up and played with intensity throughout this game. Whatever the results, it makes me want to keep watching and rooting for them.
again dude, no one is saying he's the best player. but with all his faults, he's still the 3rd best overall perimeter player in the L after kobe and lebron. sure there may be a huge drop-off after kobe and lebron, but he's still the 3rd best player overall. we all saw what paul pierce can do by himself last yr? -> bad record we all saw what wade did this yr by himself (he actually had some help)? -> worst record we all are seeing what melo AND iverson can do together? -> not make the playoffs again, we all know tmac has his faults (along with yao). but he's still the 3rd best overall perimeter player out there right now. that's why morey is working feverishly to compile a group of role players who can help these 2 guys cover their faults. we're getting close to finding those groups of players. but our main weakness remains rafer alston. if he plays well, we have a great chance of winnign b/c every team leaves him open like he's the smelliest garbage there is. eventually his minutes can be cut back to 20 so bobby can play more. brooks should have gotten some burn tonight.
TMac is not going anywhere. He will be Rocket for a long time. The Rockets will be fine in the last weeks of the season. I hoping for a top four seed in the playoffs and yes it still can still happen. GO ROCKETS!!
some fans on here expect us to win every game or something. the suns played as perfect of an offensive ballgame as you can get. it also helped that our legs were in mud b/c of fatigue. but we fought back ON THEIR HOMECOURT. the guys showed a lot of heart. but please, rafer just has to know when he's off. i'm fine when he's aggressive when he's on, but when you're WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY off, know that and control the trigger.
Neither can Vince Carter or Kobe. You make up for your loss of athletism by improving other areas of your game. Kobe is obviously superior in all aspects of the game so over time, you're going to see him play more and more like MJ (2nd three peat). Tmac has the unique ability to see the floor and pass very well. In fact the only players his height with that type of vision are Magic, LBJ and Toni Kukoc. This will allow for him to compensate for his loss of scoring by being effective in other facets of the game. Vince Carter, on the other hand is going to be completely garbage in 2 years time.
It's not about his athleticism........it's a telling sign that he's on the decline well before his time. Get it? Plus I don't think he has a winning mentality(IMHO), he reminds me of VinceCarter.
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and he's still the 3rd best perimeter player overall. unless you give me kobe or lebron, no one is going to help this team. we need tmac and yao TOGETHER. yao is not going to lead this team if he's the main guy completely.
At least they didn't get blow out at the end. They gave it as much as they can with what they got to play with. Can't stand that Head was in there doing nothing and Alston reverting to his previous life as a non-top tier PG. Miss you already good Rafer! Good Laundry got back but Shaq and Amare is too big for him to handle. This is one team Rockets don't want to face in THIS playoffs. If Yao is playing, Rockets would take this series but not this year. Not with Shaq giving everything he's got to prove the critics wrong. He won't have much if any steam left next year but this is the year for Phoenix if they don't get hurt. Rockets will need to win the winable games to make the playoffs and hope that luck will be on their side so they will get a 1st round series win. Then all else is gravy this season.
TMac isn't any less effective then he was a few years ago. He just contributes more as a passer and less as a scorer. His mentality is fine.... Just needs a better supporting cast and a healthy Yao. VC seriously is completely trash. He wilts under the biggest moments (missed shot in 2nd round against the Knicks, his garbage performace last year) etc. Tmac has always come up big in the playoffs. I know its been argued to death but he wasn't the reason we lost the last 2 times. If anything, he prolonged the series and won a few games by himself.
When Pheonix is shooting 76% in the first half, scores 74 points in the first half, has Shaq score 23 vs. Mutombo, and Amare Stoudamire goes 20-20 from the foul line, we didn't play too bad to lose by only 9 points. It should've been a lot worse. I was glad to see that we weren't rattled at the half by that almost unreal shooting. Also, the refs gave Amare touch fouls, but Tmac and Scola couldn't get a foul when they were hammered. The Rockets came out in the 2nd half and chipped away at the lead. We were close, but a few mistakes here and there and time killed us. I know at the end of the day its still a loss, but if we were to play the Suns again, I don't think the Rockets would start off as slow as they did today. They would look back at the 2nd half of this game and see that they can play with these Suns. 2-3 isn't great in a tough week of work, but its better than 1-5 or 0-5. The Rockets will still be a top 5 seed when the playoffs come around, which is all we need to get homecourt advantage.
yeah i cant stand it when rafer jacks up stupid shots after he makes one shot. He needs to stop jackin up shots early in the shot clock after he makes one. He seems to think that when he makes one shot that he will automatically make the next. But i agree with you 100%, this team did not give up even when we were down by at least 15 for the entire game. There is just not much you can do when a team shoots like the suns did tonight. Apparently that was the best shooting a team has shot since april of 2006. Thats not even mentioning the insane free throw percentage they had tonight. Its not like they just shot 10 free throws and made 9 of them. They shot 40 free throws and made 38. shaq missed the only 2.
No he isn't, have you bothered watching Carter this season? He has one of the best midrange games in the league and is an excellent playmaker at his position. There are only 4 players in the league who are putting up 20+/5+/5+ - Kobe, Lebron, T-Mac, and VC. VC over the last 3 games: 39/8/10/1 32/5/6/1/1 27/5/8/3 The reason his numbers are down scoring wise is because he's taking a career low shots per game - his FG% this season is a career high. He was also suffering from an ankle injury, taking cortisone shots on a nightly basis the first half of the season. When Carter gets traded in the offseason watch him explode on his new team. He isn't getting any air time because he's stuck in NJ. People need stop bashing people based on reputation.
VC also has been a regular leader in the crunch time stat during his years in Jersey. Again, you are labeling people based on their unfounded reputations.
Like I said his decline has been faster than anyone in his age group, back issues don't go away, don't take my word for it, ask your doctor.... I agree. Though it's a risk based on what I've said over and over again, his health issues are not going to go away, his decline at such a young age is unusual. Is it worth it to have such a risk who's making 18/20 Mill a season.......that's a crap load of cap space taken up.
I'm going to go to RealGM, find a quote of someone saying the exact same **** about Carter - and then see their reactions after the trade.
