My 2nd fav team and they are so fun to watch, I hope they get 8th spot , they would give LA a 7 game series, and the only team that i think could knock out LA in the first round
they beat the Jazz today, that's the difference between shaq and yao. yao need to be tough, strong to beat the dirty jazz. yao can beat any true/traditional center in the league. but he is just too nice to these dirty scrubs.
Yao simply isn't coordinated enough to do some of the stuff Shaq does. As long as we don't face the Jazz we shouldn't have too much of a problem. Yao does well usually against most everyone of the other contenders.
I hope you are right. But in a playoff series, the opposing team isn't going to let Yao dominate like he does during the regular season. The playoffs involve serious game-planning and Yao will be the #1 target of the Rockets opponent no matter who it is. Every one of the Western Conference playoff teams can shut Yao down if they want to. The fact of the matter is someone else on the roster will have to step up for the Rockets to win.
and of course we don't have anybody that we can expect to step up. It will take a collective effort and several surprise performances for us to advance.
contain, maybe. shut down, hardly. it's not like only the other team does their game plan. adelman and his gang do it too.
And Adelman still hasn't figured out a way to get the ball to Yao when the other team decides he will not score. I don't blame Adelman for this. Just saying it's a fact. Yao might do OK for a half or even 3 quarters, but it isn't hard to deny him shots.
Well he is already the first target on any team's defensive scheme. Comes playoff its about the other guys knocking some shots and take away some pressure from teams collapsing on yao
adelman has to figure it out. and i believe he will. otherwise he's not a competent coach. if yao is denied shots or even the ball, then he has to teach the players how to score other ways to make the opponent pay. playoffs are like chess match, it's all about adjustments from game to game. coaching becomes much more important.
How about excellent game planning and a concerted effort by everyone on the team to stick to it (I'm talking to you Artest!)? I say if we can avoid a situation where we have to play uphill after getting too far behind in a game, we can advance. That's why I hope we end up playing Portland in the first round...nothing like feasting on a team with young and inexperienced leadership!
We will definitely have to play intelligently to do anything. No doubt. We don't have a single player that can single handedly take over a series unlike several other teams. It will take smart, team play to advance as well as a few players playing over their heads. Apparently, I am one of few who doesn't think Portland will be a cake walk. Even if we don't have to play a lot from behind against them, the Blazers are the best team in the league in close games. They have multiple capable scorers and are deadly on the offensive boards. You know... those same offensive boards that ended up deciding games against the Jazz? Those same offensive boards that prevented us from beating the Sixers earlier in the year. Sure, I'd rather play the Blazers than the Lakers or Jazz but I'd rather play the Hornets than the Blazers in the 1st round if it was up to me. I know the Hornets had success in the postseason and that Chris Paul is a nightmare. They just don't have a lot of depth and I think we could find a way to beat them in 7.
He's had 2 full seasons. There is nothing left to figure out. Yao's lack of vertical and horizontal is the problem, not coaching. Despite being 7'6, Yao is actually not that big a target to pass to.
who has had 2 full seasons? yao or adelman? yao didn't play in the last series. and he was 25/10 coming back from a broken leg. and it went to final moments of game 7. adelman hasn't even had a good roster to play the jazz in the playoffs since he's rocket. we were 1-2 plast season and 2-2 this year playing utah in the regular season, so it's not like they've been invincible. adelman's kings owned the jazz a couple of times iirc. and what do you mean by "Yao's lack of vertical and horizontal"? it's not like okur is a high flying guy or is bigger than him.
Adelman has had plenty of time to solve how to get Yao the ball when defenses tighten up on him and still hasn't figured it out yet. What I'm saying is Yao's lack of mobility and hops is the reason and it's not Adelman's fault. Compared to Yao, Okur is indeed a "high-flyer". If Yao came out to guard him on the perimeter, Okur would fly right by him to the basket and leave him standing still. Okur is more mobile than you think. Getting Yao the ball against the Jazz hasn't been a problem because Okur is decent at guarding Yao one-on-one. If Yao dominated him during a game, the Jazz would simply front Yao or double him off the dribble and force someone else to score.
Obviously, he meant Adelman. Crunch time. Even if that is true, which I don't know, the Jazz as presently constructed are a far different animal. Few, if any, teams have as much depth and they have one the best PGs in the game. They have tons of versatile players and options on offense. Yao is one of the most immobile players in the league. It's a massive weakness that should be impossible to deny. Yao has two bonafide NBA attributes: his size and his shot. Beyond that, he does nothing extremely well. As slow as Okur may be, he is far more mobile and coordinated than Yao.
is the reason for what? unable to get the ball? that wasn't an issue in 2007 playoffs. or are you saying it is the reason for our playoffs failure?
