Hey dudes I'm new to this forum and to the rockets. Ive always been into nba but never really followed a team until Killer Vassili joined the rockets. I shouldn't really like the bloke cause he played for PAO in Greece but after what he done for us in Euro/WC i wanna see him do well cause he can really play. Ill try not to post about things i don't know since i don't know much bout the rockets but i will say that i saw the game and it didn't look too bad. Rockets shooting was just off. PS. I'd be happy to translate any articles in Greek since I've noticed u had a bit of trouble with that. Madman George
Hi Madman George, you must be an Olympiakos fans. Welcome and enjoy the forum. Hope you are not shocked by the ranters here.
You guessed right man!!! Red and White to the core for ever!!! About the ranters its not that bad. I write in Greek forums and the fans there.... lets just say we are nor as polite in our wording especially after loses. Thanks for the welcome Madman George
Just wait if we beat the Mavs. If that happens, there will be threads saying 'WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS, MAVS SUKZ BALZ!" and maybe 'JVG= Genius!!", "IN UR FACE". If we lose, we are headed for the lottery The world is a fast changing one.
Hey Madman George. Welcome to the board. It is a fun place. (just not after a loss). It is always great to see more Europeans on this board. Enjoy
Their domination in the paint coincides with the Ref. playing as their 6th man. But even then, we can't excuse Yao for the fact of his passive play. It seems like since T-mac's return he is taking the back seat once again and being happy with being the second fiddle. For this team to do great things, it must start and end with Yao. t-mac just needs to play within the team until crunch time comes and then take over. You can see that he's still trapped within the mentallity that he's the main player of the team. Try fielding a team w/o T-mac, although we will most likely lose, our ball movement becomes much more directed. If only T-mac can realize that, we will become the team to beat. I don't buy the argument that we're not there yet in terms of talent. I just don't think we're there yet in terms of mentallity and chemistry. Every team has their defiencies regardless of how good they are. I am not frustrated because we lost, I'm just frustrated with the way we lost.
As far as the officiating goes, I was primarily referring to the way the refs were dogging Yao when he was on defense. Those bogus calls he was getting for standing straight up and being run into was deja-vu back to his first couple of years in the league. He seemed to get past that last year, not because he suddenly changed how he played, but because he was finally afforded the respect from the refs necessary to play the game the way it's supposed to be played. And while I fretted all last year that Yao would start getting called for that hook he always does when he uses his spin move, it never materialized. Lo and behold, all of a suddent, it pops up in the very first game of the season. Someone must have complained to the league about it, and I suspect Yao is either going to have to learn how to make that move without hooking, or he's going to have to shelve the move altogether. Can't nevessarily blame the refs for that, but on the defensive end, they just need to remember that Yao is one of the bona-fide superstars of the league, and stop treating him like he's an over-hyped foreign rookie again. As for Alston, I agree, to some extent. Alston clearly worked on his shot, and it clearly has improved from last year, at least it had improved in pre-season. So we know he has the *ability*. It's just a matter of confidence, getting his newfound touch to show up in the live games. But regardless of that, his first option really needs to be to penetrate and dish. Let Novak and Battier be the guys who spot up and think to shoot first as their best option. Snyder and Alston need to be attacking the rim, while McGrady is the one guy who can roam anywhere, and essentially have the talent and ability to beat whatever the defense throws at him at any given time. So if Alston would simply look to penetrate and distribute as his first option, and then later in the game, if the situation is right, THEN try some long-range shots, after he has 8-10 points and a half-dozen assists already, THEN the defense has seriously got something to think about. But if he starts out with this 'shoot outside first' mentality, our 'spread-the-floor' style of offense is really not going to work, because his defender is not going to feel a sense of urgency to guard him, and will instead be available to help on TMac and Yao. I think your analysis is sound, but your conclusion that Rafer cannot be our PG while achieving any real success is not necessarily true. I think he CAN be, but JVG needs to get his system ironed out, and guide Rafer into a better option/decision process, and everything should be ok.
