Pick whomever you please. TMac- B+. He did score 30, but he disappeared down the stretch. He needs to get that killer Instinct. He needs to fall out of love with the J and get to the rim. Overall a good performance from TMac. Yao- B+. Only reason he didn't get an A is because he did force some awful shots, and from the high post just could not initiate the offense whatsoever. Rafer- D. Might of been a C if he didn't almost blow it. His Defense is still horrible, he can't hit the side of a barn, still takes the stupid tear drop. The assists and boards were nice, but what else was he doing in 30 mins? James- C+ His offense was great. A few times he pounded the crap out of the ball. I watched TMac flail his hands a few times trying to get the ball from him. He is not the Answer at the point guard position. SG he is fine, but he is all about getting his. Battier- A- . He really needs to grab more boards than he does. Clutch shot though. Anything that's not a set shot on a dish from TMac is difficult for him. Bonzi- A I thought he played the most productive all around game of all the rox GIVEN their role. He did it all. I can't believe we didn't use him last year. Scola- D He was just lost out their on offense. Didn't really even try to get incorporated in the offense. Got beat a few times on D pretty bad, but hey its his first NBA game, hope it gets better. Rockets. C- Looked alot like the Rox team of last year. Same amount of possessions, same 29 percent of shots from the 3 point line. Same high turnovers. Same two players carrying the mega load. Bonzi was great, and James Offensive stroke was great, but if Steve isn't in the game due to pounding the ball, what was James doing? I love having James here, but he can't be waving off TMac like that. The Rox struggled with the O in the first quarter because get this...same starting 5 produced same way to play them on D. Sag off of Battier, ignore Chuck outside of the lane, and forget about Alston completely. And Alston did what he does best, pull a 1-6 and almost blows the game. Bonzi should be our first player off the bench every night if he continues to play like that, and should get at least 25 mins. James is not running point guard in any sense, and really he doesn't have to in this offense. The Rockets are going to keep getting the same Defense anytime Rafer and Chuck are on the floor, making it harder for Tmac and Yao to find room. Anyone notice with scrub players, how much easier it was for Kobe to get shots. I know hes a ball hog, but he got a lot of easy looks and got to the rack at ease. Someone please inform the Rox that continuing to run Alston and Chuck is going to make it impossible for Tmac and Yao.
I'm grading them on their roles McGrady played a great game tonight hitting 30pts 10-20 FG(10-12 FT) and played like an MVP. Did terrible in the first quarter though A- Yao Ming had an all around great game with 25pts an 12 rebounds. Another MVP type of performance. A- Rafer didn't exactly had a good game. Not exactly a bad game. He only made 1 shot(a big one though) but didn't take many shots. He made some dumb mistakes at the end but I can't complain about the 7 rebs and 8 assists. I like him as the starter C Mike James missed 4 FTs including 2 big ones in the 4th quarter but he made his shots early in the game and was huge spark off the bench B- Shane Battier played good defense on Kobe. Did miss some open 3's but made the clutch 3 at the end with a smart foul too. Love his hustle A- Chuck Hayes was a hustling machine. I love him but he sucks at free throws B+ I like Bonzi Wells off the bench because he adds another scoring dimension for us B+ I expected a bigger game from Scola but he's still adjusting C- Dikembe Mutumbo C Luther Head D
Agreed on most points, except: Yao: A-. He was asked to shoot from outside, or try to create from outside. The fact that he could not find someone to pass to is because the cutters weren't there (replay it several times and try to find one). It wasn't his fault when he couldn't create. After all, he knew he couldn't really dribble in without getting the ball swatted away. One thing that got me excited about Yao's game is his aggressiveness. How many dunks did he have today? Almost felt like he had more this game than his entire last season. He was also great at grabbing the ball off the air for rebounding. Nice improvement, Yao! He should stay inside 80% of the time, not 67% as RA asked him to. Otherwise, agreed with you, especially about Mike's ballhog and Rafer's impotent. Aargghhh!!
dreamshake, tmac was doubled all quarter after he scored 7 in the 2nd and 14 in the 3rd. jackson was not gonna let him breathe. we just didn't try hard enough to get tmac open.
D is too low for Rafer. He played horribly in the last couple minutes, but played quite decently else where.
Did you see Yao spin away and reach out extended dunk?? That was sick!! That's the best i seen of Yao's dunks. He did it so quick that it deserved to be a highlight.
I wouldn't give Shane that guy of a grade. Yes clutch, practically game-winning shot at the end but other than that... 2 airballs, didn't contain Kobe as well as he could have (6 fouls (yes I know it's Kobe...)). I expected more than chillin' in the corners for 3's on offense, based on what I saw he could do in preseason. It really seemed like the Rockets from last year. It seemed like JVG was still the coach but was maybe sick, so RA came in to subsitute with 30 minutes notice and all the Rockets got a 30 min crash course in his system. Not really criticizing the guys, I'm sure it's hard to get used to, but that's just how I saw it...
Shane defending Kobe is the reason we won the game. Forcing Kobe to shoot poorly was the W. Don't bag on Shane, without him this is a W.
Here is a perspective from a fan in the audience: Yao: Good job. Sometimes, I was so pissed and yelling at Coach A b/c he just stood out on the high-post and was watching the game. B+ T-Mac: Played very well! When I looked up at the jumbo-tron around the 4 minute mark, I couldn't believe he had 27 pts. It seemed to come pretty easy to him. A- Shane: Did a great job on Kobe. I know Kobe got his points, but look at his FG%. B+ Mike James: STOPPING SHOOTING SO FAST! C Rafer Alston: Make more shots, but don't shot more than 6 a game. C Bonzi: Please learn how to catch and dribble. If he can learn to hold on to the ball, then he can help a lot more. B Luther Head: He seemed a little slow today for some reason. D Chuck Hayes: Didn't really stand out. D Scola: Refs are killing him out there. D
after this game. I think AD should try SF at the pg with the starter and pair alston with MJ. There were few times where MJ just forcing his shots in the painted area. he is not looking to pass, 4 lakers collapsing on him and he still trying to force his way in. Alston is good for dishing out passes, nothing more. when we are on top alston staying in is fine. 4th quarter Tmac is too passive. Yao look lost when he is at the high post dishing out passes. he still need sometime getting use to the new offense.
I loved that move but I'll say it for the 20th time: Yao should learn to dunk with his left hand. It could have been blocked if the defender had been a little quicker.
