Magic Johnson probably thinks they were overrated when he once said on a TNT halftime show that one of them needs to go when asked what's wrong with the Houston Rockets early on in the 2007-08 season.
Who failed to grab 2 decisive rebounds in the final minutes in the game 7 L to the Jazz? Why blames only Rafer and not Yao?
Yes they were, a little. They were the correct way to try to win a championship. Quality Big + Quality Wing. Management did the correct thing pairing McGrady with Yao. They just weren't transcendent enough to overcome all the odds in their way. Still, no team in playoffs HISTORY had to deal with only 4 players scoring in a playoff game. I dont know if Kobe/Shaq, Magic/Kareem, Jordan/Pippen would ever win with that happening. If they werent overrated, they sure were unlucky
Basketball is more than just stats. Efforts, defenses and boxing all these are not measured. If you wanna just look at the stats, would you agree that Lebron James is a better player than Kobe the last 2 seasons?
of course they were overrated. yao was nowhere near the level of shaq, hakeem or duncan's dominance. t-mac was close to kobe but he settled for midrange jumpers instead of attacking the basket.
i blame the role players/bench, not just rafer. when the series came down t the final game yao and mcgrady both had 29 points each and rafer shot like crap the entire game and our bench got outcored by utah's bench 17-10 but i agree yao could have had a better game as well going 9-20
Nah, I don't think they're overrated. Yao was the most dominant center for awhile. Tmac had exceptional talent. And yes, Kobe and Shaq > Tmac and Yao. But that's not what were arguing here right? Playoff wise, we got cheated in the Dallas one, and the ones with Utah, well idk really know wtf happened. We had the LEAD in the series, and we just blew it. I really don't think that makes them any less of superstars. If anything, it's just the way things ended, both with injuries and now this McGrady drama crap that would make them seem somewhat less than superstars.
IMHO 1-11 are a lot like the Celtics Big 3: they are incomplete by themselves and need other solid players to accomplish great things (James Posey last year, Rajon Rondo, Perkins). Its unfair to compare 1-11 to Shaq/Kobe, MJ/Pippen, Magic/Kareem because those guys are among the best in league history. At one point in time each of those tandems have the single best player in the entire league, while Yao Ming and Tmac have never achieved that even in their peak. The point is they weren't overrated, they just needed more help. Unfortunately instead of giving them more help they had Juwon Howard and Rafer Alston to work with.
Who put the Rockets in the position where they HAD to grab 2 decisive rebounds in the final minutes? Don't always look at the end...look at what events led up to the end.
i really dont think they ever got a chance to take a crack at the championship enough. it wasnt there fault. The issue was the rockets relied to much on them to deliver, and our role players were not ready to respond when teams put pressure on t-mac and yao
So you're saying one of the best all-time centers and sg, yet they're not superstars? Do you base it off accomplishments, talent, or setbacks? Together, they obviously don't surpass Kobe and Shaq but to me imo, they definitely surpass the line of what a superstar is.
Guys, regardless of how it ended, the 1-11 era is essentially over. I mean, we have no idea how good or bad Yao will be next year. If he comes back OK, he will have at most 3 years before age becomes a real factor. The future for the Rockets are in the young players. They can play and should be kept, even if it means letting Tmac's contract expire, because I just cannot see how Tmac is traded without one of our good young players not being a part of the deal. We cannot trade our youth just like we did more than a decade ago. Build a team around them and hopefully get an alpha male shooting guard, and a center with size. That's our best option for the future IMHO.
The key was the lack of health, in the playoffs and also regular season, I believe if they were healty and played together more games in the regular season we would of gotten a better standing (seed) and maybe not even have to play the jazz...
For all these talks to go away is for Yao and McGrady to prove themselves. Let the future talk. Their career is not over yet ....... err....TMac????
If the role players in that Jazz series scored more than 6 points combined we would have won the series....
And people seem to have forgotten last season.......Sure it was without Mcgrady but Yao with great role players got past the talented Blazers and those role players pushed the Lakers to 7 games.... Its a TEAM SPORT.
Kobe and Shaq made it all the way to the finals with a bad team is MAYBE because Shaq was way more dominant than Yao. Both Tmac and Kobe were great wing players and they both do their part. Tmac when in the playoffs, plays well as any one else in the league. But Kobe had something Tmac doesn't. Kobe had a true dominant center and Yao was never dominant. He is a good player indeed, but he just cannot take over games like Shaq can.
