Oh it was this game. I remember the horror. But this was the team that had home court, won 52 games.. etc The JVG super team. http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200704260UTA.html Shane, Rafer and Chuck Hayes were all there under JVG. Amazing these guys played way better under Rick Adelman.
That's another myth being bought up time after time. Except Deke's first year, out team played better with Yao in the lineup than Deke. And if Deke had to play a full season with full minutes, you think he can still sustain that production? That's another example of how the bar is set differently for Yao. When Yao actually played better defense than Deke in his last two healthy years, fans would still think Deke's D was better. When Yao went down with a personal best 16 game winning streak, fans would still say Rockets won 22 streak without Yao.
Now seems like you are blaming JVG as well. Are you sure Alston and Battier played better under Adelman? And are you sure Hayes played better under Adelman before Yao went down?
those "other" fans claimed it was all T-mac. We, who saw the games, know it was coaching, great team chemistry and a balanced attack, many players in double figures, Scola, Rafer, Aaron Brooks, Shane, Carl Landry. those "other" fans think it was T-mac acting like he was Hakeem vs David Robinson each night.
I think Rick is a better coach than JVG. JVG had too much faith in Tmac and Yao for offense, and that didn't work out in the playoffs. Then again, Yao and Tmac were over hyped. Freaking Utah beating us at home in game 7, sad. Yet you scan clutchfans and you see these fans comparing these guys to the greatest players that ever played the game.
I'm no discounting RA's coaching ability, but JVG has a huge disadvantage here in terms of timing. His stars gets injured middle in the seasons before he could make adjustments instead before the season,his role players are not anything near Scola,Landry, Lowry,Martin etc. He had to play against Utah, Dallas, Lakers instead of no-playoff experience young Blazers. I still believe they both are great coaches, but without great players, they both can miss playoffs.
Also without proper supporting case and the worst matchup, losing to a loaded Utah doesn't make Yao/Tmac that overhyped. Jordan got swept by Celtics doesn't mean he is over hyped. Of course I'm not comparing Tmac/Yao to Jordan here. But supporting case is extremely important in playoffs, look no further than this years final.
Dude do you live in a cave in the year 1995 or what? Have you ever been outside of Houston? You don't think Kobe or any other modern player isn't polarizing? When LA loses, Gasol, the media, team chemistry and everything else is blamed by Kobe homers. The problem with you is that you can't see the forest from the trees. Someone with more wattage might take a look at different opinions as a chance to see different sides of Kobe, Yao, Tmac or whoever. You on the other hand get upset that it's "divisive" to have a perspective different from your own orthodoxy. Everyone bleating the party line after a game about Steve Francis is your ideal situation? Isn't this a message board? Shouldn't there be discussion? YOFs are long gone from this site. The fact that you can't let go of it speaks more about you holding onto the past than Rockets fans who think Tmac and Yao were much better than they really were. On this site pretty much everything I've seen since their retirements is fairly level-headed. Unique world-class talents who ultimately delivered much less than they were capable of delivering.
Yeah but we see the entire Jordan career line vs the Yao and Tmac, and it's not even comparable, I'm assuming the Yao and Tmac's career line is not trending upwards at this point. We did get past the first round of the playoffs once, and that was with Yao playing under Rick Adelman.
At least the LA fans are complaining about winning a 7th championship, not wondering why their superstars can't get past the first round.
You're really labeling people because they don't love Yao for what he... errr... didn't do? I've seen this situation in other markets, on other teams. Something happens to a guy who is very humble and likeable, but not statistically or historically worthy of a jersey retirement. A huge fan-splitting debate occurs over whether the guy's jersey should be retired, and everyone who thinks 'no' is automatically a terrible fan (or more, a terrible person). Unfortunate. I guess I just don't like manufactured happy endings. Does Yao deserve a jersey retirement more than Dikembe Mutombo (on any team)?
JVG could have passed first round too if he only needed to face Blazers. No comparison between Yao/Tmac and Jordan. But it's the same concept. MJ played like God against Celtics, yet he got swept. Is that MJ's failure? No, it's Bull's failure for not getting enough support for him. Come to Rockets, is Rockets winning every playoffs before Yao/Tmac? No. Did they get enough support when they were healthy? No. So why should Yao/Tmac took all the blame for Rockets failure? They should take some blame for inability to stay healthy long enough, but in the end, it's Rockets' failure, not just Yao/Tmac. Les might be more responsible for them.
Rick better than JVG? Maybe as an offensive coach but his defenses didn't exactly inspire the masses or the players. JVG always gets a bad rap around here and it's misplaced. JVG was a proponent of play defense first, keep the score down and win in the 80-90 point range. It made for boring east coast style basketball but was successful (see San Antonio Spurs). It was no great mystery what type of coach he was and what style of basketball he advocated anywhere except here where Les, CD and the majority of Clutchfans apparently never saw any film of him before the obligatory Les Alexander press conference to announce the latest Rockets head coach (something he has down pat by now). As for JVG depending too much on MeMac & Yao, exactly WTF was he supposed to do? It's not as if the Rockets under CD fielded what you'd call a championship caliber roster around those two. It also ignores the fact that Les and CD made a major deal to bring MeMac here and it was JVG's job to play them which he did only to run into the little issue of them not being as good as the Rockets' PR machine said they were. In the end, JVG gets fired while the two boobs (Les & CD) escape with virtually no consequences for their ineptness. Today we are now on the 4th Rockets' coach since their last title and the Rockets' merry-go-round shows no hint of slowing down.
