I think you forgot how good Mo was two seasons ago. I know he wasn't THIS good every game, but he was better than you all remember. Don't forget he's coming off an Achilles injury which is something very hard to get back to 100% from. He still has to battle soreness and such.
Mo should not only be starting, but getting starter minutes. Griff has been playing like a puss. He can develop on the bench and in the offseason. Rox need to make a push now, and Mo is the vastly superior pf right now. Griff MAY be the future, but Mo is the present.
Crisco is right. Also, what are you teaching Griffin? What? That mediocrity and laziness are rewarded by continuing to start? Nope, reward Mo T he has been busting his hump this year and deserves to start. The whole 2nd unit offense thing is baloney, you don't substitute all 5 players at once, just shift the offense to Mo at the appropriate time. Run the offense through the low post all game long....if Yao is out, run it through Mo, if Mo is out, Yao. Simple. DD
I agree, Mo Taylor should start. He has deserved it. And just look at him. Look how much weight he lost. He used to be a really chubby player. Now he looks much stronger and slim. And he has a great tough. Beautiful shot and drive for a PF.
Without Yao,what will Rockets look like?Yao plays well after he joined Rockets,I think all the other should change their minds to adjust to Yao-centralized play-totally hot ,all of the team,Rockets will win.
and when they are both out let the hawk hit it from the outside i trust hawk more than posey thats for sure
and let him get blocked about 10 times a game??? uh no... bot i cant wait for yao to get that hook shot down pack... he needs to use it more
It has been proven that we must have more than just Yao shooting. Teams crowd Yao too much. They are sending defenders from every direction immediatly at Yao..the exception was tonight. But one player was all they needed. Haywood. He rejected Yao on his back to back shots. Yao is our big man. And is a major piece to the rock's rebuilding. But we need more than one threat. The other threat that has emerged is Mo Tay. He has been on fire late in games.
yao needs a clever fundamental player who can shoot outside to compliment his skills and intelligence...i hope next year Boki would be that person.
i agree mo or rice should start...the veteran presence is needed to steady the ship...starting a rookie and a 20yr old second year man, and an erratic 3 is tough.... a good example during the game of this, was when mo pulled yao aside after jordans dunk, and explained to him how he should have played the pick and roll...
Before peeps jump the gun...MoT had Charles aka My Legs r Oak! Oakley guarding him most of the time. It was a great mismatch read by the coaches and players, but I don't know if he can keep it up. His recent bad games after a good game or two tells me otherwise.
This argument is flawed. Yao plays 30-35 mins a game. You suggest to go to Mo for the other 13-18 mins? What is the point of starting Mo and not use him? Might as well let him rest until you want to run the offense thru him. If he wastes his energy playing defend, he will not be as effective on offense. One more thing, people who think Mo is a better defensive player than Griffin r crazy. Go read the experts' take: Mo is an offensive player, not much rebounding nor defending.
Put that drink down and step away from the bar. You have had a few too many. Mo and defense should not be used in the same sentence unless you add a can't in between.
You guys seem to forget that MoT was like an all-star before we got him (there was a reason we signed him to that huge contract). If he's hot, and Griffin continues to play like crap, then why not let him start? True, we may be giving up something Defensively, but we also need to score, MoT was hittin not only his post moves, but some nice open j's as well. i say start the man.
No way dude. Eddies defense is horrendous. There is no argument to support that he is a good defensive player yet. Do you watch any games or just look at the box score and see that Eddie is a good shot blocker? 1. The bigger power forwards in the game still push around Eddie. 2. Eddie plays terrible man to man defense which consistently gets Yao Ming out of position because Yao Ming is forced to step over and cover Eddies man. 3. Eddie gets caught day dreaming on defense too much when we run the zone. Last night is a perfect example of Eddie watching the ball and not his man. The man Eddie was guarding was able to run free to the basket and receive and unguarded pass for an easy lay up more than once because Eddie was watching the ball and did not see him move to the basket. I would suggest that if you actually watch the game to pay close attention to the number of times that Eddies man: 1. Easily backs him down in the post, 2. Yao Ming has to leave his man free so Eddies does not have an uncontested or easy 5 foot shot, 3. How far off Eddie plays his man when he is forced to guard on the perimeter and… 4. How many times he looses track of his man when the Rockets are in a zone defense. When you watch Mo play defense you will not see him get a large number of rebounds or very many blocks. What you will see when Mo plays defense is: 1. The ability for Mo to hold his ground when players try to gain position on him in the post. 2. You will see Mo play very tight man to man defense on perimeter 3. Mo will switch off of his man and back again at the correct times with out loosing track of the ball or his man 4. You will very seldom see Yao Ming having to leave his man to try to correct a mistake that Mo makes on the defensive end. Is Eddies defense getting better? I think so. He has had some very good games lately such as the one against Amare and Phoenix a couple of weeks ago. The problem is those games are still too few and far between. Eddie is still developing physically and last night he just was not into it mentally. Eddie is the future of the Rockets at the 4 spot but he is not their yet and when his head is not in the game like last night he really hurts our defense and his offense is questionable at best.
How impressive was Taylor last night?! I came away very impressed. This team really needs his offensive game from the forward position. If we got production similar to that everynight this team would run so much more smoothly. It seemed like Taylor had more fire in his step. He was quicker and had more explosion. Perhaps he is finally coming full circle back from his injury. I hope so! I don't have a problem with Taylor starting. He deserves it with his play as of late. However I do conceed that either Taylor OR Yao HAVE to be on the floor at all times. We can't have a lineup of Griffin and Cato. We need at least ONE guy that has a respectable low post game to make this offense run smoothy. It is for that reason that I think Rudy has Taylor as his "super sub sixth man." He brings Taylor in when Yao goes out so there is someone on the floor that can play the post. If Rudy starts Taylor with Yao then he has to change his substitution pattern. Something else I have noticed however, in games that Taylor has started this season he hasn't played well for whatever reason. He seems to play better off of the bench this season. To be honest, I like him being our sixth man and instant offense off of the bench. I think that is important. Much like Sam Cassell was that guy in our heyday. Chris
Great comments. I agree pretty much with all of it. I was impressed with Mo's defense last night. He played well in that pick and roll and stayed with MJ at the end of the game. Good play Mo! And that one play where Eddie wasn't paying attention and Stackhouse dove to the open spot in the paint for the pass and score was embarrising. I pretty much echo what Crash said. Eddie has a lot to learn, is improving but has a lot to learn. Eddie is the future at the 4 for us (we hope) but right now Mo plays better "man on man" defense for the Rockets. He won't block the shots or get a ton of rebounds but he puts his body on the opposing PF and keeps his ground. Chris
It doesn't matter who starts. It's about who finishes. Let Mo be our 6th man and if he happens to have a good night (and to be honest, it's not as consistent as many people seem to think), he would finish the game.
