Rosen: Rockets' Two Stars Seem In Different Orbits

This thread turns out to be one of the best recently.

KH

 

Gee golly, we tried to put the ball in the hands of our best players when they were in the game? How thoughtless.

To further emphasize how lame the point of this article is- this implies this team is back to iso basketball with TMac or Yao posting. Unfortunately (Rosen), the team is averaging 27 assists per game over the last 6 games. Sure doesn't support that. And sure doesn't support the unmentioned backcourt combining for 38 points, 11 asts, and 14 rebounds. For comparison, TMac and Yao combined for 44 points, 8 assists, and 10 rebounds. In this individual game, which is all Rosen looked at, a wash at best.

If you're going to analyze the Rockets' offense, analyze the Rockets' offense. Rosen doesn't mention the Lakers sagging off TMac on the perimeter because he didn't have his 3 point shot. So the Lakers play a little bit off TMac to deny an entry pass- this accounts for TMac putting up 50% more 3 pointers than he usually averages on Sunday. He doesn't mention the impact of having Sura making plays for TMac and Yao, or what happens when Wesley is punishing opponents from long range.

Looking at individual play of 2 players on one particular Sunday afternoon that for 3/4 of the time wasn't even really close just doesn't particularly do much for me. Rosen's whole take is myopic.

 

The McGreedy thing, I'm just really tired of. C'mon is this guy some bitter Orlando fan? Are these people really watching the games, or just basing their viewpoints on the few they've seen? Tracy is going to take more shots and have the ball more than other players because he should. He is our best offensive weapon. He is our franchise player. But it really peeves me because I really feel like Tracy has done nothing but play great team ball all year despite trying to fit into a new team. The Yao-McGrady chemistry thing: it's still going to take more time. You don't start playing with new people and immediately have it seem you've been doing it for years. All things considered, I think they've done a great job. Let's face it, I've been a Rocket fan since the mid-eighties, and I'll fully and willingly admit that I'm a bit of a homer, but I've never known the Rockets to get much respect from the national media. Even in our championship years there were still chirps of, "if Jordan had played, Houston would not have won," blah blah. I'm all for constructive criticism, but how can it be constructive when the guy is calling our star player degrading nicknames in the article? This piece is pointless, and overly negative.

 

It's funny how he knocks our record by choosing to analyze only the previous nine games, with no wins against "heavyweights." Which of course conveniently leaves out the wins against SA and Dallas right before that.

Nice writing, Coach...

 

BINGO! And then the FACTS got in the way of his "story"

 

Yao averaged about 9 rpg during that stretch. Can TMac be so bad that he only averages 1 rebound per game?

 

A second reading of the article shows that it does have some good points.

BTW, I am wondering why we no longer have a player cut to the basket when Yao gets the ball inside the paint. That play was great in Yao's first year and SF3, Cat, JJ, Moochie scored lots of points on that play.

 

I was referring to the individual Lakers game, which Yao had 8 boards and TMac had 2.

 

what an idiot...Everyone seems to be pissing on our corn flakes lately...Only consistently winning will solve that...