Yao looks stronger and more mobile. He is spinning for offensive rebounds, I don't remember him doing that last year. And he is definitely going into the contact more.
I'm not trying to be JVG, but remember we played the Kings. Adelman's defense always allows Yao to have big games. Let's see if he can keep it up when teams front him 99% of the time.
Barry got on the public address system and asked the fans to be optimistic just like our optimistic Coach.
This strategy, however, has started to play right into our hands since JVG initiated the T-Mac/Yao pick and roll during a game when we played the Lakers last year in LA. Frankly, I think this team is harder to defend when both Yao and T-mac are running that play to perfection, because there are far more options to defend: Tmac can take it to the rack, he can dish it to a wide open Yao, if they collapse on both he can dish it to a wide open 3 point shooter, or the PF cutting to the basket. Once again... many more options than the simple dump it in, wait for the double team, dish it out... and it also keeps T-Mac very much involved in how we win.
Also keep in mind that Yao only played 25 minutes and still managed to put up pretty great numbers. It's the aggresiveness with which he played that has everyone excited. If he had played a full game, or even 30-32 minutes with that same level of aggresiveness, he would've dominated the stat sheet.
This is my take on the game. - Team defense: We were slow and missed assignment on defensive rotation quite a bit. That gave Miller and SAR open looks or clear path to the basket. That also put us out of position and caused us to lose some rebounds. - Transition: I like Rafer a lot, he pushed the ball every chance he got. We got 10 fast break pts to 4 for the Kings. It went beyond that, it allowed us to take a quick shot if it's there. Otherwise, we slowed down and had ample time to run a half court set. - Offense: We looked very fluid. Movement and spacing were good. Everyone got good looks at the basket. We missed some but if we keep doing these things right, we will knock more down. - TMac had a good game despite his bad knees. When his wheels get better, he will be all right. - Yao looked strong and quick. His shootin touch was good, rebounding improved. Positioned himself well. He commited some fouls but it seems he was only half a step instead of a full step slow like last year. - Rafer and Derek looked very good. I know their stats weren't much but those guys are the perfect match for TMac and Yao. They spread the floor. moved the ball, fed the post to Yao or swung the ball to Tmac very quickly, where and when our 2 stars wanted them. They did not take any bad shots, yet they were not hesitant to take the open ones when they had them either. I can only see better stats and better team with these guys on board. - Barry always played hard and smart and he got hot last night. - Wesley always played hard and smart and he was cold last night (and thru out most of pre-season). With him getting slower as he gets older, he might or might not come out of his funk. - JH looked good. Rebounded well. Got open looks but did not knock them down, he will soon enough. - Swift were quick, had a awesome dunk and grabbed rebound with gusto. He just did not have enough of either yet. Got lost on the court at times. - Deke played well like he had with us last year. I like the way Jeff keeping his minutes down so as to save him for the long haul.
hell a point guard has a lot of responsibilites. you gotta a lot on your mind. if your the closest guy to the coach it's probably for good reason, you have a lot of stuff to digest and responsiblites on your shoulders and when you're assigned the task of running the offense in the season opener for a new team and coach, jon barry's jokes may not seem that damn funny at the time. he's just thinking about what he has to do. so maybe you're the knucklehead.
Question: IYHO, if Wesley continues to slide does this open up things for Luther Head to get some serious playing time? TMac's knees appear to be a very serious concern right now. To his credit he sucked it up and came on strong in the 2nd half but he looked very wobbly and was noticably limping out there. Not a good thing to see at the beginning of the season. Good thing they didn't start off with back-to-back games like the Mavericks or else TMac would not have been able to answer the bell.
I say sit Tamc out for the next one and limit his action when play Olando. We need to have plan B in case Tmac is out for a while. I believe we can have a plan and still win.
Is T-Mac's knee really that serious? Barry said on the radio that the tendinitis wasn't that serious and that it was sore from crashing into Deke's knee. Lets hope he doesn't need to sit out for a long strecth of time.
No, Head will be like Darko (aka The Human Victory Cigar) and warm up the bench for everyone. I predict he'll play some garbage minutes and maybe JUST MAYBE in 2Q or 3Q against some really terrible teams. Yeah, I made a thread about my concern for T-MAC's knees yesterday. Apparently, his tendenitis is gone and the soreness last night came from a banged knee against Mutombo during practice. Things should be okay once the pain abates. However, I wonder if his tendenitis will return later on in the season. I hope not.
Pretty simple to predict what's going to happen... First of all, the guy fronting him has to have legit strength and a much lower center of gravity. You saw Brad Miller/Brian Skinner attempt to front Yao a couple of times last night, and Yao just knocked them out of the way and got his position. The coaching staff has been working with Yao since day 1 on how to seal off his man... and he's improved. There will be guys who are bigger and stronger who can play the fronting defense (Potapenko, Najera)... and that's where we get to the second option. Since you can't force the lob pass with the weak-side defender zoning, Yao will immediately vacate the post, and it will be Yao/T-mac pick and roll (which actually sets up MORE scoring opportunities for the team, than the simple Yao post up). Eventually, the opposing team will realize that they likely have a better chance at defending us by double teaming Yao in the post and taking their chances with good rotate help defense... than attempt to defend the pick and roll (which is tough when its Yao setting the pick, and T-mac handling the ball) and all the options that T-Mac has once he gets into the lane.
Rockets vs Kings highlight clip this includes the special Rockets countdown montage, the player introductions, JB's speech to the crowd, and footage of the hawt hawt hawt black outfits the Powerdancers were wearing. because of circumstances beyond my control, the game torrent will not be released until later tonight(around midnight probably) sorry
