Flip Flop: How injuries have helped the "Big Two's" confidence

I just said the same thing in another thread about 2 minutes before your post

Great minds I guess.

DD

 

I agree, and not just about T-Mac. I think it's giving everyone on our team more confidence that they can help their lone star to victory, and making them believe for themselves that it's not just a two-man team. When the media tells you that enough, I'm sure you start to believe it, no matter how confident you are.

We have an underrated supporting cast, and hopefully they can continue to prove it.

 

Right. Tmac's recent performance is more likely related to the fully recovered back. Tmac can take over a team anytime if hes healthy. So Yao's absence is more or less a side effect. However, losing Yao (or Tmac a few games ago) does toughen the other guys' game and increasing their confidence. Guys like Battier, Head, Howard and Deke really step up lately. That is a huge reason we are winning right now and it can be a great factor in the playoffs when the bench depth is vital.

 

I love how the guys have stepped up. However against the better teams, 1 or perhaps 2 of them might not be able to perform as well. That's why we need ONE more impact player. You need at least 3 good performances every game to win. For example, San Antonio got 20+ points from their Big 3 yesterday, yet they lost narrowly to Wolves because next contrubutors were Finley and Bonner with 6 points.

In a perfect world that OTHER player would be Bonzi

 

The role players have stepped up since the Spurs victory, and believe it or not, that victory had a BIG confidence boost to them.

 

So true. We've got to find a stable 3rd option to make this team a serious contender. I like Bonzi being the choice as well but his form is still shaky. In a dream world, you'd have a good PG to help out the big two and make everybody else better...

 

I couldn't agree more. I've been more than pleasantly suprised by TMac's comeback and dominance. And I was wrong about Bonzi being the one to carry this team.

 

I don't really believe we need a steady third option so long as we have a solid all around supporting cast. We have our dirty work guys, we have our shooters, and we have our veteran leaders who still apparently have game left. As long as we get something

It's like someone else brought up on here before, many championship teams never really had a "third" guy or even a second guy that you could really point to and claim he was a go-to offensive player. The Lakers (other than Glen Rice in '00), for example. The Spurs in '03, the Rockets in '94 and '95. The Bulls most years (although you could argue Kukoc).

As long as one or two role players step up every night (whether it's Head or Battier lighting it up from three, or Howard having a flashback, or Lucas playing like Iverson), and we get fairly consistent production from our big 2, we will be fine much more often than not.

We just need to get healthy, and I think with time, we will find consistency in our offense.

 

Errr... I can't edit my post, but try to ignore that "As long as we get something" incomplete sentence at the end of the first paragraph there...

 

IMO, a perfect world would be trading Bonzi for a legitimate perimeter threat. Not necessarily a 3 point shooter, but someone who runs the court, slashes and can hit mid-range shots.

Like Maggette. I'm gonna keep dreaming until he's out of the picture.

 

Good point, and the great thing about our two superstars is that they don't seem to have big egos or bad attitudes of most other superstars, so can work together well... just hope those two stay healthy when the crucial times come, then we are sweet...

 

Actually I made a prediction this would happen the day Yao got injured. Too bad I can't search for my post. Are my internet skills in the crapper or is there just not one for this bbs? Anyways, I'll take my cookie now.

 

I agree that each of the "Big Two" has stepped up big time when the other fell to injury. T-Mac's recovery from his back problems could not have come at a better time, and the difference in his confidence now compared to the beginning of the season is obvious.

However, one thing we haven't seen for a while is both of our stars playing at a high level at the same time. It's probably an obvious point, but it seems to me that the styles of play are different for when Yao's out (a more fluid, up-tempo offense) and when T-Mac's out (a slow-it-down, low post-oriented offense), and it may take a bit of time for the team to find the right median again. The pieces are in place, we just have to put them together.

 

Again?

They haven't found a way to excell together at the sametime since that one time in the last moot minutes of Game 7 2005 Mavs series.

 

it's true, for some reason when tmac and yao play together, either they both play well and the team sucks OR one of them play well while the other plays bad and the rest of the team plays okay. part of the reason why we don't play well is obviously going to be the fact that our team is still young in a sense. with yao being out and tracy just coming back from a back injury, you can't demand to see our team excel past the spurs, dallas, utah and ESPECIALLY not the suns. give it some time guys, i think our team'll be alright. we're much better off as a team overall than we were back 2 seasons ago.

 

Didn't they show it last season for a while before T-Mac packed it in? I wasn't able to follow them too closely last season, but I just assumed they did.

Anyway, from what I've seen early this year even when T-Mac was not 100%, this team is not that far away from clicking in a big way.

 

Tonights game will trully show if were Legit. without our most dominant score and only reall interior presence, we'll see how'll we go. Juwan will have he's hands full with boozer. AK47 on tracy is a matchup to saviour. showed be a great game.

 

Now i just hope when yao comes back, both yao and t-mac will remain confidence and bring their A game night in night out and lead the rockets to the championship. No more laid back attitude from either of them!