Situation: Rockets have the ball at the end of the first or second quarter, not matter how many points we are winning or lsing by. Outcome: Tmac has the ball at midcourt....dribbles around, and pulls up for a long three at the buzzer. Yeah he makes some of those, but he misses a crapload of them. I really liked the way he approached the end of the half tongiht. JVG put Yao in for the last possesion, the offense setup, and Tmac drove to the hoop instead of trying to pull a rabbit out of his hat. The attention on Yao created some space and he capitalized on that and ended up dishing the ball of to Howard, I think, who got fouled. That is great BBall.
I might be one of the few who actually don't mind T-mac's early jumper in the shot clock. It usually comes after someone grabbing an offensive board or when he is going 1 on 1 vs a smaller defender. Granted he might miss a few but he makes a few share of his own. By pulling up for an early jumper, the Rockets are less of an half court offense, and it limits for the defense to get set. I would much rather see him drive, but I have no problem with the quick jumper.
I disagree, especially when you have a big man who shoots 55% form the field! Get him the ball! If Yao is down low trying to get position and Tmac, or anyone else for that matter, takes a quick shot, a brick can turn out to be a really big momentum swing if the other team gets the long board and gets an easy transition bucket. If you dump the ball into Yao, at the worst he will turn it over, but at least you still have plenty of time to setup your defense. If he doesnt turn it over and misses a hot, you still have time to setup your D. If he makes the shot, whic he does the majority of the time, then gravy! Otherwise, he passes it out and someone else gets a great look at a jumper!
This is exactly why JVG keep saying T-mac is the one of the two best play maker (other one is Nash), he need to be encouraged all the time, it is not easy for him to be a T-magic mentally. That is the same problem with the "OK" combo, one of them has to give up a little bit of his glory. In our case, the one has to be T-mac.
Did the lakers go to shaq at the end of games? At the end of games I think guards become way more important. Lets not forget it was Sam, Mario. and Robert making those big shots at the end of games.
Well Shaq is a totally different story. Many times Lakers or Heats even pull Shaq out of the court in late Q4, simply because of his poor FT. Yao is a FT expert, which is very important in the last quarter of a tight game. But Yao's problem in Q4 is his stamina, Yao will be very efficient down the stretch if he has no stamina trouble. Otherwise Yao's efficiency drops in Q4.
I'm kinda glad that Jvg calling him out. It was obviously that he didn't finish the game strong. We need our two best players to peak at the right time and the time is now. Smartly done JVG!
There was such one in the later 4th qrt that really annoyed me. Tmac didnot even look at the shotclock and seemed to save time for the pistons. This is not smart enough, imo.
As T-mac didnt finish well you have to realize that he isnt the 1st option and just because Yao starts chocking at the end you cant just expect T-mac to come save the day. Yao played as well as a center can play through three quarters, but guys need to face it he dosent have a killer instinct. And when Yao was out and T-mac was the offense i dont recall the rockets chocking at the end.
You can't be too predictable on offense. If you ask me would I rather Yao shoot it over T-mac the answer, is an obvious Yao. But you have to keep the defense honest, and since T-mac is one of our other superstars, I am all for it, since that might be his best look in the several trips and it could be easier on Yao to, to save a push in the back by a near 300 lb'er every trip. Yao was already clicking, and if you get T-mac going the opponent has absolutely 0 chance of winning. All it takes is good look to get players like T-mac, Kobe, Lebron or others into a rhythm.
anyone want to try to name how many times that Dan DAkota made the point that JVG never says something negative about his stars ... but only his scrubs like VSpan. What was your point again DD that JVG never criticizes his stars...?
It wasnt Sam, Mario, or Robert just going at the opponent and trying to make a shot. They were open! Yeah, Tmac has an awesome, if not the best, in your face jumper and tunrnaround in the game, but Yao's catch the balla nd hey "I am 7'6" turnaround is pretty much unstoppable. I would rather Yao have those 4-5 additional opportunities at the bucket than TMAC's 4-5 pull up jumpers. Yaos opportunity at the bucket does not even have to end in him taking the shot; he could pass it back to the open guy. IMHO, the probabilty of a play that runs through Yao ending up in a bucket is greater than a TMAC "I can jump higher than you" jumper, although I freaking love when he has that shot going! He is just too damn streaky to be doing that all the time. Leave it for when it needs to be done, and I bet he will end up being clutch on a more consistent basis. Its like he tries some of those shots just to try and show his defender "who is daddy is."
The problem with T-Mac is that sometimes he needs a few shots to get in his rhythm and it's not always possible for T-Mac to come in with ~6:00 and get his groove right away. He's probably going to miss a couple down the stretch before hitting one big one (as was the case tonight). He does need to cut back on the quick jumpers late in the game though, that's for sure. Early in the game it doesn't matter, if he thinks he's feeling it let him take the shot, but not when there's 3 minutes left in the 4th and you're only up 6 or something. Killer instinct can be evaluated many ways. Every team makes runs, it's the NBA. However, we were up by 17 at one point in the 4th. I can understand if they get it down to, say, 10. That's not so bad, as long as you keep it around there I think that's killer instinct enough. Letting them get it to 4? That's way too close.
I agree with everything here, I can't say I wasn't pissed to see him shoot those late in the games, especially with the Pistons well within striking distance late in the game with the clock on our side. Basically if that game was a minute or two longer it would have ended in a different outcome. I am just saying I don't have a problem with him pulling up for a quick jumper early in the shot clock off an offensive board, or sort of fast break look over a smaller defender, before the defense sets up.
I do have a problem with that. When you have a big lead, you have to make sure you maintain it. Say you win 100 bucks on a 1 dollar scratch off lottery ticket. You don't wan't to go back to the store the next day and buy a 20 dollar scratch off lottery ticket just because "you can." Yeah, if you win on the 20 dollar scratch off ticket the pay out will be much bigger, but why jeopardize your profit when you can just keep your winnings or buy a cheap ticket. A one dollar loss would not hurt you as much as a 20 dollar one. Same way with TMAC. When things are going good there is NO reason to jack up bad shots. Yeah, IF they go in you can pretty much put the other team away........but if they don't, which should never be the case if you use your brain, you end up in a game like tonight........which happens WAY TOO OFTEN. And by no means is it solely TMAC's fault. Reefer is guilty of this a crapload. So is Head. However, I have been shocked at how Reefer has avoided taking bad shots in the last 5 or so games. In tonights game, he passed up on at least 4 shots that he normally would have taken. Instead, he found a teammate with a better shot. Think about Battiers shots tonight. Those were all good looks generated by his teammates. Same with Reefers. He passed up on shots to dish the ball to a teammate with a better look at the hoop. The shots he did take were good looks. He did not justr throw crap up at the riim for the sake of seeing his face on he jumbotron.
JVG is quite a brilliant coach, isn't he? He seems to really understand his players and seems to be pretty keen on how to motivate each individual player on the team. Like someone said, if JVG were to harshly criticize T-Mac's game, put him down, and say his intensity is lacking down the stretch the same way he criticized Yao's game... T-Mac would start to believe that and would likely regress. T-Mac isn't the kind of player that responds well to a Coach's challenge in the form of doubt and disappointment, Tracy is more receptive to reassurance and straight forward and constructive critiques. Yao is the kind of player that strives that much harder if he thinks the coach doubts him. Yao's strong disciplinary background makes him strive to work extra hard to make sure he gives the coach exactly what he asks for. What JVG said about Yao is, more or less, true though... Yao does need to get better at closing out game and maintaining that killer mentality. I strongly disagree when people say Yao will always lack a killer mentality and will never be able to finish off opponents in the 4th. I think he'll get there, and JVG is utilizing a very clever strategy to bring that out in Yao as soon as possible. Finally, can we please keep this from turning into a "T-mac is better here because..." or "Yao is the number 1 always because..." debate. On different nights there will be different outcomes because Yao and Tracy are co-options.
