Think about this: would you rather have Kobe or TMAC? I remember watching the Lakers/Rockets game and Kobe was just clutch and unstoppable. If the Lakers offer Kobe, I wouldn't think twice about giving them TMAC.
How quickly we forget about the playoffs against dallas. This is two-fold. Normally when you have a dominant inside, a team know they cn go anytime and get points, but with Yao and the Rox, his stamina means you have to get him the ball while he's in the game bcause he's not going to be in there long. I would wish T-Mac comes out attacking early and establishing his prowess and that will also open Yao up. realistically Yao is limited in stamina and it really shows in the 4th. I guess i miss the days when Hakeem used to average 10-12 pts in the 4th qt. Hakeem was a helll of a 4th qt guy. I just want success for this team, but its no accident that while Yao was starting off great, the team was 2-7 with Tracy and 20-10 without Yao. The Rox lost a lot of 4qt games with Tracy and Yao would get ghost.
Kobe to Houston? Oh, but then your boy Yao Ming will be relegated to a Kwame Brown type of game spectator when the Rockets go in offense. No one believes Yao will try to wrestle the ball away from Kobe right? Last time I checked they are still only playing with one basketball. Kobe to the Rockets? Is that what the Yao Ming folks really hope for? ROFL
Yao's limitation on stamina on the 4th quarter is not becasue it is his bed time, but rather becasue he is usually the Rocket with most points and play in the busiest area on the field. YAO will not become a HAKEEM if we continue to bring in soft and slow players around. Even Hakeem couldn't do it with Barkley or Pippen. The record with or without YAO proves that TMAC does not know how to play with another star becasue he never has.
I get a bad feeling that the T-Mac era will eventually end up bad in Houston. Maybe not this year. But soon. People are happy now if we make the playoffs, period, but what'll happen once, and if, we start getting eliminated year in and year out? If T-Mac's poor shot selection and lack of leadership is responsible for this, people will turn on him eventually. T-Mac is not a pure shooter or a great leader...his fragile psyche is something Rockets fans have seldom identified. Trust me, there is something wrong with Mac and things like this Utah game are glimpses of it.
No, it's not just one game. T-Mac shot sub-40% for the month of March. This is a problem. Yao's FG% was subpar too but we can chalk that up to shaking off rust. No such excuse with T-Mac.
Befor yao come back, I posted this: Let Tmac still handle the offense and let yao be a more focuse on Reb and sometimes do half court O. this will make team's O more fluid. But I do think they are OK if tmac can hit his jump over 43%. I still remember the 13 in 35, that time they both in the court. The key is hit his jump.
We've gone over this before. This takes the team back to 2004-2005, and will cause the team to LOSE in the first round. Yao was the best player on the floor in the Jazz game, the Jazz had absolutely no answer for him. McGrady got owned by Derek Fisher, all 6'1" of him, and Gordan Giricek, who usually plays no defense.
If you've noticed, the first 3 shots in yesterday's game were all taken by TMac, which imo was the original game plan to get Mcgrady on fire. Unfotunately, he missed all of them and then Yao took over the offence since no one else could ever score. During that period, TMac had a wide open 3 from Yao's pass, yet he missed again. It is not simply letting TMac control the offense or Yao focusing on defense because the players have to adjust to the game. The benifit of our "duo-core" system is anyone could take over the game at any time. The problem of last game is TMac didn't do his part well when Yao contributed for 3 and 1/2 quarters.
exactly, can't blame yao. he did his part. mac didn't. but why did mac only take 4 shots in the 4th when yao was obviously tired? he's a 3.5 quarter type of guy b/c of his stamina. after that alley-oop, pound it to tmac. instead, the next play, we went to yao.
good point. at this stage. a tired yao in the 4th Q actually made pretty low percentage shots. jvg HAS to realize this and make some adjusments. Yao's teammates, especially tmac has to realize this too.
i think its more JVG than tmac. the play we ran next was going to yao into the post. if it was a pick and roll, then its mac fault for not going harder. JVG just goes to whoever has a good game w/o realizing the stamina of yao. but i dont blame him. tmac didn't want the ball it seemed like.
This is just not true. How many times do you see Tmac come out and have a 10 point 1st quarter when the starting lineup is out on the floor, because I see it happen quite often. If anything, I would guess the 1st quarter, when Yao and Tmac are on the floor together the whole time, is Tmac's highest scoring quarter. He is still taking close to 25 shots a game, he is just missing shots that he often makes.
tmac needs to work out of his shooting slump. Otherwise, he will be owned by derek fisher like in the 1st quarter last game. He cannot postup fisher or drive on him. His only advantage is his height. He should just pull up and shoot over him.
come on, be realistic and stop being a hard head. u know u dont like kobe just cuz he aint on your team. everybody loves kobe man, like everybody loves jordan. oh, dont tell me jordan was a ballhug and u hate him. i'll bet you money kobe will be loved by everybody after he retires. heck, i'll bet u gonna ROFL in joy when we get him. jeez, how can anybody say they dont like kobe.
It's the Scottie Pippen Syndrome. He's a guy who's much better when he mixes up his game (i.e. slashing inside and shooting jumpers to keep defenses honest). When Yao is the focal point and the Rockets have to significantly slow things down and set up the offense to get him the ball, McGrady is reduced to a jump shooter much of the time (not his strength). He was shooting something like 48% from the field in those 30 games Yao was out, and now suddenly he's struggling to stay above 40% ever since Yao got back (earlier in the season he was roughly 39-41% with Yao). Now, I do believe they can both play better together, but they're still struggling to find that optimal balance. I don't think it can be blamed on Yao's presence, I think the coach has to find a way to maximize his players' strengths.
