I really believe the refs are the KEY TO THE SERIES. You know what both teams basically bring to the table, and that's HARD defense. I was real pleased with how the officiating went about last night, not just because the Rox won, but they let the players play. I always have said, the #1 issue with Yao in my opinion is foul trouble, but if they officiate the games like last night, I'd take the Rox chances AGAINST anyone. As long as Yao is on the floor (regardless of being tired or not) the Rox +/- is always positive.The refs will dictate a lot of what defenses can and can't do. And if the Rox hang their hat on defense, then obviously, the refs have a VERY BIG say on this. I say behind Yao and McGrady last night, I'd have to give a lot of credit to the refs.
The refs did pretty good, but there were more than a few plays where Yao got clobbered, but overall they were good. But the key to the series is tmac. 1st half : Tmac sucks, j*zz 42 Rockets 33 2nd half: tmac rules , Rockets 51 j*zz 33
Yao's getting a LOT more respect from the refs now than he did two years ago against the Mavs. It's great to see him getting calls on O, and not getting called for ticky-tack BS on D like he used to... He's finally become a Superstar, it appears.
Actually, take out Yao out of the equation in the first half and second half: 1st half: j*zz 42 rox 18 2nd half: j*zz 33 Rox 38 Final Score: j*zz 75 Rox 56 j*zz blows us out in our home court. Like I said, BOTH players are key to the ROX but the refs are the KEY TO THE SERIES.
Dude you can't just take Yao's numbers out and say "Oh, yeah, he's important." Yes, this team would be better if T-Mac plays better...obviously. I do agree, and give major props to Yao, that he held the ship together while T-Mac was psyching himself out in the first half. Without him, we'd have lost this game even with T-Mac's brilliant 3rd quarter and 2nd half...
Anyway, Yao took like 18 more shoots. Only if you assume all the 18 more shoots will be misses taken by people other than Yao.
All you TOFs are hilarious. I wasn't bashing your boy McGrady by what I said. I was just countering the guy that was saying that McGrady is the key to this series. My argument is that WE NEED BOTH STUDS on the court and that the REFS are the key to the series. Don't get offended by me saying that Yao IS AS IMPORTANT as McGrady. Calm down with the McGrady worship...
Hey, sensitive genius, How come you can detect he was a TOF from his only one sentence? How the hell is his reply related with TMAC? Could you please get out with your lame labeling?
Guy, YOU need to calm down. TOF? McGrady "worship"? Based on what statement? You are the one who is "hilarious".
TOFs are real sensitive aren't they. They're like a gang, you say "offend" one and you offend them all. First off, this thread was not about McGrady or Yao but about Refs but the TOFs are always trying to get McGrady involved in the thread somehow. So please CALM DOWN..
You are ridiculous! If YOU hadn't mentioned "TOFs" or "McGrady worship", it wouldn't even be an issue here. You're like a person who poisoned the well and blamed someone else for it. This thread had potential until you messed it up, not some imaginary "TOFs" or McGrady worshippers.
Seems to me, the inside contact that they were letting go was the offensive player running into a defensive player who did not impede the progress(blocking/charging excepted) and was holding his ground or even backing up. Yao and Hayes did this somewhat, and a couple of the jazz did this as well. The whistle did not blow at that contact which is generally called in the regular season. (I never really thought this was a foul as the defender is supposed to have a right to his space and am glad that at least in this game, it wasnt called)
U cant take out Yaos points. If you did, you have to consider where else the points would have inevitably came from. The only way this stupid stat is plausible is if YAO went 0-for-20 shooting and the rockets couldnt get one offensive rebound off of it. I dont know how many points ALSTON scored but if it was more than 9 points, then it looks like we wouldnt have won the game if it wasn't for RAFERS contributions. If we took ALSTON out of the equation we woulda lost.
On the subject matter: I think it's way off to say the refs are the key to the series. IMO, the key is our defense. If we keep it up the Jazz have no chance. Simple as that. If we turn the series into uglyball and gum up the Jazz's plays and make them do things out of the ordinary, Tracy and Yao will hit enough shots to carry us. In games like yesterday, when Tracy and/or Yao are decently efficient we will win convincingly. I'm not scared of Okur; the times I've seen him play he hasn't impressed me. As long as we get away with sticking Yao on Boozer, the series is in the bag. If Boozer and Williams don't have good offensive games, the Jazz cannot win. You have to think the Jazz will gameplan on Yao guarding Boozer and figure a way to get him the ball in the paint going towards the basket. You also have to figure that Deron Williams will start abusing our backcourt. But one of the weaknesses of Utah is they don't try new wrinkles very often, they just do their normal stuff with more gusto. We also need more help off our bench.
Keys to success for the Rockets: T mac and Yao get around 20 shots each and shoot around 45%. Dominate the boards Win the game in the paint. (Dont hate on Alston if you examine his stats whether he shoots well or poorly does not affect us nearly as much as when Yao gets two shots or Mcgrady shoots 30%)
Damn I didn't mean to start a tmac vs. Yao debate, I just meant when Mcgrady plays well, the Rockets play well.
My point: Having Yao and McGrady bring their "A" game is a given for the Rox to win this series. But to dominate the boards and win the game in the paint will be dictated alot by the refs. Holding the boards and manning the paint is primarily Yao's responsibility. If the refs keep a short leash on the calls, then they limit Yao's aggressiveness which in turn TOTALLY changes the Rox gameplan. It could also mean that if they swallow their whistle TOO MUCH, then Harpring can go wild on McGrady. And we all know how frail McGrady can be and Harping can probably hold his own in the UFC. So I think the refs have a HUGE IMPACT on the series.
You can argue this about every single solitary competitive series. Try talking to Shaq and Wade. There is little or nothing unique about the refs in our series with the Jazz that isn't true in other very competitive series. If the Rockets bring their "A" game, they win no matter how the refs are. Yao is smarter now and doesn't pick up a lot of dumb fouls. As always, the refs have a tough job and hopefully they will be evenhanded.
