Or you can look at this way , when tracy was out and yao was the center piece of the offense, were losing more then we were wining. but when tracy was the center piece without yao, we were beating the likes of the spurs, heat and the jazz. 20-12 during our toughest scheduel of the league. what does that tell you?. I'm just going by you're logic here. dosent that make yao inferior?
When Tracy was out, the rest of the team didn't step up in his absence, even when Yao played MVP like. When Yao was out, everyone was predicting the lottery for the Rockets. Everyone was convinced that even if Tracy did return, his back injury was too unpredictable and could flare up again. In short, the general consensus when Yao's injury occured was that the Rockets finally had a shot at Greg Oden or Kevin Durant. What spoilt that notion? Certain members of the team played with a chip on their shoulder. Dike stepped up. Juwan stepped up. Big time. The whole frountcourt stepped up in Yao's absence. When Tracy was out, did our backcourt step up? Nope. Rafer Alston was jacking up shots as usual. Bonzi didn't do anything too. Luther did not improve significantly enough to be a temporary plug in in Tracy's place. I remember the big Lakers game where Yao dropped 38 points, grabbed 18 rebounds and blocked 8 shots. No one else stepped up (except maybe Shane). Yao was carrying the whole load himself. Tracy had Dike and Juwan to help him out. You can also argue that the Spurs, Heat and Jazz severely underestimated the team (because they had no Yao), and Tracy (because of the unpredictability of his back injury). I don't think anyone underestimated Yao when Tracy was out because Yao was putting up MVP numbers. It was very easy to underestimate Tracy just when he was returning from a relapse of his back spasms. It is actually my personal opinion that maybe Yao was rushed back too fast from his injury. Remember... someone here posted that normally, for a fracture at that part of the knee to heal, it would take about 12 weeks. Yao returned in 9. But he was never the same again. Perhaps we pushed him too hard (or he pushed himself too hard) at the wrong time.
Last year, McGrady staggered to a 6-15 record without Yao, ending any chance the Rockets had of a playoff berth. McGrady's record isn't exactly sterling either.
only means that rafer couldn't run the offense with tracy, and some of the other players, like bonzi, didn't step up their games. quite a few of us were in san antonio in december when the rockets, minus tracy, just dominated the spurs. and when yao was shooting free throws, we were all chanting "mvp, mvp, mvp" and even the spurs fans didn't object because they knew that even though it was still early in the season, yao took his game to another level as was the mvp to that point.
My friend added this... SmitingPurpleEm- Outside of Dwyane Wade, every great perimeter player in this league will have 8-25 like nights every few games. Kobe has had 9-33 games, Arenas has gone a whole month of shooting well under 40% and multiple 0-8 from 3 nights (and he wasn't injured like T-Mac early in the season, either), AI has them all the time, etc.. It is the way these players work, and with T-mac it was maximized because JVG didn't use him as a scorer (check back the topic I made a few weeks back), so his FG % was considerably lower than what it should be. But to minimize those kind of bad shooting nights, you have to go to these players consistently nd often each and every game. early in the season, they did not go to T-Mac consistently, and he struggled with his shot. With yao out, they had to go to him a lot, and he got his shot back and scored 30PPG on 45% shooting while leading the Rockets to a 20-12 record. When Yao came back they went away from T-mac more than he was accustomed to, and he struggled. Then around late-March they started using him more as a scorer, he got comfortable, and he was lights out in April, as was the team. In the playoffs, you are wrong, it was proven that going to Yao early and often was NOT the key. In each home game, they went to Yao early, he played well, but he was a blackhole...the ball did not leave his hands unless it was a shot attempt or TO. And with T-Mac not in an early groove, and the ball not moving around, they trailed in each game of the series at halftime. Then, in the 2nd half of the home games, they gave T-Mac much more freedom, and he almost single handedly led the team back in each home game. In other words, Yao has not been the passer or overall offensive player to force T-Mac to be a #2 option...the team still comes and goes as T-Mac does, and that includes scoring, passing, defense, leadership...they win and lose by what T-Mac does (and don't bring up game 7...he single handedly brough tthe team back from around 15 down, JVG benched him when he was getting hot, Yao was hot the last quarter so they kept feeding it to him, and what lost the game was horrible rebounding and defense, not either of the star players). Giving Yao the ball more often will not change the fact that T-Mac is the MVP of the team.
wow, tmac was in and out of the lineup all that season, which was not indicative. we were on a good roll and only 3-4 games behind the 8th spot b4 he got injured for real and never came back. if u want to point to that 6-15 record, what was the record w/o him? like 2-27?
oh so when tmac was out, the others didn't have chips on their shoulders? guys like rafer/head/battier didn't want to step up. tmac makes those guys jobs easier. he passes to their spots. it's not a coincidence the role players play better w/ tmac. when he's out, we just pound it to yao and just wait for 3pters to shoot.
yao hopefully can still improve, but he hasn't shown he can dominate a playoff game yet. he's been in the playoffs for 3 yrs and he hasn't dominated a single game and made it his own => his signature playoff game. hopefully that will change next yr. and yes, going to yao early didn't work v. the jazz as we were down in EVERY game and had to fight back for the games we won. but ultimately, we lost not just b/c of tmac/yao. even if they played below their potential, rafer/head/howard hitting 2-3 more shots a game => we win the series.
So to solve shooting woes, we must give someone MORE touches. Great. Just great. 8/25 isn't so bad, so how about 11/40? What kind of logic is that? McGrady's usage rate was at a league high and career high last year. He did not have a shortage of touches. He just wasn't consistent from game to game, which isn't what we want to see from a guy like McGrady. You conveniently ignore the road games of the series, where McGrady utterly disappeared. Somehow this got twisted by doublehh03 into that McGrady is better than Yao, it's McGrady's team, and all sorts of other positive things, but it is a great indictment on a superstar that he can be a nonfactor in 3/7 games of a series. Yao didn't exactly play well, but he played at a consistent mediocre level and was a factor in every game.
tmac had a high usage rate, but not b/c all the plays were ran for him. tmac actually dominated the first half of game 3 so he sucked for 2.5 road games, which is still pathetic. but hey i rather have yao dominating the 2.5 parts that tmac went missing rather than staying "mediocre." that's why they're superstars. when tmac struggles, yao should pick up the load. when yao struggles, tmac picks up the load. considering both played below their levels, at least tmac dominated several games. if yao had dominated the road games (tmac dominated the home games), we'd won. i don't think it's a good thing to say yao played at a "consistent mediocre" level.
Dude i'm just pointing out how flawed that logic is. to say tracy cant lead a team because we couldnt beat the mavs who were loaded yto the teeth. As i said i dont agree that a simple win-loss record defines how player can or cant lead a team in the long run. the injuries and team structure must also be taken into account.
Actually in most of those games that we won tracy was shooting like 17-29 45 points or 13-16 14- 27 type shootings. i dont know where you're getting these 8-25 shooting from?
Dude i agree.. i'm one of the biggest yao supporters here. i also believe yao should get huge number of touches. i was just pointingout that to say tracy cant lead a team because he couldnt beat a loaded to the teeth mavs team is lawed logic. he was jordan like. it's not he's fault the mavs were better.or the refs were killing yao or finely was out on that crucial play and the refs ignored it. at that point he was probaly the best player on the planet.
look let's be real. tracy won't get any respect until he advances deep or win. people are going to doubt him until that happens.
Rafer and Head did not step up. When T-Mac went out, the Rockets were not written off yet. When Yao went out, everyone was talking about the possibility of the Rockets drafting Kevin Durant. At that time, our bigs (Dike and Juwan) stepped up great. BTW, when Yao was out, T-Mac starting scoring again; he did not revert to playmaker mode until Yao came back. Only when Yao is in is T-Mac more of playmaker than scorer. Ultimately, I am not dissing T-Mac or Yao. I love the both of them and am damn happy we have them on the team. I hope that next season, we will have the pleasant agony of being forced to name one as MVP after both come off MVP seasons. However, I will jump to Yao's defence if he is viewed as not being able to lead the team in T-Mac's absence. BTW, when we played the Spurs with T-Mac out and Yao in, we blew them out at San Antonio. That was one of the VERY FEW times I saw Rafer Alston, Luther Head AND Bonzi Wells making a joint and substantial contribution to a game. See what happens when the back court finally bothers stepping up?
i begged to differ. rafer and head played pretty awesome when tmac was out. i remembered head scoring like 25 pts in that warriors game and rafer played great in that game, and the game after that. both were on fire. we lost b/c of our defense b/c our perimeter D was too short w/ tmac out. and we couldn't score at the end of games.
I think that is just dumb. WTF? TMAC was healthy last year, and he said his back is better. TMAC is in great shape. and he had a great season last year. HE DID NOT ONLY GET 22 ppg last season thats bull.. TMAC DIDNT SETTLE FOR JUMPERS EITHER> TMAC LED US INTO THE PLAYOFFS...AND HE ATTACKED THE RIM IN THE PLAYOFFS THIS IS THE WORST POSTING IVE EVER SEEN
My friends reply once again...I don't know who to quote so I'll paste it... -_-" SmitingPurpleEm- T-Mac had a career high usage rating, but his role was TOTALLY different than in Orlando, when he was scoring the ball more and shooting at a 46% clip. With Yao in the lineup, outside of the first play in the game where he curled off ball around a screen, he would never have plays ran for him while in scoring position for him, that is in a post up/wing position from 18ft out, check the Mavs highlights where he scored 45 to see what I mean) ...everything was from straightaway, 30ft out. And since he plays SG for the team rather than his natural SF position, and the fact that he has lost a bit of his speed, he simply can't drive it every single time and be successful, thus he takes tough jumpshots from his cold areas and shoots 43% for a season. With Yao out he was at his most productive and most efficient, scoring 30PPG on 45% shooting (aka he was scoring the ball as well as anyone not named Kobe). When Yao came back, he was used considerably differently, and his FG % dipped. Because of these inconsistencies in his role, and the fact that he is a perimeter player whose primary weapon of choice is the jumpshot, the 8-25 nights became more normal than it usually is for him. To minimize those kind of nights, you have to use him consistently the same way night in and night out, and the way he was used was far from consistent, and as a result his FG% was also far from consistent. Yes, T-mac was bad for 3 games, but he was also the main reason why they won the 3 games they did. Yao was mediocre in every game, and in each home game they faced a defecit at halftime. In each home game T-Mac, not Yao, led the huge charges for the huge surges. And while Yao was consistent, his FG% dipped farther than T-mac's did in the playoffs, his TO's were over 5 per game I believe, and the offense stagnated because he was a blackhole..give it to him, and chances are it is not coming back out. When T-Mac was the greater focus than Yao, the offense was rolling, with T-mac dishing 13/16 assists in games 5/7, and also putting up big scoring numbers in the 2nd half to lead the surges. As I said before, if the playoffs proved anything, it is that T-Mac should still be the clearcut #1 option (and with a new offense and more guys that can create their own shot as well as others, T-mac will have a role similar to his in orlando from 00-03, and his FG% will rise as well as his versatility as a scorer.
All of us should get it,if T-mac can't lead his team get out of the first round next year,next season will be last season for him and Yao.Maybe the goner is Yao. I hate this.
