Monkey on their backs: Rockets are 11-42 without T-Mac

This is not true. With good team fronting Yao and sanwiching him, he can't even get ball, not to mention create shots for his teammates.

Not every NBA team is doing that. I just don't know why. Maybe they just don't do their homework before the game.

 

Exactly... it doesn't even take much defensive talent to do it.

For instance, last night, NAJERA was far more effective at fronting/denying Yao than Camby was (mainly because Camby is confident that he can block/defend Yao straight up... which is never really the case).

Instead, they decided to play Yao with the traditional "hard double team" for most of the game... and it created plenty of easy wide-open shots (most of which did not go in).

If teams do deny Yao, and they don't have another star there to create open looks for everybody, the Rockets are screwed.

 

Yeah, Najera has always done a good job on Yao. The fronting thing is certainly a dilemma, but I'm not so sure it's all on Yao. A simple lob entry pass should end the fronting, but for some reason no one on this team can make that pass. That is just another reason they need to make a move.

 

I guess T-Mac really is Team Mac.

 

Losing with out T-Mac . . .it is a Mental Block
Like when you 1st learn to ride a bike
as long as someone holding it .. you fine
the second you notice they ain't holding it .. you fall

This team is like that without T-Mac
Time for them to take off the training wheels
they will eventually get it

Rocket River

 

Not in today's NBA... where they are allowed to have a weakside defender come over and basically make the lob pass a very high-risk/turnover prone play.

Sure, Yao will still eventually get the ball... but it will be with less time on the shot clock, and he likely won't be in his comfort zone. Denver (Camby) was basically letting Yao set up wherever, as they were sticking with the traditional hard double team.

 

And when facing a strong team!

 

send T-Mac out!
Now in Rockets Yao and T-Mac get the high salary,but only Yao is worth earning,T-Mac very sucks
considering the other's effect,most of them are worth getting more(like Bonzi,Hyes)
in a team who's able to win champion like Rockets,the situation is very different between with 2 stars on court and with 1,so when without T-Mac Rockets win less,that's normal
without Yao ,T-mac returns to magic,Yao is the real base of the Rockets,Yao only need the Kobe's style teammates who are eager to win champion.
Tell T-Mac ,if he can't play ,just get out of Rockets ,leave opportuniy to the other,i'm too tired of his fragile lady style

 

Yes, a lob pass is difficult and pointless when a player is sandwiched between 2 defenders, but that is not always the case. Often times, it's just a fronter and we still can't make that pass.

I think we need shooters at the 1-4 to provide the necessary spacing for Yao to dominate. Sure it's not a complete cure-all, but it would certainly make things easier on Yao than it is now with three non-scorers in Hayes, Battier and Rafer on the floor.

 

It's just too hard in NBA to compensate $20mil in a team to win games. $20mil is a LOT of money, and in fact, it almost equals to the total of all other Rockets except Yao.

 

This is just a question for any basic hoops player. A 7'6 guy gets the ball 8ft from the basket, is it better to pass out to a open teammate 23ft from the basket or shoot the ball over a guy 7 inches shorter? I mean some people that talk on this board dont see how not taking a great shot is just like taking a bad shot. Think about it. How many time have we watched Hakeem get the ball that close kick it out? Isn't that what the scorer/low post players are supposed to do. This team cant suceed if yao doesn't dominate. You can look at the stat line and say he had a good game, but how many point,rebs and blocks did he have in the 4th qt and ot? How many time did the offense stagger because he was fronted and didn't know how to pin najera or camby. next time the rox play, count how many times yao gets the ball less than 10ft from the basket and kick it out. I dont know about you, but if any center/post gets the ball that close, its a score,foul, or shot. watch,dunacn,howard,brand, or even kaman and see how many times they get the ball that close and it comes out. Opposing defenses know this and the team doesn't adjust. People can say what they want about T-Mac, but yao missed 30 games last season and the team won 20. Tracy missed 7 and they were 0 fer. Thats simple math no matter how u look at it. I agree this team needs a 3rd scorer and always have needed one, but to say this team would be better off with redd,allen, or whatever shooter u want to give them is false. There isnt a gm in this league that would trade Tracy for anyone other than Kobe,Lebron,wade, or pierce as far as wing players. Now if you want to tell me the rox should package some players to get that other guy, i agree.

 

I've never played with anyone 7'6" before!

In a vacuum, I'd take Yao over Tracy. Dominant big men are hard to find, but talent wing players are a bit more plentiful.

That being said, for the Houston Rockets of the last few years, it is obvious that TMac is way more valuable to this team than Yao. There is simply nobody on this team that can handle the ball and make the defense collapse on him. Because Yao is a post player, teams can deny him the ball and make the other four beat him. OUR OTHER PLAYERS ARE SO BAD AT BASIC BASKETBALL THAT THEY CAN"T BEAT ANYBODY EVEN 4 on 3. With TMac, he can almost always get the ball and make his presence felt.

 

I find it's amusing that people always use last year's story to justify Mac is more valuable to this year's rox than Yao. Things have changed a lot. Last year when yao was down, Muto and Howard played out of their mind and they filled the hole pretty nicely left by Yao. But if you still believe this year's Muto can do this again, you are clueless. I am not jinxing it, but if Yao is down again this year, watch out how miserable the rox are. This year's team is better positioned to be let by Yao than Tmac.

 

And who is our "Alpha Dog" again? The Rockets are a one man team, and that one man is great when healthy, but damn he's fragile.

 

T-Mac's problem is the attitude and healthy.

 

Rox is better without Yao?

 

I've been saying this for a long time: TMAC IS STEALING BIG MONEY FROM THE ROCKETS ORGANIZATION!!!

 

WOW,exactly!

 

This record is indeed horrible.

You can't really say it's Yao's fault when TMac is out and lose these games. I suffered from watching the Rox play without TMac, every time I watched, Yao is doing all he could to try to win. When you are giving it all like Yao does, I have no bone with him at all. We just have to play better as a team, and the win will come.

 

Without Rafer this year, the rox lost two in row to the bad teams, what does that mean?