dude, look at Mavs, Avery JOhnson always stress ft to his players, and they worked hard on that, their team is one of the best ft team as a result. if other teams can do it, i dont think rox can have any excuse at all. (dont give me the shaq example, if t-mac or scola can still score 30 points with 50% ft shooting, then i will tolerate them missing ft).
Some of it came on pick and roll plays but a lot of it was T-Mac driving and then passing out. Regardless, the point is that at least T-Mac was giving up the ball and passing. When he's out there dominating the ball and firing contested jumpers it's poison for the Rockets. Not only does he miss a lot of shots but it takes his teammates out of the game. A lot of people are making noise about Novak playing poor D in the fourth quarter. Who cares? Every player has his pluses and minuses. Putting anybody on the court loses you something. Landry isn't going to play Hayes-like defense. Hayes isn't going to sky like Landry. But if you're going to throw Novak out there it has to be with the understanding that you're giving up something (D) to get something (3 point shooting). Novak scored all his points in the third quarter. He took all his shots in the third quarter. REPEAT: HE DIDN'T TAKE A SINGLE SHOT IN THE FOURTH QUARTER. What's the point of having him out there then? You're getting all of the liabilities and none of the benefits. That is just stupid basketball by the Rockets. T-Mac won the last two games for the Rox. But when you step up you take responsibility for the wins as well as the losses. He's going to have to hang his hat on this one.
EXACTLY DD! plus our Point Guard situation seems to be deepening! Our starting Point Guard had ONE assist.
Some of my observations and reasons for the stalled offense: -Holding the ball: Especially whenever Tmac got the ball he would hold the ball for about 3 to 4 seconds. By doing that, he cuts down the amount of time for the possession and allows the opposing defense to set up. As a result he had to settle with bringing the ball BACK two dribbles and shooting the fadeaway over the defender. Rather, the Rockets need the mentality to make their moves quickly. It's easier to attack a defense when it's off-balance and kept on its toes rather than one that is allowed to establish itself. -Dribbling back to the perimeter: Rafer did this a lot; whenever he would penetrate the ball inside, he would bring the ball back again to set up the play again. By doing that, he wastes about 5 seconds off the clock and again it allows the defense to reestablish itself. I understand that Rafer wants to set the right tone for the offense; however I saw some plays that really had good potential to be a score. But then the decision was made to bring the ball back out, which left about a short 10 seconds on the shot clock to make a play. -Looking to pass rather than looking to score: It's good to pass the ball, but the bottomline is that you win by scoring. It seems to me that the mentality of every player was to try and set up another player for the best shot possible. However, what resulted was that everyone didn't want to shoot. And we passed up on open shots and open opportunities. This hesitation is what might also expain the many missed layups by Scola, Landry, etc. -Not attacking the basket: This team has many players who can do this. Obviously, Tmac is one. Aaron has that incredible quickness, Rafer went through a stretch that shows he can finish around the basket, and then Bonzi Wells has that ability to bull his way to the basket. But none of those weapons were used. Instead, we got stuck with jumpshot after jumpshot.
Can you point out the possession in which Novak was open and McGrady didn't pass him the ball? Remember, Novak relies on other players to get him open. You can't just give him the ball when he's covered and expect him to make shots. And ... if we give up a ton of points in the fourth quarter, while scoring 30 ourselves, it's natural to look first at the defensive end. And Novak is quite possibly the worst defender on the team. Put two and two together.
I think the front office should give the players compensation if they make free throws, but in return they should also pay up for missing them. I'll bet the entire squad shoots 90%.
McGrady gets the ball and then immediately fires a jump shot, without passing to his teammates, without even giving the offense time to set up. I don't know who would have ended up taking the shot in that situation, but it could have been Novak.
One more thing: I wouldn't be too pessimistic. Yes, T-Mac went back to his old ball hogging ways tonight. But he was clearly filling the absence of Yao and probably decided that he was going to do whatever it took to try and make up for that. The last two wins have featured some decent ball movement and passing, so I think there's a good chance that when Yao gets back that T-Mac will settle down again.
McGrady has 9 assist so he was passing. Some passes resulted in blown layups and missed uncontested jumpers.
Really? Is that why RA kept him in the game for 38+ mins? Is that why RA didn't bench him? T-mac is known to take horrible/ off balanced/ contested shots and make 'em. If he wasn't doing his job how did he manage to dish out 21 points, 9 assists and 6 rebounds? You need to stop crying and take your blames somewhere else. Basketball is a team sport. You win as a team and sure as hell lose as one.
What was T-Mac's shooting percentage in the fourth quarter? Now ... compare that to what we might reasonably have expected if he chose to pass the ball around instead of shooting it. That's how you should look at it. Whatever shots T-Mac took, you can say they were bad shots, but they are also shots he's capable of making. And we scored 30 points in the quarter with T-Mac taking those shots despite missing a lot of free throws and, as you pointed out, Novak not getting a single shot attempt. Blaming the offense for this loss is madness. Get a freaking stop, already.
huh....so RA wants him to take contested/unbalanced/horrible shots..... i guess it's rational for a coach to tell his player to find ways to shoot low percentage lol... Yao is out tonight so t-mac should ve stepped up... 21 points does not count as stepping up because you just lost out a star contributing 22/10.....
Deron Williams literally took over this game - he owned Rafer down the stretch, either scoring or assisting on virtually every possession. And please help me understand why AB was pulled from the game at crunch time. Tough one without Yao, but it was there for the taking. And while I'm at it, 4th graders can shoot free throws better than what I witnessed tonight! Excuseless. These are highly paid professionals...this is all they do!!! D R
McGrady played a solid game. This loss was definitely not his fault. If it weren't for his play, we would've lost by a lot more. Rafer Alston deserves more blame than McGrady. He was missing shots as usual as well as not making anything happen for other players. If Yao played and McGrady was out, there likely wouldn't have been a different outcome. The Jazz outplayed us and are generally a better team.
If T-mac can retain his shooting percentage in the 4thQ down the stretch, i say let him do whatever he feels comfortable, thing is, if not, his BAD SHOts keep hurting the team. That's how you should look at IT.
If Alston is playing his "A" game, he still doesn't come close to matching up with Williams, but it might have been enough to gut out a win. He's a bench player who's starting. Rafer should be the second point off the bench. We need to deal for a starter. McGrady playing hurt and no Yao... I'd say the game was closer than it should have been. As everyone has said, missing free throws killed us. With Yao playing, this is a win. With McGrady healthy, we inch out a win. I don't feel as bad about losing this game as I often do after a loss. We were close until the end. All things considered, not too bad.
