Van Gundy says Rockets losing Yao kills title hope

I agree - we may do well in the regular season, but with Yao, no way we get past SA or the Lakers.

Scola and Landry are too small, and Deke isn't enough. Our front lines will get crushes and without any help up front, teams will be able to clamp down on the perimeter and our offense will have trouble.

Particularly when t-mac has to take a breather.

 

Hey, Jeff, we all know what happened for the Rockets when Yao or TMac went down in the past few seasons.

But we have a new coach in the town.

 

I am a JVG fan, but I certainly hope he's wrong about that. I'll admit it hurts our chances a lot against the teams with real skilled bigs, but hey, they've proven everyone wrong so far!

 

For us to win it all without Yao, there has to be some divine intervention thrown our way...pretty much like the Clutch City years.

 

Sorry, but JVG knows basketball better than you and I, and JVG knows the Houston Rockets better than you and I (4 of the 5 startesr played under him).

When it comes to the playoffs, I don't think we will stack up to the Lakers and Spurs without Yao.

 

Its simple, history has shown that in the playoffs you need a dominate post presence to put points up when you face those championship caliber defenses that shutdown high caliber offenses. The suns knew this and thus traded for shaq hoping he could provide some some semblance of a option in the post. Those of you who think we are better without Yao will see this in the playoffs.

 

Kenny Smith on Yahoo sports says we are (possibly) a playoff team, but a first round exit without Yao (video):

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=207187&cl=6837900&ch=244098&src=sports

 

Without Yao in the lineup. It's one big problem the other teams don't need to worry about so they will concentrate on the next best player excluding T-Mac(obviously Yao and T-Mac are their top priority).

 

Im mean JVG's views can be deemed as logical, if the Rockets win a title without Yao Ming that says ALOT! So logically, we should compete but not have enough in later rounds to push for the title.

 

For us to beat the Lakers, T-Mac has to play Kobe even. Gasol will get his points but our front line scoring from Landry/Scola/Hayes/Deke has got to match the scoring of Odm/Gasol/possibly Bynum/Turiaf.

I think Alston holds his own against Derek Fisher.

It's hard to imagine us beating that kind of firepower but who knows. Solid unselfish team play beats superior athletes sometimes.

 

Of course JVG is right. We'll be playing 3 rounds against the West Elite teams. Imagine 3 rounds that goes to 7 games. By the time that's done, we'll be dead tired in the final against a fresh East team. With Yao, its a better odd and another fresh leg that can shoot 50%.

 

i hope we can keep the same team as intact as possible for next year and limit yao's minutes so we can keep running well and playing more speedier defense.

 

The problem with Scola, Landry and Hayes. They foul too often. The team can't afford when Scola and Landry are into foul trouble in the early process. At least with Yao, you have an extra body.

 

JVG knows exactly what he is talking about. He is right. He took a Knicks team without Patrick Ewing to the NBA finals. But in the end no Ewing meant no contest. You can't come out of the west without a monster at the 4 or 5 spot. Nowadays arguably both slots must be monsters.

 

The phrasing of the article makes all the difference.

On one hand, he's saying that the Rockets can't win it all.

On the other, he also says that the Rockets will go past the second round...something no other expert has publicly written on paper.

 

Beating Utah or Dallas would rescue the season.

 

No big deal, I thought it was an obvious statement. It's also one of the more generous ones.

 

Time will give an answer.

 

ole man Gundy didn't believe when he was here ... hardly surprising that he can't believe after being fired.