I've noticed the same things. 1) The league now knows how to beat the way the Rockets have played in this streak. 2) Without Landry, TMac's options in the paint are gone. 3) If Rafer isn't hitting, TMac is shut down. But, they are also exhausted, both from the adrenalin drain, constant media attention, and playing so hard for so long. They've done OK, until the 3rd quarter ... then they've been dying, not just for the last 2 games, but especially since Landry went down. Its a combination. But, if Rafer can keep up his confidence, Landry comes back healthy, and we get rested, we can do pretty well again. If not, we're screwed.
good post . i am enlightened by your article from another angle , maybe someone will call me T-mac hater . we all enjoyed Tracy's assistance and praised him that he create open shot for teammates, but we overlooked the good finishing ability of Yao ,Landry and Wells including Scolar sometimes . i.e ,TRACY's excellent assistance ability is based on our big fella's excellent finishing ability ,if his pass was to a mediocrity such as Hayes ,Tracy's assistance wouldnt work . likewise , if his pass was to Shane and Rafer ,their 3p shoot didnt fall ,Tracy's assistance wouldnt work as such , these assistances are based on our perimeter player's FG% , thus , so-called 'open 'shoots actually are semi-open , when the palyers have good FG% or when the players are good finisher, it is 'OPEN' .therefore ,i wonder whether we had exaggerated T-MAC'S assistance too much .i dont know.
The complete truth. It shouldn't be this hard to get players to finish when open or close to it around the rim though. Scola and especialy Yao are great at it but even they miss gimme's every now and then that make you scratch your head. We all know how bad Hayes and Deke are around the rim. I hope the new big we get can finish around the rim. The way our team is set up we need our bigs to be able to finish around the rim and everyone else to hit 3s because tmac usually finds them open. Am I the only one who is starting to get a little tired of our fascination with defensive minded hustle players. Our defense is great, we need offense. I would even sacrifice a Hayes if we could get a player of equal skill level who finished around the rim, even if he didn't rebound as well or play as good of defense.
We suck in the paint without Yao. Landy + Scola are alright for the regular season, but they will not cut it in the playoffs when we play the Spurs, Suns, or Lakers.
you cant get consistency from outside shooters like from post players. no matter how good you are you will miss shots, and miss shots in bunches, and miss shots in key games. you're overthinking this. the streak was 22 games long. during its course we lost yao for 10 games, then we lost landry for 5 games. the team was playing at such a high level in the peak of the streak that they could lose key pieces and keep going for a while, but each blow hurt. with yao we were plain destroying people. without landry we were winning but barely to crappy eastern conference teams. after landry went down we became a team with huge natural deficiencies. miracle shooting saved us v LA but finally it just couldn't go on. people who haven't really been paying attention (like espn, the national medie etc) have an incorrect overall perception about the streak being about the houston rockets without yao ming... mainly because until game 15 or so (yao went out game 12) they weren't even paying attention and didn't even start watching the rockets again until there was no yao. they simply didn't watch the first 12 games where the team built up its chemistry and became a great team. they only saw the aftermath so that's all they know... so automatically they go to "houston hasn't played anybody" or "they're playing hurt teams." uhm, no. this team was DOMINATING inside and outside and was the best in the league this team is vastly different without landry, just like without yao. there's not "secret being out." bring back yao right now healthy and landry we destroy NO tonight no matter what they think they "know." with yao leaning on their bigs and landry slamming loose balls in their faces, houston wears down boston inside last night in the 3rd quarter and build on our lead (instead of the reverse) and probably beat them at home and no that's not to knock boston's defense or their team. boston is an elite team. but it's no coincidence that NBA teams dont just win 22 games without being great. this team was great. at the end we were decimated by injuries and just limping along but when all the pieces were in place we were JUST THAT GOOD. until landry comes back and is in shape and acclimated, houston is actually not a great team or even an elite team but an above average WC team and the record will reflect that
Possible every where but in the Middle East. Never get involved in a land war in Asia The Princess Bride Oops! Iraq is in Asia..... But Rafer is hitting his shots - except for the last two games. If the guys are tired, and everyone has figured out how to D us, and we are short of bigs and dunkers, then play 11 players and do our best to use fresh legs to run our opponents into the ground. Use fresh legs to create temporary mis-matches. It sure is working against the Rockets, Rick!
when rafer is having a bad night, play jackson and brooks a little more. afterall, that's why they got rafer some help.
It all comes down to Rafer's shooting. When he shoots well, everybody else benefits. It opens up the lane for cutters. It takes at least one defender off T-mac's grill. The ball gets moved around. Adelman's offense works.
not at all, all good pg's depend on having a good supporting cast. Karl Malone wasn't called the Mailman for nothing. Without him, do you think John Stockton would have broken MJ's assist record? Do you think Steve Nash assist number sprouted up when he went to Phoenix magically? Or was it a lot to do because of guys like Amare and Marion to finish? All a pg can do is get the ball to someone in a spot they are likely to do damage. It's up to them to finish.
Finally, a logical thread that actually takes the time to analyze what's wrong with the team instead of the usual "T-Mac, you need to take it to the hole on triple teams and dunk on those fools!" Like some people have said in this thread, Landry is not a superstar, but his value is essential to this team. We don't have a finisher right now. When Tracy comes off of the pick and roll either both of the defenders get on him, or they put their PF by the free throw line and Tracy's defender comes from the back to kind of sandwich him. At that point he can jack up a tough jumper or his only other choice is to dish it back out. They are also not leaving our 3 point shooters open and we have no one that's going to cut in from the pick and roll and finish strong at the rim. Add this all together and our offense becomes stagnant at least for a couple minutes in a game, and that gives other good teams a chance to give us the knock out blow right there and then. Celtics in the 3rd and Hornets in the 4th. With both of the teams we were tied for 3 quarters, but our offense became stagnant just for a few minutes and that gives the good teams enough time to take a commanding lead. We were pretty much doing the exact same thing to other teams during our streak. Playing really good defense and taking the 5-6 minutes of them being stagnant, and blowing the game open in our favor. You put Carl Landry in there, and he's going to be the one setting picks for Tracy. All of a sudden our whole offense changes. Off the pick and roll when they over commit to Tracy, he'll give it to Landry instead of throwing it outside for a 3. Landry finishes strong at the rim, and after doing that 2-3 times, the defense adjusts and they might not send that double team to Tracy, or they will have to leave our 3 point shooters open to cover up the Landry cut. Now your offense is spread out and we're getting good shots pretty much every time down the court. Tracy isn't being double teamed as much and he plays better, Battier/Head/Alston get good looks at 3's or can penetrate better, and Landry/Scola finish at the rim. That's why just a role player like Landry can make a difference. Add Yao in there, and wow, it's a whole different story. That's when we start dominating other teams. This will have to wait until next season. But great thread with good logic!
You probably forgot that in the Celtics game when some guy name Powe scored 20 pts. I know for a fact he wouldn't of scored that if Landry was in. We got out rebounded and outscored so many times. 20 pts can come in many ways, stops and finishes and leaving guys open cus Rox lack of size.
Landry returns against G.S. and we are shooting near 50%. He's worth so much more than 12 points and 6 rebounds.
I was kidding the last time I said Landry is the best finisher in the NBA EVER! But im starting to believe it!
17 points 7 rebounds, including the the ft that sealed it. Rockets are now 20-1 when landry plays more then 1 qtr (12 minutes). Or 27-21 without him playing significant minutes. Amazing.
