This is pretty subjective, but it sure looked to me like the offense picked up when T-Mac sat down against the Thunder with an injury. All of a sudden the Rockets started running and cutting hard without the ball. The problem is that T-Mac, more than any other player on the team, needs to dominate the ball to be effective. Tonight it seemed to me like no other Rocket held onto the ball for as long once they got it. No other Rocket needs to hold onto the ball for as long to be effective. Even Ron Artest, who has a reputation as a black hole, a) was passing the ball and b) driving hard to the basket. The leading scorer tonight was Scola, fer crissake. What tonight's game shows is that the Rockets are deep. We know that Scola can turn it on but in addition to him the Rockets have Brooks, Alston when he's hot, and Landry, who showed off a nice mid range jumper again tonight. These guys can score but they need to get their touches. Is that possible when McGrady dribbles the shot clock away? What's especially important is why Scola was able to score so effectively--because the defense was sagging off of him to cover Yao and Artest. When that happens it's not the big three who should be scoring--it's the role players who are left open. The play where Yao was deep in the post, got doubled and Scola cut hard to the basket for an easy layup is how the offense is supposed to run. When the defense is cuing on McGrady, or Yao, or Artest they should give up the ball to the guy that's open. That happened tonight. Will it happen as well in the next game T-Mac plays in? For me the model of how the Rockets should be playing is the Dallas game. There the Rockets converted at an efficient pace and, most critically, the guys who were scoring were able to do it without dominating the ball. That's efficient play.
Tmac can run the offense fine, it is his lack of motivation and committment to run it that is the problem. Every now and again he decides to move off the ball and it works great, but then he goes back to dominating it and it bogs down. DD
someone suggested we run 2 offenses. 1 that runs thru t-mac and one that is RA offense. I thought that was a really nice idea. If one offense isnt working effectively then go to the other. even if it means benching t-mac for half the game.
I don't think so. It was the Thunder, for god's sakes. They're not exactly defensive stalwarts. I know you take every opportunity to make threads like these, but at least come up with a representative sample size.
Small sample size but the offense took off when McGrady left the game. Actually, the defense did too. McGrady was getting burned by Green and Durant in the first half. Artest was getting burned too though at that point.
I had a similiar impression. Once TMac was taken off the floor this team's offense was in such a fluidity that Yao had to run for his life like Forest Gump. I bet Yao had an easier life when TMac was on the floor.
It's not just this game either. The Boston game and the one right after it T-Mac scored huge points and the Rockets lost anyway. When they've got two out of the big three scoring effectively they run away with the game.
History does show that a healthy T-Mac is important to this team. Of course, the team is a little deeper now and McGrady has been gimpy all season. I do think that McGrady could very well be a liability with his current condition, offensively and defensively. His defense is probably hurting us more than his lack of consistent offense.
The offense got better but also Scola got hot hitting the mid range jumper something he hadn't been doing the previous few games. Also let Scola create for himself a little, something we were not doing the previous few games.
Let T-mac and Yao get rest in a few games, just like the Suns, they let Shaq in suit so that he can recover, Maybe we should imitate the way Suns did.
Tmac and his role in the Houston offense does need to be readjusted, its not due to the fact of lack of motivation or commitment. The fact of the matter is that hes only playing 75-80% healthy. Hes says that he needs to get his shoulders and knees checked out again. Hes gone to multiple doctors to see what he can do during the season to not further put too much stress on his shoulder before he goes under the knife again. I agree to what someone previously said, no Tmac, no playoffs. No matter how deep our bench can be, Tmac has developed himself into a good playmaker for our team. And people will combat that remark with "Aaron Brooks is developing into a great player..." which he is, but he still doesnt have enough experience to be a good playmaker. Hes gonna get beaten by younger players because of his shoulder and knee, anyone would. But we've seen that when he does feel good and not uncomfortable from his shoulder/knee, hes performed well.
My point is that Scola was open. There's a window of opportunity there that closes. The ball has to move around quickly so that it can find the open guy.
T-Mac needs to cut hard without the ball. When he gets a pass he needs to either make his move or pass back out, instead of dribbling away trying to break down his defender. Those things have got nothing to do with his health and everything to do with his mental commitment to playing the system. The issue is not whether he can score. The Boston game showed that he still can. The issue is that when he stands there dribbling the offense bogs down. Now the Rockets are a one headed monster instead of a five headed one.
Well, he has his allstar tendencies, his superstar syndrome. Those are his habits in Orlando when he could actually do that, but he has improved himself on it. I think its more on the fact that Tmac holds this burden as being called the leader. I guess, when he sees that the play isnt working, he'll try to create his own. He has improved with his playmaking abilities, but you are right, the tendency of him doing that is still there.
agreed. habits are hard to die. jvg gave up on this on #1, and pushed real hard to change #11 for good. what adelman will do this year is yet to be seen.
