Yeah TMAC will bring u a championship Yao Ming isn't what you are looking for I seriously think Yao should go to cleveland or L.A. because fans in houston are so ....
One game should not be the basis on how good a team is or not. Yao has done a lot for this team and like it or not, the Rockets need him if they want to move on to the next level.
Just like last year...when our shots go in, our offense looks GREAT. But its hard when you have one guy who is not capable of scoring (Hayes). Last year it was Mutombo, but at least he had some size and presence at the rim. Tmac did great last year when Yao went out, but when teams clamped down on our shooters, it made life miserable for the Rockets. Our defense was consistent, thats what kept us in ball games. But Rafer Alston, Bobby Jackson, and Battier's shooting did not last forever. So what makes yall think Aaron Brooks and Shane Battier's shooting will last this year?? I think Scola and Artest will be more consistent, but the other guys aren't regular scorers yet. Battier had a great shooting game. Brooks can score on Fisher, but not as easily on Farmar and Brown. Landry is either great or ineffective. Lowery is consistent on defense, but not a consistent scorer. I'm not knocking the guys who played today...I couldn't be more proud of them. THey played their hearts out for the city of Houston today! All I'm saying is, Yao, Tmac, and even Deke's absence is going to catch up to us at some point. Personally, I think the Lakers will win this series, if Kobe gets his usual 25-30 points, Gasol gets 18 +, and the other Lakers hit their open 3's. If Odom is out for a game or two, then I like our chances a little better, but I would still bet on the Lakers, because they are healthier and they still have one of the best players/closers in the NBA. I hope we can beat the Lakers. I think we would actually match up very good with Denver without Yao, because the altitude probably would've affected Yao in a long series with them, and they play more of an up-tempo game. THey are not as efficient offensively as the Lakers, and Artest can shut down Melo, while Battier can be put on Billups or J.R. Smith. Hayes and Scola can match up with Martin and Nene. Hypothetically speaking, if we get past LA, that would be considered a success for this team, considering all the injuries. If we beat the Nuggets also, we would be the biggest overachievers in a very long time. But lets look at the 99 Knicks. They had injuries all year long, but when healthy they were a solid team. Their defense kept them in games, and they had just enough offense to get by. Then Ewing gets hurt again, and he's out from the Conference Finals onwards. They manage to beat Indiana, but then they face the Spurs, who had the Twin Towers. As much resiliency as that Knicks team had, they missed Ewing BADLY! If they had him, who knows, they may have won that series. The Rockets have their 2 best players out. That will hurt them vs. Cleveland (who I think will come out of the East). Yao was our equalizer of sorts to Lebron. That was our way of slowing down the tempo and getting efficient shots and free throws. Add on top of that our best playmaker in Tmac is out as well, there is no way we beat a team like Cleveland. They play just as good, if not better defense than us, they rebound better, and they have more consisten scoring/shooting and not to mention the greatest player and athlete on the planet in Lebron (he was just toying with the Hawks last night on his way to 47 points!) This is at the very least when we'll miss Yao. If this hypothetical situation plays out, EVERYBODY would be proud of this Rockets team, but it just can't win a title. I think Yao's absence will be felt a lot in this series, but I'm hoping we can beat LA 2 more times, and beat Denver as well. But to answer the question, we are better in certain aspects of defense without Yao, we can play at a faster pace without Yao, and we can attack from 5 players offensively without Yao and Tmac, BUT, when the game slows down or gets close at the end, where do we go?? Artest?? Brooks?? Scola?? Thats when you will wish we had Yao and Tmac... Wishing the Rockets the best of luck the rest of the way...they already made me proud...anything more would just be the icing on the cake!
The only thing that makes a Yao-less team better than a Yao-led team is the tempo. As in today's game, Brooks had free reign to run around all over the floor, to the baseline and the top of the key. Why? Yao wasn't there clogging up the lane. This allows the Rockets to not only run faster, but play at a faster-tempo game. Perfect for Landry, Lowry, Brooks, and Wafer.
So use the max money to get one who can through the ball to Yao in time. don't tell me T-mac, I don't believe in him. what Rox need is the guy who can through the ball to Yao in time. without this person,Yao's center position will never work. Chinese hope Yao go to Heat,Suns or Cleveland Cavaliers,of course Cleveland Cavaliers will be the best choice, Yao plays with Lebron James will not that tired.
Morey's personnel moves the last 2 years have made the Rox better suited for Adelman's motion offense. Today's game was great but in the long run, the Rox still need a low post presence, without it other teams will adjust; you can't consistently count on big offensive production from Battier. Despite all the discussion about possibly moving Yao and McGrady, it is highly likely that they will both be Rockets next year. So the trick will be to incorporate these two guys into Adelman's preferred offensive sets. Tracy will have to change his style of play to fit Adelman's preferred offense, remember all the talk about McGrady being a ball stopper. What is encouraging is that the Rox have the potential to play two very distinct styles of play depending upon the opponent.. Yao can still be a forceec offensively, but the fronting issue must be resolved.he is a liability defenbsively, so that and other guys standing around whenever he is in the the gaem.agem
I think it was all about the Lakers not being able to make the adjustments and come up with a game plan that counters the Rocket's uptempo play. Everything they planned for was focused around Yao. I highly doubt they'll play that bad in game 5. Also, there's got to be more minutes cut for Yao next year. He's been playing far too much ball and working out when he's not on the court. As soon as you see him getting winded (which is fairly fequent) you've got to do something about that. The summer allows your bones and muscles to heal. When you don't even have that, minor problems eventually lead to bigger ones down the stretch. I think the biggest thing on Morey's list has got to be to get a big man who can guard jump shooting bigs and has a workable offensive game. This may end up being a blessing in disguise. My heart wanted the Rockets to go all the way, but my brain said it more than likely wasn't going to happen. Now Yao will be able to rest and he'll have more time away from his other commitments. I'm hoping Morey will work some magic in the offseason to get another center and we'll come back even stronger next year. /Go ROX!
Without Yao or any other good guys in low pose( so special in current NBA), you may be more entertaining to watch, but you will never become a champain team.
Without Yao, the team reminds me of the Kings. Ball pass around and you just play ball. That is exactly what the Kings did...they don't have any one guy that they keep going to ...they just pass around until someone is open and they take the shots. Today's game is reminiscent of the Kings' offense. This is bad news for the Lakers....it's the Kings again!
Sometimes I was really doubting whether Rockets do play better without Yao or McGrady,especially in the Game 2 and Game 3 of this round. And after today's game,it seems that we're even better without the two stars. But I'm still not so confident.Because the samples are still too small.I guess that maybe the Lakers just couldn't adapt to the new offense style of Rockets.And they didn't prepare a lot before the game.So just wait to see. If we can win a game in LA,then we can give the top credit to our non-superstar players. Anyway,I believe that our bench players are much better than the Lakers'.
this season the Rockets have shot eFG% 4% better with him on the floor, and have given up a 3% higher eFG%. Scored +5.6 points per 100 possessions, given up 5.6 more points, adding up to a staggering net +/- of +11.0 per 100 possessions. 5-Man Units Top Five-Man Floor Units # Unit Min Off Def +/- W L Win% 1 Brooks-Battier-Artest-Scola-Yao 555 1.10 1.01 +109 18 10 64.2 2 Alston-McGrady-Artest-Scola-Yao 222 1.09 0.97 +50 12 5 70.5 3 Alston-McGrady-Battier-Scola-Yao 161 0.99 1.03 -9 6 4 60.0 4 Alston-Battier-Artest-Scola-Yao 134 1.11 0.94 +44 5 3 62.5 5 Alston-Wafer-Battier-Scola-Yao 104 1.17 1.05 +27 6 1 85.7 6 Brooks-McGrady-Battier-Scola-Yao 73 1.31 0.96 +48 5 0 100 7 Brooks-Barry-Artest-Landry-Yao 45 1.05 0.99 +4 5 6 45.4 8 Alston-McGrady-Artest-Landry-Yao 43 1.13 0.84 +25 5 6 45.4 9 Alston-Wafer-McGrady-Scola-Yao 41 1.04 1.24 -15 0 3 0.0 10 Lowry-Wafer-Artest-Landry-Yao 41 1.23 0.76 +39 6 2 75.0 Top Five-Man Floor Units, Details # Unit eFG eFGA FTA Close dClose Reb T/O 1 Brooks-Battier-Artest-Scola-Yao .537 .469 +30 37% 30% 98% -2% 2 Alston-McGrady-Artest-Scola-Yao .490 .482 +53 44% 31% 97% +5% 3 Alston-McGrady-Battier-Scola-Yao .463 .460 +13 39% 32% 96% -6% 4 Alston-Battier-Artest-Scola-Yao .502 .455 +30 49% 32% 113% -4% 5 Alston-Wafer-Battier-Scola-Yao .593 .459 +1 41% 35% 101% -9% 6 Brooks-McGrady-Battier-Scola-Yao .597 .446 +4 38% 34% 107% +4% 7 Brooks-Barry-Artest-Landry-Yao .472 .429 -3 35% 36% 115% -6% 8 Alston-McGrady-Artest-Landry-Yao .500 .331 +6 38% 34% 107% -10% 9 Alston-Wafer-McGrady-Scola-Yao .517 .568 +10 41% 47% 84% -5% 10 Lowry-Wafer-Artest-Landry-Yao .574 .338 -1 32% 26% 115% 0% On Court / Off Court stats Many stats are shown on a 'per 48 minute' basis Stat ON Court OFF Court Net Minutes 2588 1372 65% Offense: Pts per 100 Poss. 111.5 105.9 +5.6 Defense: Pts per 100 Poss. 103.1 108.5 -5.4 Net Points per 100 Possessions +8.5 -2.6 +11.0 Points Scored 5359 2711 +2648 Points Allowed 4911 2831 +2080 Net Points +448 -120 +568 Effective FG% 51.6% 47.4% +4.1% Effective FG% Allowed 46.8% 49.9% -3.1% Assisted Field Goals 56% 55% +1% Assisted FG% Allowed 55% 52% +3% Own Shots Blocked 6% 6% +0% Shots Blocked 5% 4% +1% Rebounding Offensive Rebounding 29.7% 29.0% +0.7% Defensive Rebounding 72.7% 72.6% +0.1% Total Rebounding 51.2% 50.8% +0.4% Stats Free Throws Made 18 19 -1 Free Throws Attempted 22 24 -2 Free Throws Made by Opp. 13 19 +6 Free Throws Attempted by Opp. 18 25 +7 Turnovers, on Offense 14 13 -1 Turnovers, on Defense 11 13 -2 Net Turnovers -3 0 +3 Fouls Committed 16 22 +6 Fouls, Drawn 20 20 +0 Net Fouls 4 -2 -6
Yes we are a better team without Yao with this current line up against the Lakers. But it also depends on the match up too. But when you have a Healthy Tmac who draws double team and can create his own shot and when you have Yao on the floor thats a different story.
What you said is so true, come playoff time, it's all about match ups. Lemme draw up a hypothetical situation...lets say the Magic pull off a miracle and end up in the finals...and lets say the rockets pull off a miracle of their own and meet the magic in the finals, with Yao missing, houston will notice just how valuable he is to the rockets. Line ups like Boston and Orlando call for a player like Yao in the middle...otherwise Houston will get pounded, the lakers on the other hand call for a speedier lineup...which we have out on the floor at the moment. In the end, Yao is the franchise whether the city of Houston likes it or not, just look at the top 50 players in the history of the NBA, Robert Parish is on that list, and we can make a case that Yao is a better player than Parish was, I have a feeling the best has yet to come for Yao, just have faith.
No we aren't better without Yao. Game 5 so far is showing what happens when Lakers dominate inside the paint.
