3 things killed us tonight 1. Yao's rebounding 2. T-mac's jump shooting. 3. Team defense. I blame this one on both of our stars for simply not playing their game when it mattered most. We had this game up 5 with all of the momentum and we just stand there like a piece of log in the last 4 minute...oh yes, that last defensive play didn't help much either.
a PG who can go to the hole (I'm pro Rafer buttt) Lack of any athleticism or quickness in the front court. Yao was slow as molasses and a crutch on defense; we need an athletic PF. they never came out in one game and had the lead at halftime....pathetic further more 1-26 this year when losing after 3 quarters....also pathetic.
1. The Rockets deciding that, with 7 minutes to go and Utah over the foul limit, that it was a great time to shoot jumpers instead of taking it to the basket. Heres to you, Juwan Howard!
First off, I had a feeling in the second that free throws were going to cost us the game and it did. We our players to shoot atleast over 75%. You can't have your center shooting better than everyone else. And three particular moments come to mind as I sit here and think about the loss: 1. Up by 5 and T-Mac is jacking up a three and then a contested jump shot when the previous 3-4 plays he had owned every Jazz defender! 2. Yao's ill-advised turnaround a play or to later when I believe we could have been up by 2 and his lack of rebounding. 3. The last play were the Rockets don't foul. WTF! SO ****ING PISSED RIGHT NOW!
that pretty much sums it up. its amazing that a guy who refuses to go to the basket for most of the regular season and who relies solely on his shot all of a sudden can't hit from the outside. He couldnt hit wide open threes and jumpers consistently. Yao still doesn't consistently box out his man. simply back up, put your butt on boozer, and he cant jump for the ball like he did. on the offensive end, it's obvious he needs to develop a solution to the crowding defense. Learn how to put the ball on the floor and finish at the rim, or at least drawing fouls. but instead of team defense, I'm going to say general offensive execution. watching utah run their offense and then watching us rack up 3 second violations is so painful. the pass to yao is always hesitant, deflected, or muffed when it does make it to him. utah, on the other hand, has perfect timing on all their passes, and perfect movement. So if we improve in those 3 areas, we'll be much tougher to beat. or if we just trade for Mike James.
This is on the mark!!! As good as T-mac played he could've done better in the 4th...in the penalty with half the quarter to go, and he started shooting jumpshots.. Yao is also soft defensively. If he does foul someone he barely touches them...he should go...oops..was that too hard? may bad...his fouls are so weak. That's how the Jazz play. They're tough...they're NASTY
defensive rebs... not attacking with 7 min left and jazz into foul limit and I dont know wtf happend with 9 sec left not fouling. intentional giving up
The Rockets have major issues to over come and agree team speed is one of them, lack of overall alethicism, no bench, poor shooters, and a top heavy roster to name a few. JVG was the source of many of these problems, but I'm sure he will be gone soon. If you look at where the NBA is going we need guys that are good at mutiple things with good speed. Golden State and the Suns are the new model. Can the Rockets be that kind of team with Yao as there Center. Maybe if you keep his minutes down and get a guy like Biedrins as his back up. The Rockets will not be a quick fix no matter what they decide.
I don't know why people are still complaining about Yao's rebounding. In 5 years, Yao has never been anything more than an average rebounder. He's slow to box out, and he lacks the athleticism to jump up and grab the ball when it's bouncing away from him. He just doesn't have the physical tools. Yet people complain about his rebounding as if he should be grabbing more. If after 5 years in the league he still hasn't become a dominant rebounder, then obviously there's a physical limitation there. Complaining about it at this point is almost as ludicrous as saying "Yao's a terrible ball-handler. Why isn't he crossing people over more?" Our defensive rebounding as a whole sucked tonight (especially the last 3 minutes of the game)...but nobody on our team outside of Chuck is what I'd consider a proficient rebounder. Bottom line is, we need a REAL power forward on this team.
I agree and that's why Hayes is out there starting alongside Yao--to get rebounds. But the problem is that he was assigned to guard Okur, who stretched the defense out. Everyone here can call me dumb and stupid or what not, but the person who should have guarded Okur was either Battier or McGrady. You cannot drag your best rebounder out to the perimeter especially when that's all he's in there to do is to rebound. You need him to bang down low. By putting Hayes out there, you not only leave Yao as your only rebounder but you're limiting the effectiveness of having Hayes out there in the first place.
