then it must be really hard to build around yao. so it's good the team is just right now accumulating talent. again, it's a testament that the team can play at a high level with or without yao. the only thing we really miss when yao is out is that low post presence--when we went on that drought v. the hornets, having yao would definitely help. but defensively, rebounding, and general offense, we can play without him just fine. and that's why we are able to keep winning in the reg. season without yao. the teams in 06-07 wasn't as close to as talented as it is today and it did fine without yao, winning at the same rate without him as they did with him. last yr was even higher. playing well without yao isn't something new. b/c we play at the same level with or without yao. the next step is to play greater when yao returns and that will show if we advance in the playoffs
Not really all you need is an all star point guard, a couple of all star 3 point shooters, and an all star inside presence that can grab rebounds.
The team can play good without Yao for a short period because of the style change. But once other teams figures out, this team will become mediocore. Last year, the team played their best with Yao in the linup to start the winning streak. They kept winning when Mutombo provied post defense/rebounding and Tmac/Rafter both played out of their mind on offense for a period. Then they got figured out. Smae thing happen the year before, they won 7 straight after Yao went down, then got figured out and played mediocore. To say they played better/same without Yao was so wrong. With Yao, Rox battled Utah to the wire with Head as their 6 man and Tmac shoting terrible from outside, Without Yao, Rox lost Utah in 6 games with upgrades like Scola/Landry/Brooks and a Tmac at his peak. Consider Utah was a nightmare match up for Yao. For a different team like Spurs, the difference between Yao and no-Yao would be much bigger.
i think we tired out at the end moreso b/c tracy was battling his injuries to end the year (he received injections for the playoffs). we took that HEALTHY utah team with 3 starts INJURED and rafer missed 2 games + a half. we got better as the series went along and rafer's injury just killed us (2 starters out, are you kidding me?). again, i never said we were "better" without yao long-term b/c like i said, we DO build this team around yao. most of the playcalls offensively ARE for yao. but again, we win with defense and rebounding for the most part. and those 2 parts are replaceable whether yao is in the line up or not. defense and rebounding RARELY get worse with yao out, and more often that not, it gets better. offense obviously goes up and down without yao. but if we play the defense we can play, we're always in games and will win our share.
Our rebounding is about same with/without Yao, that I agree. But to say defense is better without Yao more often than not, that I can't agree. Maybe when Motumbo was still able to play big minutes, but it's no longer the case. BTW, Yao's defense got much better this year, partly due to he got some respect form refs on that end. Without him, we can't defend our post with Scloa/Landry. But if we put Mutombo on the court, offense suffers too much. This year's Yao is much more important than previous years on both ends. Data from 82games.com really proved that.
I'm not sure the point behind this. When Yao leaves, his replacements are Chuck and Deke. Both are certainly better than Yao on defense. So of course our defense isn't going to suffer. Unfortunately, you can't say the same for our offense.
Yao played great today, but this win over the Pistons doesn't seem like a great counter-argument. As a team, we clearly played a better game against the Hornets than we did tonight. Landry was missed, in my opinion.
So basically Yao is a neutral force on offence and a negative force on defence. Seriously, trade Yao and start Hayes. You hardly ever make any sense with your posts but this one is just plain amazing. Hopefully when Tmac goes away, so do these ridiculous anti-Yao posters.
Why should I say that, when my eyes tell me the Rockets did not play as well? The Pistons were under-manned, playing the second night of a back to back, they're on the road, and they're an inferior team compared to the Hornets. Yao dominated against a single-coverage (and mostly no fronting) defense. The Rockets were being outworked getting after loose balls and keeping guys off the offensive boards all game. The Hornets game is in no way proof that the Rockets are better without Yao. Almost no one thinks that. It's just one game. At the same time, this game -- again, just one game and not a particularly well played game -- isn't proof to the contrary either.
I didn't say that. But it's clear to me that, collectively, Yao's teammates did not play as well in this game as they did last game. I don't know the reasons. Maybe the Landry incident had an effect on them.
Piston team is just way more disciplined, and team-oriented than NO team, whoes everytihng is totally rely on CP3. I say we play pretty good game today on both ends, being patient and composed. The outnumbered rebounding problem will be exposed everytime we play against a team that is far more athletic than us. I am actually amazed to see you still trying to bashing Yao even after one of his best game of this season. I guess I can seriously equal your name to Yao-Hater and ignore any of your post on Yao from now on.... sad...
I expect more out of this team then eaking out a double-overtime win over a tired, undermanned Pistons team with a .500 record. I guess you don't. I'm not trying to bash Yao. He's our best player, and we need him to be successful in the playoffs. All I'm saying is that this game, not an impressive one at all at a team level, does not serve as strong evidence of that. You guys could have at least waited until we took out a good team in impressive fashion, with Yao leading the way. This level of play that we saw tonight won't cut it in the postseason.
