we had a 29pt lead going into the 4th. any team was bound to let up when you are up that big and get kinda lackadaisacal. took us lightly? i'm sure they did. but they did cut the lead back to 11 in the 2nd and we pushed on the gas and blew them out again. we got their attention in the first half with the great start and still whup them. trust me, this team loves to play fast. AB and lowry would kill in this type of game, along with scola and landry. they don't need to think and give touches to whoever. they just play. i'm sure the lakers will adjust and play better. but you're seeing the future of the rockets. they will be like the kings/suns WITH DEFENSE, which is scary.
obviously we're not. but what this team has shown repeatedly year after year is that it can play WITHOUT yao and play at a high level. what that means is if yao continues to get injured, going in another direction may be a good thing. we're not going to be a lottery team. we're going to still be competitive until morey finishes shaping this team.
We are definately not better without Yao but there is a silver lining. Adelman doesn't run his true motion offense when Yao is in there but he does with the second unit. I think what we saw today was something much closer to type of offense that Adelman is used to. With movement, cuts and lots of ball movement to open shooters. As long as the Rockets can keep up hot outside shooting like today are chances of winning are still good. That doesn't mean that we should get rid of Yao. While Yao doesn't run a true Adelman offense having him there provides a lot of stability to the offense and defense. Espeically in a half court grind it out game a great post presence is a huge difference maker.
The talk from some one of the posters that the ROckets are a better team without Yao is crazy talk, but I'll say this. They will be less turnover prone. Their turnovers have consistently gone down when they adjust to Yao's absence.
Without Yao, do we win Game 1 vs the Blazers or Lakers? Highly unlikely. Bottom line is the Lakers still took care of business by winning one of these road games. Now HCA for them has been restored. Now we're back to needing a road game to win this series. Without Yao, it's extremely doubtful. Yao's the kind of guy that doesn't get fazed on the road, because of how easy it is for him to score when he's not getting fronted. That's why we won Game 1, because they didn't front. As for today, Lakers didn't know what was coming. But now they do, and I expect a completely different game from here on out.
We are not better without Yao, but clearly we don't need Yao to play 40 plus minutes a game. Although many don't think his minutes contribute to injury, I would tend to disagree and think that he should be taken out when he gets too tired. He is less effective then anyways. To me, just like running, you are more likely to twist an ankle or cause an injury when you are really tired and pushing. This team should be able to go to this type of small ball and lineup when Yao isn't on the floor, and really try to take advantage and use Yao when he is on the floor. Yao should be restricted to no more than 8 minutes per quarter in my opinion.
true, but those were very tough shots he was making. as long as hayes makes them tough shots i can live with the result. plus we converged well when gasol made his move.
We won today because of Yao's leadership. Yao has given this team something far more important than 20/10 and a few blocks a game. He's given this team an identity. "The best team mate ever" - Luis Scola After game 1 and game 3 - the heart and pure desire Yao showed to win...his class, his work ethic, and his never ending fight.... The exact qualities you saw today. It's no coincidence. It's leadership. The best kind of leadership - not with words, but by example. Yao is not the do as I say type of person, he's the do as I do type. And man, today, this team was Yao Ming reincarnated into Shane Battier, Aaron Brooks, Chuck Hayes, Luis Scola, and Kyle Lowry. They played the game the way Yao plays the game. And for that, anyone who says we are better without Yao simply has no clue what Yao gives this team. Congrats Yao Ming - you won the game today!
We can be btter without Yao. If we get most of our outside shots to go in just like what happened today, that's the beauty of having Yao off the court. I actually like our lineup now against Lakers. But I don't think we can beat the Cavs without Yao.
I agree that Yao gave a lot to this team and his presence today was felt on his court but guys like Shane Battier, Chuck Hayes and Luis Scola have been bringing it on their own too.
