All these comments about TMac being a quitter and "if we had gotten the #1 seed we would have been in position for a Championship" have really gotten overblown. Let's take a look at the facts: 1. TMac is absolutely no different than he was last year or the year before. The Rockets DO NOT have a 3rd scoring option (2nd with Yao out) and they haven't for several years. Am I happy with his numbers in the 4th quarter? No, but run double/triple teams at Kobe starting 5 feet in front of the 3 point line for 3 quarters with no help and see how tired he is. My signature tells you what I think of him, but you can't put these losses on TMac. 2. Did you really think they were going to win it all when Yao went down? Give me a freakin' break. Yes, they had a nice 22 game win streak and made a little history, but I would argue that the win streak was just as much a curse as it was a blessing. Curse? Yes, because it evidently conned 75% of this board into thinking we really had the players to contend for a championship and some of you seemed to miss the fact that we were winning because Rafer was on fire for 2 months (which has NEVER happpened before and will NEVER happen again). My concern is that Rocket's Management was conned as well. 3. Why is this years outcome so suprising to all of you? It's been 1 year since this team was headed nowhere fast, with no shot at pulling free agents and no hope of improvement. DM changed that somewhat: Needs: 3rd scoring option, PG, Forward - athletic and ability to score He addressed them all by bringing in Scola, Landry, Brooks, Francis, James and (by default) Bonzi. It was obvious in the first 6 weeks of the season that James and Francis weren't going to pan out, Bonzi was too inconsistent and Brooks is too small to be anything other than a backup PG (so there goes the 3rd scoring option and the PG solutions right down the drain). What DM did solve was the Forward position and we got a little younger. Going back to 1 year ago, NOBODY on this board would have thought that solidifying the 4 and adding a little youth would have a. gotten us past the first round of the toughest Conference in years, b. put us in a position to win a championship or c. subtracting Yao and being thrown at a WC Finalist from last year would pan out any f-ing differently than it has (or will). So why are you all so surprised? And where in God's name did you get such lofty expectations? You can throw out the TMac trades all day long....you're not getting $ for $ for anyone on this roster other than Yao - and that probably isn't happening. We're in the EXACT SAME PLACE we were last year, but we have 1 of our 3 problems solved. Be careful what you wish for in trading Shane because you might get the 3rd scorer but your defense WILL suffer. The remaining work for DM doesn't get any easier....he has to solve the PG and 3rd scoring option w/out adding to the list of needs....he has to hope Yao and TMac can somehow limit their minutes next year to stay healthy for the playoffs (in a division that you don't make the playoffs when you win 50 games).
The win streak gave us a legitimate reason to believe we could overachieve. What I don't understand is how little you could read out of the 22 win streak. No ordinary team does that...even if most night we played the likes of teams such as the Hawks and Bobcats. That gave us reason to believe we could overachieve...we didn't think this would be a team that rolled over.
To believe you could overachieve to what level? Have you watched any other team this year? Every team in the WC has 2-3 legit scorers and we have 1. If that 1 is rendered ineffective by good defense, and nobody else steps up to take any of the scoring slack, what do you think is going to happen? How could you have read so much into the streak? Did you not realize we lost our All-Star 7'6" center in the middle of it? Did you NOT think that would have a negative affect in the playoffs just because we won another 10 games? Did you not find it odd that Rafer was playing so well offensively but had NEVER done that before in his entire career? Have a nice flight back from fantasy land. I hope your flying first class...if you're not it's going to be a long trip.
I expected to at least win one game in the series. Even without Yao and Rafer, the differene between the Rockets and Jazz isn't so much that we shouldn't be able to pull that off. Especially if we're up, in the 4th quarter, at home in game 2. Celtics/Hawks this is not.
The Rockets aren't rolling over. They're busting their asses out there but unfortunately nothing has been breaking their way, unlike the winning streak. There's also the fact that the team as it currently stands with all the injuries isn't optimal for winning in the playoffs.
I'm not saying I'm not disappointed in not winning a game, but I also think some folks on this board have under-estimated how good the Jazz are (although I don't know why that's such a shock since they went to the WCFinals last year) and over-estimated the Rockets. There are folks all over this board that truly expected us to contend for the championship just because we won 22 games in a row. My point is that we were NEVER getting out of the first round - especially with this matchup. We don't have Yao and there wasn't a significant enough upgrade (other than Forward) to make us any better playoff-wise than last year. Am I really the only one that sees this? I bet RA, DM and Les aren't that surprised.
Ever since Yao went down, I have had no expectations for this team. The only thing left to do is believe.
exactly how i feel, too. but i'd be mad and sad to no end if this ends up 4-0. sweep is about pride, man.
Being realistic I see Utah pulling off the sweep. This season was the little season that could, we showed the league that we can compete with the best of them when we're healthy, but we aren't. I have to give the guys some mad respect but at the same time I can't help but be disappointed it had to end.
There's a huge difference between winning one game in a 4/5 matchup(when you have home court advantage) and winning the series. Much less contending for the championship. In my heart of hearts I really had zero expectations of winning a series, but one game? One game? I definitely didn't think we'd get swept.
I agree to an extent. Realistically, we are not a good enough team without Yao and Rafer to beat Utah in 7. I do expect at least one win, though. In fact, I really think it may happen. I mean, even Kobe has Gasol and Odom. (Though I think Kobe is the best in the game)
Deron >>>>>>>>>> BJ, AB Brewer,korver, Harping< Tmac, Head AK47>>>>>Shane(since theres nobody to guard) Boozer,Millsap>>>>Scola, Chuck (landry has been worthless in the POs) Okur>>>Deke We are incredibly over matched at every position Tmac doesn't play. The playoffs is a whole different animal then the regular season. You can bet a bunch of teams overlooked us in the regular season, but the Jazz have one opponent to prepare for. It isn't hard to stop an offense that revolves around one person, just ask Kobe before this year. I don't why fans can't objectively look at both teams and see that we are way over matched. This team overachieved just to get to the playoffs. Its a shame that most fans don't recognize this, this team should be praised for not giving up and fighting to not just make the playoffs, but getting HCA as well. It just pisses me off when "fans" bash our own players when they overachieved to give us something to cheer for after Yao went down. Any other team with similar talent as ours wouldn't win 10 games a season.
I think I've made it fairly clear that I'm in agreement. Still, one win in this series is not too much to ask and you won't change my opinion on that. Hell, if we shot our free throws last game even as badly as we did in the regular season, there's a decent chance the series is 1-1 right now. Not to mention a questionable foul call that some people may recall, or the other team's lucky bounce off the side of the backboard.
I honestly felt that if they were without Yao and 100% healthy they could have a shot at getting out of the 1st round or at least go the distance in a 6 or 7 game series with any of the teams. I think even Jeff Van Gundy thought they had a descent shot of getting past the 1st round, but wouldn't sniff at a championship.
We still haven't been swept but it's not looking good. All you have to do is read the threads during that 10 game streak without Yao and all the people pinning for a Utah matchup. Utah and the impact of Yao were severely underrated on this board. People actually believed the myth that we would do better against the Jazz because Deke was replacing Yao. This backlash against McGrady and the players on the team is from the hype of giving McGrady too much credit for the 10 game winning streak than he deserved. It was not a one man show, most of the time he was the follower. So now that the team is in the playoffs and he does the same thing that worked in the regular season but doesn't get the same results he becomes enemy number one. It is impossible to beat a team like Utah in a 7 game series without another superstar to garner some of the defensive attention. Especially when you have one of the worst shooting backcourts percentage wise. I wish people would win or lose just appreciate this team for what it did and for the effort on the court because the team is pretty much in a gunfight with a knife.
for the third time - exactly how i feel. but, no sweep. it's absolutely unacceptable. i may be on suicide watch if that happens.
I expected us to have a healthy team, minus Yao. Instead, Rafer has been out and won't be 100%. Tracy has a bad shoulder, although he's playing. Battier been banged up and I don't think he's all the way back. Landry got hurt and clearly isn't himself. Jackson got banged up. Damn! I'm making myself even more depressed!
