Parker was not a good shooter when he came into the league; guess what, though? He worked on his game and got much better both as a jump shooter and on his FTs. I wish the Rockets would show that professionalism. (TMac, Alston, Hayes primarily ...)
I just don't understand how we got torched by Kyle (fresh out of High School Musical) Korver. That's one of the things that hurts the most (besides the fact that we lost to the Jazz; and their commentators suck; and we didn't keep feeding Novak when he hadn't missed a shot, but we kept him out on the floor when he coudn't defend me; and T-Mac didn't drive to the hoop in the entire 1st half; and we couldn't hit a free throw to save our lives; and Alston is back to building a house 1 brick at a time; and how many easy layups did our players miss; and on my 1 night out to hit a bar and watch my favorite team it was one of the most unenjoyable and unwatchable games I've seen in a long time; and.......nevermind). Damn Korver.
...and T-Mac would come down the court and jack up a bad shot rather than passing to find a better shot; and we got outrebounded; and our rookies looked like, well, rookies out there; and we have all this talent but we still look this bad; and why can't Shane drive to the hoop more often; and... oh crap I need to get a drink.
The rockets is a good half-count defense team, and it means they need time to set up the defense. But, our pg cannot slow down Williams to get enough time.
Correction, Manu and Parker works because they trust each other, they both handle the ball at times, they both shoot at times, maybe parker is more ball hog prone than manu but both are player who realize when they are having bad shooting nights and not to force shots in that night unless necessary, but the most important thing they trust the system and their teammates. Both Manu and Parker will kick out to Bowen if necessary on the last possession because is the Spurs philosophy (and Adelman´s) to shoot the best shot, no matter if Bowen is 3-3 or 0-6 that night, if he has the best shot, then bowth will kick out and so will do Duncan. This cannot be said for TinMac when he feels that his teammates are not hot or when he feels that "it´s on him" then he won´t pass the ball at the end of the game, sometimes he will get hot and win the games but 2/3 of the times he won´t. You cannot say that he was trying to get his teammates into rythm and then he started jacking up a bad shot after another, why he didn´t go to Scola who was shooting better than him, or to Novak who was shooting better than him, or to Battier who was wide open many times?? Maybe is his confidence in his teammates too low or maybe is his ego (i really don´t care), anyway coach needs to find a way to make him play the game Adelman´s way or he needs to start looking for a player willing to do it.
Tmac's assists is 5.2 this season, and this is a good number for a sg. In fact, he more often pass than you think. Do you foget the one he passed to Battier on the season openning night or the one he passed to Yao when the rockets played against the spurs, or the one he passed to Rafer during the sonics game, or ...? Tmac needs to play with a good shooting pg because he often handle the ball during crunch time. If we have good shooting players, I believe he will be more than happy to pass. I truly believe some criticisms are unfair to Tmac!
You bring an excellent point. I do not have the numbers in front of me but i bet something tells me Kobe's shooting numbers are down this year and assists may possibly be up. And setting up your teammates for where they need to be to be their best, does not always earn you an assist in the official scorebook. Here is a fact i do know.The Lakers are winning and we are not, at least not consistently(w/ or w/ out T-mac). Looking on paper, we have way more talent than they. And they had virtually the same team as last year. i Know some have grown up a bit(Bynum) but Kobe really is just making everyone around him better. I am not sure how much T-mac does.....conistently... Again, i am a fan of T-mac but i wish he could learn from the alleged rapist.
T-Mac is a willing passer. Sometimes to a fault ... he'll wait to draw a double team on the perimeter instead of attacking off the dribble, which can stall the offense. Look how often McGrady willingly passes to Rafer Alston and gets frustrated if he doesn't shoot it ... if that's not showing trust in your teammates I don't know what is. The weakness for T-Mac (relative to a Kobe or LeBron, even a Ginobili) is that his mentality is often passive. Too often, he takes what the defense gives him instead of forcing the issue by driving to the basket or passing to one of our bigs rolling to the basket. If the defender goes under a pick and he's momentarily open, instead of shooting the jumper every time he should be more greedy and try to get closer to the rim. The way he plays usually results in fewer turnovers, but can also yield lesser quality shots later in the shot clock. Here are things I wish McGrady did better: Don't always settle for what the defense gives you. You'll get better scoring opportunities for yourself and teammates if you mix in more drives to the basket. Eliminate the heat check 3-pointers, unless the team has a sizeable lead. Run hard in transition. You take too many plays off on defense anyways ... the least you can do is hustle on the offensive end.
Don't forget: [*] Box out on the defensive rebound. As far as I can tell McGrady seems to turn it on in the fourth but can sometimes coast through the first three quarters. That's not really a problem as long as he's being used as an offensive option rather than the offense early in the game. In the fourth when McGrady turns his intensity up letting him handle the ball more probably isn't a bad idea.
good post.I agree w/ you even though parts of it seem to contradict my last 2 posts. When he does pass, he doesn't really move w/ out the ball.And attacking the basket really sets up your teammates and he just does not do that. And i have been saying for 2 years that he is one of our biggest reasons are fast break is near non existent.
When Yao was out last year wasn't the team running? The lack of fast breaks has to do with the point guard more really. I bet the Rox would have a lot if Jason Kidd was running point instead of Rafer.
Man, I watched tonite's Spurs vs Jazz and I understand why the Jazz played so lacklusterly last nite. It's because when they found out Yao's not playing, they just slacked off a little bit for tonite's game. That's why Jerry Sloan never worried to make adjustment in the 1st 3 quarters as long as the game was close. It's because they knew they had enough to pull out a victory in the 4th quarter. In tonite's game, the Jazz played total different. If the Rockets had Yao, the Rockets should have beat the Jazz or at least made the Jazz play hard. Now, they saved enough energy to beat the Spurs. So, it's double losses for the Rockets.
Oh I dunno, maybe the Spurs will play themselves below the Rockets in the standings. They sure aren't playing very well right now as a team.
