Hayes had a really bad game from the hustle boards standpoint. All the balls he tipped went straight to Knicks. He also had some rebounds taken away by Knicks. If any of those 3 rebounds that he almost got go to him, Knicks dont get closer than 10 during the 4th. If just one of his 4th quarter good hustles go Rockets way, Knicks dont make it a game. Hayes usually makes those plays, so no problem with him being on the floor in crunch time.
Look back the games We lose: Denever, Boston and Golden State, I am not sure we could play better with T-mac. And It's everybody's game. The way we played before T-mac injuryed is awful. As a player without heart and passion,, who takes most of shots , does not benifit the team. Look the Portland's success, do we really need T-mac to go anywhere. By the way, we never went anywhere with him in last 4 years. We were choked as team.
Aaron Brooks, the NEW Agent Zero! Ladies and Gentleman, your starting PG for next year ... Aaron Brooks! Whoo hoo! Finally something to get excited about with this season. Brooks just may have saved what was on course to be a disastrous season!
It makes sense to give Chuck more minutes against teams like Nicks. The lineup has to be adjusted to match up the offense and defense depending on the opponents. Chuck does better job on defending and rebounding. Scola is better choice when small lineup comes in.
Actually in all of those games, when the opponent crunched down on Yao, nobody was able to step up and make plays. Thats where you miss McGrady. When Yao finds random-cutter-2 for a layup, you dont miss T-Mac. When the 3 point shooters are on, and Yao can get position, you dont miss T-Mac. When Rafer beats his man and kicks out to Bonzi at the 3 line, you miss T-Mac. When the shot clock is winding down and Rafer/Head has the ball out high, you miss T-Mac. Also, T-Mac hasnt played very many minutes in this offense. The offense that was used for most of the season after the losing streak was a style similar to Van Gundy because Adelman thought the team would play thru it better due to familiarity. If T-Mac fits into the offense like another (Huge) cog, Rockets will be unstoppable. If he throws a monkeywrench into the thing when he gets back, Rockets will be in trouble, and likely miss the play-offs.
I dont mind being critical of Brooks, cuz adversity doesn't seem to hold him back any Reading your signature, that looks like a similar description I read on (coincidentally) Stephon Marbury's style. The technique of aggressively attacking the defense and exploit any opening, any give in it all the way to the hoop. If covered, pass it to the open player. If they sag and give space, shoot the jumper. Point guard might get criticized for being a chucker, but they're still imposing their way on the defense while reading and reacting to it. Sounds simple, but I havent seen Francis put it all together that often
I think it may have been a matchup thing. Adelman may have felt Hayes was a better choice than Scola to defend Zach Randolph, especially since the Rockets had the lead in the second half. But speaking of the frontcourt, Mutombo was TREMENDOUS when Yao went out with early fouls in the first. It was like watching his great run from last season, and Curry couldn't do a thing against him. It's just incredible how the guy can play at such a high level at a moment's notice. We're very lucky to have him.
I love Mac... But that's a very valid point. I think Mac can do good in this system, but a superstar SG who holds the ball a la Kobe will never be ideal in a motion system...which makes you wonder about the ideal pieces 20 mill could (purely hypothetically) get. Mike Miller $8,376,194 (bulls-eye shooter) David West $10,650,000 (great mid-range game/good defense) DeSagana Diop $2,146,000 (basically Deke nowadays minus 50 years) Kinda've gone out on a limb with my names (I doubt any franchise can spend 20 million and get players like those...legally), but 20 million will get you a hell of a lot of quality.
T-mac's not going anywhere. It's jut not going to happen. Portland's success? They haven't accomplished anything. They're just on a roll right now. And they are loaded with talent by the way. You will see when T-mac returns that in fact the Rockets WILL be a better team. The offense will work even better, and all this stuff about us being better without T-mac will be put to rest. As a matter of fact, I think you'll see T-mac be happy to take less shots and have his teammates more involved, They guy wants to win. He sees what's going on, and will now buy into Adelman's system.
Wasn't Curry going on and on at the end of last season about how he's developed so much and that he was a better center than Yao and that he was sorry he didn't get another crack at Yao and blah blah blah... I wonder if he still feels that way?
Having those three guys added to our team will not make it much better. Adding t-mac to what you see now will make us much better!
I loved the game. Just the contribution from the team all around was superb. Aaron Brooks being an enormous spark, Alston getting confidence in his shot and ACTUALLY hitting them, Scola doing it big, THE TEAM was running fast breaks and Mutumbo was looking like he was last year when he picked up the slack for Yao. We were running on all cylinders without TMAC and Stevie Franchise. Talk about depth when they're back healthy and clicking. In the offseason we were expected to be feared because of all our depth and now it's showing. I hope when everyone is healthy Adelman will keep it up and have everyone contribute positively and play their roles correctly.
This team badly need some sizes in its lineup to close out games. Today's game and Boston games, the Rockets got abused on boards (defensive) by the opponents.
