In all those pictures, Yao is either giving everyone the double middle-finger OR telling everyone how huge his thing is.
Yeah the news about Snyder isn't good, if it is indeed knuckleheadness creeping back into Snyder. I don't know about T-Mac being the first option. At the end JVG made a point that there really is no first option and that both must play at a high level. It looks right now like T-Mac is the first option, but I think that's because Yao is not ready to carry the load yet, and the fact that they need to work out a few thing playwise, like JVG mentioned in the interview, when Yao flashes into the paint, the person at the top of the key needs to pass it to him. We'll see how it works out when Yao is back to 100%. Personally I think Yao, JVG, and McGrady will make it work and both players can dominate simultaneously.
I don't get it. T-Mac took 32 shots against the Cavs. How is not that not being the first option?? FYI, I didn't watch most of that game.
tmac as first option doesn't mean taking every shot. it means tmac needs to be aggressive and INITIATE the play, not let the play initiate his play. when he is aggressive and initiates plays, everybody benefits. yao gets more man coverage as he has seen in all 3 games. when tmac is the first option, it's hard to double yao b/c then u can run the pick and roll and yao's man will always leave him, putting a midget on yao making his life easier. tmac's first option is not the "shot-taking" first option, but rather the guy that starts the plays. when yao is healthy, he'll get more touches. but this team needs the offense to be triggered by tmac to be successful. he's our best decision-maker and playmaker. and hes our guy in the clutch. he's our everything except total defense.
I agree with most of that. I just think T-Mac needs to create his own offense first or setup teammates instead of just passing Yao the ball in the post first and then if Yao can't get a good shot he does something.
Agree, don't forget it is Yao who set the tone at the begining of this game. Look at T-mac percent, 40% Vs Yao 55%, if rockets met a strong defense team, like Mav, T-mac must stop take so many shoots and pass ball to yap if he does not have the feeling, otherwise, this will kill this team in play off.
nice win for the Rockets. Always good to put an ass whooping on scrub team at home. Next up the Orlando Magic.
we won't see that much anymore. if u've seen the offense the past 2 games, we've been going at the same pace when yao was out. this will help us negate those "offensive droughts" JVG teams usually have. i do agree w/ you i hate pounding the ball into yao, let him survey, and then if the double comes late, the shot clock is wasted. then tmac gets the ball and jack up dumb shots. i hate that. that's the type of offense that can lead to droughts. but we've gone away from that even w/ yao back i nthe flow. we're moving things faster. let's be real, only tmac and yao are good half court offensive players. the rest are scrubs in half court. we need to speed it up to get some easy baskets, even if it's not a direct fast break. but yao doesn't seem to be that tired b/c we're not moving at a suns pace. that's a good sign. i think this tempo will benefit us b/c the offense is more unpredictable. we're not CONSTANTLY running the pick and roll like earlier. the offense is much better.
u CANNOT look at % w/ tmac. when he takes shots, he puts pressure on the other team. we won't beat the mavs in a series if yao gets pounded. they have quick guys who they can rotate onto yao. don't let that first blowout win over the mavs fool us. that was EARLY in the season when they started 0-4. they're 51-5 since. i agree if tmac doens't have his shot completely, mix it up by passing it into yao. but i think in the playoffs (IF U NOTICE), he rarely has off games. and he drives MUCH MUCH more in the playoffs. if u read bill simmons column, u know tmac drives/not drive b/c he decides to. if he knows he doesn't have to, he won't. see the first/2nd half of the boston game. completely different tmac. the cavs game, well tmac was just sore w/ his knees so he couldn't drive. what yao will help us is that low post presence that will give us easy points if we do have our droughts.
Since the playoffs = halfcourt basketball and Yao = our best halfcourt player, I'm gonna go ahead and completely disagree with everything you've been saying. I know you want a first round exit and all but the rest of us want to advance as deep into the playoffs as possible. At least, that's what it seems like you want with your Yao Decoy/Tmac Bricklayer offense.
have u seen tmac play in the playoffs? and has yao proven he can dominate playoff defense? and dominate it for 6-7 games in a series? playoffs ain't the reg. season. statistically, tmac is arguably the best playoff performer in recent seasons. he just needs 1 guy to step up w/ him 3-4 games and he'll win.
I've seen Tmac enough in the playoffs to know that he has yet to win a series. Tmac is arguably the best playoff performer? I can arguably say that he hasn't won squat. Dominating a few games means jacksh*t if you don't win. Really weak argument you have there. Obviously Yao's never won a series either but then again, Yao has never had a chance to tbe 'the man' in the playoffs. If Yao is relegated to being a glorified decoy and averages less than 16 shots a game because "you hate pounding the ball into him" (despite the playoffs being a halfcourt game), then we'll be out in the first round again. Guaranteed.
