ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Clippers 12/17/2005

Poking fun at someone's command of English on the internet is r****ded.

 

I don't think anybody blamed the loss on Yao today.

However, I do agree that there exists a double standard and an extremely obvious one at that.

Everytime Tracy has a bad game, people are sympathetic, downplay his mistakes, and try to find fault elsewhere. Everytime Yao has a bad game, he suddenly becomes the most hated player on the face of the planet.
Granted, Tracy is a superstar and it's not surprising that he gets unconditional love (which is completely warranted) from his fans, but Yao deserves support too and not just when he has a good game.

It sometimes seems as if some fans actually want Yao to have a bad game just so they can have a scapegoat.

I love Tracy to death but a lot of Houston fans suck ass because they aren't truly supportive of the second best player on this team.

 

Actually, people have mostly been giving props when they're due. Yao's been playing great lately and everyone has acknowledged that. However, it's a little annoying when this BBS is flooded with b****y, overly-sensitive comments everytime someone points out Yao needs to toughen up. Like someone said, if people want to be Yao nughuggers, they can take it somewhere else. First and foremost, this is a ROCKETS board.

 

That's great and all, but that doesn't negate the existence of a double standard. I'm not saying people don't give Yao credit when he has a good game. I'm addressing the fact that people tend to overly criticize him when he has a bad one, but aren't willing to apply the same standard to T-Mac. Let me give you some examples of what people say when T-Mac has a bad game:

"Poor guy , his shooting is off but he'll bounce back next game"
"He's tired...but his other teammates didn't do jack **** to help the team win"
"We love you T-Mac! You'll do better next game"

But when Yao has a bad game, the floodgates open...

"TRADE THE PANSY "
"Yao has reached his peak and will never be more than another Rik Smits"
"Yao will never be a leader"

I'm sure you get the idea.
I wholeheartedly encourage objective criticism but when it's blindy constructed towards select players, it makes me wonder about our fans.

For the record, I hate YOFs more than you can imagine, but YOHs are worse in my book.

 

You are right, this is the behavior of some guys on the board. We all love our players. We hope Rockets can win every game although it is impossible.

 

Norris looks good today, especially for 4/5 PG, but only play 11 mins.

Yao's points ok, regards his boards ability, he just cant grabs 10+ every day, his average is just 8-9 per game I think. So 7 is not that horrible.

The main reason we loss is the rest of role players (DW, swift, juwan, Rybo,head), if only one of them can step out for about 15 points, we have a chance to win.

We have to admit Tmac only 4 points in second half is another reason we loss, no matter how many you got in first half, you just can 't put only 4 in 2nd half of a close game as an only clutch player in this team (Head has that potential, but he has a long way to go and need time to prove) . In contrast, Brand's 9 of 20 in 4th quater is a main reason they win.

Of course, even the best player could be off once a while, that's normal in this league. So making the team deeper (if there's a chance) is very important to upgrade to a higher level. Only with exist players , even with JB, sura back, we could beat top teams one or two games, but I am seriously doubt we could win in 7-game series.

 

Please, spare yourself all that drama, people just had issues with you saying this--

"Most YOFs have TERRIBLE grammar, poor english comprehension, and a one track mind (like Lenny from Of Mice and Men"

and I don't blame them one bit.

Also, I wouldn't talk about other people's "terrible grammar" either, since it seems like you're one of the biggest offenders in that area.

 

It's extremely stupid to blame either TMac or Yao for this loss.

Although the team is gelling, this game definitely exposed a lot of weaknesses we have, such as we don't have solid role players, and we suck at guarding the opposing guards. We don't have a consistent outside thread. The refs are screwing us every game.

 

John Barry would have made ALL the difference in this game, and Derek Anderson might have as well.

Those are 2 outside shooters we could have put in when they went to double teaming TMac out top.

Right now, other than Tmac and Yao, we don't have enough weapons.

I was hoping that JVG would give Moonlight Graham a sniff.

DD

 

I am forced to agree with rvpals on this one. In fact, what the Clippers did to them defensively is exactly what every team is or should be doing. Other teams watch film too and opposing coaches know that if you concentrate your defenses on TMac & Yao while ignoring our PG & PFs, they can win 80% of the time. It was all laid out today in the Chronicle. LAC simply left Bowen alone who took 11 shots and made 2. And you get the same lack of production from Swift & Howard:

J. Howard 0-3 for 2 points (This is your starter?)

S. Swift 1-3 for 5 points (This was our big offseason SPLASH)

TMac had 29 points while Yao chipped in 22. After that the nearest Rocket was Mutumbo with 8 points. I find this a very discouraging state of events because this is a weakness that was dramatically exploited during last year's playoffs against the Mavericks and the moves that were made during the offseason have failed to adequately address this disparity. I continue to maintain that it is simply unrealistic to expect TMac to get his points and carry the offensive load, play JVG style defense and create scoring opportunities for the other players. He's good - he's very good but that's just asking a bit too much of him on a night in, night out basis.

Oh and contrary to the official "excuse", having Alston, Anderson & Barry out with injuries is not all that a big loss because these guys together do not offer the improvement necessary to make this team a true contender in the West.

 

The only half-sane post in this whole damn thread.

Lighten the hell up people, our two star players played solid DESPITE the drought in the second half, which was due in part to the fact that the Clippers were NOT going to let one player beat them (T-Mac) and due in part to fatigue/other factors to both T-Mac and Yao.

On most nights, woud you not happily take the 29 pts from McGrady and 22 from Yao on any other night? We didn't lose by much, we were right there until the end, when the Clippers' massive talent and depth took over and we couldn't counter...It was a classic example of 2-on-5 basketball, and people need to stop and realize for a second that both our stars are human beings, not machines that won't tire and won't break down. If anything, this game should show you how great our 1-2 punch is, because they literally went against an entire team and still kept it close.

Here are some quotes from the post-game interviews, it might shed some light:

"They did a good job on him, but they committed extra defenders on him," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "Obviously we're struggling right now with our perimeter shooting, and we didn't make them pay as much as we'd hoped to for their committing multiple defenders to McGrady. So we've got to do that a little bit better."

--------------------------------------

McGrady admitted he was somewhat tired because of the Rockets' grueling six-game road trip, which ends Sunday in this same building against the Lakers.

"I wasn't hurt or anything -- just fatigue," McGrady said. I just really felt this trip in that second half. I felt a little sluggish in the first half, but in the second, it really jumped on me. I just didn't have any energy, any lift in my jumper, or explosiveness going to the basket. I was running in mud."

 

It was a bad idea to let Scott Padget go.

 

I asm still very upset that Rambo only managed to go 2-11 on his shots. I had the impression that all NBA perimeter players can knock down open jumpers on a consistent basis. I guess that was a gross overstatement.

 

UNTIL OUR ROLE PLAYERS/ RESERVES ARE CONSISTENTLY ABLE TO GIVE US SOMETHING, THIS TEAM WILL BE NOTHING MORE THAN A FIRST-ROUND PLAYOFF TEAM. PERIOD

 

Personnel wise we have a long way to go before we can think about getting out of the first round of the playoffs, we don't have a 3rd scoring option. IMO SAR should of been the guy we went after and not SS, SS has not put up one 20pt game this season, SAR has.

Look at some of teams we beat this road trip, the Warriors (Richardson, Davis, Fisher, Murphy, Dunleavy), the Sonics (Allen, Lewis, Radman, Lewis), the Clippers (Cassell, Mobley, Brand, Maggette) all teams with at least 4 scoring options. We have a good core in Yao and McGrady but two guys can't carry a team for an 82 game season. I am happy with the winning streak but looking at this roster another losing streak is in the wings. I just hope Head grows up real quick and Alston gives us something when he comes back.

 

I feel really positive even after this loss. We ARE playing good basketball with the exception of our outside shooting. When Bowen is in it's basically 4 on 5 on offense becasue he doesn't threaten the defense a bit. We are not going to win with Ryan Bowen making 2-8 and Wesley bricking shots. We were competetive throughout the game but T-Mac was clearly out of gas.