yep. that's right. my girlfriend gets really frustrated watching these games. i tell her you can't retool a whole team that fast, it's a process. about the Sura not passing to yao argument. yes there were some questionable decisions on his part. a couple times yao was open underneath and sura looked somewhere else. it was frustrating. still he was the only person on the team to shoot over 50% other than Yao. althought he missed some big shots. now that Sura is out (presumably). the hypothesis will be tested. i think Yao will get more touches in the coming games when Barry gets more PT. However, the results in the W-L is going to be similar because we'll miss some of Sura's hustle plays.
I'll try and either call or email JVG's show this week and ask him why Sura doesn't pass to Yao and see what he says. I'm sure he'll say Sura just doesn't like Yao and is actively not passing to him unless he absolutely has to. Yao's PNR technique is not his fault...it's the coaching staffs fault...it should be an easy adjustment that takes a week at most to actively see change. It would improve his game and help open up the passing lane to pass to the open Yao.
Sura does shoot too much. If the Rockets shot a decent % from 3pt land they would have won. Miami runs the same offense as Houston...they hit their shots and attacked the basket. We did neither. Game over. DD
If the Rockets had a stronger rebounding 4, then a volume shooter like McGrady is fine. They are just so weak at offensive rebounding that there are few chances for a second chance shot. So again, we need a better rebounding 4.
that's just WRONG! how can you hope a player on the team injured seriously, no matter how unsatisfied you personally are with him. Please don't drag 1.3 billion Chinese into your shallow mind!
I thought the Rockets played well, very competitive, our stars delivered, role players were fair except Sura who had an outstanding game. Shaq and Ming cancelled each other out. The difference, Rockets missed too many open shots, and the Heat hit more than their share. I like that the Rockets bounced back after a disappointing loss and played hard. At least Ming showed up and played well. I am proud of the team.
This dude doesn't attack the rim because he dislikes physical contact in the paint. I think it began with his back injury last year.
I love TMac to death, but I really wish that he could attack the basket more like what Wade did. Wade made a living at the FT line and I cannot see why TMac cannot do it. Yao again outplayed Shaq daddy and we ended up with a L. Very disappointing loss.
I don't buy the argument that Sura wants to ignore Yao. It seems that Sura is aware that he is not a good passer and Yao does not reacts as well as we would like. Sura will pass only when 1) he has not other options 2) it is a "safe" pass. Oh well, you got to love his energy and fighting spirit, a lesser version of Steve
Exact same feeling to see Wade drive. But I don't think Yao outplayed Shaq, those late pointes don't matter. they just cancelled out. The difference maker? The Heats made open shots, and drove more, we didn't.
Did everyone catch that reaction by JVG when howard missed that rebound on the miami miss free throw? HAHAHA...that was just great.
JVG needs to get over his ego and get Mo T back in the lineup, we could have used his high post scoring today. DD
In fact, I like Sura's toughness on the court. A lot of guys arguing whether he passed ball to Yao or not. According to this games, Sura likes to pass the ball to Wesley more than to Yao. If both David Wesley and Yao Ming are open, Sura will pass the ball to DW 99% for a shot.
Even strong rebounding 4s can't rebound every single miss. Look at the Hornets when they had PJ Brown and a healthy Jamal Magloire. This is no diss on TMac because I think he is a great player, but I now know why Baron Davis, Paul Pierce, Kobe, AI, and TMac are almost interchangeable. I've watched the NBA many years, and volume shooter-led teams are doomed to fail. I don't know if Houston is an exception. Why should it?
I think AI and Kobe are better. They can carry a team with their driving ability. T-MAc did that too two seasons ago.
Rockets played well, but Miami played better, and did seem to get the home team treatment by the refs. I witnessed one 1st half replay of wade definitely stopping, palming the ball so much so that the defender pulled away from him looking for a pass. This opened up the lane and Wade dribbled again right down the lane and sank a close in shot. No double dribble call.... Seems to be an integral part of Wade's game that should be called more closely. But it was nice to finally see Van Gundy going off on the refs in the 4th quarter - defending his players - I definitely believe this is needed. Miami still flowed and passed better than the Rockets. They are much improved since November, but probably may have lapses esp. against the better teams for a while. And the same old problem - they probably won't dramatically improve until they replace at least 2 of the other 3 starters with significant upgrades, and keep the current starters as really good 6th & 7th men. PF is the position most in need of upgrade - still looking for JVG to try Deke there with Yao for 10 minutes a game and see what happens.... Even a few minutes can only improve what we see out there consistently esp. defensively from Juwan. I am a big believer in messing with the other team's heads and YAO and Deke in together has some potential to do that. I know I know too slow most of the time, but it's gotta work once in a blue moon in this league.
