Does TMAC ICE The ROX Because He Demands the Ball so Much?

I think there's a simple formula here that most people haven't been able to grasp.

Rockets + T-Mac = win
Rockets - T-Mac = loss

I'm no math genius, but this one seemed simple enough to me.

 

james still dribbled and penetrated a lil bit w/ tmac. battier is just not an off the dribble type of guy. we should run more post ups for him along w/ the 3pt shot.

rafer, man, after i saw that horrible layup attempt off the backboard tonight, oh my goodness.

 

Of all the perimeter role players now, Mike James is the only one who offers something more than a one-dimensional offensive game. But he needs to dial back on the floaters and helter-skelter drives into the lane. He's no Steve Nash at that. Mike James is better suited to spot up from long range and pick his spots to drive when Tmac is in the game, and when Mac is out, he has the license to score.

Why would you not want Rafer to be one-dimensional? His floaters are ineffective. His drives are ineffective if he doesn't have a clear lane straight down the right side of the key. His 3s, his one dependable weapon last year, has been atrocious this year. Right now, Rafer shouldn't shoot the ball anywhere unless he has that lane down the right side of the key, and the open 3 from straightaway.

Battier is not an off-the-dribble player. He's a shooter. In fact, he's a spot-up shooter. He's not even an off-the-screen shooter. His offensive game is pretty limited in that way. He has a good post game, but he can't post most SFs, and how many small SGs are there for him to post?

 

I swear, if he takes too many shots, he's a ballhog. If he doesn't take enough he doesn't have the killer instinct. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

As many have said...with Tracy we win. Without him, we lose. You really can't argue with the staggering statistic of W-L record whether or not Tracy plays.

 

exactly. when tracy passes to his teammates and they miss, he's too passive. when he tries to take over a game b/c his teammates struggle, he's a freakin ballhog that does not pass.

obviously no one blames him when we win.

 

what the in heck are you guys talking about when you say yao isnt a leader? you have to consider the fact that no one outside of tracy and yao can score at a decent % right now so maybe that's the reason why we're losing.. if anyone else outside of yao and tracy, namely our bench and the rest of our starters were shooting at least over 40% we would have won a few of those games we lost.

 

yeah. thats exactly what i was gonna say

i dont care if the FG% go down, cuz our winning pct. goes up

 

what u said is quite reasonable and totally right, but it's much more difficult to carry out than to say...

 

Dude, chill. No one said anything about Yao not being a leader. We were just saying: Rockets + Tmac = WIN. Geez.

 

Why TMAC is so important to Houston Team? I read something from SINA.com AND totally agree with.. He is the only one that can do PnR, only one! without him, rest of guards just like headless fly, they don't know how to run it. Look at SUNs, play between Nash/AMARE, freaking PnR every single time and it works!

 

I don't really think that a thread like this would be started if everything was really clicking offensively for the Rockets before T-Mac got injured. Obviously, that was not the case before his injury since coming into today, the team was averaging 93.9 ppg (24th in NBA), and the team's overall fg percentage was 22nd, and 3-point fg percentage was 28th. I feel that the Rockets would be blowing some of those teams out they have played against if everything was clicking.

I feel that the most important thing we see from the role players once T-Mac returns to playing is that they move around more without the ball, get more touches, and quit standing around all the time just watching T-Mac and Yao do their thing or to just spot up and shoot jumpers. That kind of offense is pretty easy for opposing teams to defend since it is playing 2 on 5.

 

i thought with RA, Tmac will have more chances to score off of others, i havent seen any of that yet this year

 

T-Mac gets a bunch of assists throwing the ball to himself for those easy dunks where he sneaks back door.

 

Where are these haters when yao played well last week?

Playmaker is the most important position in basketball and unfortunately T-mac is the most and only efficient playmaker for the Rockets.

Look at the Suns' record without Nash, Amare sucks without Nash too!
You take out Kidd, Chris Paul, Deron Williams from their teams, the teams will struggle too! Though Hornets just beat the lowly Wolves.
With Wade, their only playmaker, the Heat are suddenly competitive again!

Plus, I noticed T-mac usually injured during the tough stretch of the schedule!

I admit yao played awfully the last 2 games, but to say he is a role player simply show you are a hater!

 

Yao needs to carry this team when TMAC is gone. The problem is, we've seen in the past he isn't capable of doing that. Teams do a GREAT job of defending Yao when TMAC is gone.

Our record SUCKS when TMAC is injured. It's nothing new. We were good when Yao was hurt last season. We've been aweful EVERY time TMAC is out.

 

Many have said this before but I just want to reiterate. It's easier to stop Yao than it is to stop T-Mac because you can deny Yao the ball.

T-Mac, on one hand, has a game that is much more dynamic than Yao's, so naturally, it's harder to contain him. Yao, on the other hand, can be fronted, doubled as soon as he dribbles, and pushed. Apparently, he can now be hacked and grabbed this year because the NBA seems to think that 7'6 dominant centers don't need to be called the same way as your average NBA superstar.

Unless Yao can suddenly turn into Amare Ming or Yao Howard, he won't be able to beat some of the gimmick defenses on his own. Adelman had better figure out how to free Yao up when he's being swarmed.

 

This is freaking ridiculous.

Scola needs to learn how to finish a ****ing layup in the NBA. The guy gets passes all day when (and I mean WHEN because he doesn't enough) he cuts to the basket and then goes and ****s it up. Chuck Hayes learned very quickly how to efficiently finish around the hoop, solidifying his spot on the team. Like Bill Worrell says "Chuck gets at least 50% of his offense directly from T-Mac".

There are plenty times where T-Mac *doesn't* create the open shot on purpose. He swings it around and lets the team do its thing. He lets Bonzi drive in, he lets James drive in, he lets Alston miss his floater/tear drop, he lets Scola airball or miss a lay-up by a mile. That usually doesn't end up too well unless Yao gets the ball/makes the shot. Anything else ends up as a TO. Is that making the team nervous? Maybe but they better damn learn to play with T-Mac on the court because they sure as hell aren't going to win many ballgames without him although we do look better this season.

There are also plenty times where T-Mac *does* create the shot. If Rafer is going to brick, If Shane is going to airball, if James is going to clang, if Yao is going to get hammered and doubled in the lane (not his fault, just saying), then SUE ME ... BUT I'D RATHER HAVE T-MAC DO WHAT HE WANTS WITH THE BALL.

If you think T-Mac is a bad regulator and facilitator in games then fine, that's your opinion, there's really nothing to say to that...

I don't think T-Mac demands the ball TOO much, and if you're going to say "Oh but he touches the ball everytime down the court" well, that's kind of the ****ing point. It's better than him NOT touching the ball.

 

Uh, Scola is finishing his layups. Hayes and Bonzi were the primary lay up missers tonight, with an honorable mention for Yao's couple that were just fugly.

 

Fixed.

 

You guys are complaining about Tmac icing our team but yet you all want kobe?