With TMac out, I don't see how we should be expected to win against: San Antonio - reigning World Champs Detroit - NBA Finals last year Indiana - made playoffs without Ron Artest last year Dallas - beat us in the first round last year Phoenix - beat Dallas in the second round last year with a starting line-up of: Yao Ming Juwan Howard Ryan Bowen David Wesley Luther Head TMac's injury happened at the worst possible time. Now there is no room for error. If we don't get near .500 by early January, we're in deep trouble.
My fear is that JVG's stubborness will cause us to lose games we shouldn't be losing. I'd rather start Jon Barry than Ryan Bowen. At least Barry can put the ball in the basket. Defense isn't our problem, offense is. How can JVG oversees this? If it's concern about depth, why not play Dion Glover? Bowen is a situational player who doesn't need to be a rotation player, not to mention a starter. Stubborness at its finest form. Last year JVG was exposed for his stubborness after the season was started. The team was stuck in an offensive bottleneck. Things got better after T-Mac got the green light to go free. Then we added some pieces that masked our weaknesses in the regular season. We were then exposed in the playoffs with our lack of athleticism and depth. Now the Rockets are exposed again for relying on T-Mac too much. Without T-Mac the Rockets are playing disjointed one on one offense, not being able to get in a flow to sustain their leads. JVG relies much on the right players to put on offensive shows, or may I say, offensive heroics to put up points. It's T-Mac and M.James last season. Now it'll be T-Mac and hopefully Luther Head who'll carry us. JVG always demands more fire from his players, so they'd put up offensive heroics to mask his weakness on offense. JVG is a good coach, but not a wise coach. He's a smart man who dwells too much on his intelligence. A man who thinks he's smarter than he actually is. He'd never achieve greatness by sticking to his path without reflection and adjustments, only adjusting when it's desperate. It's his way or the highway, he'd only turn around after he bangs his head on the wall lying on his way. If a better coach is available, I have no problem of saying goodbye.
Some of you post here like you have absolutely no brains. Have you stopped to take a look at Cleveland's team even without Lebron? Someone else mentioned Phoenix without Amare. Are you guys that peurile? Cleveland Snow = Head (but I might give Head a slight edge) Hughes > Anderson Jackson > Bowen Gooden > Howard Big Z > Yao Marshal = Swift Jone > Wesley Phoenix Nash (MVP) >> Head Bell = Anderson Jones > Bowen Marion >> Howard Thomas < Yao (only Barely) JJackson > Barry Diaw > Swift House = Wesley/Mooch Conclussion = We are a borderline useless team without T-Mac thanks in large part to the hapless max-contract Ming Yao. This team is so bad that we are not supposed to win anymore games until Mac returns save for maybe against the Hawks. If Yao actually played with balls, we then would have been able to beat Phoenix, Dallas, NoLeans, Orlando and even Miami. Any win we now get before Mac return should be in large part due to the genius that is JVG. Let me put it this way, if we had lets say Troy Murphy and maybe Dunleavy we would been enjoying a better record now. Get the hint
You sir have lost it. BTW, I think JVG has something to blame. It's not like this is the first season with him or he haven't got his players. We've gone through a lot, but something remains the same.
I disagree, it's a big difference from players that can carry a team and a player that can't carry team. The players you mention above they dominate. There's no way they go 0-6. When the 4th quarter rolls around those players are going to produce.
Big Z is better than Yao and Thomas is nearly equal to him? I amnt going to waste time on you, that is a wack post.
Stephen A. Smith, Let me educate you on the NBA. When the big star player goes down with the injury, then the team will not function as well. Look at Miami now. Remeber Miami last year in the Conference Finals. Wade goes down an it hurt the team. Shaq is down, and Miami is not playing as well even with all of their weapons. It hurts a team when a star forward or center goes down. A team's inside game including defensive presence goes down. When a player gets injured that is a point forward or point guard, it hurts the flow of the offense. This is one of the cases with the Rockets. The Rockets are losing 24-30 pts, 4-5 assist, 5 rebs does hurt, but T-Mac's injury hurt how our offense is set. If Labron, Wade, AI, Nash, or Kobe gets hurt then you would have the same thing. The only good thing that Phil will bring to a healthy Rockets team is the triangle offence. That offense would work with our current team. Yao has played subpar, but you need to watch the game closer. Yao and the team still hasn't figured a way to beat teams that front him with the entry pass. He is also can't beat double teams in the post. Yao's like of mobility will prevent him to spin to the baseline for a fadeaway (dream shake). However, Dream would have a little trouble with double team in the post when he doesn't have the ball. That would be illegal defense in 80's and 90's. Sorry I wasn't refering to you about the Yao bandwagon. I really hate many posters that are bandwagon fans. I think the Rox will make the playoffs. I am not sure about home court adavtage in the 1st Round. Guys, look at our November schedule. It is pretty nasty will everyone healthy. Remember fans, it is a 82 game season. We need to play hard like the last two games, but find a way to score in the 4th for Memphis and Chicago. GO ROCKETS!!!
^^I am pretty confident we will go to the playoffs, thats obvious. But i dont think this team is playing upto its abilities, we could be an even better team right now. TMac's injury hurts the team, but it shouldnt hurt it so bad that they are unable to have any ball movement or get any rebounds. Those are stats players should be able to make up for. The suns seem to be doing fine with the loss of Amare, which has taken away any post presence for them. The cavs could hang around 500 without Lebron. They would still have hughes and big Z. We should not have to be so dependent on TMac. About Yao, he has had scoring opurtunities, there is no excuse for hishorrible play in the fourth quarter and the second half.
I suppose we'd get better record with an injured Yao & a healthy T-Mac Didn't he go on a 19 game losing streak in Orlando? Some people just conveniently have selective memory loss
Van Gundy is doing a fine job I don't know what some of you fans problem is. We are 3-9 that is true but look at who we have had to face in the first month. KIngs,Heat,Spurs,Pistons,Pacers,Mavs,Suns,Wolves. Thats tough guys and we have David Stern to thank for it. Memphis is not elie and they are a pretty small team in terms of hieght so Yao Ming should have a field day with them. Anderson,Wesley,Head and Barry are all starting to play like we expected them to play when the season began. With Tmac they have learned how to play well together AND WE HAVE BEEN VERY COMPETITIVE WITH THE TOP TEAMS. WITHOUT TMAC EVEN PLAYING. When Tmac comes back we will be even better. So please guys stop buying into these fans who say its hopeless ITS NOT and we will come out of this you'll see. Go Rockets!!!
Some people on this board thinks that because a team with Yao went 0-6, it will be the same for other superstars . Put Duncan in Yao's spot, and I guarantee the record will be 6-0. A lot of the games were close and lost in the 4th quarter. It makes a big difference when you got a go to guy who delivers. People get over it, Yao is not a superstar. Quit trying to make him something that's he not.
It is funny how JVG was made an instant local hero when he tried to stand up for Yao Ming in the Dallas series and got fined $100,000 big ones for it. He was a genius for hand picking Jon Barry and David Wesley for the trades. It is a little early to make judgements at this point. Look at it this way: 1. Our best player is out. 2. We have three NEW "immediate impact" type players on the team that still need to : A. Learn the system B. Learn what is expected of them by thier coach C. Find thier roles on this team D. Find out how to play with thier new team mates. 3. Yao has been getting BS calls on him his entire career, but some of the calls this year have been unbelievable 4. We have had arguabley the toughest schedule this season up till now. 5. There is no real homecourt advantage at the TC b/c the fans in the lower level rather be hanging out in the lounge then cheering on thier team. 6. Luther Head and Jon Barry are the only players that will feed the post when Yao is open. 7. 8. The list goes on. HOWEVER, none of these factors can be controled by anyone except the Lord all mighty, except maybe #6. But if you bench the guys for not throwing into the post, we wont have any decent players on the court at all.
Thats what adults tell children when they can't argue against them because all thier points are valid.
