and when the lakers play utah, i don't see kobe driving on dfish either. he's 6'0, and he plays u at the bottom half of ur body. he's very good defender and loves to take charges. he can easily slide his feet and cause charges. the smart thing is to shoot over him. mac just couldn't make a J. when AK47 was on him for the first time, u saw that drive and dunk that didn't count. he takes what the D gives him. it's obvious tmac's roel is not like what it was in orlando. he can't attack and break "out of the offense" as u would say w/ scorers like kobe/arenas right now who has their own team, tmac "stays in teh offense." if his J was misisng v. dfish, if this was in orlando, he would just tell his teammates to go to the other side and he would hold the ball and dribble a lot and find ways to get inside. he can't do that in this offense. neither him nor yao should hold the ball for more than a few seconds or else it become a static offense. though i dont like jvg's offense, the offense is more smoother and crisper now. outside of yao in teh 4th, we rarely hold the ball for more than a few seconds and then pass. tmac just has to trust his jumper. sometimes he misses a few, his stroke just changes.
Actually, D-Flop is normally a pretty terrible defender... but I mean, he's definitely quick enough and experienced enough to at least stay in front of someone eight freakin inches taller than him. And even if he wasn't, when someone that small is gaurding McGrady, he's always going to take a lot of jumpshots. As well he should. (Although I wish he had posted up a little more.) The Jazz are just EXTREMELY lucky that McGrady was so cold that game, especially at the start. I really hope they try that "strategy" again in the playoffs... It's like when the Bulls tried putting Hinrich on him, or the Mavs tried Harris... but those teams didn't get quite as lucky. That **** is not going to fly in a 7-game series, and Sloan will probably end up looking like an idiot. Speaking of which, that's the reason McGrady jacked so much at the beginning of the Jazz game: D-Flop was guarding him at first. I forgot to mention that in my reply to rockets fan.
I have ZERO concerns about McGrady showing up in the playoffs....and I'm sure Yao will continue his stellar play. It's the rest of 'em that I worry about. Still, we're gonna kick the **** out of the Jazz...
I only worry about Alston and Battier in the playoffs. Rafer could be a terrifying sight for Rockets fans... and Battier has had a little history of disappearing int he post season (but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt this year). Yao and Mac will be at their best, and I'm confident in our young guys (Hayes and Head) making a positive impact in their first playoffs. Howard and Deke will be as solid as always. ... But who knows, maybe Rafer will also step up and be an inspiration to Rockets fans everywhere.
^ i read that alston will be traded this offseason. so it's obvious that he's not even close to a solution. i mean, how can someone worked on their shot and it sucks even in warmups?? we didn't see a lot of double teams toward tmac or yao (sloan dooesn't like to) but w/ the way alston is shooting, man, deron will roam all over the place. he needs to make at least 40% PLEASE. and to clutchcityreturns, i do agree w u that tmac needs to finish at the rim better. did u catch the clips games? he missed like 2-3 layups like point blank. even off of offensive rebounds. same w/ the lakers where he missed that layup after a lob over kobe? . again, i attribute that t his "un-reckless" play. he'll def. dunk those in the playoffs.
So bascially letting someone else, i.e. a dominant low post scorer, have a turn on offense one every 2-3 possessions is deferring for McGrady? Damn, that must make McGrady the hardest player to play with in the history of the NBA. Basically, what you guys are saying is that Mac can only thrive in a Mac-centered offense, where it's all Mac, all the time? I'm sorry, but that's pretty unbelievable. As much heat as Kobe gets on this board, he managed to talor his game with Shaq's in order to win 3 Championships. Yet most on this board believe T-Mac is the most unselfish superstar swing player but also believe that he cannot play good by "defering" to Yao, even though he gets more shots and touches the ball more on offense??
Also like to add that I actually like going to Yao late in games as long as he gets a sufficient amount of rest in the second half (the Jazz game is not an example of that). Also, it has to be postups with a one dribble max. As long as its a catch, turn, and shoot/hook situation, I like that shot moreso than any other shot when we are in dire need of a bucket.
even when he's not tired, the defensive pressure turns up and he often turns the ball over. the turnovers are not a result of fatigue most of the time. again, ppl say tmac deferring is an excuse. tmac is not deferring. his shots just aren't going in. the reason tmac didn't get more shots in the 4th v. utah b/c yao was on. simple as that. again, yao ain't shaq. it's easy to tailor ur game after shaq b/c shaq draws even more double teams than yao does. if u think yao gets pressured right now, u dont even know. and shaq is more athletic than yao. there are things shaq can do w/ kobe then that tmac can't do w/ yao. run, get easy buckets, don't have to slow down every possession if yao is in teh game... off the pick and roll, shaq's man won't double as hard b/c shaq finishes w/ the best of them. that lakers shaq is top 3-4 center of ALL time.
No, we are hoping that he could drive when his Js are off instead of keep jacking them up and waste precious offensive opportunities when Yao is obviously tired in the 4th.
Most of Yao's turnovers occur when he puts the ball on the floor, which is why I specifically stated that the stated that he shouldn't dribble the ball more than once. If you remember the clippers game and the wizards (especially the wiz because all Yao really did was catch, turn while keeping the ball high, and hook shot). Obviously Yao is not Shaq, but you make it sound as if it's difficult to play around Yao, which it shouldn't be, unless something is serously wrong. Yao draws multiple defenders just as Shaq does. And Shaq's man DOES double off the high pick and roll because Shaq has not range past 5 ft. Kobe's game pretty much was tailored after Shaq's prescense, you can see it in the whay he attacks the midrange area. Tmac does not do it nearly as effeciently as Kobe. The way Kobe aggressively attacks to get to the open spots from about 15 to 18 feet out because of the the deep paint congestion caused by defenders sagging to contain Shaq, is what you're supposed to do. T-Mac shoots at the mid range too, but often never forcing his defender to work hard. He doesn't attack the open areas, but rather just pull up with a defender in his face knowing he can get the shot off regardless (something Kobe does far more now since Shaq left, although KB is still more effecient at it). You have to attack the holes in the defense, even if you miss, at least you make the defense work instead of just bailing them out.
I don't think you understood a word of what I said in my last few posts. It's two things: 1. McGrady is playing within an offense that does not allow a lot of creativity outside of the paint (or a lot of penetration inside of it). Remember what this offense did to Francis? As a result, whenever Yao is playing, especially during the regular season, McGrady looks to get his from outside. 2. McGrady doesn't NEED to be anymore aggressive than this when Yao is on the floor, at least during the regular season. For all the BS negativity spewed around here, the Rockets are 45-17 over the past two seasons whenever McGrady and Yao play the whole game together. And this is including all the games where other starters were missing, or where Yao or McGrady or both were playing in pain. He is doing what he needs to do to get the job done right now. What I was getting at is that his FG% and PPS are two of the most misleading individual statistics in the entire NBA. Yes, McGrady's individual offense is passive and inefficient right now, but he is doing all he needs to do for the time being. People seem to be ignoring the fact that this is by far and away the best team McGrady has ever led, and he is by far and away the PRIMARY reason for that. It almost sounds like you actually believe yourself that McGrady is a selfish player and is not playing smart basketball...
for the record, when i started this thread, i never made the claim that Tmac is in the same form that he was when he got his two scoring titles in orlando. all i said is that tmac is still just about as dominant as the 2004-2005 tmac when he so desires and that is PLENTY for us to go deeeeeeep into the playoffs.
^^^ Physically, I fully believe McGrady is capable of doing anything he did in Orlando... I don't think he'll ever have a season like that again, but if he was in that situation right now, and didn't have any back-related mental inhibitions, he could do it.
shaq can play both tempo. yao does not draw as many defenders as shaq. the last 3 games yao has been basically play 1-on-1. shaq in his prime NEVER goes 1-on-1 for a whole game, mind u for 3 straight games. also shaq intimidaes you physically while yao doesn't. yao doesn't punish his man into fatigue like shaq does. shaq punishes you as he gets position b/c he's so strong. yao has a finesse game, which hurts his defender more w/ pure skill than power. as a result, that also helped the lakers as a whole when the big man is tired and burnt out from just playing shaq. u don't get tired guarding yao b/c usually he settles for the fallaway, hookshots, spin moves... but that's what makes him great. shaq can be argued straight up, if u talk about physically imposing, as the most physically imposing specimen to ever step on this game. so no.
almost everyone in the league sees help defense on the way to the basket. Its not the same thing as being double-teamed at the top of the key. Allen finishes better? so? your point was that TMac is one if the worst finishers in the league. The fact that Paul Perce is even lower should have clued you to the fact that you erred seriously in your stat interpretation, no offense.
