Agreed. In "theory" Yao should have eaten up Okur, but he didn't. Yao will never be Shaq, but I think Yao will learn his lessen and get better. Honestly, I think not enough has been made about the fact that Yao was coming off an injury in the mid-season that really robbed him of what little quickness he had. He was much quicker before the injury. So we can't overlook that. Keep that in mind. But with the Jazz, their combo of Deron Williams+Boozer totally countered our Tmac+Yao combo. The key for the Jazz is they had Okur (all Star)+AK47+Harpring+Fisher+Millsap and really all we had was Battier. Those components hurt us, especially if you consider the Jazz have a trioka all-star group of Williams+Boozer+Okur. If we had a "3rd" guy, it would put us over the top. Yes, those points exactly illustrate where we are and what we need to do.
Good post. I was wondering if I'd watched the same games as a lot of my favorite posters here. It wasn't just single coverage by Okur. He had help. And sure as hell not single coverage on Mac. Utah exposed our lack of a bench. They sent long, quick, athletic wings, and Boozer, who came into his own this year (and damn Utah for having another great 4!) and a crafty, hugely experienced Fish, who wasn't alone at the one, the understatement of the year, being Williams' backup, like the far over-matched Alston, at the Rocks in waves and we just couldn't handle them. Even if JVG matched up well with Sloan as a coach who could make adjustments, something I'm not saying here, he didn't have nearly as deep a team. Mac was trying to do too much, and went into mental overload as a result, IMO, and Yao was not the same player he was pre-injury. Even if Yao had been, I'm not sure we could have beaten the Jazz. On reflection, we probably did well to take it to 7, and because we had homecourt. No freakin' depth. We were ankle deep in water. Hell, ankle deep in mud.
I agree with you, but I think the problem is half as big as you do. The problem is that Yao is nowhere NEAR as dominant as Shaq was back then. McGrady, however, easily has a bigger impact on the game than Kobe ever did back then. He may have gotten a few more points under a more effecient offensive coach, but that was about it... ... This isn't meant as a praise-McGrad-bash-Yao post; I'm just saying that we're not in as deep as your post would imply. We DO have at least one true franchise player.
The biggest problem is that there is only one guy(starter) can and thus allowed to take the mid-range jumper. We are too one demensional on the offensive end. We are playing 80s, 90s basket ball. We dont have a slaher outside Tmac either. This team was completely exposed by Sloan. Let's not compare with the old Lakers. How about the Heat of last year. One diminishing Shaq, which Yao could arguably match or do better and Dwade, which Tmac can probably match. We have the necessary core to win it all, but we are lacking A list supporting cast. This team needs a couple of guys that are capable of making other teams pay if leave open and make smart decisions. We dont need a 3rd stellar player, but a solid gamer.
Don't you feel TMAC crying in front of TV a little lame? At least two time I saw, one in 2005 game 7, one in 2007 game 7 conference. How many NBA players cry in front of TV? I don't know but must be a minute group. It's light years away from Kobe's competitiveness not to mention the other aspects. If Yao can't dominate next season, he better go back to China. Watching him struggle is painful.
and fisher. but he can get to the finals w/o kobe. he won w/ wade. and he got to the fiinals w/ penny. so i can guarantee w/ tmac, shaq would have won too b/c tmac is clutch himself. it's not like he's dirk.
exactly, antoine walker avg 13 pts per game last yr. jwill shot extremely well. and gpayton was their PG in the clutch. again, despite our 2 stars, we still should have won if head showed up and make his normal # of shots. same w/ howard. it's that simple. our role players were not clutch. and their shots were OPEN.
The mindset of both Shaq and Kobe is far different from the personalities of TMac and Yao. Shaq and Kobe in their prime: aggressive, selfish, mean, dominating... they want to destroy you. Bang on them and they play harder. Attack dogs. TMac and Yao, friendly puppies. You know it, I know it. Indisputable evidence, both their games "declined" in the playoffs. The Jazz banged them around and they became less aggressive. There really is no comparison. JVG is right, our duo must be surrounded by pit bulls. The question is, why did the Rockets bring in more players with similar personalities ie. Rafer, Battier, etc?????
yes i agree, I have always been saying we need better depth in our team, better role players and players who can create their own shots. Until then, we will never be a championship caliber team. Tmac does way too much work on offense, Yao was inconsistent against Boozer and the Utah Jazz. We need some reworking on this team.
uh, duncan, parker, ginobili are "friendly puppies" too. stop w/ that crap BS. even hubie brown once said those guys are as nice and quiet in their locker room as u can get. sometimes u need good role players. and when they can't make 45% of their open shots, you're gonna lose.
He will never get 3-4 blocked shots a game. Never. He is just not quick enough. Being tall and holding your hands up is not enough. I think he can and will get the rebounding numbers you talk about tho. People did drive on Shaq in his prime. It may not have been a smart thing to do but they did. He was no Hakeem in the defensive department. I also agree that when Yao doesn't score Deke is the better player even tho he is like 90. But Yao does always score. I don't know. I'm STILL depressed.
huh? ppl drove to shaq? i can swear if they drive, they stop before they get to the basket most times. dude was so strong that if u hit him, it hurts you more than it hurt shaq. and no players want to get pounded on. the only player that i saw consistently drove on shaq consistently was iverson. ok, yao may not get 3-4 blocks a game. but generate some type of intimidating presence. deke has that presence aobut him. ppl rarely drove on him even now, butg rarely in his prime. same w/ zo. same w/ drob. EVERYBODY wants to drive on our team. that's why we keep freaking pack the paint. if yao was feared, we might not have to play that type of defense v. shooting teams. we are all enamored by his offense at times, but really, to be a feared player, he needs to have a presence on defense. hakeem can change a game just on D. same w/ other great centers. yao is more of a liability on D right now.
I don't really like JVG these days but it was Bonzi's fault. Even Phil would have benched him or worse for his lazy out of shape not caring about the team cuz he was mentally destroyed about the contract lost(I would be mentally destroyed too and that was one hell of a run on sentence) ass.
I agree that our 2 "superstars" are not good enough to make up for having a lackluster supporting cast. Though I do think the Lakers' roleplayers > our roleplayers, the common similarity between them is that there weren't really any other creators outside of the Big Two. We can't afford that - plain and simple. We need 3rd and 4th options that can create on their own. Either that or Yao is going to have to make some serious strides towards domination. Tracy also needs to work on his jumper b/c he's not getting any quicker.
It's really not Yao and Tmac's problem, guys. The truth is we do not have good role player as the third or even fourth scoring option. Tmac is a superstar player because he can be a leader of this whole rocket team. Yao may still not mature enough to be Superstar level though...
u have GOT to be kidding me. battier can't make big shots in the playoffs like HORRY, FISHER, FOX, HARPER. and they all were good defenderes like him. battier played more mins than them obviously. but right now, i think he's more suited to play 28-30 mins rather than 35+.
I have to disagree with you. People were not scared to drive on Shaq because he was big. The reason Shaq averaged as many blocks as he did is because people were willing to drive on him. I never said he sucked in that department. Players would actually not drive on Hakeem because of his ability to block....not just block but block the ball to another Rocket players. Yao just doesn't have the agility to ever be in either of their league defensively.I always felt that Ewing and Robinson were light years ahead of Shaq on D. I also don't think Yao would have been a liability if he had not been playing a MUCH quicker and faster PF Boozer. Maybe we should have had him guarding Okur at the three point line. It's not like his defensive presence(sp) would have been missed in that series. Okur can't drive and I think Hayes might have done at least a decent job(much better than the pathetic one Yao was forced into) on Boozer. Now I'm just babbling.....and I'm still depressed.
