Yao Ming couldn't handle Glen Davis tonight either. He can't even step on the court. End of conversation
First of all, you keep harping on the "22" game win streak. When we had Yao, we were contenders. We beat Cleveland twice as well as a fully healthy NOH team. Its the other 10 games I'm referrig to. The reason we won those last 10 consecutive games was due to an easy schedule and opponents' injuries. I'm getting annoyed by this tangent. I'm not sure what kind of education/careers you guys have, but it's pretty clear that it doesn't involve analysis.
Did you miss the entire Houston Rockets 08-09 season (including the playoffs) or are you just ****ing r****ded? Who was the first option after Mcgrady went out in early 2009? Was it Chuck Hayes? The homerism and frontrunning on this thread is rampant. There are things that Gasol does better than Yao but speaking very plainly Gasol's defensive responsibilities are split among a rotation of 3 players, while Yao is alone. Gasol's anywhere from the 2nd to 4th option on offense on any given night and his team wont lose because he had 8 points. All the hyperbole in the world will never supercede the fact that LA is not building around Gasol, Houston is building around Yao. That alone makes Gasol a role player and Yao a franchise player. I'll say this. Gasol looks 10x better because the Lakers are in the Finals and Yao has just sat out a season. 90% of you frontrunners will drop the "Gasol is the best big man in the NBA" real quick if LA ends up losing to Boston... like 10 minutes after the last game. Where you all on the Dwight Howard bandwagon last week or what?
McGrady was not at FULL strength... McGrady was out from Dec. 23 until Feb, 1.. He played only one game in Jan. So for your facts.... We were playing without Yao and basically a not full strength McGrady... So that means we were playing teams without our key players at full-strength.. We have analyzed your situation but you refuse to accept the facts... You even stated that we won the hardest game Cleveland because of Yao... We played 4 teams above 500 without our key players, so do we just regard the other teams because they don't have their key players??? Doesn't make sense wekko
It makes perfect sense. McGrady was at full health. Look at his production. Saying that McGrady wasn't in full health is akin to saying that Jordan wasn't in basketball shape in 1995. Right now, do you think Kobe is in full health? If he went to the hospital and got a complete check up, they'd probably say he wasn't in full health. But his production indicates otherwise. It's really annoying the way you try to argue in absolutes. Player X wasn't in FULL health. Stats don't tell the ENTIRE story. Sorry to burst your bubble, but in terms of analysis, things arent absolute. The fact is, we won 22 games straight. I think the reason we were able to extend the streak after Yao went down is b/c of favorable scheduling and timely opponent injuries. You think its b/c the players played hard. Well, the Rockets play hard all the time. Can you explain why we haven't had a 10 game winning streak since then?
Did T-Mac have surgery after that season???? Actually i think he had 2 surgeries after that season.... As far your Kobe analysis goes yes all players play with pain, but let's take Bynum... He's playing and he's playing hurt... He has to have surgery in the offseason on his knee... Which means he's not playing at full strength. As far as the STATS goes... There are no STATS for hustle plays or intangibles.. When Scouts look at players for football and basketball they look at the intangilbles also, things that STATS don't tell you about. That's what I mean by the entire story.. now you keep saying you're not a YOF, but your post keep pointing out that during the 22 game winning streak the Rockets schedule was hard when Yao was playing and he's the reason they won then and it was easy when he got hurt... MAN PLEASE!!!! Here's your break down of the WEAK SCHEDULE... Games with Yao 41% over 500 and to be honest we played Cleveland twice... but I counted them as 2 and not as 1 Golden State Warriors (27-19) Indiana Pacers (19-28) Milwaukee Bucks (18-30) Minnesota Timberwolves (10-37) Cleveland Cavaliers (27-21) Atlanta Hawks (22-26) Portland Trail Blazers (28-23) Sacramento Kings (23-28) Cleveland Cavaliers (29-24) Miami Heat (9-44) New Orleans Hornets (37-16) Chicago Bulls (22-33) games with out Yao 40% over 500 2/26 Wizards 27 - 30 2/29 Memphis Grizzlies 14 - 44 3/2 Denver Nuggets 35 -24 3/5 Indiana Pacers 24 - 37 3/6 Dallas Mavericks 39 -23 3/8 New Orleans Hornets 42 -20 3/10 New Jersey Nets 26 - 38 3/12 Atlanta Hawks 26 - 38 3/14 Charlotte Bobcats 24 - 41 3/16 Los Angeles Lakers 45 - 21 So as you can see the only BUBBLE that got burst was yours..... And to be honest with you the Rockets had one HELLUVA season last year and if they would have gotten a center like Brandon Haywood they would have made the playoffs..... So like a poster stated earlier.. You are a YOF and you keep proving it with your post.
Arthroscopic surgery is a minor, routine, and elective surgery. Don't make mountains out of mole hills. That's why I said to look at production. He played 12 ineffective minutes last night. It's clear that he's not playing at full strength. McGrady was averaging around 39 mpg during the streak. Hustle plays usually lead to quantifiable results (points, steals, blocks, +/-) unless there's a negative result (hustling for a loose ball and the teammate missing the subsequent shot). Stop misinterpreting everything I say. The hardest teams we faced during that streak came when we were a fully healthy, championship contending team. The loss of Yao coincided with a drop in the caliber of opponents. What have I been saying this whole time? That the last 10 games of our streak was the result of weak teams or good teams with key injuries. Dallas was missing Dirk. NOH was missing West. LA was missing Gasol/Bynum. Are you aware that we played a fully healthy NOH (with West) team after we lost to Boston? We lost by 21 pts. Do you think Dallas/LA/NOH would still be .500 teams if they had to consistently play w/o those players? The argument that you're an idiot is more compelling than the argument that I'm a YOF. You're clearly unable to refute my specific arguments so you're generalizing everything and then refuting the generalizations.
I have been consistent in all of my arguments. Maybe you just need to work on your reading comprehension.
A player can play with pain and still play effectively. Look at Kobe. However, in the offseason, players will take steps to mitigate the pain. That's why McGrady CHOSE to undergo arthroscopic surgery....to reduce the pain. Let's illustrate the point. If you have a headache, you'll still going in to work, right? You'll still be able to perform your job effectively. But odds are, you'll take some aspirin, right? That's because although you can do your job with the pain, you'd rather do your job w/o it. Common sense... Fact? He underwent elective surgery. Let's say a fully healthy player is able to play at a certain level. If he starts to experience pain yet is still able to perform at that level, that means the pain isn't serious. It all depends on your definition of "hurt". Give you past penchant for absolutes, I'm guessing you'd consider a bruise to be "hurt". Again with your absolutes...It's a good strategy. You'll never be wrong. The corollary is that your arguments will be so obvious that you'll look foolish. Are you totally ignoring the injuries/suspension to Dirk/West/Bynum/Gasol? You keep using the Mavs/NOH/LAL as examples of .500 teams without realizing that without those key players, they aren't .500 teams. I'm well aware that the Rockets weren't at full strength. However, replacing Yao with Deke is better than replacing Dirk/Bynum/Gasol/West with no one. You absolutely have not refuted my specific arguments. You're still generalizing them (i.e. considering the Dirk-less Mavs, Bynum/Gasol-less Lakers, West-less Hornets to be .500 teams; surgery is surgery regardless of severity) and refuting the generalizations. And I'm still waiting on your explanantion why we havent gone on another 10 game win streak since then (since apparently, all you need to do is hustle and play hard). Or why we beat NOH w/o West, but when he returned, they crushed us?
I've reiterated the same points repeatedly and it's gotten annoying. I'm not going to derail this thread further unless you actually address my specific points.
