Yao: A- = Really it was almost just another day of work for Yao and wanted to give him an B+ so why the bonus? Told myself and my friend at the game, for the Rockets to win this game YAO MING MUST hit shots. He HAS to not just be an option, not just be a good free throw shooter for a big man that doesnt need to be subbed out late, he needs to CONVERT on his shots. And when when they called his number, he did indeed to do that. McGrady: B+ = He'd get an A- but I hold him accountable to an extent for the sluggish start. Dont know how it looked on TV but live at the beginning of the game it looked like he just arrived over from Cyprus Hill's house...the team captain on national TV the first game of the season coulda showed more drive than he demonstrated. But he sure did demonstrate some skills later on in the game. I didnt and never have liked his "heat check" style of 3 point shooting, but he made all his other jumpers and drove just enough to the rim, even against All NBA defense Kobe. Battier: A- = Kobe 13-32 from the field, plus the game clinching 3 pointer, nuff said. Though he did add a couple steals and a blocked shot. He coulda made more shots, sure. But he made sure the NBA's best scorer didnt make his either. Hayes: B = The typical solid night of work for the Chuck Wagon. And only 3 fouls, way to go Alston: C = More on this at the end...he did attempt less shots to his credit. James: C+ = Displayed that great 3 point shooting and was a change of pace...but as expected did NOT EVEN do a good job in getting everyone involved. Big time points deducted for missing crucial free throws. And I'm a Mike James fan, too. Not saying he needs to pass the ball to Chuck Hayes to prove a point, he was just really much worse at being a "pure" point than I thought he'd be...(and I've seen him play live before..) Scola: C = Got the rebounds he was supposed to get, provided good spark off the bench to get the team out of its lull. Big time foul troubles, just needs more experience. And to think Rockets got only 4 points from their true power forwards (not Battier), itll be sweet when he gets more involved in the offense. Head: D = non-factor, non-contributor Mutombo: C- = spelled Yao, came in and got..an assist, and nothing else? Lets run the high post offense through Deke now Summary: - Took off a rating point for the whole team, for the poor start and the horrible finish to the game. Gotta play 4 full quarters. The only reason they won really was cuz Kobe went Shaquille O'Bryant from the line and was just 18-27 free throws. - Rafer needs to take less shots, true. The other way having Rafer in can hurt the team is if the other point guard has a good shooting game, 5 for 8/6 for 9 or something. Rafer does that once a MONTH. He's not a dynamic enough player to adequately match good shooting from the opposing guard (Thank goodness for Mike James and Steve Francis for that). Too many other things need to go right for Rafer, such as having the best scoring duo in the game to cover him. Margin of error is too small for him and its still just painful seeing him and Chuck Hayes in the same lineup. But if he stays at 6-8 shots a game and under 30 minutes a game I can live with it.... - The new veteran additions to the team help the club big time. But Yao is still the big ticket to get us there. Yao must be an on-court MVP type late in games, not MVP cuz of his stats. He's just too good an option to consider when you need a score. If the big fella shoots 3-4 in 4th quarters like he did against the Lakers, its gonna be a tremendous benefit to the Rockets.
Reread my post, alecoool. I was referring to initiate the offense from the high post. And how many Kings games did you watch with Divac as C? V.Divac is marvellous on that, no?
