I think part of it, zhao, was largely due to Yao's absence: Yao sits a lot of picks for T-Mac, and because of his sheer size they tend to be good picks that give T-Mac space away from his defender. Also, T-Mac was shooting badly just like everyone else on his team AND the opponents team. It was a lackluster effort by the Rockets, as simple as that. Did they miss Yao? OF COURSE! Yao is a star player, if they didn't miss him then Yao is not worth the money he will be getting. HOWEVER, and this was my point last night, as bad as we were playing, we owned the Hornets and had them where we wanted them with only 3 minutes to go in the 3rd. The Rockets remains woefull the rest of the game and lacked energy and focus to seal the deal. So last night's game HAD to be won and WAS very, very winnable, but the Rockets let it slip. It was a huge collapse, and they ought to be ashamed of their effort/focus level last night. No Excuses, whatsoever.
I go to a lot of Rockets games and this is misplaced. Yes, there is a lot of entertainment during the breaks, and A LOT of stupid entertainment (crabs racing on skateboards??). But the Rockets aren't a dominating home team. What the hell are the gans suppossed to be rattling knees about?
Given what Keith Jones said, it sounds to me like resting Yao was elective. Gundy thought he could get away with it and then put Yao back into service against Phoenix. Oops! DNP - Coach's mistake.
I was about to say the same thing... If that is true (the article certainly makes it sound that way) then that was a bad call by JVG. But still, i won't use that as an excuse, we had the game in our hands last night, and we blew it. No excuses for that game, although I do blame JVG (and in the post-game conference he DID take personal responsibility for this, and rightly so) for NOT having his players mentally ready to compete and be fired up about the game. THAT is the primary job of a coach, and he failed miserably last night. His main job is to motivate.
Maybe if more fans showed up the games, the Rockets would have a better home record...and you wouldn't need crabs on skateboards.
I blame this loss totally on Tmac. With no Yao and no Howard, and therefore no inside game, Tmac has to go to the basket and finish, instead of spending the whole game shooting jumpers.
When Milwaukee attracts more fans per game then Houston, "quite full" takes on a whole new meaning...
Nice counterarguement. I guess it's easier to dismiss someone by their username than think about what they're saying. Tmac is twice as good as Steve Francis ever thought of being, but he didn't step up when he should have against the hornets. I have learned my lesson, though. I'll never base a username on a player again. I do occasionally turn on Magic games, but only when they're losing
We were out-rebounded by 55-43. Didn't Dike's season high 15 rebounds and Weatherspoon immpressive 10 rebounds more than Yao's "stingy 8 rebounds per game"? Does this tell us something?
Deke rebounded 15 and Spoon 10, of course yao byhimself can not do that in every game, but think about this, with yao, Deke still rebound 7 to 10 form bench and spoon maybe 7 to 10 as a starter, plus yao's average 8 that is 22 to 28 rebounds between them. Yao also change the game by his pick and roll, blocks and defense, and of course the post game. But this is not the excuse for losing to NO, without yao, we should have won for sure. We will say yao is not the only reason for the lost.
LOL! No, no, I was just missing wit ya! You are right, he should have driven inside more, but McGrady is just not going to consistently pound it inside every single game, he does it occasionally, but I think due to some concerns about further reaggrevating the injuries he has had this season AND possibly due to him wanting to preserve his energy a bit more as the playoffs approach, I wouldn't count on him doing that much until the playoffs begin. Look, bottom line is, there is a cost to be paid for banging bigger bodies inside on consistent basis, not everyone is built physically for that, I don't think T-Mac's body would be able to sustain such punishment over the stretch of an entire season. I think overall (not counting the Hornets game) he has a nice mix of inside-outside game that serve him well. But the main part of his game is undoubtedly making jumpers. He is more similar to Kobe in that aspect. I think Lebron has started to recently realize the price of going inside too much, and has resisted his coach's calls for doing so, despire the fact that he has a much wider and stronger body than McGrady does. Lebron has settled for more jump shots lately, and that is likely why he hasn't been shooting as well from the field as earlier in the season.
