This makes sense. We shouldn't just blindly give Yao the majority of the minutes on Saturday if he's not playing well. If he looks weak like today, let him play the 1st and 3rd quarters. Let Deke play the 2nd and 4th quarters. We have done this before with success.
On a more serious note, you guys do realize how stagnant our offense is without Yao? How easily we forget about that late first quarter run the Mavs made with Mutombo on the floor. It pisses me off that Deke can come in, have his moments of glory, and all of a sudden become a better starting center than Yao. Yeah, it works when McGrady, Barry and James are hitting their shots but hey, guess what, that doesn't happen every game.
I like Deke's role off the bench. Yao is simply sucking at the FTs and his D is crap. When Deke comes in, he puts the team back into order.
But I've noticed that it does happen quite often. Especially late in the season, there were numerous games where Deke would come in and all of a sudden no one can miss a jump shot and we run away with the game. I dunno if it's Deke's play boosting the other players, or it's just a coincidence..
We'd be a much worse team if Mutombo was our starting C. I don't think you guys realize that Mutombo just wasn't a quality player his last couple of years as a starter. As a sub and change of pace? Great player. As a primary C? Offensive liability and tired too easily. Yao is the 2nd best center in the league. Mutombo is maybe the...15th or so. Start Yao.
exactly ... and it seems our thread starter forgets the Hornets game that Yao sat for - kids, just because Yao is not dropping 40 doesn't mean that he is not having impact - he draw a TON of attention Deke was great off the bench - as was James so lets leave them on the bench and le it work out again Saturday night
Deke has had one great game (actually one great quarter) this series. Bring him in to disrupt Dallas for a quarter or half, but any longer than that and I don't think he'll be so effective. Deke was awesome tonight, but he's best used in spurts. You can't just give up Yao's 70% FG shooting and inside presence (and yes, he's put pressure inside on Dallas).
Hey Sonali, did you ever got my e-mail from b4?? I was wondering what happen to ya.. I'm the desi dude in Phoenix.. Your e-mail thats from uta.edu doesn't work i guess.. you got another e-mail??....and to Start Mutumbo...i don't think thats a good idea at all..Just Imagine the Chinese government would declare war against us.
Yeah let's start Mutombo over Yao. BTW, we'd better start Ryan Bowen over Juwan Howard next season cuz he can defend well in *stretches*.
Somebody needs to remind the Cookie Monster that Dallas has the best Center in the West I've just never been in a situation like this where you have to play a team seven times where they don't have a center," Mutombo said.
Start Deke? Right...... I hope Yao is learning how to use his energy now. I think with the more games he's playing in the post season, the more he's starting to realize he needs a break from China in the offseason. He messed up one game. He needs to learn from that game and push harder in the next.
I do feel a change in the starting lineup is needed, whether that be starting Deke or Bowen or James. Until last nights game, the team leading after the first has won every game and Dallas has lead the first period 4 games in a row. Something has to be done about these slow starts from the Rockets. The defense in the first has just been nonexistent. If Deke can change this trend I wouldn't be opposed to starting him.
The starting Deke possibility would not help the Rockets, but hurt them in more than one way: 1. Deke would not have the energy that he provided in the 4th, if he had to start. If you saw around the 7 min mark in the 4th, Deke was asking the team to slow down a bit. We need him to spark us, just like he did for game 6. 2. Why change the rotation now, especially when Yao only had 1 bad game in this series? 3. Talk about a blow to someone's confidence. As you can see, Yao is struggling from the FT line ever since the 5 misses in a row. Imagine walking up to the 7'6" guy and telling him .. you know you been the starter all year, and you been effective for us the last 5 of 6 games, but in the MOST critical game of the year, you coming off the bench. You might as well shut him down for the year. I know some players would respond to being bench as a challenge and would work 200x harder to prove everyone wrong. But, don't think Yao is currently that type of player yet. As I told my fellow Rocket fans before, every single game we have had a chance to win, but lost the game due to lack of execution in the 4th. Rockets have looked better than Dallas in this series, but due to some bone head ref call or team mistakes, we dropped 3 in a row. I predict a close game again for Game 7, but see the Rockets executing more like Game 6 to win by 10. Believe in TMAC .. he will not let us lose. GO ROCKETS!!!
They should leave Deke on the bench but they definitely need to start James. Sura right now has no offense, no defense, doesn't get the ball to Yao, makes stupid turnovers and takes dumb fouls. It's not a coincidence that the rockets have been BADLY outscored in the 1st and 3rd quarters of Game 6 when he was in the game. Even if James' shot is off, he can still atleast put lots of pressure on the PG bringing the ball up.
