Maybe so, maybe not. I live in Dallas and from what I have seen, read and heard up here, there is just no evidence that the Mavericks are all that worried about Yao and the Rockets. Sure, they are keeping a watchful eye on Houston and expect them to be tougher next season if Yao & TMac are healthy but the reality of it is that they consider the Spurs to be their primary competition in the division and not Houston. SA, not Houston, is the team they are gearing up to beat next year. When the Rockets are even mentioned at all it's as an afterthought as in "Oh and you can expect Houston to be better with a healthy Yao & TMac so this will be a tough division next year" type of thing. Their (Mavericks) team speed, versatility and style of play coupled with the new rules enable them to negate Yao's advantage at the 5. Maybe if the Rockets could force the Mavericks to play Yao straight up, this "fear of Yao" would be true because Yao would absolutely smoke their Dampier/Diop center tandem but at this point in time, that is simply not the case.
I know that the Mavs number 1 threat next season is the Rockets...a team that has only made the play offs a couple of times over the past several years. There is no question that the Rockets are first on the minds of the Mavs when S.A. continues to have Tim Duncan and The Suns are going to be stronger with the return of Amare. No doubt that the team that took the Mavs to seven games a couple of years ago does not even suite up half of the Rockets from that year. With out question the Rockets are and should be 1st in the Mavs thoughts when trying to get back to the NBA Championship.
Did you not watch Yao totally DOMINATE Dampier/Diop in the 2nd half the season? Yao totally abused Dampier/Diop last year after the allstar break even when he was doubled and tripled. Simple put, there is NO answer for the post allstar Yao. Can you imagine how good the Rockets could be with a healthy Tmac and Yao? Some people seem to forget how good these guys really are. 2 years ago the Rockets took Dallas to the 7th game, and this was with Yao showing up for only HALF the series. Yao has clearly adjusted to speed of the NBA, especially after the poor showing he had a against the Suns.
Did you not read my post? Specifically where I pointed out that Dallas won't play Yao straight up with Dampier/Diop because he'd smoke them? Of course, the Mavericks, Suns, Spurs, Grizz and the rest have no one that can play Yao straight up - that's exactly why you see them fronting him and collapsing in on Yao to force the ball out of his hands. Events have proved that they (Rockets) need much more than a healthy TMac & Yao in order to contend and that's why you see all of these threads about the draft and Mike James.
Yao and Tmac need help. The NBA has changed to such an extent that it's extrememly difficult for a big man to singlehandedly dominate a game without a capable supporting cast. The zone defense and the sissy foul callings in the paint give the defense more than one way to take a dominant big man out of the game. You can collapse on him and make his teammates beat you. You can throw the small guys at him to put him in foul troubles. You can play a jumpshooting forward at center so he has to chase him along the perimeter and therefore force him out of his comfort zone. No one here is trying to deny that Yao is dominant. But still he and Tmac need help because of the state of today's NBA.
I mean serious. . . T-Mac . . .Demanded a trade and d*mn near said it must be to Houston . . . As did Barkley I would say Drexler but unsure . . . same with b*t . .er .. pippen is no one else feeling that strong about this camp? Rocket River
I think it is kind of shameful that we MUST look for that in a ROOKIE That is T-Mac and Yao's job Gay just needed to be a solid contributer BTW. . . do you see that FIRE in Battier? Rocket River
