Exactly he must have never watched t-mac in the playoffs.... #1 T-mac will play posessed in the playoffs..... #2 I dont care if Yao has a killer mentality or not, as long as the rockets are up by atleast 1point when the 4th quarter horn sound...Hell, Yao can put on ballarena-outfit, and prace into the locker room for all I care, as long as we get the "W".... Man...he can get dunked on "6" times in a row, but if we win, Yao did his job!regardless....
Yao need to stab someone 72 time and kill him to show his mean steak to JVG! Seriously, Yao need to demand the ball in the last two minute of the close game. I have more confidence with the ball in his hands but at the same time i m worried he will turn it over.......
i can see where jvg is coming from. yao needs to finish strong in the 4th especially in games where he's led the team in the 1st 3 qtrs. if he doesn't all it means is rafer and head will be jacking it up instead, don't want that in the playoffs.
Tmac is playing at a high level now but he hasn't proven he has that killer instinct under extreme pressure. You have to actually win a series to say you have killer instinct in the playoffs. He needs to consistently drive to the lane late in the game. Perhaps this is the year his inner killer emerges. As for now if the choice is between Tmac jump shots and Yao in the paint I would defer to Yao late in the game.
so kobe lost his "killer instinct" last yr when he blew a 3-1 lead? u need a team. tracy's clutch as they come nowadays. saw the kings game earlier this yr? saw the bulls game? i can name numerous games THIS YR where he bailed us out in the 4th. didn't he make that clutch shot yday? relax. again, i'm saying this b/c he seems to struggle to coexist w/ yao. tracy has to make a conscious effort to play better w/ yao. it's not yao's job to play better w/ tracy. as the main guy on this team, tracy has to make that adjustment.
I said he never directly criticizes Tmac......and guess what, still the same...do you even read? Go back to puffy blue hats, that is where your true self comes out in your posts. At least in those you are kinda funny, and accurate. DD
I hate when reporters put their own spin on comments. This quote from Tsunami is what an AP writer wrote. You would think this means that JVG thinks Yao needs to physically rip people's heads off when that's not what he meant by being a "killer" at all. Here's what Jonathan Feigen wrote which has more of the quote from JVG: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/4655056.html "Yao has done a good job," Van Gundy said, before rushing right back to the night's talking points. "I think he needs to get a finishing mentality. You have to be able to go to him late. He has to be able to get good, clean looks off. It has to do with a hunger, a mentality to keep wanting to kick (butt)." If you listen to the complete audio quote here's what JVG says... (Jeremy Foster's AM sportsflash on Sports 610): http://www.sportsradio610.com/pages/152003.php "He needs to be killer - when he has 20 he has to get 30, when has 30 he as to get 40, when he has 40 he has to get 50. I think he needs to get a finishing mentality. You have to be able to go to him late. He has to be able to get good, clean looks off. It has to do with a hunger, a mentality to keep wanting to kick (butt)." (my on quick transcription - from listening to the 610 audio fo JVG so may not be 100%). Being a killer in this case, JVG wants Yao to score and score and score and then score some more - not ripping people's heads off. 2ndly the context of all this was for the whole team to learn to close games out so JVG wasn't even singling Yao out. "I was very happy with the first three quarters," Van Gundy said. "Unfortunately, I've seen in the fourth quarter where we get a lead, we don't have a finishing mentality. If we can't correct it within the next 27 days, it will come back to bite us at the most inopportune time. "As I shared with Tracy (McGrady) and Yao (Ming), it already has — two years ago (in the playoffs) against Dallas, up 2-0, 88-82 two straight games. No finishing mentality cost us."
typical jvg, after yao had a 25+ game and rox got a win over a good team, a good time to motivate yao. if you noticed, aften yao's 20- games, jvg always said something good about yao.
I don't think this is motivation at all, I think it is worry. JVG is right on the money, this team needs to learn to step on the throats of their opponents and go for the kill. Bringing up the Dallas series is a great thing to do......show the team that it is not good enough to have improved chemistry, but improvement is needed in mental toughness as well. Too many blown leads for this team THIS year....missed freethrows, poor rebounding late.....the Rockets relax far too often, and that will not be good enough in the playoffs. DD
Yao may need to develop more of a killer instinct, not sure. But I can say that he is playing with way more confidence every game. You can see it just in the way he moves. And I don't think I have ever seen him go for rebounds the way he did last night. He was jumping in the air and really extending himself. It was good to see.
It sure is nice to see Yao doing some face up stuff......gosh, I wonder where we have heard a call for that before? DD
generally that's what the expression "killer instinct" means in sport, ready to close up shop, eg not disappearing in production in the 4th.
JVG is trying to get the team into playoff mode. I like the fact he is reminding his two superstars of what happened in the playoffs 2 yrs ago against the Mavs where Rockets could not finish strong and it cost them the series. I believe JVG is doing the right thing in trying to get Yao to get ready both physically and mentally for the playoffs and yes Yao needs to start kicking some a$$ through 4 quarters like the writing on the old Hakeem shoes "Finish Strong".
JVG is just pushing Yao here. JVG knows he can push him and he will respond. I have seen enough to know that Yao has/or will develop that Killer instinct late in games. The problem will be, "getting him the ball." It's much easier for a guard to be "the closer" since a guard can move around. Yao needs to carry the team during the game. But in reality, it is TMAC that has to be the "killer" late in the games. And that then boils down to not Tmac taking long 3pt shots, but rather HIM DRIVING TO THE BASKET ACCEPTING THE CONTACT TO GET TO THE FT LINE OR PASS IT OFF TO A CUTTER. Think Kobe, Wade etc here. There.
