i think u missed game 1, 6 of that series v. the mavs. u missed games 1 and 2 and 4 of the series v. the pistons. and many more. clutch is not just game winners. again many superstars didnt play well for every game and their teams still advanced. even lebron. even wade.
for sure. yao is the best center in the league. but when you're a swing man, and you typically are supposed to take over, especially after you stated it was all on you, and then you defer to yao, you're not elevating your game.
I agree Yao was a great option, but Yao was catching the ball out of his comfort zone and TMac...who is suppose to be our main guy just wouldn't drive, attack or give his teammates better looks in that last stretch.
i didn't watch any of his orlando days, where he was decidely more explosive. i did see all of his houston games, and he played very well in the mavericks series on a whole. i'm not saying he isn't one of the best in the league. he absolutely is. but when you compare him to kobe, it's hard to say he could've done what kobe has. that's my point, nothing less, nothing more.
Bottom line....TMac didn't deliver and step up in the closing minutes of Game 7 against the Jazz....I could care *****n less what he did in Orlando.
And again, my only point is that, if you put T-Mac on that LA team with Shaq in place of Kobe, you'd have have similar results...3 or more rings. I'd be willing to bet if there was some way to find out. Just my opinion. And that leads to my second point. Kobe, like T-Mac, has proven nothing in the playoffs while being "the man" on a team.
Way to base a players entire career on a few minutes of a single game...especially a game in which nobody else on the team stepped up either.
again, outside of that game u said v. phoenix, has kobe REALLY elevated his games w/o shaq in the playoffs? did u see games 1, 2, 4, 5 v. phoenix this yr? he was not bad, but HORRIBLE in the 4th. its hard when u have to do everything w/ the defense focused on u.
um is it our fault that yao was catching it out of his comfort zone? as the best center, isn't his task to get good position? and he's the best ft shooter in that series. so another option would be yao going to the ft line. let's be real, alot of the plays for yao are drawn by JVG, not tmac deferring. JVG really believe yao is really good. and its not nobody's fault he can't get good position.
but t-mac isn't facing the same defense as kobe is. perhaps in his orlando days, but that is no longer relevant. t-mac has yao; yao garners at LEAST one help defender. kobe truly is a one man team. when he had room to work though, with a dominant big man, he delivered. this is why i think kobe with yao is a much better matchup than t-mac and yao and why t-mac might have not been as good as kobe with shaq.
Are you kiddin' me? Did you watch that game? I don' think so. We had had a chance for the tie or for the win if Yao would have rebounded that ball.... That's all
yao definitely didn't rebound like he should have, but those were long rebounds that a team has to get. i think yao carries most of teh burden for that. but offensively, t-mac was far too passive, whereas yao was scoring.
I know T-Mac sucked but he carried us to Game 1 victory Game 2 victory and Game 5 victory. Yao sucked too andyou can't say me he didn't. I watched the series
he missed all 3 rebounds during that crucial stretch where his man boozer got all of it. that was more crucial than tmac missing those 2 shots or anything else. we get that and we win. that wasn't 1 possession, not 2, but 3. that wasted not a few seconds or mins, but multiple minutes. not only that, that took the life out of the crowd.
again, we scored enough points to win. it all comes down to defense and rebounding the last few mins. we not only let them get 1 off. rebound, but 3. imagine the mins lost, the momentum lost, and the spirit lost. and i don't care if it's long rebounds, box your man out. do something.
If you guys read the article that Pryuen posted, it sounds like Yao Ming was still recovering from his injury during the playoffs, and had not regained his speed. Now, he has recovered his speed. I think you have to give Yao credit because he played after coming back from a serious injury, He came back very early, and rapidly. Yeah, he did not play his best, but his knees were still weak. Now they are strong. I still say that the biggest reason we lost is because JVG failed to adjust. After game 1, in which Yao dominated Okur and Boozer, Utah adjusted and came back. Rockets didn't. Whose fault is that? NBA is like NFL. Coaches are responsible for tactics. JVG has said simply, the other team just outplayed us. WRONG. You are up 2-0 but lose the series? That is one team adjusting, and another team not adjusting.
i don't think yao has had any surgeries this offseason or a lot of rest either. after 1 week or so, he went right back to training for next yr. so it's really hard to blame it completely on the injuries. he was gaining momentum as the year ends and playing as good as he was before the injury. i think why yao struggled is just this is the first tiem he was one of the "main" guys on a playoff team and the pressure is on him. the pressure was never on him before. this yr it was. plus, the refs allowed the jazz to play physical on him and yao is not a physical player. i think dawson is working with yao on that right now. if yao was still suffering from the injuries, they must be very small. he played 37 mins and looked "not tired" even to game 7. i know a lot of fans want to blame JVG and i do too, but no matter how bad he was offensively, we should have won that series if our role player sshot 40% at least from OPEN SHOTS. it's that simple. i never expected luther head to struggle as he did. i never expected battier to suck defensively. i never expected howard to disappear. rafer is rafer and playing 44+ mins hurt us.
