McGrady: I've been "deferring too much" to Yao in 4th quarters

Tmac is so great tonight. Like I said before, he is the definition of being clutch. I hope this game is the turning point that Tmac becomes dominant again. With the 1-2 punch of Tmac and Yao, we are invincible.

 

That's very encouraging, really. Its what the team needs and what he's really about. Not some depressed baseballer wannabe.

A lot has been made of the "new NBA" and the rules. With that in mind I'd rather Mcgrady close out games and use these rules to its advantage. He might not draw the foul calls but the defenders might still lay off a little bit cuz of it, allowing him to do his work. Whereas Yao's just gonna keep taking his daily pounding inside like he usually does night in night out and even worse in the 4th.

 

It seems to me that several games this season that the Rockets have taken big leads in have been attributed to McGrady being aggressive early and going to the basket.

Several times, he's shied away from that in the second half and tried to be a distributer...works sometimes, doesn't other.

I'd almost like to see McGrady drive to the basket on every other play just to see what that would do. With the rules in basketball right now, he'll either get fouled or make a shot on a high percentage of those. He got to the line 10-11 times this last game...he should get to the line at least that much every game.

 

Yao Mac PnR is the bread and butter of this team down the stretch. It needs a little work, esp timing. But with Tmac's size and passing ability, this play is perfect for them. It's unguardable if both are the same page. With Tmac running half circle around Yao's pick at full speed, if he blows by everybody, he is gone. Even if he cant finish, Yao's going to be in a great offensive rebound position to put it back in. If Yao's man and Tmac's man try to circle him, that will leave Yao open or a mismatch with a hobbit rotate on him. Tmac then just needs to toss it up high to Yao and let him dunk it. If other opposing primeter guys try to cut off Tmac's run instead of Yao's man, like Tonight, then Tmac can hit wide open our Primeter guys, Battier, Alston, Head, they all can shoot. Worst is Tmac unable to turn the corner, but the stop and pull up jumper will always be there for him.
Now like I said, the timing is still off. Yao and Tmac often are not on the same page. I dont see why they shouldnt practice this play every day.

 

So long as Rox wins, I don't care who is the first option in the 4th Qtr and the game take-over. But TMac now is more like a perimeter shooter, even he wants to, his touch won't let him do it every game. So rather than boasting, pls develop the team chemistry first.

 

To be fair, Tmac has been getting a lot of non-calls even when he drives. If it were Wade or Kobe or even AI and Vince Carter, a lot of Tmac's drives would've ended up in a foul getting called on the defender.

I don't know what's with refs and Houston really. I swear we get the least questionable-fouls in our favour of any city. Not just now, but dating all the way back to Hakeem's era as well.

 

tmac is telling the truth and nothing but the truth
yao should carry the team on his shoulder the first three quaters
the tmac should take over the game the last quater
but jeff seems to let yao make less fouls and use less energy the first three quaters to take over the game the last quater

 

yes , he is right.

I've been said on all my recent post about our 4th q. We can not focuse too much on yao and tmac on 4th q. How we lead in 3 q? we spread the court and hit the open shot, but in 4th q, we just try to give to yao so they put all D on yao and tamc, So the result is we lose.

Key is hit open shot.

Jvg need to give Novak a try.

Jvg stubbon

 

It's weird with TMac and the refs. A lot of his drives are legit, like the one last night where he made the layup after colliding with Q Rich. It was called a charge, but it was totally a block. TMac gets hacked a lot on drives and he gets called for quite a few charges too.

It's weird because TMac gets a lot of calls for him on jumpers. Sometimes it's like he gets more freethrows from shooting jumpers than from driving, which doesn't make any sense at all.

 

Maybe his eyes make him look like he's out of control when driving.

 

Matchups. That's what's important.

You always post Yao up first. If the double team arrives super-quick, you give it back to T-Mac and let him go to work. But regardless, you keep trying to post Yao up on every play to make sure the attention stays inside, and T-mac can avoid double teams.

If teams (such as the Pistons) are getting to both these guys with excellent help defense, then Rafer brings it up, posts Yao up, throws it out to T-Mac, who quickly fires a pass to the most open player.


It's what we've been doing right. Just not consistently enough, and sometimes not quick enough.

It's a simple offense. But it fits the 2-superstar model perfectly. Especially if Battier and eithe Head or Alston are on the floow. Those guys are all excellent shooters and very good passers, so they will make it happen. Hayes is also a very good option the way he cuts and gets open for an easy, high% 2.

 

I agree. It depends!

 

Every so often our team does a play that involves Yao in the motion offense and everyone moves, Yao gets the ball without being hammered sitting in the post. The type of play where I've seen him or Chuck drop from the top of the key to the basket, take a quick pass and drop it in.

Something a little less predictable than Yao getting pounded on either side of the low post 98% of the time.

I also like one I saw recently where Yao clears to the top of the key and one of our munchkins then cuts to the baseline and catches a pass for a quick 2 layup.

Jeff - come up with some more motion type offense plays where Yao moves more and gets beat up less!

DO IT! DO IT! (Starsky & Hutch)

(hope he's reading this)

 

What you are telling us in your post is smart basketball which a lot of times we don't play.

Another thing that I can't stand is the iso last second shot.

15-20 seconds left in the quarter, Tmac got the ball dribbles, dribbles...and predictably throws up a brick.

What the hell is wrong with getting Yao the ball for the last shot, I don't have any charts or stats right now to plead my case, but I'm willing to bet good money that Yao will get you that bucket more times than those going no-where last second iso shots!

 

I strongly disagree with the "deferring part". All T mac has to do is to stop taking too many jump shots- especially 3 pointers and drive to the basket. His free throw attempts have gone down. If he gets back to a 10 Free throw average- which for someone of his calibre should be easy.

Whoever is "ON" takes the shots- I could not really care less if it is T-MAC or Juwan Howard!

 

When Tracy gets aggressive, he attacks the ring. when he is trying to defer to yao, he just stands still and chucks up jupshots. last nights game especially in ythe 4th, it was tracy who saved our behind..

 

I agree what T-mac said. In the 4th Quarter, 1-2-3=Victory:
1.Yao on the court. 2. T-mac has the ball. 3. Head or other shoots the three. The key is 2, pass or shoot, T-Mac is the man to decide. That is just simple.

 

I think T-mac is the most handsome guy in all of the superstars.

 

This is a sports board. You are scary.

 

Actually what's even scarier is that TMac said he wanted to insert himself in the offensive end. I'm sure he meant "assert".