Did you see his face at the end and how lethargic he was? Did you see all his shots were missed short and then he was careless losing that ball out of bounds? Dallas wore him down with him defending Dirk and Stackhouse. And they just rotated the ball to Terry who lit us up. JVG needs to adjust faster and stop relying on his only superstar for everything his team needs: offense, defending other stars. NONE of the role players stepped up this game, third highest scorer was 7 points. We can't win like this.
Fatigue wasn't an issue. Nobody else stepping up was. And those crazy ass shots by Dallas. Somebody tell our role players to feel free to show up.
Mike James really needs to get his shot back. It seems like the only time he had his shot were the 4-5 games he played for us after he was traded and Game 1. I'm sick and tired of seeing him dominate the ball like he does. He dribbles most of the shot clock and runs around looking for his shot.
' It was an issue. Did you see McGrady. He didn't want the ball because he was exhausted. You can't have someone play an entire 1/2 and at the same time guard the other team's best player. Our role players are decent jumpshooters but we have absolutely no playmakers. Other than spotting up and hitting 3's, our bench is weak.
The biggest reason Dallas won this game was obscene shooting at the end of the game. They had no right to make all those shots. 9 out of 10 times, they don't. Regardless, McGrady just wasn't good enough at the end of that game. Who knows if it was exhaustion or something else...
But the thing is, when your star player is tired that's when role-players step up. We shouldn't have needed McGrady to take all of those shots at the end of the game. Bottomline, if one of our role players hit a shot while the Rockets are up 88-82 then the series is 3-1. Fatigue didn't become an issue until everybody disappeared and McGrady had to do all of the work.
When the role players come through, they win; when they don't, they lose. It is that simple. One or two role players have to score in double figures. Ming has only been on the floor an extended time in the game he scored over 30, has been in foul trouble in the other three. The Mavs have so many scorers that the Rockets have to play a "complete" game to win.
Couldn't agree more. I have said it before the series even started that the "X" factor will NOT be which superstar outplays the other (let's face it, McGrady so far has dominated Dirk it ain't even close, and accordingly the Rockets are supposed to be winning, right? Wrong!). Instead, the series will come down to which set of role players outplays the other (It is kind of sad that Dallas' so-called role players include Finely, Stackhouse, Terry, KVH, Dampier, J.Howard, Daniels. These "role players" can beat half the league without their best player. Now take McGrady off the Rockets, and you have......Exactly )
I have to believe these 4th quarter collapses is attributable to fatigue. Though what choice does JVG have but to play the guy 47 minutes a game. Mike James looked awful out there and I always thought this alternating quarter rotation of Sura/James was too formulaic, JVG ought to go with the hot hand and let the hot shooter play the majority of the minutes. I would think that on any given night either Barry/Wesley/James or Sura would be hot and deserve 40 minutes.
The Mavs' radio announcers noted throughout the 4th that they thought TMac looked like he was completely out of energy as the game wound down, and I think it showed in all of his shots being short. Doesn't hurt that the Rockets "scrubs" (read: role players) haven't done anything for the Rockets in relative terms in Houston, which is surprising. It's usually the "scrubs" that play well on their own turf, and struggle on the road, but in this series, it's been just the opposite. For whatever reason, guys like Sura, James and Barry had huge games in Dallas, and then just basically disappeared in games 3 and 4, and it cost the Rockets both games at home. Disappointing to say the least.
Well T-mac actually got a few mins of rest today compared to games 1 and 2 when he was on the florr basically the whole time. We need him to be at his best in the 4th quarter. he is our closer and the Rockets need him to create shots for others or hit them himself. I hope he come out hot in the next game (it wouldnt hurt if Barry, james, and Wesley showed up either).
I second that. For some odd reason, I think we play better in Dallas than at home. They seem to feed more off the enery of the other crowd than at home.
Tmac needed the ball, stupid mike james was pissing me off. we shoulda set double screens with Yao and Padgett, and let Mcgrady penetrate, and dish out to one of them, asilfkjalgakjskmga just frustrating , this stupid loss.
I hope he can realize that, he needs to optimalize his shoot selection, especially in fourth quarter. He did the same in 4th quarter in last 2 games, and we loss.
BINGO. It's all about our players being overworked. The longer this series goes the more this is becoming an issue. That's the problem with an old team, and quite frankly a team that has much less talent than Dallas. Tmac and Yao are great, but after that there is a HUGE drop off whereas Dallas has a number of guys that can make plays and score. In game 4 we had Tmac (36) and Yao (20) and then the next highest scoring Rockets was Mike James finishing with 7 points. The Mavs had Dirk, Finley and then Terry with 32. They have more weapons.
As much as he was tired it was the lack of intensity at the end we got up and then decided to hang out and the shot clock wound down and Mike James 1 of his 100 stupid decisions since game 2 (the exception of game 1 mike james has hurt our team) throws up a 29 foot 3 ptr if it goes hes a hero and we go up by 9 (i believe it would have been 9) but he misses it and it becomes another stupid decision on his part. I was the biggest James fan when we got him because of what he can do but other than game 1 i think james has hurt us with the exception of a couple of defensive efforts he has just wanted to jack bad shots up. Tmac did the pick and roll to Yao and Yao drops it looking straight at a dunk and a secure lead with the crowd getting loud instead Yao mishandles it and Finley scores (thought it was Finley who made a buckey after that?) and crowd goes from excitement to disbelief. Hopefully we will bounce back and JVG tells them "didn't we go over what we did wrong closing the game for game 3, so guys why did yall let up again and settle for bad jump shots" Please Rockets win game 5.
Mike James is either at either end of the spectrum. He will hit clutch, incredible shots or he will show the b-ball IQ of Francis by throwing up a wild 3 or dribble the air out the ball while the rest of the team waits to go back on defense because they know they are not going to get the ball.
What the hell is up with Jon Barry passing up multiple wide open 3's? This is the guy who has had the biggest balls on the team all year long, and all of a sudden he's pumpfaking on open shots, and trying to take Dirk off the dribble. Very disappointed in JB, and just about everyone, really. Tmac did what he could, but guarding Dirk is quite a chore, and Finley made him work hard to get the ball. Dallas' depth is finally paying off. They have guys capable of 'drawing fouls' or posting up our smaller guys. If Howard gets in foul trouble, they bring in an almost exact clone in Daniels. Notice that Dirk doesn't even have to do much scoring for his team to win. He was completely bailed out by Terry and Finley in this game. Without those guys hitting cold-blooded shots, people would be saying that Dirk needs to man up. We just can't win unless we have role players step up, but we all knew that coming in.
