I would all for James get into the game a little early, but don't think it is a good idea to start him. In last two games, James did not shoot the ball well but played key minutes during crunch time and missed couple of shots. If JVG gave him some early playing time (resting Tmac or Sura), it might have got him into shooting rhythm, he would have been able to knock those critical shots down. It is hard for any player that does not play that much in the first three quaters, then he was expected to play big in the critical moment. The bottome line is we need him to score some points.
James shouldn't start, he is fine coming off the bench. However, I would like JVG to put Sura in during the 4th than James. James is obviously a better shooter than Sura, but Sura is more of a leader type that we need down the stretch of close games.
Sura played very well in Game 2. But Sura can't dribble. Eithr can play..just play your best defense..and get the darn ball to Yao or Tmac..and cut to the basket get open..
James has major flaws as a point guard, sure he''ll give you clutch scoring and defend but the bad trade off is he's can't or won't pass worth a lick! He has that ball hog mentality and more than one ocasions drifted away from the plays that was called and started to do his own thing. We have had the same problem all year long with the point guard position(along with PF problem), right now there's not much we can do except benching James, but he is what he is , a shoot first none passing point guard(pretty ironic if you're a point guard). Off season top priority, get that legit pass first, shoot last point guard we've been craving about for so long!
mike james was trying to be the hero in game 4. he's not as heady a player as sura. he needs to know his role, and stop trying to do so much.. and stop screaming when you go in for a layup.. just make the shot
The problem is James plays much better defense on Terry than does Sura. Since Terry has been killing us this series, I am not against giving James more minutes when Terry is on the floor as long as he doesn't get into a personal battle.
The problem is that James either just has not bought into or has not yet been able to incorporate Van Gundy's offensive ball movement philosophy into his game. He can't start until he does. Maybe next year after he's had an entire training camp with JVG. He's great for coming off the bench and providing offense when we're sitting either Yao or Tracy. But he is not the right point guard to play when both of them are in the game. When Jason Terry is "in the zone", I can see him getting a little extra time because of his quickness. Or if Sura's back is limiting him too much, we may have no choice. But I just don't see James playing at the start when we're trying to get Yao's offense going or at the end when precise, crisp execution is most needed.
I've aready posted in the game thread that James has too much of a Francis mentalitiy, i.e., he dribbles too much and ball movement suffers. So I definitely agree with a few others here who have noticed the same thing. James shouldn't start. As a matter of fact when he's in the Francis mode he hurts the "team" ball rather than helps it. How can we be a better "team" with a player who limits ball movement and reduces the role of the other players by too much one-on-one play. I wanted him to be yanked from Game 4 because of this. And if you think some of us who feel that way are off base don't forget that when he asked for the ball after making a costly mistake in Game 4, McGrady waved him off and kept the ball... and the look on Tracy's face said it all. It was more or less, "You want the ball after what you did on that last possessioni??!!
Mike James is a very good defender and brings a lot of energy to the court...he is also much better than sura at contending with the speed of the mav's backcourt... also very importantly he can create his own shot which sura has trouble doing and this opens up our offense a lot for TMAC and Yao...i think our best lineup on the floor in this series is: PG: Mike James SG: David Wesley (our best perimeter defender) SF: TMac PF: Padgett (actually has offense so we're not playing 4 on 5 when Bowen is in the game) C: Yao
Also, I just wanted to say that I think what this team needs esp. in this series is a third scorer, or someone besides Tmac and Yao... Yes, James might not be a very good passer but tmac is the best passer on our time by far and in this series he has been playing the role of set-up man anyways...everybody else on our roster besides Tmac, Yao, and James is just a spotup shooter and the mavs have been doing a good job of closing out on our perimeter shooters the past couple of games...if mike james can get his offense going like he did in tonite's game then that will really open up our offense...think about how close we were to winning tonite with Tmac having a terrible shooting nite
i am making this case once again. that 20 point turn around just came with james in. he's getting steals, hitting shots, hustling, playing good D. he's simply a better all around player and athlete. we need him to be in there as many minutes as possible
true james can play defense..he's quick..which makes him better fitting with our team and can react to stuff..can hustle..can penetrate can dribble..provides energy..but shot is inconsistent..and I like him off the bench. We need to get a better point guard here. Sura is fine though
I totally agree. Sura (has been hurt and is returning from the flu or something). The healthy Sura is critical to this team. Wesley needs to hit his 3s. He's not that good of a defender. Game 7 1. Yao needs more touches EARLY. 2. Dikembe in the 4th is a great idea for Defense and boards. 3. our shooters need to hit the 3s (we whip them when Barry/Padgett / James hit shots). This is true for pretty much the regular season wins if you think about it.
Wesley is the rockets second best perimeter defender after McGrady. Stackhouse has just been on fire.
