here we go, i'll try to keep it simple... 1) got out of the gate fairly slow...15-17 after about 30ish games i believe...we played better from Thanksgiving to Christmas, but we weren't really thinking playoffs at that point... 2) we went on this miraculous 22 game winning streak...what did that basically do !?!?!? GIVE US A CHANCE TO BE IN THE PLAYOFFS !!!! let's say we go 16-6 during those 22 games...we'd be OUT of the playoffs...even 16-6 is a stretch... 3) i think around win #14 Yao goes down with a broken foot, but the BAD THING is that the trade deadline had already passed us up...we were riding an emotional win streak and i respect that Morey didn't wanna ruin the "chemistry" of this team...BUT, how the hell could you honestly believe that Yao or Tracy wasn't gonna go down with an injury...and if one of them DID, how were you gonna be able to stop the bleeding !?!?! he shoulda pulled the trigger for Artest; i've been saying this for about 3 months now... 4) i don't blame T-Mac 100%...he takes some of the blame cuz afterall, he makes 20MM a year...and 20MM a year players don't get paid to go 3-16 in the 4th quarter through the first 4 games of round 1...i blame Morey for not making a move to get a 3rd scorer...he traded for Bobby MF Jackson !!! WTF was he thinking !?!? EVERYONE KNEW that this current squad wasn't gonna make it past the first round against ANY team in the West...well, maaaaybe Denver cuz they can't play D...out of the 8 Western Conf teams there were at least 5 that went out and got a player to "put them over the top"...we made ZERO moves...ZERO !!!!...and now people are botching about not being able to match up with the Jazz..well NO **** !!!! 5) lastly, about T-Mac: this team wasn't supposed to be in the playoffs, period !!!! we went into the playoffs as the most unathletic team with the least amount of "high profile players" ----> one All-Star that has averages about 29pts in the playoffs during his career but that has had NO HELP around him...we have T-Mac and a few YMCA players...the players that we "thought" were gonna be great were ONLY great during the streak...i respect Scola and Landry's tenacity but they ARE NOT playing like they were in February...i consider Shane, Rafer and Scola to be our "other scoring options"...but they're gonna struggle against a team that is physically and athletically better than you... for everyone upset that were are down 3-1, we SHOULD be down 3-1 against this team...when your bigger, stronger, more physical and have better shooters your gonna be up 3-1 against a weaker team, bottom line... /rant discuss
I can't believe I am going to set you straight, but I'll try to keep it simple We actually got out of the gate really quick.. won six out of seven. We played really bad from Thanksgiving to Christmas, but stepped it up against Denver which is where we started playing like a team. Just after the new year we were 15-17 and that's when we started winning.. until Philly. This is actually a correct statement.. so I will leave it alone. It was game 12 that Yao went down.. which was already after the trade deadline. Yao had only been out because of the flu, so you are telling me you can read the future. Heck why didn't you call Morey and tell him that Yao was going to have season ending surgery!! Trading for Bobby Jax helped in two ways. It gave us a backup point guard who knew Adelman's offense for the post season and it rid us of the albatross that was Mike James contract. How many minutes is MJ getting in New Orleans in the playoffs? How are those Shaq and J Kidd trades working out for the Suns and Mavs? To be honest, I think they are doing poorly offensively cause they are working their butts off on the defensive end. Let's put it this way. The Utah Jazz are one of the most efficient offensive teams in the league. And we are holding them under their average in every game. Our defense has been top notch in this series. And I am sorry, but how athletic are the Spurs, the Pistons? Neither team has a bunch of athletic kids on their team. The only teams in the playoffs with a bunch of athletic players is Philly and Atlanta. Even the Lakers and Boston have solid role players not athletic highlight reels. We are down only because of shooting percentage on the free throw line. Each and every one of the games we lost could have gone the other way had we made more free throws. End of story. This team has competed with the so called bigger stronger Jazz in every aspect of the game. So don't say we "should" be down. Learn to type in normal English instead of text speak, people will take you more seriously /rant discuss
LOL at Hayesfan. I think being down 1-3 is no big deal because we're so undermanned, but the fact is we didn't have to be. I can actually understand going down 0-2 without Rafer, because he IS an important piece to this team. Splitting in Utah 1-1 sounds like a miracle unless you consider we really had a shot to win game 4 and come home with a 2-2 series tie and the momentum... Let me say this: UTAH SUCKS They can barely beat the Rockets without Yao AT HOME (1-1) and they need Yao AND Rafer out to win in Houston. If they beat us, screw them, they're going to get massacred by the Lakers. Kobe's going to pop his jersey some more and Derek Fisher is going to get booed all they way to the bank in LA, not in UTAH, because he BAILED on those losers! /rant
ok, in the end i was right...we were 15-17 and weren't thinking about the playoffs...thanks for agreeing... even if we WOULD HAVE HAD Yao playing, i doubt he would have been able to keep up during our win streak...he was playing too many minutes and his foot was hanging on by a thread...he knew it, but he was trying to play through it...he should have said something earlier...he put us in a bind... yeah, the only person shooting worse than T-Mac is BJax...i guess 1-10 is great as long as you can get out of a contract and how the hell can someone take a wide open 3 pointer and make it an off balanced one legged brick !?!?!? BJax is garbage and i hope he's not back next year...we traded garbage and GOT garbage in return... see, the Suns and Mavs were already better than us to begin with...they had legit scorers on their team...Steve Nash and Amare by themselves could work our entire squad... and like i explained earlier WE DO NOT have the personnel to compete with teams with BETTER PLAYERS...we can do all we want on the defensive end but if we only have ONE SCORING OPTION, who so happens to only shoot 35% from the field, then why did we go into the playoffs with a weak team...again, we weren't even supposed to BE in the playoffs... i guess Parker and Manu can't create their own shot at any given time in the game apparently you didn't see Manu take a left handed drive and finish strong to win a playoff game and apparently you didn't see Parker go off for 34 a few days back...name me 2 people that are more athletic and offensive minded than Parker and Manu OTHER THAN T-Mac and i will deliver a dozen chocolate chip cookies to your address of choice... Rip Hamilton, Chauncy Billups !?!?! wow dude, those are some of the most unathletic people i have ever seen... no one in the league would kill to have a 6'3" 205lb PG averaging 17pts and 7 ast a game and it must suck to be 6'7" and shoot 48% from the field, 44% from beyong the arch and only 83% from the FT line funny cuz that's what everyone was saying about the Rockets... Boston: Allen, Rondo, KG, and Pierce are pretty much the best at what they do Atlanta: they are young but can jump out of the roof...they have talent also, not just a bunch of kids that can jump through the roof really, i thought it was because we can't execute with 5 minutes left on the clock or because T-Mac has been shooting 3-16 in the 4th quarter for the first 4 games or cuz Okur snags an offensive rebound off a missed FT or cuz Deron Williams is working every single Rockets player on our roster or cuz Ronnie Brewer is working T-Mac on both ends of the court... yes, we "should" be down...our "star player" is trying his best to carry a team with no scoring options, but he's not that kind of player...he ain't Kobe, he ain't LeBron and he ain't CP3...he's a winless T-Mac that shoots horribly from the field and that can't shoot freethrows... the Jazz are just a better team, period...the sooner you realize that the sooner you wake up from your dream where the Rockets are gonna beat the Jazz 3 games in a row does this mean that you'll be throwing away your Scola bobblehead after we lose in Game 5 !?!?
The Jazz are better, but the Rockets are actually not that far off. They're hanging tough with the Jazz and game 4 in Utah could have easily gone the other way. I don't disagree that the Jazz have a bigger gun, but it's close. With Yao the Rockets would be up 3-1.
see, i don't believe that...we were dominated from tip-off...we were down by like 8 points in the last 55 seconds...it took (2) 25 foot 3 pointers by Rafer and Battier to cut the lead down...but even then we couldn't execute... that game was more one-sided than the final score indicated...
the last lead we had in Game 4 was with 5 minutes left in the 2nd quarter... they averged staying ahead of us by about 6-8 points...
Good, maybe you should go start some threads on the Utah & LA fan boards......maybe there will even be a Harpringfan & Waltonfan there to correct them for you....
