i dont blame yao or tmac in this series at all, i blame the whole organization...we dont have the fire power we need to to compete at times...really our offense is horrible...... who on this team can really shoot.....head and lucas(both are pure shooter s but are too short to be effective), battier counts but he really wasnt meant to be a pure shooter, he was meant to be our glue and (novak has yet to be developred.....) besides those two we dont have any other players that can shoot look at our 04 05 team, we had at least four players that could knock down open shots, barry, wesley, james, bob sura (yea hes not a shooter but he was making them), not to mention bowen and padgett who despite their phsycial limitations could also shoot decently. look at some of the shots weve been getting, i kno for a fact i have seen jhoward open, i mean completely open, and could not knock it down. thats what i comes down to, after playing great defense, knock down your shots. i mean, if the team is not making the basket, the team well become less motivated to hustle and compete, and their confidence will dwindle much like what we saw in game three and four. its all about making the shot, and we dont have the personnel to do that we just didnt rebuild well after that 04 05 series..... sigh* boki 14 points a game...........
i agree we do lack the firepower to compete against the elite i've said this all season but people here think yao/t-mac is enough.
Ok Bowen shoot decently? this is the guy that can make Mutombo look like a scoring champion, he couldn't even make a layup. you've lost all credibility... Although i do agree that we never brought in a 3rd scoring option and it will have to be adressed in the offseason. Wells was supposed to be that guy. but Wells has never averaged more than 14 a game not exactly a scorer.
Our defense is intended to make up for that. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough in Utah. Consistent offensive play has been our weak link all year. It doesn't help that both Yao and Tracy save their dominating A games for when the other is out. In their time together, they've never fully meshed into a unstoppable duo. They take turns, even within a single game. The team philosophy is to put together a roster of specified role players around the two superstars. We've found that leads to dire consequences when our stars play like nightlights. In one sense, it's a good plan - Team USA has sucked the last decade because they try to take 15 20-pt scorers and make them a team. JVG doesn't want to crowd the rosters with scorers - he wants guys that don't look at stat sheets after the game. The downside is, no one can create their own shot regularly if we need help. That was Mike James, that was supposed to be Derek Anderson, and that was supposed to be Bonzi. They'll look to find that guy again in the offseason. For now, it's on McGrady and Yao to realize they can't allow anyone to refuse them. They've got to dominate - when they do, the rest of the team gets hot via synergy. Evan
I agree with you 100 percent. Now some people migt come out and say well they were effective during the year and I agree with that, but the difference is now all these guys who cannot create their own shots are just not getting the same quilty shots because the Jazz know that they are so one dimensional.
I agree that we may not have the firwpower to be title contenders but we definitely have the firepower to get past the first round of the playoffs. We have the best center in the league(Yao), a top tier SG/SF(T-Mac) and one of the better defensive players in the league (Battier). I think it is fair to say that we have underachieved if we don't make it past the first round. Since everyone has asked for Van Gundy's head I wont jump on the bandwagon but I think it is fair to ask if he is the best coach for the Rockets. We have way too much offensive firwpower to be held to 65 points. If the Rockets organization decides that Van Gundy is in fact their man, bring in an assistant coach whose specialty is on the offensive end. Bring in someone from the Lakers who has worked with Tex Winters to install some of the principals of the triangle offense. It was made for a center who is a good passer and we have that in Yao. I am no expert but you don't have to be one to know that the Rockets are too good to get bounced out of the first round. I realize that we still have a very good chance of beating the Jazz but looking at our team as objectively as a fan of the Rockets can, I think we should expect to beat the Jazz. The playoffs is a halfcourt game where centers should have more of an impact than they did in the regular season. I am not seeing this paly out in this series.
