In defense of Yao, he was playing with foul trouble a lot so he couldn't be too aggressive. On the other hand, with the exception of the 2nd foul, most of the fouls on Yao were his fault, silly hacking plays where he didn't need to foul. Agree. Novak hit one three pointer and proceeded to get pwned royally by Boozer and contributed zero offense for the next 8 minute as the Jazz doubled their lead. JVG went to plan C which was Padgett - who pretty much mimicked Novak's performance (though he did grab a few boards). Hayes wasn't an option at that point because the rockets were in a giant shooting slump. Rafer was abused by an arthritic Derek Fisher. That is horrific.
I agree with this. Boozer had amazing numbers--19 rebounds, 24 points and only 1 foul. But I wonder what are these "little things" that Battier does? How can the Rockets win with a starting PF who puts up numbers like this? Zero FTs made; 1 rebound; and 0 assists. He did have 2 steals and 1 block. In other words he had more fouls (5) in 32 minutes than free throws, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals COMBINED. Don't the Rockets need more tangibles from their starting PF? Maybe this will not be representative of his game for the rest of the year, but if your PF can't rebound or defend, doesn't he need to bring more to the table than this?
I was very disappointed last night.. But then I also realized.. HEY, where is Rybo? ..and that gave me some comfort
I think refs changed the flow of the game.Yao got two offense fouls called, right? How can you be aggressive if refs tried to contain you.
To be perfectly honestly I had the same reaction to the Rockets losing that I did to my fantasy team putting up numbers that left me looking up at the basement. Calm down. One night. let us see where the season goes. I did not see the game but from my understanding we made Derek Fisher an all-star so we need to shore up the D. So to Rockets fan all over... Cheer for the next game. Especially againist Dallas.
As big of a fan I am of Yao. I have to agree with the negatives about Yao. The stat line means absolutely nothing if you can't win. Yao simply does not have the presence at the moment. I don't care if Yao has a worst stat line as long as his presence is felt on the court. Ben Wallace stinks if we are talking about purely statistical measures, apart from rebounds, and maybe a a block or two, everything else is a drag. As I said, this team begins and ends with Yao. He needs to be aggressive on offense and force the issue. T-mac needs to understand that too. I can't see why some people can't see that T-mac is only a shadow of his former self and there's nothing you can do about it. Yao needs to step up, and soon. There is nothing wrong with losing and playing smart. I can't see why we can't continue to play with the ball movement that we had in preseason when they forced fed Yao. On the bright sight. We only lost by 10 despite playing so horrible. The Jazz had everything working their way yesterday. I can't see the performance being duplicated.
I've said it a hundred times. The only screens Yao should be setting is when they are running PnR with McGrady and then the screen should be set at the top of the key, not out at the 3 point line. It's too much space for the defender to move around in and it causes Yao to have to cheat on the screen and pick up a cheapie. No need for that nonsense. If you need a screen set on in never land, send Shane out there to do it.
I actually thought the ball movement was very good for the game. Not many turnovers, no shot clock violations, the ball crossed half court with a lot of time left on the clock and the Rockets got a lot of easy looks that they clanked off of the rim...some of them point blank shots. Had the Rockets shot the ball at a decent click in the 1st half they would have finished the game with 22 to 25 assists. The Rockets were getting good shots but just not making them and the blame can be passed around to almost everyone on the team except maybe Yao who was pretty efficient with the ball last night. The difference in the game last night was simple...shooting. Although the Rockets shooting would have been fine if they would have played some defense. As a matter of fact I could not tell that either team played any defense...it was mostly about which team missed fewer shots. BTW, we missed 13 free throws and they only missed 5.
The answer for Boozer was Chuck Hayes. He should have played major minutes the 2nd half. He is our best post up defender. It should have been obvious from the 1st half that Padge was not the answer on Boozer. And our shooting slump was late in the game. At the start of the 2nd half and on through the begining of the 4th quarter, we were shooting fine. In fact, we really shot pretty good except for McGrady's night. Hayes was the antidote for Boozer. Besides if you are needing boards, Hayes gives you twice what Padgett gives you. Hayes is our chemistry guy when Battier is out of the game. He is arguable the 2nd or 3rd best defender on the whole team. And he is not that big a liability on the offensive end. He keeps teams honest with his intelligence going to the glass when his man leaves him and he plays within himself. If Battier is on the bench with foul trouble against a scoring low block PF like Boozer, you bring in Hayes and substitute Rafer with Head, a better shooting better defending point that can play off the ball and spread the floor. Then let Hayes run PnR and let Yao post up.
I don't think you're correct as to the timing of the shooting slump. The Rockets hit their first five shots but after that went on a horrible slump and hit something like 1-10 , which is how it went from a tie game to a 20 point Utah lead. i don't disagree that Hayes is a better defender, but lets face it. When the Rockets need both offensive AND defensive firepower from the 4 slot from anybody other than Battier because nobody else is doing anything - they are up sh-t creek without a paddle because there is nobody on the roster who can do that
I actually agree -- we needed Chuck Hayes out there to stop Boozer. As for T-Mac, I'm pretty sure it's the new ball that's affecting his FG% and free throw shooting. T-Mac's mode of shooting isn't exactly conventional -- he relies a lot on elevation and his shots have always been flat looking. I suspect it will take a short adjusting period for him to really get used to this ball. As for his health/athleticism, he still looks great.
I don't even think we have a player who can match physically with Boozer. He's just one of a kind. If he plays like that all year long, they'll be winning it all.
NBA champs Miami lost their 1st game.....infact they got whooped bad. They are still in favor to win NBA title again. So im not too worried with Rox, although I still think JVG could have used a better roatation than what he did last nite.
No, this indicates that he was in foul trouble, and as a result could not play enough minutes. Even when he was out on the floor, he was hampered both defensively and offensively by the referees and their incessant whistle-blowing. See my post above...the combination of so much rust and a new ball which is not friendly to his typical shooting form is affecting him. He will eventually adjust. He looks every bit as athletic as I've seen him since he came to Houston. Agree. Also hopefully JVG is working on him with respect to passing -- he would be even more effective if he could learn to dish out to the open man after penetrating. I can't exactly disagree with JVG's decision...Novak was no match for Boozer. What I wish he'd done is send out Chuck Hayes to stop the bleeding for a few minutes. He got a couple of bad foul calls, but his real deficiency against Boozer was rebounding. For all the things Battier does well, he isn't exactly known as a *great* rebounder AFAIK. Boozer was simply on fire, on some sequences I saw Battier guard him just about as well as anyone could. As is always after a loss. Hindsight is 20/20. What does this have to do with the game? It's just a game. Now yall go get a hankie and stop crying like babies.
Nice post. You DO have a legit point here. I wish Yao's Dad could yell at him everytime: "Get the freaking ball and mother@@@@ing shoot it!!"
Yes, it was an ugly game, but keep in mind with about 3 min left we were only down 5 points. It would have been great to win, but lets keep things in perspective, we lost one road game. If everyone is going to kill the rockets about this one game, I guess the pistons, heat and suns are doomed. Wait the suns won their second game so all must be well and now the clippers are doomed cuz they started 0-1. I say dont panic until at least 10 games are done. The rox have a tough start to the season with road games and 4 games in 5 nights. If they can get through the first 10 games with a 6-4 record, I think that would be a great start. Until then, all the haters need just relax.
Most of jopatmc's analyses on Yao's performance are on target, thought the word "horrible" is a bit too harsh. I think Yao's problem should not be viewed in isolation. True it's always to his own benefit that he should demand the ball a lot more, in a much bigger picture the degree to which Yao can command his teammates on the court may also be dictated by JVG's instruction/permission, and Yao's "subtle" chemistry and coordination with another superstar on the team. Granted it's only one regular-season game that has been played, people are soon going to get tired of hearing "I am still working on my shots so have no worries I'll get better" remarks from TMac. Like it or not, Yao and TMac are still feeling each other's game like in the beginning of the '04-'05 season. To make things more complicated, both have been playing with new batch of "role players" every friggin' season, so the adjustment is more than limited to between two of them. I don't particularly care about whose team this is and I'd like to think neither of our twin superstars cares, either. Something jopatmc didn't comment much is Yao's fouls. I said it before and I'm saying again, Yao has to learn how to stay on the court longer by not committing fouls too early in the game. Sometimes he has to let it go a little bit while defending or setting picks, especially when he himself is already in an offensive groove. He has to realize the team needs him more in offense when he's hot, and he should keep it going relentlessly. A couple of quick fouls can change the momentum of his team's offense and his own rhythm very easily. JVG OTOH should refrain from complying with opponent's wish and/or cooperating with the refs by duly sending Yao to the bench. He should dare the refs to foul Yao out. I mean what's the big f*cking deal Yao is fouled out too early? At worst you lose only one friggin game. But the blessing in disguise is it allows you to see what the team can do without our big man available for the remainder of a game. Maybe TMac can finally find his touches and be himself again. Maybe other "role" players can step up to fill the needs. That said, I don't wish to see Yao develop a habit of playing timidly if he constantly reminds himself about the fouls and playing time. It's always a fine balance to be aggressive and not prone to cheap fouls. I'm sure Yao is a smart player who knows how to handle the tough situations. Oh yeah, earn a T or two if you have to, Yao. Let the league take notice You are unfairly whistled more often than not.
