It's the little things in a close game that you look back on with regret -- like missed scoring opportunities. (Admittedly, I was switching back and forth between news and the Rockets -- something about an election... so these are spot observations) Points to keep harping on: 1) Yao's mentality gets expressed as a "bad game". Compared to an Artest, he's pretty passive in his play. 2) Rafer's inability to make shots and finish around the basket. 3) Scola's unfamiliarity with the concept of "dunking the ball". Almost every game, he'll miss a couple of his attempts at layups or putbacks when only a couple feet from the basket. Does anyone have him dunking on video? I've never seen it. The hope: 1) Artest's attitude and intensity elevate everyone's play. 2) The starters begin to mesh and don't make you long for the bench to come in. (With Battier out we may be waiting a while for this to happen, as the rotation will likely change at that point.) 3) When you play the world champs, they should get your "A" game. (Maybe next time.)
Fatte- Think about this. Scola and Landry are mirror images of each other. Both are 6'8-6'9 mid range spot up types. Landry is a better shooter and athelete, why scola seems to be a bit more grizzled and have problems in traffic. Hayes is the best defender as far as positioning and contesting shot, but he's 6'6. So what they basically have is no flexibility because they're all similar. None can play center for extended minutes and provide a presence. Neither guy can stretch the floor and neither guy can protect the rim. So when they play that long atheletic 4, they have to bring in chuck who kills ur offense. When yao gets in foul trouble, they have no one to contest shots. So this summer I kept bringing up names of players whom I thought would ne netter fit along the frontline. I brought up guys whom I thought could offset the starter and the backup. The team did what the thought what was best and that's their right. I just think they don't separate from each other.
second Dunk yao missed this week... give or take i dont know but this is really embarracing... if yaos going to bounce back its going to take some time....
Scola, Tmac, and Brooks came to play everyone else was a no show. Yao Ming was embarrassed by Perkins almost every play in the second half. There was this one play in the fourth where Yao got off about 2 inches from the ground and got blocked by Perkins right in his face. Yao has a good 8 inches on the man. He lost his confidence when he blocked his own dunk on the rim which he has done a few times this season already.
I think you should feel embarrassed by spelling it like embarracing. Do not talk when you dont even know how to spell embarrassed.
His knee and shoulder it's messing with his lateral movement.He will get better.He doesn't need to lose weight.
Lots of picking apart of this game, lots of reasons why we lost, but when it comes down to it, we lost to a full strength championship team that has been together for over a year by 4 points and very well could have won it. Basically, they flowed smoother and hit their shots and the Rockets missed theirs. Its OK. In fact, for such a poor shooting night, we actually hung a pretty good number on the best defensive team in the NBA. Artest and Yao shooting about 30% didn't help at all, and Rafer has truly become a liability. Yao is allowed a bad game from time to time, I guess. One thing I noticed so far this year, when Tmac decides to go to the basket, he either goes to the line or makes a shot about 90% of the time. I hope he gets even a little MORE aggressive.
First of all, the first few games of a season are pretty meaningless. So analysis of the past game is kinda worthless in regards to how we match-up. Yao is clearly not in mid-season form...and neither is rafer. Artest is cold to start the season, and t-mac is the walking wounded. Frankly, let's wait until our next meeting with the C's before judging.
I was at the game, and must say that with Ron and Yao shooting terribly we still had a chance. McGrady couldn't have guarded a middle school player last night, he was killed by Ray Allen. We didn't have Battier. We should not look at this as just a loss, but how much better we could have played. One thing I am concerned about is McGrady being able to guard other 2's and 3's. He looked extremely slow last night. Brooks looked great, and I think if we let this team grow, mature, and become more and more familiar with one another by the end of the season we will see a team capable of winning it all. Keep the faith.
If our TEAM defense was solid, we would be able to hide the weaknesses such as T-Mac gimpy knee. Unfortunately most of our JVG team defensive principles have been thrown out the window. Our good defense now is mainly a result of having good defensive players. Without the likes of Artest and Hayes, we would be doomed.
First off, this team is going to be unbelievable. Anyone who views a four point loss four games into the season to a fully fucntioning championship Celtic ball club as a disgrace is wrong on all accounts. T-Mac will be fine, but right now couldn't stay in front of anyone on this board, let alone jesus shuttlesworth. He has the ability to be an all world defender given his size, length, and quickness, but he will not be at that level until playoff time. That's right. I'm going on record as saying T-Mac's defense will be a strength later on in the year just as Paul Pierce's defense was for Boston late last year. Yao Ming just had his worst game of the season. Everyone has them, and that was his. They played him like the great teams will, but noone should be overly concerned. Once our offense is running like it's supposed to we'll be fine. Artest struggled offensively, but man was he everywhere out there. He too will be fine. Rafer's shot has sucked, but he's known to start slow. Everyone needs to find out when their shots are coming and where they are going to be and that can not be fully established until we have everyone together. So what we really learned is that our team functioning at around 60 percent can go toe to toe with the champs operating at 100 percent. People, that is absolutely amazing! Why 60? I figure we must take 10 away for Tracy being rusty and a huge defensive liability at this point and time. ANother 10 is taken away with Battier being out. 10 more for our lack of offensive chamistry that will be a strength down the stretch, and the final 10 is a mix of poor shooting and Deke;s eagerly awaited return.
i can mostly agree with the above post. 60% is about how the team was functioning as a whole. even an injured tmac kept us in it. yao - what the H happened to him? and scola too for that matter. when the ball is literally inches from the rim, it should be going in. but, not a bad loss - at least not too bad. i will patiently wait until the team hits its groove and meshes. and raefer needs to stop jackingmup those 3's when they are not needed! occasionally, he will hit a clutch 3 at the right time, but more often than not, it will be a 3 point shot that breaks our rhythm. anyways, just be patient people. it will come!
Thats a process.its getting. his movement has improvement two folds since the memphis and dallas game. and it will continue to improve as the season rolls on
just my 2 cents (after seeing the game with celtics' broadcast team and being driven nuts): - yao missed 1 open dunk and 1 almost open layup; common... i understand that you have a bad night but that's no excuse for that; and he didn't rebound too much either; maybe he was taken out of his rythm by the early fouls but nevertheless i am dissapointed - tmac... he is actually my favourite player, but last night even i could have taken him off the dribble; i don't think he should have played; luther headwould have been much more useful and a lockdown defender compared to tmac. yeah, he scored (that's really a little miracle considering he was limping through all the game), but he was destroyed by allen on the other side and as a bonus i had to listen to those poor-ass celtic comentators bashing him the entire game. i mean wtf: can't you see the guy is hurt?! - i like what brooks is doing but he's not able to hold his own under pressure yet and starts doing mistakes - i liked artest's overall intesity and defense but i don't think he can carry the rockets(offensively) on his back against an elite team like boston - i'm very dissapointed with barry's play so far in the season. he misses a lot of shots and is a liability defensively. maybe it's because of the extra time he had to play due to shane missing, but i still don't like his production; at least he's good at taking the technical free throws - as fot the others, nobody stood out in a particular good or bad way; they brought their average play; scola might have had an above average game but i didn't like his defense either p.s. shane, where are you? i really-really miss you.
Not really. he was just as bad against durant. but on offense he looked alot better then the last few games.
Yao sucks tonight But guys,it's only one game. The fact is Yao,Ron are sleeping,T-mac is really old.Rafel lost his way,Without Battier^^^^^what a suck game ,but we only lost by 4 points---unbelievble. When Rockets match well,we beat them.
Can anybody name a slower starting 5 in the league? Can anybody name a starting 5 with less overall leaping ability? Yao - no need to explain Scola - same as above Artest - strong as a bull but not fast and below average leaping ability for his position McGrady - even when healthy, he has lost his relative quickness Alston - surprisingly, Alston is probably the closest to league average out of our starting 5 relative to his position... he has other issues You may not think that speed and leaping ability matter all that much, but can you name a single starting 5 that has less overall speed or leaping ability?
i would agree to some posters who said we should be allowed this 4point loss. but c'mon guys, the pacers beat the celtics by 19points. they have a new point guard in tj ford, lost jermaine o'neal, so their chemistry should be practically nonexistent, but they still beat them by 19! i think we have a problem with RA's coaching. im not saying his strategy or his plays. motion offense is a great idea, but it needs the entire team to be on the same page and that entire team to have been playing together for half a season to be effective. RA needs to fix his coaching. If yao isnt effective with the fronting defense down low, take him out of the game or better yet, put him at the high post. if rafer is sucking, put in barry,brooks or even von wafer. if artest's jumpers arent falling, you set up low post plays for him. he needs to adjust his plays per game, per situation. we really need a PG who can read the situation and set up plays accordingly. if he sees them fronting yao, the PG should ask yao to go to the high post. that will nullify the fronting defense, open up the lanes for slashing and allow the others (artest and scola) to work around the post.
