I'll go out on a limb and say that if RA took the exact team that played tonite into the offseason - without Tracy Lamar and yes, dare I say, even Artest - and he actually had a chance to figure out what he has and implements roles and plays accordingly and most importantly give them a chance to practice together, this team could be pretty scary, even in the west. Our only problem right now is that the players are so used to Tracy doing his thing that they're confused when the game is on the line. An offseason and preseason together would fix that problem for good.
Dont understand why Yao was even on the floor for the last play of the game. Its not like he should be out there for an offensive rebound because even if they were lucky enough to get one, the clock would run out even before he could pass it to a shooter.
well the refs took him out of the game when he was on fire and he cooled off until rick brought him back nearly halfway into the 4th. the lakers, collapsed on him and that's why the offense bogged down. if artest or t-mac are playing and healthy, you can counter that better. he only took 4 shots and the disadvantage of being the big man is that you have to have help in getting the ball, particularly with the way teams are allowed to defend these days. yao played with fire, I really don't see a problem from his end, IN THIS GAME. well the last shot sucked. if you give yao a fairly called game he's one of the 5 best players in the nba.
As Chris Webber said, this game exactly showed why this rockets team still need Tmac. All the fans remember Novak's 3pt during 22 winning streak, but seldom mentioned Tmac's passing!
The Rockets don't need T-Mac. Most of the game featured great ball movement and offensive efficiency. Once again the Rox play harder without T-Mac. What they need is the $21 million they're paying him.
Dude, you're going to need three tow trucks to drag those panties out of your ass. Also, you could cut down the scream symbols (!) by about 90%.
This loss gives me the confidence that we can go out and beat teams without Mcgrady and Artest, i think our team will be able to hold a good record without Mcgrady and Artest in the lineup, when they come back i can only hope for the best I, unlike alot of fans on here still believe in T-Mac and if he can come back from these two weeks in good shape then we will be even better if you ask me, but if he is still hurting and can't jump/contribute like he should be then we have a problem..but untill thenlets GET HEALTHY
I think you hit the nail on the head. At this point I am all for T-mac and Artest sitting untill after the All-Star break. The during that weeked, have teh team train together. Not a hard workout, but enough to build some chemistry. Then everyone can return and be healthy. If someone complains of a injury out of Artest and T-Mac, sit them for the rest of the year.
What more will it take for the Rockets to limit Rafer to 5-10 mpg? I realize Brooks had a poor game, but Rafer has had a poor career. The way he costs the team games like this in the regular season will be what he will do in the playoffs as well. He's the weakest link by far.
What's with all the yao bashing? When you watch basketball games, do you just watch the last 2 min of it? w/o Yao this wouldn't even be close. This guy had 19/17/5/3 in the game and lead the team w/o Mac and Artest to a close game vs the LAL. Give him some freaking credit. But no, wah wah wah Yao is unclutch wah wah wah why gave the ball to Yao. Because he is our star, live with it. Jez.
The ball doesn't lie! This is not the 1st time, and won' t be the last time either. bwt, during the 22 winning streak, with Tmac, the rockets had great ball movement too.
This loss makes the wariting for T-mac and Ron even painful. It's driving me crazy now. My feelings are totally mixed now. I don't know what to say now.
My major problem with this game was the officiating, almost everything went for Lakers. The referees took Yao out of the game in the 3rd quarter which pretty much affected the outcome in a way, he was on a roll. Last problem was in the fourth quarter, Wafer barely got touches on the ball, he was hot all night need to feed him the ball. Boneheaded play by Yao at the end but it shouldn't have been that close of a game in the first place.
