Have you noticed how TMac does well with the reserves and Artest plays well with Yao? Actually, there are many combinations that appear to work. I can't wait for Battier's return. Can't wait.
you see how stupid some fans get when they complain. this team has shown they can be the best or one of the best. right now, we're NOWHERE near our potential and we're still beating some very good teams. brooks doesn't look good starting so hopefully he'll go back to a better scorer with rafer starting. tracy looked and moved great tonight. he played a really solid, all-around game. people need to give him a break. sure he isn't recovering as fast as we all like, but he's recovering. every game we see him moving better. today he moved better than the spurs game, which is a great sign. this team can only get better. we toyed with the hornets and i thought we didn't play that great.
They will eventually start dominating. Offensively the Rockets ae still learning themselves. When they get their timing and chemistry tight they will be able to dominate the likes of the Lakers
When Tmac attacks the basket, he stops afterwards expecting to get a foul call but that doesn't allows happen. Then the other team is getting the rebound and running away with it. On one play tonight he went to the basket and got fouled, but there was no whistle so he got upset, continued with the play and made a put back with a foul. I think Tmac needs to have that mentality and play like that all the time. When he attacks the basket, he needs to stay with the play and not just give up and assume the refs will blow their whistle. Also, I know that Chris Paul is an all-star, but can Brooks get a call for crying out loud. He was pushed to the ground by CP3 and the refs just swallowed their whistle.
he scored 21, but he only got 6 boards and 0 blocks. the defense on chris paul was more on the perimeter guys staying to their people and moving their feet. defense won us this game. for us to really elevate to that other level, yao gotta get 10+ boards and 3+ blocks consistently.
let's be real, boston's big 3 isn't that great offensively either. they don't win pretty either. why? b/c they win with rebounding and defense. their first 2 playoff series were some of the worst by a championship caliber team i have ever seen (and not winning one road game). but they won. nobody gives you pretty points for winning. we just need to win.
consistency ain't mean the same every game. at best it means "most of the time". it means for a player who averages 10 rebounds a night, he may get it in pattern of 10-11-9-5-15-10-12, etc. thought that was bball 101. and anyone expects yao avg. 3+ blocks a game seriously is either out of his mind or will be disappointed. kinda like i say "unless mcgrady averages 40pts and 8+ assists a game, we have no hope to get to the other level".
3+ blocks? First of all isn't that like insane block numbers? The best shotblockers in the game only average like 2.5 usually. Dwight Howard is the freak of nature this season I think he's averaging 4. 3+ blocks is insane to expect from Yao. That's not even his game. He's not a good shotblocker. He doesn't have that natural timing and elevation/athleticism required to be a 3+ shotblocker. What he can do is change shots just being there, and then work at boxing out and grabbing the rebound. All in all, I think he does very well. It's just when he's winded he becomes way too slow. His conditioning will come along though. He's not fully in shape yet.
T-Mac played a pretty solid game. Before the game Daryl Morey in this Rookie Tip Off event I went to said he was upset with the way T-Mac was playing too. He sounded pissed about the spurs game too.
oops i mean 2+ blocks a game. i just feel when chuck hayes is in the game, the reason our defense goes up a notch (besides his 1-on-1) is that he allows us to rotate better b/c he can switch on to guard anybody from any position. and that's what he did today. yao played well today overall though. i just want to see more consistent #s from the boards and blocks.
Dwight is averaging 4 blocks this season, but before that, his a career 2 blocks per game, which is the average of yao as well.
he should. we all are. he's been extremely inconsistent to start the season. 1-2 games, he looks like the old tracy. the next, he's worse than a scrub. he really needs to get it together and find a way to be consistent for us. however, i do find a positive in that he's moving much better since the suns game.
but his blocks average has increased EVERY season basically from 1.4 to 1.7 to 1.9 to 2.1 last yr to now 4+. and looks like dwight is hitting his prime. i still believe yao has a better overall offensive game than dwight (i still can't see dwight's post game). but his rebounding and blocking right now are at all-time status.
Right...which is why I said "this season". The point was that Dwight Howard averaging 4 which is unheard of, not that Dwight is a better shotblocker than Yao. Although if Dwight has a 2.6+ block season, his career average will continue to rise. But that's not the point. Howard has none of the offensive skills Yao has, but he manages to pour in, what, 23 points a game? Couple that with 14 boards and 4 blocks and you have a monster. Yao doesn't have the rebounding ability or athleticism/timing Dwight has, but he is still able to average about 2 blocks and pull down 10 boards. It's give and take. A lot of people would choose Dwight over Yao because of the athleticism, but I choose Yao over Howard because of his touch. His offensive skill, and of course, the FTs. No disrespect to Howard though. That guy is a beast. 23 ppg on 61.8% from the field, 15 rpg, and 4 blocks!
i feel if we can just have 2 of our big 3 to have a good game, then we should be able to walk out with a victory, if all 3 are doing good, we'll walk out with a blow-out, and if we only have 1 of the big 3 doing good, we better pray von wafer can shoot lights out.
This is probably because McGrady is used to playing with scrubs and reserves. I think Artest has that ability as well, he was the go to guy in Kings, where he was literally keeping the Kings alive with the developing Martin. Artest's efforts in Kings are under appreciated, whether he is cancer or not. What we really need to do is make sure that our big 3 can gel before anything else. Even though I much like one of our big 3s to play the 6th man, it is important for our big 3 to be able to play together and be the most efficient lineup if we want to go anywhere in the playoffs. That being said, I actually want to see RA switching players on the bench. Some games we see McGrady on the bench, some days we see Artest and some days we see Yao. I think having our big 3 switch between 6th man is a terrific way to exploit matchups. Have Yao go to the bench against teams with a big man Scola or Hayes can handle. That way, Yao can exploit against the backup center. Have McGrady go on the bench when the second unit of our opponent is relatively short, let McGrady exploit his height advantage. Have Artest on the bench when our opponent has a relatively weak second unit, so Artest can be a monster in the paint, scoring and grabbing rebounds.
Dwight is a monster, but he doesnt demand the double team in the post, which puts a lot of pressure on the defense. Yao has his liabilities too, but I will say this, if you watch Yao, he always blocks out his man and doesnt chase rebounds out of his teammates hands. Watch him closely. Im not saying he is a great rebounder, but if he can average 9-10, Id be happy.
Yao is the biggest liablity in the game. He gets in foul trouble, sucks on defense, has no vertical, can't out rebound anyone, can't box out due to his lack of stength, and of course highely injury prone.
