What? Do you miss Rafer Alston? He just shot 33% tonight vs. AB's 40%. Oh and the Magic gave up 120 pts to the Bulls of all teams.
I REALLY do believe that the big problem with Yao and the 'killer instinct' thing is that the rox never have him for a full off-season. That guy needs to be HERE for one full off-season...and daily addressing his mentality. He needs to get over to Fondi or Westside or wherever and run pick-up games all day against guys that will talk noise and ride him and point and laugh at him...challenge his manhood. Make him HATE losing...to the point where he shows NO mercy when he is UP, and screams and fights like a dog when he is down. Yao mentioned during ALL STAR break that the game was 'too fast' for him. I think it is...primarily in his head. He seems to be very self-conscious....i think there are a lot of factors there. But they need him here for one full off-season. Theyre trying to teach a soldier how to kill in the midst of the battle...
Love AB's attack the rim. But hell of learning curve for him to grasp some other important PG skills like control the tempo down the stretch, run the right play, etc, etc. I know it's not fair to ask AB to do all that, but until then we are going to have problems when teams put pressure on his in a playoff kind game.
Scola was great. Artest was clutch with his FTs. Hayes Artest Battier are some defensive trio. Yao changed a lot of shots under the rim but his to's off of the doubles are still a big problem, not sure what the solution is other than never having him put the ball on the floor.
I doubt it Rafer is in the East now. The West have bigger and sort of better guards do in than the East.
so it seems that rockets most likely will face:Hornets, Blazers utah, I rather play vs blazers or vs hornets Do jazz plz
As long as Brooks continues to play the same way he has always played, this team is going to suffer in the half court playoffs. I think I counted all of one pass Brooks made to Yao after the 8 minute mark in the 4th. I dont think Yao so much struggled this game, as Yao is struggling with Brooks as the set up man. Several times I looked at Battier make a good entry pass to Yao in the lane, and wonder how an NBA PG can't handle this problably the most important, first taught lesson to any PG. Right now, AB is nothing but a chucker, and is playing extremely selfish ball. Its very saddening for me, because I really thought it was his time to play more, and to be honest we really need his penetration ability and scoring. There shouldn't be one person who's has watched AB since Rafers departure who is pleased with his PG skills, yet make fun of the Marburys or Francis, as shootfirst ballhogs, who dont make their teammates better. AB is young, and he has time, but he is not playing team ball. Can anyone imagine what is going to happen when Parker/CP3/Williams/Nash/Billups or heck even Fisher are going to do to AB in the playoffs? On the bright side, dang does Scola look good now that he has defined his role, and doesn't have to worry about messing up so much with a quick hook for Landry.
Solid win, but the final score suggests the team still needs to work on closing out games. Yao and Ron should have been able to sit the last half of the fourth quarter. We gave up 9 straight points during the fourth. That's awful. It can't happen, especially against teams like Cleveland, if we want to continue staking our claim to a playoff spot.
