Reminder: Basketball is a team game The entire Rockets loss the game not Yao Ming, not Ron Artest, and not Tracy McGrady. The Rockets just simply got outplayed and outhustled. http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=281229010 Rockets were outrebounded by 2, although that may not be a huge deal, those 2 rebounds were possibly offensive rebounds that gave them 4 points. Wizards also shot a higher FG% than the Rockets, because they know how to take shot selections. Like many people say, These games are not for fun and to waste time. These games are to show which teams are mentally weak and mentally tough. Obviously the Rockets are mentally weak.
Spoken like a true TMac fan, let's not blame the individual players unless we're giving credit (especially if it's Tracy taking the credit).
Some players on the Rockets are mentally weak (like Yao and Tracy), not all of them. Yao and Tracy remind me of Biggio and Bagwell. They just aren't good enough to take the Rockets anywhere and the team won't do anything special until other players are found to lead the team.
It's a rare occasion. I agree with the OP's message. Every player that got significant minutes tonight was HORRENDOUS in at least one aspect of their play: McGrady: couldn't finish around the basket, couldn't shoot Yao: couldn't finish Battier: couldn't defend another 2nd/3rd tier perimeter player in Nick Young (much like Salmons, Thornton and McCants in other recent games, yea I know he's still getting his legs under him) Scola: couldn't defend Landry: couldn't defend Brooks: couldn't hit a brick wall with his shot, did his best Alston impersonation tonight Alston: yet another piss poor shooting performance Artest: turnover after turnover after turnover in the 1st half Barry: hit one shot Most of the guys above did some good stuff, too, but the whole team sucked tonight. The coach sucked, too, for putting 3 cold players in the game with under 3 minutes left. The 2nd unit got us back into the game. Go in one direction or the other. If you are going to put the starters back in, do it with 6 minutes left. Otherwise, stick with what's working.
That gave confidence to a team that have nothing to lose. They were making everything after that especially Jamison.
This team does not play within a team concept. It's too much pass the ball to your superstars and watch. You don't usually see creative passes and assist off of some good execution plays. That's why team that have mediocre players still find it hard to beat them like the Utah Jazz because they play within the team concept. They executive and even though they don't have enough good players, they can still score due to exceptional executions. This Rockets team don't have the creativity that the Sacramento team has under Rick Adelman. I believe the make-up of this team prevent them from being creative and JVG may not be at fault here after all because even under Adelman, this team don't play with creativity that constantly fool the opponents or have them second guessing what they will do. It's always pass the ball to Tmac and have Yao to do pick and roll or pass the ball to Yao in the post and watch. It's never pass the ball from one side to another have everyone touch it and do all sort of movement and confusing that Sacramento did to their opponents. Without exceptional executions...this team may not go far and this lost tonight may just prove it.
Partially agreed. But Yao is acutally very mentally strong and competitive. It is the physical abilities and talents that he lacks! T-Mac is another way around. He has all the skills and everything physical to be a superstar and a leader of this team, at least when he is healthy. He simply doesn't have the aggression and mindset to be a fighter and leader. This is the reality. I don't think YAO and T-Mac can ever do anything big together. I hope I am wrong.
Too many times we've seen Yao lose his concentration, get discouraged and play soft. IMO, he is definitely not the mentally strong, warrior type of player we all wish he was. Nuff said about Tracy. You put it very well.
Agreed, some people confuse discipline with leadership. Yao is extremely disciplined but that is separate from the fact that he is a quiet follower, not a vocal leader. Leadership just isn't in his DNA.
This guy creates threads like Rafer takes shots: High volume, poor quality. That said, I think the message here was good. The whole team was flat and sucked tonight, including the coach.
I thought they should have ran a pick and roll with T-Mac and Yao. And then have a shooter finish it or Yao finish it or T-mac pull up. There was much more options if they ran that other than dump the ball to Yao.
and that´s why the rockets lost, because T-Mac didn´t play a team game, because Yao and Tracy are stars only sometimes.
You can't have a central player on your team that is in and out of the line up. The team can't build any chemistry as the styles when Grady plays and doesn't play are completely different. The ball moves better when he's not in the game. There is more motion and people go to the bucket more. When he's in, he dominates the ball and it's more of a catch and shoot offense for anyone that's not him or Yao.
I would say Yao's leadership did show in his CNT games. So it's in his DNA, but not in his NBA games.
