Most of the hate for Rick stems from his plays out of time outs, which have mostly resulted in failed late-game execution in close games, I think. I'm really proud of this team and I hope we get a favorable matchup in the first round.
No, the phili moment this year was when TMac annouced ( through an ESPN reporter ) he's done for the season.
His defense is excellent he's one of the post best defenders in the game. His shot blocking has went up thanks to Deke. The only thing I want him to really improve on is his rebounding... I really don't blame him, because one of the main parts of rebounding is athletic ability but I wish he would be more physical when he rebounds like using his elbows the way Deke uses it. I hope Deke returns next season too, he needs to remind Yao to block shots and use his elbows.
Yao is a liability on defense, thats why they take him out at the end of games, make Yao come on on a high pick and roll and you will either get an open jumper, or have our defense out of position.
Liability on defense? Right.... Is that why he is one of the Top 10 players in defensive win shares? Please, He may not be mobile but he's not much difference from Shaq and Ewing during their prime at defense. Limited and liability is two different things.
Yes, that was also the last time we got blown out. Tracy McGrady was a liability on both ends when he was playing. He was stopping ball movements, taking the ball away from Yao's hands, playing absolutely no defense, did not hustle, did not run, he wasn't helping this team. I don't have faith in him for next season, but the reality is we are stuck with Tracy.
No, not TMac?? Bite your tongue. I am not at all surprised that our better play coincided with TMac's departure. It was obvious that he hurt the team whenever he played ... except to the most die-hard TMac fan.
I don't understand the 1st line, but I agree with the rest you said. Only T-Mac lovers can think he actually helped this team out THIS SEASON. Clearly, he's helped us out in the past but he's done in my opinion. Micro fracture knee surgery is very tough surgery to come back from. I can't believe some people here think he can still average 20+ points, that's just crazy.
He can average 20 ppg but he'll need about 25 shots per game to do it. That's just not good basketball, but that's TMac basketball.
Make it 16-4, making them the winningest team in the West for that stretch, to say nothing about taking the SW division lead and #2 seed away from the Spurs in SA. This will only last for but so long, but I couldn't be more proud of the Rockets right now. Evan
And out of the four losses, we were in the position to win in 3 of them. The Laker one, we played pretty solid until the last minute or two. Good teamwork. Realistically speaking, our chance is to make out of the west is slim to zero, so I am glad to see our rookies get battle tested and growing under rapid fire.
