Agree with you whole-heartedly. There is an old Chinese saying decribed that perfectly. Damn! It's hard to translate. It's something like "Looking back the history, those True excellent generals never had extraordinary battle achievements (stats)". Because "in the real battle field, whenever you kill 1000 enemies, you probably sacrifice 800 of your own people". An true excellent general will try to control the whole flow of the war to affect the outcome, rather than simply going out and fighting bravely. KG is a great player, no doubt about that, but he's great by putting up incredible numbers, he's not good to make his teammates better. Let's put it this way, if you take care of all the difficult situations, you attract more defence, and you will leave those easy shots for your teammates and make them better. That's what TD and Shaq are about. There is a reason that Wolves never came out of the first round, only after they added Sam and Spree. Again, KG is great, but he just doesn't affect the outcome of games to be MVP. I don't want Yao to become KG, although lots of people might laugh at me and say that Yao is never going to have KG's number. But I would rather to have him to impact the game more, much more than KG, for us to have a chance to win it all.
And one more thing, the Rockets made Malone look like he was twenty, the Spurs are making him look like fifty. BUT, Ming made Shaq look old and slow, he looks much better against the Spurs. Payton made Francis look better than he was during the regular season, and is making Parker look All World. The Lakers really look slow against the Spurs. They looked much faster against the Rockets.
1. Experience. Tim Duncan is both an MVP of the league and an MVP of the NBA Finals. We don't have anything close to that. Yao's in his 2nd year in the league and is NOT anywhere close to TD caliber. Our squad has 5 games of playoff experience under their collective belt. The Spurs have over 5 YEARS of playoff experience under their collective belt. Shoot, they've won 2 championships in 5 years (well one and an asterisk). 2. Ability to make their shots. Not just the big shots. We consistently miss open looks at the basket. We make layups even look impossible sometimes. If you leave a guy on most other teams wide open, he'll make you pay. It's VERY frustrating to watch us brick away so many opportunities.
That is sooooooo true. Over the last five years, I don't think I have ever seen an NBA team miss so many open shots. Brickfest after brickfest. The Rocket's make lay-ups look like mid-court shots. I wish I had a dollar for ever point-blank shot that Francis missed while trying to make the high light reel. It is beyond frustrating.
Better comparison will be based on positions: ----------------Spurs------------Rockets----------- PG PG > SF3 SG BB > Cat C Nest =< YM PF TD >>>>>>>> > Cato SF Manu >> JJ
Then how can YM played Shaq to a draw, while Nest gets torched by Shaq and made him look like the Daddy of the past? Yao vs. Shaq in POs 15 ppg vs. 16 ppg Nest vs. Shaq in POs 9.5 ppg vs. 24.5 ppg
Because the rockets double teamed shaq everytime he had the ball. They sometimes double teamed him without the ball. Yao wasn't on an island defending shaq one on one, it was a team effort.
For the love of christ, get over it will you? You just don't realize that Rudy's style of coaching is not good for our 'young' undisciplined team. It was time for a change. We needed a strict coach to step in. He may have a few coaching blunders here and there but overall, he's been fantastic for our franchise. Besides talent obviously, the biggest difference I see between the Rockets and Spurs is their willingness to pass it to the open guy. Their passes are so crisp and precise compared to the Rockets.
Jeez! I have been saying that the Rockets were a mediocre bunch ever since the season started. The problem here, as I see it, is that a goodly number of folks OD'd on that Rockets red koolaid that CD and Uncle Les was passing out at the beginning of the season. Now it's giving them indigestion as the reality of the Rocket's situation has begun to set in. It's time to pay for past sins (poor drafts, bad personnel decisions). I have zero confidence in this organization's ability to do what's necessary to make this team into a championship contender given the spectacularly inept track record with CD at the helm.
So so wrong. We were doubling and sagging on him when Cato was on him or when Yao in foul trouble. For the most part, JVG let Yao hold Shaq 1 on 1.
Shaq gets doubled all time but is still able to get his points and dominate. Nobody can guard shaq, but not many double teams are as effective on shaq when he is doubled with yao guarding him. Shaq being guarded by a 7'6" player while being doubled is what caused him to play poorly. In game 2 of the San Antonio series his favorite move was to go toward the center of the paint and jump and just shoot(his one hand push shot) over his defender, where as he cant do that against yao. Shaq averages around like 28 points per game in the playoffs, do you guys think that we were the first team to double team shaq? Yao had a major part in defending shaq and it was just not the double teams that limited him.
Now I am really proud of being a fan of the Houston Rockets which is the very first team to employ this breakthrough spaceage defensive scheme to contain Shaq. No team has ever used this strategy in NBA history. Go Rockets!
You make it like no other team in the league double teamed Shaq in the playoffs. And if my memory serves me correctly, Yao was single covering Shaq for a significant portion of each game, allowing Cato/Mo to double down on Kobe when he drove against us. Give credit where it deserves. This year's Rockets' team is the ONLY TEAM in the last 12 years that made Shaq look like an old fella in the playoffs. The fact is fact.
While JVG has helped the team become more disciplined, the net result is a slightly better defense and a much worse offense. People seem to forget that the Rockets were a top 10 defensive team under Rudy. Rudy knew how to use a big man, and I'm sure Yao would've flourished under Rudy along with the rest of the team. You're right though, no use crying over spilt milk, but saying JVG has been "fantastic" for our franchise is a bit of an overstatement.
