Who is the ass that wrote the article. There is not a single correct fact in it. Is this guy even a real sports writer?
No, he is a jackass trying to impersonate one. Glad alot of other posters caught the 28 ppg comment, which tells me he didn't do any research. Although, he was probably didn't realize this, but Mac is averaging 28 ppg in the playoffs. He in 4 playoff series averaged over 30 ppg. While, Ming's is 21 ppg. So he is argument already has weak merit to it. If the guy actually watched Rocket games, he would know that the only reason we win so many games every year is either, because of Yao, T-Mac, or really good defense. I bet he can even name who our third or fourth scorers are, the reason why we lost the last two series is because of our depth and role players inability to help win games or just not good enough. Game 7 in Dallas, or Game 7 vs. Jazz, Game 3 vs. Jazz (only four players scored). BOth of the stars did their part, but everyone else let it down. JVG was a great coach, but he couldn't change his strategy around enough for this group to be successful, if he had a more talented team...we would've won both of those series, if given the same supporting cast as the Pistons, Spurs, or Suns.
I think a telling statistic would be "How many players in double figures" for each scenario: Both Yao and T-mac playing, only Yao and only Tmac. The closer you get to five guys being a scoring threat the harder it is to defense the team. And then you'd also have to compare this across the two coaching philosophies of JVG and RA. Without looking up the stats, I'd have to say there have been more players scoring in double figures with T-mac out. In theory, RA's system creates more opportunities for more players to become those scoring threats. But it depends on motion and ball movement. Players have to constantly be looking for the weak point of the defense and then try to exploit it. I didn't see anywhere near the ball movement and player motion in the last 6 minutes of the fourth quarter against the 76er's as I did in the first three quarters. Instead of sticking with the system of looking for and exploiting the weakness (for instance when Yao gets doubled and tripled by two fronters and one player behind), the players just seemed bound and determined to try to get the ball in to Yao, with the resulting turnovers and fast-breaks. This becomes compounded when you have two supposedly "go to guys" on the court -- unless they, as well as the other three players, are trusting the system and attacking the weakness. With quick enough ball movement there should be a lane to drive to the basket on the weak side when Yao has 2-3 players concentrating on him. This assumes good spacing but Yao needs to step out a bit when that happens to draw the defenders further away from the paint area. Also, when any team is down 16 points, and time becomes a factor, they will begin to play the passing lanes more in an effort to get steals and fast break points.
