Feigen over at the Chronicle predicted that this season T-Mac would be the scoring leader for the Rockets when Yao has had it for the past two seasons. After last night's game I think he might be right. The key is playing T-Mac and Yao both in the low post, strong side and weak side, or playing T-Mac in the high post. T-Mac presents huge issues for opposing defenses when he plays close to the basket--he's freakishly tall for a guard so he can elevate over opposing guards and he's way too maneuverable to be guarded by a forward. And with Yao lurking in the background the defense can't double him, not to mention that the other team has to worry about Yao receiving a pass at point blank range. Add in three or four offensive rebounds a night for Yao because the defense is keying on McGrady and you're good to go. Instead of just worrying about Yao down low other teams now have to worry about Yao and T-Mac down low. I think it has the potential to be a huge, huge problem for opposing teams. That said, T-Mac's got to stop jacking up those heat check three's from the parking lot. I wince every time one of those goes up.
He hasn't thrown one up this season...given, he hasn't gotten hot enough to try one. Every "quick" three he's thrown up has been in a 2 for 1 situation this season. Save 1 or 2 that I just can't think of right now. Any other quick 3, he's taking in transition. Clear looks at the rim. Sure, he can take it in, but as you allude to, that's his game. Pull up 3 if it's there.
if you see how the offense ran last night, tracy is the star that easily gets the best touches to score. yes, he should stop the heatchecks. but he was on fire last night and when he's hot, usually they go in. it's just he needs to stop doing that when he's struggling (which he has been). but he'll take at least 1-2 of them a night. u gotta give him that freedom. if you restrict tracy, you know what happens (remember back to the start of 04-05 season under JVG). i think you saw tmac ran the offense very well last night (still haven't seen the curl screen play for the jumper much, not real healthy yet). but yes, tracy can really dominate in this offense if he's healthy. like i said, the reason tracy was so good last yr v. utah was b/c of the high post. he's unstoppable from that area. i don't think yao and tmac's scoring averages will be that far apart. i just hope they become much more efficient. tracy should get that fg% to 45% (his 3pt% goes up to 38% now ) and yao up to 55%.
I don't mind so much the three pointer in transition, particularly at the top of the circle, for T-Mac. That's probably when he's most efficient on his 3-point attempts. He's able to use his momentum to get extra lift on his shot -- it's a more relaxed stroke for him. The really bad 3-point attempts are when he's dribbling the ball for several seconds in an attempt to get himself in rhythm and he chucks it.
I probably shouldn't have mentioned those long 3's. My point is just from watching last night's game it looked to me like Phoenix was really set back on their heels when T-Mac was down in the low post and Yao was on the weak side. Somebody, I forget who, wrote that the Rockets kept the streak going after Yao went out because they used McGrady as a low post threat in pretty much the same fashion that they used Yao for the first half of the streak. Now Yao's back. It's only one game but I'm curious to see how other teams deal with that situation.
Yea I think that too. Kenny Smith said it best about T-mac. He's at his best when he gets the ball and makes his move right away. That's when T-macs Elite. Not so much when hes dribbling around for awile then shoots it. Maybe a few years back but not so much anymore.
Why should he?? if he is hot and feeling it then why not?? He did it last night and look what happened. He couldnt miss . Like another poster said thats his game but you just gotta love T-Mac.
I agree that's T-macs game. He played excellent last night and with help from brooks BURRIED the suns to their own grave. When LAL was playing the rockets a few days ago i got banned for defending t-mac, from everyone, i literally saw about 6 people with "t-mac" in the username bust on t-mac, making fun of him when kobe blocked him. Than he plays well and everyone praises him.
I agree with you its just sad. The same thing goes for Rafer and Head also. Makes me think who here are really fans and who isn't
These are the 3's I like to see T-Mac firing, especially the 2nd one IMO he's best when he's at least 2 steps behind the line. Even in NBA2k I only hit those in transition from 27ft and beyond. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/U5-hsTqZ1zc&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/U5-hsTqZ1zc&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
We need to get Tmac going earlier. It seems he does the bulk of his scoring in the second half mainly the 3rd quarter. If he hits his first couple of shots, it usually means he will have a great night. If we don't get him involved, he gets his shot later, but they don't seem to fall. The earlier the better.
i don't mind playing tmac in the post but what about scola, that takes his game out onto the perimeter.... he has developed a nice jumper from the baseline but that can only go so far! establish scola in the post on the weak side that way tmac won't have to do so much work.
Since we're stuck with Rick Idleman, we might as well play his stupid Princeton Offense that's really not suitable for this roster. Let TMac play high post and sometimes low post, and have Yao play low post. The best situation is hire JVG back as head coach, and have Idleman be his assistant.
I think Yao should be the point guard and AB should play in the low post. Starting lineup should be 1. Yao 2. Hayes 3. Head 4. Rafer 5. Brooks
Im an avid tmac fan and all but this thread suggestion or even idea is RIDONCULUS. yes i had to make up that word to explain my view on this one lol. The rockets have too much of a TEAM conecpt going on. Realisticly and statisticly it wont happen. Specially when ONE man teams like the LEBRONS are around
that's where he's most effective. his mid-range J is money. he usually is most successful there. i don't like it when he has to dribble to much or do too much (either gets blocked or takes a bad shot)
