I don't know that it's what caused it, but I agree in that it's more than likely something that causes them to flare up. Remember last year, McGrady was hurt most of the time from "landing awkwardly." That sort of thing puts a tremendous amount of stress on your back. People jut need to realize that as the season progresses and McGrady feels more comfortable with his back, he'll become himself more. Until then, we need to focus more on Yao.
Agree very much! Kim is always insightful! There are a few problems here: Defense sucks: - Rafer couldn't defend Williams or Fish - Battier couldn't defend Boozer, requiring Yao to defend Boozer. Yao basically shut down Boozer inside, but Boozer was able to take it outside. Yao of course would not go outside as he needed to defend the paint Rebounding sucks: - Almost the only one going inside to rebound was Yao. But of course Yao is not a great rebounder offense sucks: - You guys said most of it already, about Tmac hogging the ball, about Snyder hogging the ball, and the most efficient guy, Yao, only got 12 shots - Along the same line, when Yao touches the ball, he was often being passed the ball outside. When he was inside, more often than not he wasn't passed the ball. Even the Bullard said it multiple times that Yao worked so hard to get inside, they had to give him the ball. - I agree that even though Yao got attacked at times and lost the ball, when it came down to it, he only lost the ball twice that way, and he was twice as efficient as Tmac. Bottom line, the inside-outside game was all talk, no walk. Very disappointed! At this rate, they might as well trade Yao away and get a cheap big body whose only job is to guard the paint.
lol... backseat? yao is not assertive enough himself. or he would be in the front seat.. we need someone who plays pissed.. where the HELL is BONZI!? t-mac needs to work on his shot.. and yao... that fool needs to make up his freakin' mind in the post.
Hey, we won our first game last season and look how that turned out. T-Mac's numbers were good until it came to his percentages. I think he could have passed it around more or at least driven to the hoop a little more BUT the Rockets didn't look like the Rockets tonight. That wasn't Rocket defense out there, no way. We looked so lazy out there tonight it wasn't funny, the Jazz were hustling the entire game PLUS shots were going down for them. Also Boozer was on fire, we couldn't stop him. I don't mind this loss, but the energy was iffy. It's all good. All the teams you would expect to win so far have pretty much lost so i'm guessing it's the same way with us haha. Go Rockets! (Yao's a beast)
Saying Yao is a fool is a bit harsh, but I agree that Yao shouldn't put the ball on the floor too much. But at the same time, his teammates need to give him the ball down low, not outside like most times tonight.
T-Mac was not his old self tonight. He seemed running out of gas out there. More importantly when game was on the line in Q4, he had missed like a bunch of shots already. But he still took 15,17 footer or even couple of 3s. All shots bricked badly. If he was smart, drive and dish it out. Man, Rox game is such a pain to watch now with JVG. Both games on ESPN tonight were much more entertaining......bad loss, but it says a lot about this year's Rox. None of the experts picked Rox to go far this year. No wonder.
hey WNBA what crawled up your ass? seriously if you hate the rockets so bad, go to another board... your screenname is WNBA for heavens sake, get a friggin life!
Actually a few of them did. One ( I don't remember who) actually picked them to win the championship, and many from ESPN (Jim O'Brien and Scoop Jackson, among others) mentioned the Rockets first when asked about teams that nobody's mentioning as title contenders. They said that the Rockets could/will probably be right near the Spurs and Mavs level.
I agree with you. I don't blame T-Mac for the loss. I don't blame any one factor. Like I stated in my first post, there were several things that the Rockets did poorly this game. Boozer dominated them. He was too strong for Padgett, Battier, and Novak. He was too quick for Yao and Deke. He outquicked the bigs to rebounds and outmuscled our smaller guys. Chuck Hayes did the best job on him, but JVG was insistent on having most of the game 1 big (Yao or Deke) and the 2nd big be a shooter (padgett mostly), for spacing purposes. I disagreed with what he did...but i understand...and this is a unique case. The Rockets as a whole were outhustled and outquicked. Jazz had 46 defensive rebounding opportunities and they took 36 while Houston grabbed 10 orebounds. Houston had 37 defensive rebounding opportunities and grabbed 26 while giving up 11 orebounds. That's bad. Houston usually rebounds 78% of all defensive chances and this game they were at 70%. JVG said in pregame that he feared Utah's rebounding, and his fears came true. But anyhow, yeah, I know the Rockets will play better. But I'm writing of efficiency here. No matter how poorly they play, they're still supposed to play smart. Yao, T-mac, Battier, and Alston are supposed to be smart players. JVG has been publicly stating that the Rockets are a smarter team this year. Those wide-open 3pt bricks don't bother me too much. If it gets too bad, then you make personel changes. The point is you're getting wide open 3pt shots. In the 2nd half, there were many more chances for that, but the ball moveement was really bad. It was also bad that so many plays were called for a T-Mac midrange jumper coming off a screen with no one attacking the boards. And it's just no as an efficient set play as going into Yao and working from there. Good teams can win games even when things aren't going for them. You'll always have your smarts and you should always used them. The Rockets played poorly, the Jazz played well, and so the Rockets lost this game. There will be games in the future where the Rockets will play poorly, but I strongly believe that they can still always play smart. They didn't play smart enough today. If they play smarter, I believe they have a greater chance to win, even if they're getting outplayed or outhustled. Those are those type of "stealing a game wins" that every good team gets. The Rockets need that to get to the top.
Yeah the Jazz are a good team, espesically at home. The only reason they've struggled the last couple of years was because AK47 and Boozer are extremely injury prone, much moreso than Yao and T-Mac were. But if that team is healthy, it is VERY hard to win in Utah against them.
I don't know dude, to me, the highest point of frustration in the game was when we pulled it to 5, got a steal, but then Rafer got bumped from behind, lost the ball, and i think okur or harpring capitalized with a 3. That was pretty much game so it sucked. That shouldn't have happened. If by smart play you mean keeping that stuff alive, you're right...
Like I said, EVERYONE NEEDS TO PASS THE BALL TO YAO!!!!!!!!! And TMac needs to stop shooting all those damn bricks! He's not the same player he was before the brokeback injury, change your game damn it! Be a playmaker and get 10+ assists per game. You got 9 dimes tonight, so change your game! You can get 10+ if you want!!!!!!!!
ya tats exactly wht tmac needs to do. hell, once the shot is off of his hands from outside i was like oh s***. he needs to drive in more and use his back to basket skills more. shooting jumpers is not gonna help us win.
It is scary to think that TMAC's shooting touch is gone. His freethrows are not falling too these days. Rockets should do what they did in the preseason. Distributing the ball more and sending more shooters on the floor. It is so bad that JVG retreated to his old self and so did the rockets. I would take an open 3pointer shoot from Battier or Novak than a contested jumpshoot from TMAC any day. Therefore, JVG and TMAC must think of a new way to execute their offensive plans.
T-MAC was really tired in the 4th quarter, but he was still just shooting, and missing. I don't understand why nobody could see Yao, who's more efficient and not that tired at that time. Yao should take at least 20 shoots per game, 12? unbelievable! Give Yao more chances, I think we'll get better next game.
i agree yao should have gotten more shots. but i'm comfortable living and dying off tmac's shooting. i think he'll take a few games to get back into the groove, establish his rhythm and intensity, get used to new teammates, shake off the lethargy that comes with the beginning of a long-ass season, and then we'll start winning. after all, our team minus TMac = a seriously crappy team.
I think you are right, but if he doesn't take it to the hole (which I don't think he will) I think he needs to give Yao the damn ball. Either way TMac MUST find a way to shoot 45%+, whether that be layups or all of a sudden he finds a way to make alot of his jumpers. Yao is doing his part shooting 50%+ but isn't staying on the floor, because of stupid fouls or fatigue or whatever. I think Rockets need 3 things: 1) TMac taking it to rack more often and shooting a higher %. 2) Yao becoming assertive and demanding ball when TMac isn't taking it to rack or if he is WAY overpowering his opponents (like today vs. Jazz) 3) Yao to find a way to play 35+ minutes per game. If those 3 things happen Rockets have made a good team if not... we could be in for another 1st round disappointment
Agree with 1 and 2, but not 3. Yao played almost 33 min today, and that's plenty for the big guy. Hell, it is not even the amount of time, but the type of play you do. Yao guarded Boozer today after no one else could. While yao was guarding Boozer, Boozer could only go outside and shot - which he happened to make outside shots today, unfortunately. Yao also had to bang body and knees all game long, very taxing physically relative to guards who just run around the outside or guards who just waited on the wing to shoot.
