That was our freaking year. But as usual, injuries ruined freaking everything. T-Mac, then Yao in the playoffs. The Rockets are just so tragic sometimes.
Man, please don't remind me. Imagine if McGrady came into the 2008 season in shape and healthy? That was our Miami Heat year. Artest was in his prime and so was Yao. Frick, we still had a chance at going to the Finals w/out McGrady if Deke and Yao hadn't gone down. We would've put up an even greater fight against the Lakers w/ a healthy Dikembe and Yao. And don't even get me started on how we'd fare against the Magic--we've seen the posts about Yao thrashing Dwight head to head.
I'd easily pick a healthy Yao in his prime over Howard. It really is unfortunate the two of them were almost never on the same page health-wise or talent-wise. Mcgrady's best and healthiest years were when Yao was still developing and Yao's best years where when Mcgrady was ailing. There is no doubt that if they could have stayed healthy together for more than a few seasons, there would have been some deep, deep playoff runs. I don't think either of them were failures, it's just bad luck.
Just imagine with Yao Tmac Brooks Metta W. Peace with Lowry and Deke manning the second unit. This team would've punished anyone in it's way. Sad.
Man, it's nice that fans can look back & see the rosiest side of "what if", but the fact is Tracy & Yao were healthy for some seasons & didn't win the championship. Remember the series against Utah? Yao was a complete defensive liability. Couldn't guard Boozer and couldn't guard Okur. Yao might have gotten blocks & taken up space, but he could be exploited defensively. And I don't care what anybody says, I never saw Yao or the team succeed offensively when Yao was fronted. Yao did dominate Dwight. I saw those games too. At the same time, I wonder if a team with Dwight and TMac would have the same struggles with Utah or fronting, etc.
Did the Portland series escape your memory somehow? We won that series 4-2, despite their fronting every single possession. And not every team can exploit Yao defensively. Utah had the perfect combination of a good interior scorer in Boozer and a center, who was a legit 3 point threat.
Well, I can't find the box scores, but I remember that our offense did struggle quite a bit once they started fronting in Game 2. I believe Yao was pretty much neutralized after Game 1. I remember all through the Yao years I wondered why ppl didn't always front Yao, because it appeared to be so effective. Ppl always said there was an easy way to combat the front, but it never seemed the Rockets did it. Well, even if Utah was a perfect foil for Houston, one can't say that injuries alone prevented Yao & TMac from winning a championship. They had their chance and lost in the first round. Believe it or not, Yao was my favorite player (because he was so classy) and the Rockets have been my favorite team for decades, but that Utah series convinced me we would never win a championship with Yao. Just too slow.
Kenny Smith on NBA tv after showing highlights of the Magic game, stated that most of Dwight's points come from other people initiating it. I'm not sure how truthful that is but I'll start looking at that to see if Kenny Smith is right. My point is that all you had to do with Yao was give him the ball in the post and he would produce. There were hardly any alley oops thrown to Yao or dump off passes to him when the defense closed in on a penetrating players.
It takes 5 baby. Not 2. At least in the western conference. They didn't have Scola, Brooks, Landry, Lowry. Give them those guys and they would have made it to at least the conference finals each year if not further.
Yeah, I'll grant you that, but that's just taking the hypothetical too far. If I recall, by the time all those players were coming into their own, both TMac AND Yao were getting injured. My point is the Rockets had their shot with a healthy Yao & TMac - it's not a what if.
Yao WAS better than Dwight. Would still be if not for health issues. Alas, it was not to be it seems.
And my point is that T-mac and Yao alone with the scrubs they had were not enough to win a ring. They had no real chance: http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showpost.php?p=2769542&postcount=1
