The Difference is that the Rockets don’t have a legitimate closer. A guy they can consistently go to in the last four minutes of a ball game for points. Yes, they have Yao Ming, but let’s be honest… the guy has ‘butterfingers’ You cannot rely on him to catch the ball in a comfortable spot every time. Even when he does, he’s too easy to defend with a double team. Kobe Bryant showed us that when we played the Lakers, time and time again Kobe would come and ‘rip’ the ball from Yao. Yes, it’s true that Yao get’s fouled a majority of the time, but let’s face it he’s not going to get the calls. That’s not going to change. Ron Artest is too inconsistent of a shooter to rely on in the closing minutes of the ball game. He’s all about one-on-one play. A majority of the time he can’t ‘shake’ his defender and thus he relies on a fade-away with a hand in his face which is a very low percentage shot. We have Wafer, Scola, and Landry who show up at the end of a game occasionally. But in a seven game series, can we really rely on them every game? Bottom Line: The Lakers have Kobe The Celtics have Garnet and Pierce The Spurs have Duncan and Parker We have no one. This is something I believe needs to be addressed in the offseason. As for now, the best chance we have is to blow out our opposition, so the closing minutes of a ball game is insignificant to the outcome of the game What are your thoughts?
having a clsoer who can score is obviously helpful. but watch how the lakers play. they presents ALL 5 GUYS WHO CAN SCORE DOWN THE STRETCH. kobe, gasol, odom, ariza, and dfish. all can knock down shots. they doubled kobe/gasol throughout and ariza just burned them repeatedly down the stretch. more importantly, they have 2 guys who draw double teams. we have only one on this team in yao. we usually play 4 on 5 down the stretch with battier in there. that isn't going to help. in previous years, it was rafer. i mean, if you want to finish games wel, gotta have 5 guys who are threats to score.
So basically a player that can handle the ball, create for himself and others. Kobe Jason Terry Duncan, Parker Chris Paul Deron Williams Wade James a health tmac etc
Well what do you want to hear then How about TMAC news... how he plans to NOT RETURN to the rockets utill after the trade deadline next year? You can't trade an injured player, all these threads about TMAC's 21 million dollar contract expiring and it's worth... completley pointless We can't get anything for him, we are stuck with him Don't believe me, that's fine I proved all of you wrong last time with my inside info... just wait and see How's that?
I believe we have that player on that roster. His name is Tracy McGrady and he's currently injured. Period
These type of threads are getting old, and less refreshing by the minute. Here are some things for these bitter, miserable posters who keep complaining: 1) Go root for another team, like the Celtics or Lakers, pretty sure most people do that jump on the teams with best bandwagon. 2) The season has yet to end, no one knows what lies in the playoffs. Anything can happen. 3) Some posters act like it is the end of the world, even though we currently 3rd in the West and have a good chance to get a 1st round HCA, maybe a 2nd one if the Spurs slip. Some of these posters act like we are in 9th place barely in the playoff picture. If these doomsday posters feel so bad, why don't they send a letter to league or team telling them to give up on the season and give the playoff spot away a team that isn't going to make the playoff. But, would certainly have a better chance at the title than we do, at least according to some posters. I'm pretty sure every other team in West except 1 and 2 would want to be in our position right now. 4) There are alot of young players on this team with several new faces, you can't expect them to consistently do well, especially against powerhouse teams without being together for only a few weeks. 5) There are things that I wish to see change, like more playing time for Hayes and Mutombo. More Lowry, less shooting coming from Artest and Brooks on cold nights. And more aggressive play by Yao. But, I think these things will improve in the playoffs, where we can focus on our needs and what the other team is throwing at us. Thing that bothers me the most ... these posters throw these childish hissy fits everytime we lose. I mean c'mon we are not going to win every game or beat every team. 6) Again we are very much in the thick of things and there is really no need to start throwing in the towel.
Wait!!! I thought Von Wafer was our lord & savior? Our closer who can penetrate through anything. Our "better than T-Mac."
In a nutshell, this is precisely what is wrong about the Rockets approach to everything. The truly great teams MAKE things happen. The mediocre "also ran" teams rely on "anything can happen". Also - great teams don't elect to go with unproven PG talent midway through a "playoff drive". If you read between the lines, the Rockets brass is telling us they don't even consider this a serious playoff year. Here's looking at next year!
Ha! Have you ever seen Garnett play in an important game? He's one of the league's biggest choke artists.
That's precisely why they aren't a serious playoff team. To think of them as anything more is putting undeserved pressure on the young'uns. Here's to next year's potential!
Really good point guards generally have a really good scorer running with them. We need much more than just a really good PG.
2008 Arizona Cardinals (No running game, mediocre against elite teams, wins NFC Championship game) 07-08 Cleveland Cavaliers (No other stars outside of Lebron James, only won 45 games, mediocre against go teams, came very close to knock off 65+ win Celtic team) - also see 07-08 Hawks, a 37 win team almost actually gave the Celtics a tough series. 2008 Philadelphia Eagles (Almost became the first 9-7 NFC team to make it to the Super Bowl) 2007 New York Giants (won every playoff game on the road defeating two powerhouses, Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers, also they happened to beat a team that people said was one of the greatest teams ever and didn't lost at any point, during the season and AFC playoffs....yet by some strange twisted fate the Giants won the Super Bowl). 2008 Tampa Bay Devil Rays (they didn't have as nearly as many clutch hitters or star players, like the Yankees or the Red Sox.) 03-04 Detroit Pistons (Didn't have KG or Tim Duncan type player on their rosters, but they were a very good team for a 3 year period). The Lakers and Celtics maybe the favorites to win everything and have home-field through out. They still have to beat 3 teams to get to the next round. It is much easier said than done.
Are you new to sports? Those are not "truly great teams". They are teams that had "great runs". We don't have a Kurt Warner or Lebron James last I looked.
