I usually ignore those arguments about who of TMac/Yao is more important, but just am sick of the stupitity of posts like "Yao is not essential" or "at least he has no harm". Rockets won because of their suffocating defense in the 4th quarter. Jazz scored only 11 pts! Give credit to Hayes for his hustle play and rebounding. Give credit to Alston/Head/Battier for their quick rotation on defense. Give credit to Deke for his shot-blocking. And give lots of credit to Yao for making Boozer struggling at jump shots. True, it's partly because Boozer had an off night. But Yao did a great job on him right from the beginning. This might have surprised him and gave him a hard time finding his rhythm. Without any of these, Rockets might easily have another collapse in 4th quarter. TMac played his part in defense, but he is just part of it, not the most important part. In fact, I don't think he did particularly well defendding Fisher one-on-one.
If I did, I would be making one of those "trade TMac" threads. geez. If you are going to argue, at least say something meaningful.
Okay, here's meaningful: *Scored 22 of the 51 points we had in the 2nd half *Scored 16 of those 22 points in the crucial 3rd quarter where we had came back *Had two big defensive stops against Harpring down low *Had dished out 7 assists No one is taking credit away from the rest of the Rockets. You just want something to nitpick about and probably just want to stand on a soapbox for 5 minutes. It was a victory and everyone that played had a part in it.
You can't honestly think the Rockets would have won that game without Tracy's contribution. The man was 8 for 11 in the second half. He wasn't letting fisher do him like a scrub like he was in the first half. Besides its not like anyone on the team single handedly wins anything. We win based on good defense and reliable offense from T-Mac and Yao with role players chipping in.
How did you figure out I just want something to nitpick about? I said in the first sentence of my post that I am sick of those posts saying Yao was just no harm to the team. Not to take credit away from the rest of the Rockets is exactly the point I tried to make. BTW, what you listed there do not argue against my statement that TMac is JUST PART, NOT MOST IMPORTANT of the great defense of the whole team. BTW2, I didn't have any indication in my post that TMac's offense in 2nd half was not important.
Why didn't you reply to those post or at least in the other thread talking about those post in another thread.
YAO is the foundation of this team. TMAC is the core/leader... I gave as many credit to YAO as to TMAC. both of them delivered the W. Second game will be much harder.. this team needs get into another gear
Now I kind of regret that I started this thread. I know any sane Rockets fan would be crystally clear about this.
Bah, the whole team played well. Even Rafer did good, far enough to win. Tmac's surge is definitely what drove us though. When he puts the team on his back, the Rockets are damn hard to stop. His explosion greatly motivates and fires up the rest of the team IMO. Anyways I think the accurate thing to say is that BOTH Tmac and great Defense in the 2nd half won us the game.
if u claim the D was better, then our D was better in the 2nd half when yao sat out for long stretches. we won b/c the team won. tmac, yao, rafer, howard all helped out.
what makes you think our D was better when Yao was out? Did Boozer have even lower FG% compared to when Yao was in?
they didn't run many pick and roll when yao went out. he played good D on boozer but they would run pick and roll everytime yao's on the court. i didn't see much w/ hayes and howard in. if they don't run the pick and roll, they're a jumpshooting team.
I can't think of a worse thing to argue about than, "Hey, stop giving this guy so much credit." It's going to be a tough playoffs, so can we please at least enjoy the wins. Damn.
Woo, I dont think so. YAO sit out after HEAD got a lucky 3 pointer and we got our 8-9 points lead already. YAO had good D on Boozer, which is very very important to our victory. He was tired in the late 4th. I didnt see our D got better thwn he sideline. Utah got couple of wide open but their hands just cold...
ok, I'm gonna make it clear for the last time here: I did NOT want to take due credit away from TMac. I just want to give due credit to Yao. well, I know most people here know Yao was important, not just "at least no harm", so I just want to make the point to those who somehow don't understand this. It's probably the time to lick this thread now...
