Wow, after a couple of miss, people refer Yao to being unclutch. I wish durvasa could find some stats to back this up. I though he was clutch a few games and missed the basket a few games but no way he's unclutch.
You know as well as we all do that Tracy is just a moody player! He allows his feelings to dictate the way he plays. Any rockets fan than does not see this is simply biased to Tracy. Tracy although very important to this team will never have the attitude of a A.I, Bryant or Wade. That i am unhappy with, but i still would'nt want lose him. We simply would not get enough in return. So i choose to keep him. Last night was definitely one of those nights that i really lose respect for his moodiness. He is the type of player that dwells in moment for wayyyy too long. A Kobe or A.I would not be content with being shut down. They would fight and find a solution to score. This usually means drive rather than shoot. Not Tracy! He will simply dwell in the bad moments until pushed to do something?
You're absolutely right. I feel that part of his bad play is the fact that he is transitioning into a full time secondary player and he is not accustomed to his new role yet. He has always had the ball. When he doesn't have it, he's like a fish out of water. His energy level drops and his game drops, because he is not a standstill shooter, he's a guy that he has to feel good about his offense in order to contrubute to defense and rebounding. Tmac mistakenly assumes that since he's not THE guy, he is just one of the guys. That's not true. He should be what Kobe was to Shaq, but I think Adelman's offense doesn't necessarily lend to a pure second option per se. It's the pivot (Yao) and everybody else. Rick has to find a way to keep Tmac involved, otherwise Tmac will be perfectly content to throw the ball to Yao and stand out in the perimeter.
I'm not making excuses for Tmac, but did he play the entire 2nd half? As well as Rafer? Both looked a little washed out in the fourth.
If you are right, we need to trade T-Wimp this summer. The Rockets don't need a $20MM role player. His lack of energy last night was just about the turning point for me. I don't know if I like Tracy anymore. The way Artest abused him on both ends of the floor in the 4th quarter made me sick to my stomach. This team needs a perimeter player who has guts, is a leader and who will set the proper tone each game for the other players to follow. I'm sick and tired of wondering which Tracy is gonna show up. He needs to earn his fat contract or leave.
i think you have nailed it. t-mac's crap attittude can't handle bing just one of the guys. so who's fault is it? the guy's shooting percentage has been awful as his shot selection has been too. is that what we want to run more plays for just so he is not sulking?
It was an incredible simple dish. Bullard is an idiot. Wasn't novak's man the one who double teamed tmac? Obviously, when tmac made his move to the basket, he saw where the double team came from. So he knows which of his teammates was left open.
Important to note that Bullard, Worrell, and Clyde all get their paychecks from the Houston ROckets. They drink the Kool-aid hard. And then then blow that sunshine during the telecast. I was shocked to hear Bill state that Tmac needs to step up in the 4th like Yao has.
to be fair: he isn't playing at full health the guy played the entire second half - clearly refusing to be taken out he was trying to defend ron artest who was hot - meaning he had to play hard on two ends of the court he was defended by ron artest he's trying to fit in and not dominante too much he wasn't have a great shooting night and the guy had the winning assist at the end of the night. so many of you guys haved cried out that t-mac needs to accept that this is yao's team now and he has to put the team ahead of his game and individual stats. now he's done that. this is what it is. he makes us better in ways you don't recognize. you put the ball in rafers hands at the end and it's probably a missed floater.
Sort of the way we went into Iraq. You're making a rushed judgment based on one game and you are overlooking 4 years of excellent play.
My point was quite the opposite. He's way too unselfish and is mistakenly accepting being just another player on the team when in fact he should be taking matters into his own hands like Kobe does. He's too talented to accept the same role that Bonzi or Rafer does.
Is this site bi-polar or what? I thought you guys wanted T-Mac to get his teammates more involved. Just recently everyone was b****ing about how T-Mac is taking too many shots and not passing Yao the ball or whatever. Just last week he "took over" and won us games in the final moments. What was everyone saying then? "He took too many shots", "He should have gave Yao the ball more". blahblahblah. Now, he's sharing the ball and playing within the offense and you guys start b****ing about how he needs to "take over". Who took control near the end and created pressure on the defense? Did T-Mac not force the action, drew the double team and kicked it out to Novak for the winner? If that was Kobe,Lebron or any other superstar not named T-Mac, everyone would be on their testes talking about how they were gods for finding and trusting the open man with the game winner. "OMGZ, KOBEZ FOUND THE SCRUB FOR THE GAME WINNER!!! BEST EVA!!!"
get it through your thick heads...TOF's were not happy that Tmac is scoring less... were happy that he is taking less shots... especially when he is on one of his 9 for 26 shooting exhibitions.... were not happy when he takes those contested 22 footers... (so we can all say" we are not worthy when he hits one) we are happy when he is the playmaker and the leader of the team...
Hey man, you're not going to find me bashing Tmac. I am the original macfan. I am not saying he should be scoring every time down the floor. I am saying he should be more opportunistic and give his team a timely basket or assist when they are struggling the same way he did last year. KObe doesn't score every time, but he has the ball in the 4th quarter. The first 3 quarters are for role players and the fourth is for playmakers and closers. He should get the ball more in the 4th quarter especially with Yao being doubled. I am not saying the world is coming to an end. I am saying he should do what he did in the Milwuakee game or the Seattle game every game
therein lies the problem. you think this is an issue where there are only diametrically opposed extremes: either tmac is too passive, or tmac is too selfish, so he can never win. while that might apply to some of the less knowledgeable fans here, just because a handful are drinking haterade doesn't render all criticism of tmac invalid. the truth of the matter is that last night tmac didn't show a whole lot of fire and several times literally shied away from receiving the ball or taking shots (most notably the layup he had which turned into a turnover when he tried to force a pass to yao). there ought to be a happy medium for tmac where he is able to be aggressive without dominating the ball. he doesn't have to be perfect, he just has to find balance. last night he was far too passive, and just because some people have gotten on his case for being the opposite (whether rightly or wrongly) doesn't negate that fact. someone mentioned that if rafer had the ball in his hands for the last possession, it would've likely been a floater FTL. that's probably right, but then again, rafer isn't one of our supposed superstars and isn't billing 20m a year for his services. he isn't SUPPOSED to be our closer; tmac is. the appropriate comparison is what would any other 20m dollar player have done with the ball in his hands instead of tmac. that said, i love tmac and hope he finds his balance of teamplay and individual dominance, but don't confuse the issue by deflecting responsibility towards players who aren't paid to be, have never been trusted to be, and will never be expected to be the go-to guy. if you find yourself defending tmac by saying 'but if it was rafer...' you know you're running out of ammo.
This statement of this thread is just based on observations on certain games. I believed the coach saw whatever we saw also so it is up to the coach to light his fire up and do something. I trust Adelman observe the same game and he'll know what to do as he has been a pro coach for so many years.
You didn't answer my question. Has Yao??? So I guess we should rip on him as well for being a playoff choker. Right?
That's precisely the point. Well said. He has done what you just prescribed i.e. finding a good balance many times. Just not with the necessary frequency. He dominates quarters, but he doesn't dominate a whole game. He may dominate a game, but he doesn't dominate a week. Bottomline is, he's showing up whenever a light bulb lights up in his head. Instead he should set an example of hard work and consistency since he is not a vocal leader to begin with.
