For all the bashing Yao gets in the series from fans, I completely agree with 'Dream' about him. He continues to keep getting better and he still shows potential and that is SCARY for the rest of the league. Just too bad the league has decided to take away a lot of the effectiveness away from post players like Yao with defensive rules and allowing murder to happen in the paint.
Wow that was awesome advice....Hakeem is special and has done so much for the organization....What a great guy
In 88-89, Hakeem played all 82 games and averaged 24 points, 13 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 steals per game. The Rockets finished in second place in their division and won 45 games playing alongside guys like Sleepy Floyd, Pervis Short and Mike Woodson (yes, the coach). They lost to Seattle in 4 games of a 5-game series. Olajuwon was ALL the Rockets had at that point besides Otis Thorpe. He had no help on that team whatsoever.
Hey don't knock Sleepy. Wasn't that the year both Dream and Sleepy dropped 40+ each on Dallas in the playoffs?
Thanks Jeff. Let them those fools know that it was NEVER A ONE MAN TEAM. ClutchCity started with OT, then Kenny, Vernon, Robert, Mario ....AND RUDY T!!!! Its not a one man team or two man team. It's about adding players with HEART. Look at Golden State. Sure Stephen Jackson shot up a stripclub, so what?? Vernon gave someone herpes. But when they are on the court, they put their heart on the sleave and say.. "F$#@ Y$#$ MU$#$ F$@#ers!!!" That's what its all about. Golden State advances. Houston does not. To the Rocket organization, look at your past to win your future!
LOL! As usual tinman, I don't have much of a comeback but I must say: I fully agree with the bolded part.
thanks Tiger. I hate to compliment the Jazz, but they played with more Heart. their role players were great. Scrubs like Goran Gireck played with heart. Jerry Sloan vs Rudy T was always a CLASSIC COACHING BATTLE. I'm afraid Jerry Sloan vs JVG was not even close. Those Jazz never quit, they played like their coach.
Fully agree. The Jazz played with more heart, guts, determination, focus, and when it counted the most executed down the stretch; we didn't. I love the physical style they play with. They're a 'throwback' team that still plays the Sloan brand of basketball in a league that has gone soft. If you're going to be a defense-first half-court team, you need to play physical and disciplined and get some physical players on your squad. The Rockets haven't done that. Jazz beat us big time on their home court, and barely lost in close games on our home court. At the end of the day, they proved they were the better team. I tip my hat off to them, although I hate them more than ever before. So let's see: in the span of three years, we managed to get beat by my two most hated franchises (Dallas and Utah) after taking a 2-0 lead in BOTH series. Yeah, I would say "no heart" is an accurate description of this Rockets squad. We need some Stephen Jacksons and Matt Harperings to toughen this team up a bit. I know it might not set too well with the country-club atmosphere at the TC, but at least we might actually get past the first round for a change.
I wouldn't agree with this. You can say we don't play "smart". But if you saw the post game interviews with our guys, I don't think you can honestly say we don't have "heart".
I'm sure Tiger thinks Tmac and Yao have lots of heart. what he's talking about: game 3 : only 4 players scored. That was lack of heart.
I've never accused Yao and T-Mac of not caring; they clearly do. However, that's not the same as "playing with heart". Heart means overcoming the odds and playing with inspiration, with guts and determination. It means breaking through adversity and going the extra step, and sometimes even 'overachieving'. I think those guys can and must bring more to the table; and I am not talking about better stats...
I said nothing about caring or correlating it to "playing with heart". Our whole team has heart. If they didn't, they would have quit when they were down by 16 pts. Heart is a) What got us back in the game and b) Almost won it. Heart was Yao showing more emotion that he ever before late in the 4th. Heart was Yao staying in the game have hyperextending his knee. Heart was T-mac being a leader, assisting, driving and doing his part to will his team to victory. Heart had nothing to do with Yao not rebounding there. Yao is slow and consequently, got outrebounded late. No amount of heart can overcome physical limitations. It can only overcome mental limitations.
From what I hear... Basically what Olajuwon said was, hang in there, and that he enjoyed watching him play.
i agree. it just seemed that Olajuwon was trying console him, yet i felt he was also saying that with continous improvement playoff wins would come. In other words "yao, i know this sucks, but dont get too down bc after watching you there are better things to come if you just keep workng hard and plugging away at it."
