I don't post much on here, but I just knew after the Game 3 loss there would be a ton of completely irrational Yao and McGrady bashing. So this thread is dedicated to bringing a dose of reality to the people who have completely lost their minds after one road loss, to a very good basketball team, in the NBA playoffs. To the people ripping Yao and Tracy, lets look at the cold hard facts: Yao -- He's been VERY, VERY GOOD. Yes, he's shooting a low FG % but he's been terrific from the FT line and is leading the team in scoring and rebounding. His numbers are also up from the regular season by 2 ppg and 2.6 rpg. Has he struggled at times? Yes. But is Utah a damn good defensive team? Yes. Has he struggled defensively? You could make that argument, but last time I checked Carlos Boozer is a really tough match up. And people are forgetting he's carrying such a heavy offensive load, he's going to be a little tired on defense sometimes. In the end, Yao doesn't deserve threads bashing him because if it weren't for his offensive and rebounding production, Houston would be down 3-0 right now. The Good: 27 ppg 12 rpg 89.7 FT% The Bad: .411 FG% 4 TO pg .67 bpg Now onto T-Mac. Tracy has been the ONLY playmaker on offense this entire series for the Houston Rockets. He consistently takes the rock in his hands and scores points, gets teammates really good looks, and takes a pounding from aggressive/dirty perimeter defenders. He's also played really good defense all series. His field goal shooting has been poor but to be fair he's HAD to chunk up shots because his fellow teammates couldn't hit water if they fell out of a boat with their shooting so far. He's repeatedly found teammates open for three's and mid-range jumpers, only to have them miss them regularly. The Good: 26 ppg 5 apg 6 rpg 1.3 steals 1 bpg The Bad: .377 FG% .278 3PT% The Okay: 75 FT% You combine those stats and you have T-Mac and Yao scoring 64% of the Rockets offense this series.....64%.....And THEY'RE the problem? Why aren't we dedicating most of our angry threads toward the bench/role players who have completed disappeared this series. Juwan Howard: 3.3 ppg, 3 rpg, 21 mpg, .143 FG% Luther Head: 2.3 ppg, .125 FG% I thought Rafer Alston was solid the first couple of games but putrid in Game 3, so I'm not going to completely rip him when he's putting up 8.7 ppg, 6 apg & 8 rpg this series. Say all you want, but him and Battier have been the only Rockets to contribute anything tangible offensively this series. Hayes has been solid as well. But Howard and Head are the real issues right now. In the regular season they combined for 20.6 ppg. In the playoffs, 5.6 ppg. You want to talk about our offensive woes, it isn't Yao or Tracy, it's these guys who have dropped 15 ppg in production. This is the reality fellow Rockets fans. So until Yao and Tracy score a combined 25-30 points in a game, let's focus on our real problems to this point (in a series we are still leading 2-1 by the way): our bench and our biggest scoring contributors in Howard and Head.
On offense, yes. On defense, I think we've played really well. And I just let the stats speak for themselves.
Judging by the number of threads on Yao and T-Mac not being the problem, I don't think you are alone in your assesment. I'm sure JVG will figure something out for game 4 or game 5.
I think it was Morey who said at the beginning of the season "You need to have players that are significantly better than average to win". Well we have two of those, now we just need more. Throw out the dead weight and bring in better role players.
I usually don't post any comments, but I am glad somebody else has noticed that our biggest issue is our two scorers from the bench, Luther Head and J Howard. Man throughout the series neither one of them has been able to get into a groove. J howard is at the free throw line BY HIMSELF and can't make the jumper. While luther head tries to force himself by shooting up three's with people defending him. These two are choking under pressure and thats all there really is to say about it.
Where is the third scorer? It was supposed to be Bonzi, but it didn't work out. Can I make some suggestions? Wally Szczerbiak (via trade for Juwan Howard and Bob Sura, then draft a PF) Mike James (via trade for V-Span and Bob Sura) Steve Francis (MLE after he's bought out by the Knicks) Any other suggestions? (And please, no KG-type fantasies.)
TMAC looked like he gave up with 6 minutes to go. YAO is waiting around for a double team when passed the ball instead of just attacking the basket right away. Yes he is drawing fouls but why not get the foul and the basket. He is certainly capable. I think a huge plus to this team would be a tall shooter more capable of making the post entry pass. If this comes in the form of a 6'5" point guard? I would not be sad. However its gonna not happen.
Who was the third scorer for the 93-94 Rockets?? Heck, who was the 2nd scorer for that team?? All this talk about the 3rd scorer is BS if your role players do their jobs consistently. Head(cant find his shot) Howard(cant find his confidence) Alston(cant find his consistency) Battier(cant find enough openings)
Looked like after the Jazz tried to tackle him and stole the ball with no call he thought: "What's the point?"
we have no bench, see how j'ass bench contribute to their team. sigh. I can't even remember we still have Bonzi, Vspan, Novak, JL3 and Tsakalidis on our team. Now, seems like Head, Howard, Mutombo have totally lost themselves since playoff started,so actually we only have 5 man lineup. This is the reality and pathetic!
I think game 3 was a positive wakeup call ... you need to lse sometimes to get someone to step up ... i think different people are capable of stepping up in different games for the rockets ... that can get us through this series and hopefully the next three as well
do you trust yao or tmac like you did hakeem with 4 minutes left in these games to trade baskets with whoever? i dont.
I know there are people on here that feel the same way I do, but I just wanted a thread with an appropriate title to show REAL facts. So many people overreact and blame the convenient people. Just like the JVG thread...How is it his fault that his role players can't hit the WIDE OPEN shots? What more can he draw up...They are WIDE OPEN shots.
And I would say NBA players are supposed to make wide open jumpers and layups...thats just me though.
T-Mac isn't what he's used to be. he's lost a step or two since 05. He's just not quick or explosive with his dribble anymore, and his shot has taken a toll. i miss the scoring t-mac
So far in three games, Yao has used two moves exclusively: *catch the ball down low, pivot, shoot a face up jumper *catch the ball down low, spin off defender, turn around jumper the former is not working because he's getting pushed off the block and he catching the ball a little bit farther out than what he's used to. How far out? Far enough to mess him up. The latter is troubling. He does this time and time again and the Jazz has time and time again hacked away when he brings the ball at his chest level. My question is: Where's the hook? It's been pretty effective this past year but did he lose confident in his hook? Those turn around jumpers he shoots with 3 inches of elevation will always get hacked at or blocked because not only does he not get off the ground that high, he also tends to fade. Now I know for damn sure Okur isn't the all-world defender that we're seeing right now so Yao has to adjust and use his hook shots.
Let's assume that Head & Howard just score 15 points together, we would have come out as a 82-81 win last game. I don't expect they are as good as what they were at the offensive end in regular season, but men, only combined 15 ppg, only 15!!!!!!
