I think it's very clear that HOU game plan for last night was: YAO took the gitsr half and TMAC took care second. But it was so so so unsmooth! YAO got 16 shots in the first half, and ZERO came to him in the second. Yes, TMAC 's hot hand gave me some hope. But I don't know he was the hero. It was our DEFENse hold off SPURS and create a chance for TMAC to make his jumper excerise. and he overdone it! every damn run went through him YAO and rest just non-exist. TMAC made several unbelievable shots and missed several key shots, and most of them are bad shots. we were down by 6 and if TMAC can let YAO geta couple of post play o, or be more patient and thus team can create some GOOD shots, we might have chance. P If our game plan continue like this, we are only 45 win team. Loook at SPURS, they always and only take good shots, and they have TD spuerstar and Manu as all-star, which is similar to us. OH, yes, you can say they got Parker as closer. And the way he close the game is to attach the hoop
Agree. This is just not the right way to win. You got to change your offense and makes spurs lost in defense. But now everyone knows Tmac will shoot the ball so that they will double him. He tried to pass when he had no space to shoot. But it's too late. Tmac is not playing like a leader. He is just playing like the early version of Jordan but not the mature Jordan. But I will blame JVG. He alreay lost control on this team after 13 points in 35 seconds show. It's time to find a new coach.
Agree with you. If you keeping running the offense through the same person, whoever he is, the opponent will shut him down sooner or later. It cools off the other players and drains the energy of that anchor man. It's not a good strategy. Yes. We need to run the plays to get a high-percentage shot. But not necessary for T-Mac and Yao every time. Design some good plays for Howard, Swift, Anderson... and even Head. It would make opponents difficult to adjust, relieve our star players and make our role players' job more interesting. It's that simple. Our two star players will not win it all with their own. We need to find/train/establish our reliable 3rd, 4th and 5th option!
Just watching the spurs move the ball made it more apparent how we are so ineffective at moving the ball. our fundamentals at this point seem to be pretty bad :\
tmac GOT 27 PTS, but I will say at least 10 pts are useless except make ESPN people happy. I know he play very very hard, but the way is not right. not his fault totally, where is the coach? Do we have a offense--Assistant (or ASS )
AMEN. JVG is not a coach that can explore player's full potential. He totally let loose of Tmac this season. That's not the way to raise up player's reputation, and not the right way to win games either.
Tmac is the only reason we have a chance of ever beating the spurs with this roster. They are so good defensively that you need a guy who can hit tough shots. That is why Kobe is the only guy who has consistently killed them in the past. Our two wins against them last year were from Tmac doing his thing down the stretch. I'd love to get Yao and the others more shots, but it's not like they were stepping up to the challenge. When Yao was doubled, we weren't really getting anything out of the ball movement. Guards were pumpfaking and passing up open looks. I think we should run some pick and pop for Yao to keep him involved, but everyone should realize that we don't stand a chance against the spurs unless Tmac goes off.
I totally disgree, unless you got two TMAC in your team. TMAC got off doesn't mean no need for team play.
There was no way in hell we were going to 'out-team' the spurs the way everyone was playing last night. We tried that approach in the first half, and while Yao put up big numbers, we were still down by double digits. When they doubled Yao agressively every time he touched the ball, Rafer, Wesley, and DA couldn't even get a shot off, and when they did, they were ugly bricks. Juwan refused to shoot his midrange shot for some reason. Rafer got a steal and a breakaway but couldn't even score or draw a foul when Parker started behind him. Tmac is the guy the spurs fear, and for good reason. We were down by 20 points, and no one else was doing jack. I don't blame Tmac at all for trying to take the game over.
This thread has me scratching my head so hard that I'm going to end up looking like JVG. McGrady has now become the problem?! TMac is, has been, and will be "the man" on the Rockets. Does he take crazy shots? Yep. And you know what ... he makes 'em. A lot of them. Don't hate on TMac. If you want to hate on something, focus on our guard play.
You're absolutely right. What was he thinking when he let TMac win that game singlehandedly? One of the most negative memories I have as a Rockets fan.
A T-Mac miracle was probably the only way the Rockets were going to win last night, but I still think that zhao's point is a good one in "the grand scheme of things". Like it or not, the way he tried to beat the Spurs by himself last night will never ever ever ever win big games consistently, won't ever win playoff series against good teams either as proven throughout his career and last season. If that's his mindset it will HAVE to change, as Rocket fans we shouldn't take the message in this thread negatively, unless you think T-Mac will be the first player ever to win big in the NBA by himself.
Disagree. Our first half was mainly Yao show and Tmac barely shot the ball. Then in the 2nd half we went completely to the opposite. Why it is so hard to involve both? I would like more Tmac - Yao connection than the "Tmac or Yao, but not both" show last night.
I think this has been debated to death. We are an above average DEFENSIVE team, but a collection of five players on offense. We don't function as a team on the offensive end. When our defense reaches the good or great level, which we'll eventually, we can beat most of the teams in this league. But to beat the good teams, e.g., the Spurs, the Pistons, we need a good OFFENSIVE team. Right now, we are either dump the ball to Yao and stand aside watching, or hand the ball to TMac, let him do his thing team. Players are who they are, the Rockets knew what they got when signed each of them, it's the coach's job to make them function as a team. Since it's only the first month of the season, I attribute all of our problems to the new players, and the chemistry. If we still play like this coming January, then you can start to bash JVG.
if you still remember WHY we down 20 pts? when YAO off the court and HEAD sat on the bench in the late 3 Qts, we only down 10. and then TMAC made several bad shots, or say the whole team was mess. when YAO back, the gap was 18 or 20. A team will never fear a player, unless the player can represent a team. I didn't see that last night. I remember last year playoff 76ers Vs Pistons: Yes, AI is superstar and can give 76ers one game, but that's it. I don't mind TMAC take over the game at all, but that was not correct way and I don't want to blame TMAC, our OFFENSE coachES just doing nothing
T-Mac passed the ball around in the first half - and the Rockets ended up in a big hole. Sorry guys, I disagree. Right now Houston is a one trick pony - and it's because the other horses are playing like mules. Also, San Antonio is the best team in the league - you can't expect us to just become the best overnight. SA clearly got up for this game and played to make a statement. And they did.
Yao had 7 rbs and 0 blocks in 42 minutes last night. He has a total of 2 blocks in the last 5 games. He needs to be intimidating defensively.
He did hit 0-7 in the 1st half, so what he did was the right thing. It's just unfortunate that no one except Yao can hit in the 1st half.
