http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=241231010 Yao (flu) misses NBA game for first time HOUSTON (AP) -- Tracy McGrady did the work of two people -- Yao Ming and himself. With Yao out with the flu, McGrady scored 42 points -- the exact total he and his Houston teammate average per game -- and grabbed 10 rebounds in the Rockets' 105-90 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night. McGrady has averaged 23 points per game in his first season with the Rockets, and Yao has been scoring 19. But McGrady was alone against the Bucks as Yao, the Houston center, missed the first game of his NBA career. "I didn't realize that was our average combined," McGrady said. "I did realize I had to step my game up because Yao was out of the game. "I like a challenge. It was just a matter of me getting the job done and imposing my will on the game. With Yao out, it was just a case of me getting in the attack mode." McGrady scored nine points, including a four-point play, to help Houston take a 13-4 lead. He had 17 points in the first quarter to stake Houston to a 27-20 advantage. "I felt good from the start," McGrady said. "I wanted to be aggressive since Yao was out. "I didn't want to come out of the game at all. I got a lot of rest since it was a 9 p.m. start and I had a lot of energy." McGrady impressed coach Jeff Van Gundy. "Tracy was obviously great," Van Gundy said. "He put the stamp of greatness on his game from the beginning." Van Gundy wasn't sure how much the Rockets missed having their big man in the middle. "It depends on which Yao we have," Van Gundy said. "If we have the alert, aggressive Yao, we can score in the paint better. But any team can survive two or there games without a player like him, but it's hard to do in the long term." Michael Redd's 21 points led the Bucks, who had beaten Houston 111-87 last Tuesday in Milwaukee. "They played a lot more aggressively than the last game and they were hitting their shots," Redd said. "Tracy had a big night and we were stagnant on the offensive end. Tracy played tremendously and he kept them going all game." Milwaukee coach Terry Porter agreed. "Tracy got it going early and started making shots over our guys," Porter said. "He got a lot of foul calls and that made a big difference." Maurice Taylor added 16 points to help the Rockets reach .500 (15-15) for the first time since they were 6-6 on Nov. 21. Houston has won nine of 13. "It was big, real big (to get back to .500)," McGrady said. "Now we can concentrate on staying over .500. This is our identity. This is what this team should be the rest of the season." Houston had a 10-0 run in the third quarter, the last eight points by McGrady, to help maintain an 11-point lead. Game notes The Rockets have won three straight on New Year's Eve and are 3-2 overall on the day, counting two losses when they were the San Diego Rockets. ... Yao ended a string of 193 straight games played, the eighth longest current streak in the NBA. ... The Bucks activated guard Erick Strickland (knee) from the injured list. ... Milwaukee hasn't won in Houston since Nov. 2, 1999.
read in another thread how sina.com reported Yao was throwing up because of the flu after the first Bucks game, where the Rocks were killed. It's a bit comforting to know that Yao's poor performance had to do with his physical condition instead of his lack of confidence or interest, as many here were saying.
Where did Van Gundy bash Yao? People in this forum have gotten on Yao's case for not being aggressive, now the coach is trying to make him more aggressive and people are saying he is bashing him? He even praised him saying that a team can get by for 2 or 3 games without a player like Yao but not long-term which is true. I don't see how that is bashing, if Yao isn't aggressive then he isn't making the team better. Yao is learning more and more to become aggressive regularly, but I like the fact that the coach is calling him out on it more. Not in a nasty way but in subtle ways.
And before someone jumps on me for being a "Van Gundy defender" or "pro-Van Gundy", I'm not. I'm disappointed in a lot of things he has done this year. But the bottomline is that people have been critical for Yao for not being aggressive enough, but because most of the people don't like Van Gundy it's looked at as bashing. If someone, say Hakeem, says it people would praise him for it. That's my point, don't look at the messenger look at the message.
Yao's on-court/off-court number according to 82games.com is a pretty negative number. This can never be the case for a player who is supposed to a franchise player. If Yao cannot make the team better when he is on the floor, the Rockets are in trouble if he is not traded. This just supports the theory that Yao is the odd man out in this offense.
Rudy's way did not get us into the playoffs. JVG's did. I am surprised JVG called one of his own players great. This is the first time I have heard him say something positive about ne of his players like that.
I just don't think that he should calling out players using the media especially after these trades. Right now, he should focus on keeping the team united. I wish the players could go up there and call him out for stupid sh*t he's done.
Because Tmac is truely a great player. Yao is two notches below that (notch 1: top 10, notch 2: top 5). Yao needs to play like the two games that Tmac missed. Then in a couple of years we can talk about having two top 5 players.
Lots of coaches call their players out in public. Phil Jackson did. Pat Riley did. Jerry Sloan does. Don Nelson has. These guys aren't exactly slouches when it comes to coaching.
They also tend to praise their players in the media as well. The only time JVG ever compliments his players in public, it comes from his backhand.
That is true Jeff, I just said I prefered Rudy's way of handling it. I mean Yao is sick, why put a dig on the guy? He did not even play in the game. DD
I kind of wish Rudy had used the media to light a fire under Robert Horry's ass sometimes. He was the ONE player that Rudy had that was compariable to Yao Ming, in terms of having the ability to be inconsistent, and having fluctuating confidence. Rudy never had to motivate anybody else to give their all, and be aggressive... the players he had all had a supreme desire to try to be the best, or to succeed at what they did. Olajuwon, OT, Kenny, Vernon, Clyde, Charles.... all veterans BEFORE Rudy ever came there. And the other young players, namely Cassell, Francis, and Mobely... all came into the league with a sense of arrogance that cannot be taught. (Notice: JVG never questioned Steve's hustle, aggressiveness, or desire last year... he even said at times, steve is trying TOO hard) Additionally, Rudy let the veterans govern the team... guys like Kenny Smith, Thorpe, then Drexler and Barkley. I can see T-Mac starting to take that role, and he's already told Yao he needs to be more aggressive, or "I need him to be like that every night." On a final note, I honestly think Rudy could give a little motivation speech to Caron Butler and Lamar Odom right now... those two should have the advantage in their matchups every night, yet they seem to pick and choose which nights they want to show up (esp. Butler).
Hey guys, don't take that quote from JVG totally out of context. He said it himself that he could live with it, taking an under-performing Yao Ming out for a game or 2 but he could not do it for the long term, i.e. he does not think the Rockets can do without Yao Ming. So I don't see any malice/bad intention in that statement of his. Beside JVG did say some great thing about Yao Ming's commitment and leadership in another occasion.
Those on-court/off-court numbers are black and white in terms of distinguishing how a team performs with and without a player on the court. Guys like Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki, and Duncan have very positive on-court/off-court numbers. TMac's on-court/off-court numbers are going to be very positive as the games go on. One reason why Yao's numbers are so negative is that Dikembe is such a good backup center. Dikembe is a better defender. He's a better rebounder. He's a better shotblocker. Also, the offense runs totally through TMac with Yao off the court. I've already presented my arguments why the Rockets are best going with an uptempo pace rather than a slow down pace. Unless this team has deadeye shooters, Yao's benefit to the team markedly decreases.
