http://www.indystar.com/articles/0/221400-6210-179.html Tough tandem drives Rockets Now that they've gotten familiar, McGrady and Yao are providing inside, outside threats. By Mike Wells mike.wells@indystar.com February 11, 2005 Kobe and Shaq did it in Los Angeles. The duo didn't always get along off the court, but Bryant and O'Neal fed off each other and carried the Lakers to three NBA titles. T-Mac and Yao want to become the next great inside-out combination. It took longer than some expected for them to find their chemistry, but Houston's Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming seem to have hit their stride as they visit Conseco Fieldhouse tonight to face the Indiana Pacers. McGrady and Yao were supposed to be the next great duo when Houston acquired McGrady, the All-Star guard, from Orlando last summer. But it took time for McGrady to learn Yao's tendencies and vice versa. The kinks have been worked out, and the two are arguably most lethal pair in the league outside of O'Neal and Dwyane Wade in Miami. "It's a great inside-out combo," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. "McGrady can play inside, too, and jump over you from 25 feet, so that's a problem. They've learned how to play off each other in recent weeks. They're tough to deal with." The Pacers might have had less to worry about the Rockets earlier in the season when McGrady was adjusting to Jeff Van Gundy's coaching style. "I don't think early in the season they made a good duo," Pacers forward Jermaine O'Neal said. McGrady has found his comfort zone, and the Rockets acquired players that fit the system through trades. In its past seven games, Houston has averaged 106.7 points, an increase of 13 from its season average. McGrady and Yao are averaging 27.5 and 19.5 points, respectively, in that span. "Those guys are making it a norm of scoring more than 100 points a night," Pacers assistant coach Mike Brown said. "Every time I look at the box score or watch a game, they're doing it." The Pacers will try to slow them with an assortment of defensive looks. Stephen Jackson, who missed the Jan. 18 game at Houston when McGrady scored 28 points in the Pacers' 87-74 victory, will draw the defensive assignment. Like all the elite players in the league, McGrady can get to any spot on the court and get his shot off. He's averaging 21.3 shots to go with his 25.8 points a game. Jackson's goal is to deny McGrady the ball and contest every shot. "The hardest thing about guarding him is that he's relentless," Jackson said. "If he misses five shots, he's going to come back and shoot the next five. He's a great player. I just have to come out and play solid 'D' on him and get some help from my teammates. It's a challenge I love to take. I'm going to try and go out there and shut him down and do what I can." McGrady is only half the problem. That's why rookie center David Harrison chuckled some when asked about playing the Rockets. "It's going to be a complete team effort," Harrison said about facing the 7-6 Yao for the first time. "We have a lot of fouls to throw at him." The Pacers' defensive system has them fronting the post, no matter whom they're playing, with help coming from the weak side. Jermaine O'Neal said they have to push Yao away from the basket when playing behind him. "Yao has to be a lot more physical than he's been," O'Neal said. "He's been a guy that a lot of people can push off the box. He settles for turnaround jump shots from pretty far. You push him off and make him run because he wears out a little bit when you make him get out and run. He's still a guy that can change the dimension of the game because of his size and ability." Yao has range to about 18 feet, which makes it tough when defending the pick-and-roll with McGrady. The defense has to be able to adjust because McGrady will drive, pull up, dump the ball to the cutting Yao or kick it out to an open shooter. "You see a lot of pick-and-rolls with McGrady and Yao now," Carlisle said. "McGrady is so good at creating air space to get his shot. He's a great passer as well. They're tough guys to play." Call Star reporter Mike Wells at (317) 444-6053. Key matchup Pacers backcourt vs. Rockets backcourt In the previous matchup, an 87-74 Pacers victory on Jan. 18 in which Stephen Jackson did not play, Jamaal Tinsley and Jermaine O'Neal combined for 55 points to offset the 49 from Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. Reggie Miller, Fred Jones and Anthony Johnson added 17 points in 79 minutes. The Rockets' backcourt of Bob Sura and David Wesley averages about 20 points a game, and will challenge the Pacers' revised group to match it. About the Rockets After falling in the first round of the playoffs last season, the Rockets swapped Steve Francis to Orlando for McGrady. The difference? Not much. After 50 games, Houston is 29-21, the same record they had last season. The Rockets are 16-6, however, since Wesley was acquired Dec. 28. . . . The Rockets rank 22nd in the league in scoring (93.6) but have reached 100 each of the past four games, all victories. . . . ESPN ranked reserve center Dikembe Mutombo the third most overpaid player in the league. The former All-Star makes $18.7 million this season (though Houston is responsible for just $4.49 million of it) and is averaging 4.0 points and 4.4 rebounds per game.
nice to see other teams giving us credit for playing good bball. But one thing i hate is the comparison between this team with last year team. i know the records are same, but last year team didn't start 6-11. This team is winning games more quickly which last year team failed to do. so in my opinion this team is much much much better than last years team.
Im sure Deke isnt hurting....but you should remember that he recently used 8Mil of his own money to build that hospital in his homeland.. and that 14M was the tailend of a nearmax contract that one of the best defensive bigmen(as he was at the time) can demand. Im just very thankful that he still has enough of that ability left to provide a helluva nice defensive backup for Yao....at a much lower price...
So Tmac and Yao are now CLICKING because the team is on a winning streak? I think their chemistry was already there a ways back. The difference now has more to do with our ROLE PLAYERS stepping up and making the WIDE OPEN shots that Tmac and Yao have created all season long. Why does the media overlook this fact?
What I want to know is why everyone expected T-Mac and Ming to hit it off right away? I mean, Shaq and Kobe didn't mesh until after 3 season later. Don't they understand that you need time for the right role player to compliment the star players? These media are damn picky and overlook the obvious.
O'Neal is a lil too damn cocky for me.....Eventhough it's kinda true lol Who is he to say that...lol Yao needs to give them 30 tonight!
Its a sure sign that our rockets are getting respect when the local reporters are asking thier home team about us coming to town. I love it.
Jermaine O'neal probably settles for more tough post shots than anyone in the league, most of them tough fadeaways or difficult fading hooks. Yao is probably better at it, considering his 1.47 points per shot compared to JO's 1.29 pps. I have little doubt that Yao is physically superior in terms of size and strength to 95% of the players he plays against. He usually gets pushed off the box when a smaller guy gets under him and uses both hands, which is a foul. His struggles with the fronting defenses have more to do with quickness issues than strength issues. If he hadn't been conditioned to not physically overpower people (see him backing down Chris Webber and being called for a bogus foul on our home court) then i'm sure he would be good at it. He did whatever he wanted to Curry, who is a big, strong guy. Overall, it's a pretty decent article. Better than the "Yao has disappointed" drivel that most other papers write when the rockets are in town.
yeah you'll have a lot more fouls to throw at him if there is a bad crew of referees. which is usually the case
Who are the first two? And aren't all players overpaid (relative to 99% of the population) to play a game?
I don't know about that. It would still only be logical to expect nothing more than an average game from Indiana considering how Yao struggles against the fronts.
I'm not quite clear what you mean by this but maybe my post wasn't clear either. When I said that Yao doesn't "battle" the fronts anymore, I meant once someone fronts him he wont sit there and try to wrestle into position or we wont try to force a lob to him. Yao will run the pick and roll, which sets up shots for the whole team, including Yao. Ever since we've been doing this we've been winning. Play yao one on one, you'll get burned by Yao. Double team Yao, T-mac goes for 50. Front Yao and/or sag-to-double, we run our PnR and get easy buckets from our great passing. Fronting Yao is no longer a easy way out to defend him.
