In trying to remember the last time I felt such knots in my stomach watching the Rockets I think I have to go back to the Francis/Mobley days... good win; not great and not pretty either. Having read on this board that some think Tracy McGrady has been taking too many shots, it should be qualified by WHEN he is taking his shots. With the Rockets having a 7 point lead with two and half minutes left to play, McGrady took shots when he shouldn't. He forced too many shots when the game was on the line. It's one thing to try to take a game over or enforce your will on a game and another to forget about your teammates when you need to trust them. The shot by Mike James with 40 seconds left proves the point. Just when your team has played with the energy of a game seven in a series is when you need to realize that with your whole team in a mental slump you need to try to let a game like this raise everyone's confidence, not just as a team but as individuals, too. As in the last two games the Rockets made it hard on themselves with their shooting woes. I'm a firm believer that that has it's roots in mental rather than physical causes. When you're free stroking shots more of them go in. When your trying to guide them the basket seems to move away from them. The Rockets would have had chances to free stroke it when they had leads but that wasn't often tonight. So the shooting grind might very well continue. No doubt a win over a quality team will help their mental outlook when they take shots in their next game, but the rhythm they've had pre-Sura injury and pre-Howard injury may not return until Howard does. Let's hope it does at least then if not before. When Dikembe Mutombo becomes the Center of note in Rockets wins you also have to give serious consideration to the doubts surrounding Yao as one of the "big two" on this team. I have noted for pretty much his whole career that he may have good hands but he does not have strong hands. And for all his basketball IQ and skills he usually does not get loose balls in situations where he should. Too often when he could grab the ball he only uses one had to slap it presumably out to where one of his teammates can get to it. But it seems like half the time the other team comes up with the loose ball. And when it comes to silly, unnecessary fouls, I think he leads the team. Yao has played one game this year to the potential we all imagined he could -- his game against Phoenix in the Rockets road win agains the Suns. But there is a basic fire lacking in his game. I'm sure the whole organization is trying to figure out how to light that fire. The one saving grace for the Rockets tonight was their energy and defense -- especially offensive rebounding. No doubt the logic of their shooting plight had been pointed out to them: If your shots aren't going in then you need to have more of them to offset that weakness. They didn't exactly throw water on the Miami Heat's flaming insignia but they did cover it like a bunch of wet leaves that have to be dried out before they will blaze. Fortunately for the Rockets their leaves stayed wet just long enough to escape with a win. In the end the Rockets played like this was a game seven of a series while Miami played like it was game one. Let's hope the Rockets can fully right their ship. Let's hope this will be like the fork in the road and the road not taken is a horrendous slide. If only they could sustain playing the rest of their games like they were game sevens... then maybe they will get a chance to play seven games against the Heat before it's all said and done. Unfortunately, hopes never grabbed a loose ball or nailed a jump shot. Surely the Rockets have had that lesson demonstrated all too well this season.
Boy, a rookie poster I see, let me dismiss your post by the following cut & paste from the AP recap of the game, since you obviously have missed the game: McGrady...made all the clutch plays down the stretch. During one late sequence, McGrady scooped up a loose ball, beat Eddie Jones with a crossover dribble and drilled a deep 3 that gave Houston a 74-62 lead with fewer than 6 minutes left. He followed that with another 3, and later whipped a crosscourt pass to Mike James for an assist on his 3 to put Houston up 80-72 with 40.5 seconds to go.
yeah i guess so, if it happened every single game. is this something you think about every night or do you save it for when deke has his best game of the season? seriously where are you people when yao is clicking? i love mutombo and he has indeed been in the word's of jvg, "perfect" but don't underestimate the impact yao has on this team, though it may not have been much of one tonight.
I thought the point(s) of the post were pretty clear. By paragraph: 1) Akin to the comments about T-Mac taking too many shots, he doesn't necessarily take too many shots but, lately, he sometimes forces his shot when a pass might get a better look for one of his teammates. The game last night might not have been such a nail biter if he had passed for a better shot in about 3 instances where he missed in the last couple of minutes. 2) The Rockets have not gotten over their shooting slump. 3) Yao showed what he is capable of in the last road game against Phoenix. He played with a fire and determination that he doesn't demonstrate most nights. 4) The Rockets won the Miami game through sheer energy and defensive hustle; especially on the boards. 5) If they right their ship (improving on the first three points and continuing the fourth) I see it as entirely possible, maybe even likely, that they could get to the Finals this year.
The only thing the Rockets didn't do was knock dow their shots last night. If we would have hit those open jumpers, we would have won by double digits. Everything was executed well, and Mutombo and Weatherspoon's defense on Shaq was great.
I forgot to address one other post. I mentioned this one play and tried to make the point that T-Mac's pass to James was the better choice than trying to "take over the game" by shooting every clutch shot himself. I'm a rookie poster if number of posts is all that counts. But I'm not new to the board.
Actually after last night game I really think YAO improve a lot. he can D-shaq alone now. and he can challenge SHAQ on O-side 1-to-1. not like first two years, he just avoid contact with SHAQ. Overall, YAO is much better player than DEKE, but don't forget DEKE is one of the best defensive center in the NBA history.
Yet again, Yao's biggest problem was silly fouls. I believe he'll get better about those as time goes on. He played Fine the first half, though and did a good job guarding Shaq when it was his turn. I have the luxury of knowing after this game that no matter how disappointed we were with the Rockets' shooting and turnovers and the like, it's nowhere near how disappointed the Heat fans were with their team. The game was a total VG vs. VG chess match. How many different combos did we see from both sides? And yet we got the win. Shouldn't have really even been so close, if not for the refs.
Good post. I felt pretty uneasy watching the game as well. We're a good team and we got a good win, but somethings not right with our Rockets right now. I am so glad we didn't lose the game. If we had, it could have really screwed our boys mentally and sent the team into a tailspin. Kudos to David Wesley for being absolutley clutch. Let's hope the team gets out of it's collective shooting slump soon!
Even though I don't totally agree with his opinion, I think he presented his argument nicely, without attacking anyone. Deke looks do good because he has great shotblock timing. I loved how Deke changed Dwayne Wade's floater attempts in the 4th. That is a shot Wade has been killing everyone with.
Tmac has to take a lot of shots simply because he is about the only one who can create a shot for himself. When the shot clock is winding down, if Tmac doesn't have the ball, then the ball is looking for Tmac.
