RealGM

There was a thread not that long ago commentating on Yao's lower than normal percentages. Well, it appears that the ship has been righted yet again. We have T-mac back, Yao returning to form, and a win over an in state rival.

Here is to a fruitful second half of the season.

Go Rockets

I think we won in spite of McGrady, not because of him.

Nonetheless,

Cheers!

jove9 wrote:I think we won in spite of McGrady, not because of him.

Nonetheless,

Cheers!

I am inclined to agree with you. Offense seemed to stagnate a bit with him in, but a win is a win.

Yao's now an official member of the 20+ppg, 10+rbs, 50+%FG club. Throw in 80+%FT, 2+ blk, and 2+ ast and he's having an excellent year. Not many big men are doing that this year, although I have no idea. Too lazy to look.

I think Yao needs to loose a few pounds. Nobody in the league can matchup with his size. He does need to get a step or two quicker.

Fronting defense is not as effective on athletic guys like Howard, Stoudamire, as it does on Yao. You need to be able to use some quickness to split the fronting.

DynastySS wrote:-= original quote snipped =-
Here is to a fruitful second half of the season.

Call me a fan, but with T-Mac back (+ emergence of the bench) i'm feeling pre-season optimistic again.

DynastySS wrote:-= original quote snipped =-
Offense seemed to stagnate a bit with him in

Agree, but admit it - didn't you feel 10x less nervous with T-Mac handling the ball in the final couple of minutes, as compared to say Head, or even Alston?

He'll get into the swing of things; and it looks like he's trying. He even had a transition dunk running the floor ... can't remember the last time he had one of those.

grond wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Agree, but admit it - didn't you feel 10x less nervous with T-Mac handling the ball in the final couple of minutes, as compared to say Head, or even Alston?

He'll get into the swing of things; and it looks like he's trying. He even had a transition dunk running the floor ... can't remember the last time he had one of those.

he had a TON of those in our 6-1 start. stop blaming the offense on him earlier on. everyone just stood around and we went back to JVG-style offense for a while, even for yao ming. the entire team admitted.

didn't you remember how everyone was clamoring tmac was dunking like at least 1-2 times a game in our great start? he was the ONLY one running the adelman offense earlier on.

now he has to do what he did earlier on but also let his teammates create, and not just him. don't try to be in all the plays. say run a play for scola even when yao or tmac are on the court. run a play for bonzi.

nyk_buc wrote:-= original quote snipped =-
stop blaming the offense on him earlier on.

simmer down. 'Blaming' wasn't the intended implication (no one runs an offense all by themselves) - only that it's been a while since we've seen a fast break with him on the end of it, which is true, si?

Besides, I think it's obvious from my post that I'm quite bullish on T-Mac's return.

Yeah he's not taking as many fade-aways, using that hook shot more which is his best move, and he's playing closer to the basket.

TMACFORMVP wrote:Yeah he's not taking as many fade-aways, using that hook shot more which is his best move, and he's playing closer to the basket.

What is most important is that he has stopped taking that midrange jumper, which directly correlates with him spending less time on the perimeter and more time in the low post and in the paint.

By NBA.com Hot Spots (link: http://www.nba.com/hotspots/) Yao is shooting 25/75 = 33.3% from midrange. I know he was once a very good shooter from there but this year he clearly can't make that shot, even if wide open. He should not be taking that shot, period, and lately he has taken very few.

Ya, he's just gone cold from outside this year. Don't know why. I remember him burying shots out near the 3 point line in the past. I think he's still gotta' take that shot, though. If he can get back in a groove from that range, it would be very valuable in opening up the lane for the drive when needed.