[Game 68] San Antonio Spurs v. Houston Rockets Game Thread

[smapor]

This talk about Tmac needs to stop. Sure we would all love a healthy Tmac back. But I find it silly to say Tmac will help us win in the 4th quarter.

We have been having 4th quarter issues with Tmac in the past.
Tmac is not a clutch shooter, we seen him jack up long jumpers.
With Tmac we still haven't gotten out of the 1st round.

But magically if Tmac is back, we would be better? I fail to see the logic. Tmac, Artest, and Yao have 0 chemistry.

We lost today because of silly mistakes and poor Free throw shooting. Sure we had execution issues in the 4th but we put ourselves their by poor TO, poor fouls, crazy half court shot, and missing 6 FT's.

In the 4th they really need this lineup.

Either Ab or lowry
Artest
Yao
Wafer
Landry

Rid needs to setup up some specific plays, not motion offense. Rockets just isn't good enough for motion. We got 2 cutters on our team Wafer and Lowry.

[Iggyemu]

We have been having 4th quarter issues with Tmac in the past.
Tmac is not a clutch shooter, we seen him jack up long jumpers.
With Tmac we still haven't gotten out of the 1st round.

Not the extent as it is right now. I think its quite naive of you to think this team wouldn't be better with McGrady. We lose sizable 4th quarter leads every game now. And it seems that we rarely execute down the stretch when the game is close against a good team. Which is why we'll fail in the playoffs. Fact of the matter is that McGrady when healthy is one of a handful of guys in this league that can get himself a good shot or a teammate a good shot in tight game where teams just turn their defense up. No he wasn't a big shot maker but how many open shots did he hand guys like Battier, Alston...how many layups did he give Scola and Landry and Yao down the stretch of games.

We lost in the playoffs b/c the team was never good enough. We never got stops when we needed and other teams just out talented us. Thats always been the case. I mean didn't we score on 8 of our last 10 possession in game 7 against Utah but we failed to stop them or rebound the ball. Look...even now I am not saying we would win in the playoffs with him. I just know our chances would go from slim to no chance of success to a fair to good chance of success b/c we do have the talent this time...if we had McGrady we would be better.

But magically if Tmac is back, we would be better? I fail to see the logic. Tmac, Artest, and Yao have 0 chemistry.

Chemistry is something average teams need to be better. If you have been watching the Rockets the pass few seasons you would know that. When you have talent chemistry is nice to have...but not necessary. I am sure we would be fine. I just don't understand how you can say we wouldn't be better with McGrady..thats just foolish especially if you are watching everybody shoot long contested jumpers in the 4th quarter and nobody being able to penetrate and create open shots for the rest of the jump shooter we have.

We lost today because of silly mistakes and poor Free throw shooting. Sure we had execution issues in the 4th but we put ourselves their by poor TO, poor fouls, crazy half court shot, and missing 6 FT's.

Ah..thats actually the definition of poor execution.

In the 4th they really need this lineup.

Either Ab or lowry
Artest
Yao
Wafer
Landry

LOL. It can't be Ab or Lowry...thats the problem. You have to actually pick one of those guys. The PG position is the problem right now. If we have stability there then everything else will fall into place.

Rid needs to setup up some specific plays, not motion offense. Rockets just isn't good enough for motion. We got 2 cutters on our team Wafer and Lowry.

It too late to be setting up offenses. Find whichever PG..Brooks or Lowry can run a pick and roll with Scola or Landry and even Artest and make that the play we go to down the stretch. PnR is still hands down the most effective play to run against any defense at anytime during a game.

[smapor]

Iggy my point is, which is taken out of context is.....

With T-mac we had 4th quarter issues and with him he wasn't the clutch player we expected.

Sure with a healthy T-mac we would be better but the problem is we are not that much better because in the past T-mac + Yao combo has failed us in the past.

Sorry if I don't believe just by inserting T-mac we will magically be better in the 4th quarter because we always had issues in the 4th with T-mac.

We can make all the excuses in the world for T-mac, he has had 7 chances. Sure we can give him 8, odds are against him.

Team Chemisty is very important, all past championship teams had team chemistry with their stars. Rockets do not have that. Not even understanding how you can say average teams need team chemistry while good one's dont?

The last few champsionships were won by teams with great chemistry
Lakers
Celtics
Pistons
MJ didn't even win championships until his learned to trust him teamates and develop team chemistry.

Chemisty to me means people who understand their roles and excel at it.. Artest and AB don't even know what those roles are. 3 point specialist, dribble queens, TO machines, or is it ISO plays.

My comment of execution was targeted at 4th quarter offensive execution. Besides this, Rockets lost the game by other means. Like I said we hit 4 of 6 missed FT's and it would change the outcome.

But going back to the insert T-mac = instant 4th quarter wins and getting out of the 1st round defies 0-7 record on T-mac's part. Sure he had bad role players, but he had plenty of games where he just didn't execute in the 4th under 2 minutes. Its not all his fault but I am not going to believe we are going to magically be better when T-mac is in the 4th. I mean better as in winning big games. He will make us look good on paper but till I see a healthy T-mac with this team, its all "TALK"

[tisbee]

Kevin Garnett was 0-6 in First Rds.
Grant Hill has never won a First Rd Series.

Smapor,
There can be no doubt that a healthy McGrady would make this team substantially better. Unfortunately he wasn't healthy this yr.
The rest of the Rockets team is far superior to previous Yao/McGrady Playoff teams.
Last yr no Yao.
The yr before the teams' backup PG was Luther Head and the starting PF was Chuck Hayes w/Juwan Howard as the backup.

[sook]

you'll have better luck finding a wooly mammoth in your backyard than a healthy tmac

[smapor]

Kevin Garnett was 0-6 in First Rds.
Grant Hill has never won a First Rd Series.

Smapor,
There can be no doubt that a healthy McGrady would make this team substantially better. Unfortunately he wasn't healthy this yr.
The rest of the Rockets team is far superior to previous Yao/McGrady Playoff teams.
Last yr no Yao.
The yr before the teams' backup PG was Luther Head and the starting PF was Chuck Hayes w/Juwan Howard as the backup.

KG bailed out by the Celtics and the one year he made it to the western conference finals, his team was playing really well.
Grant Hill had a serious injury in his young career, since than he was never 1st or 2nd option player.

Unless T-mac gets traded to the Celtics, it ain't going to happen for a 31 year old with microfracture surgery who is going to try and lead a team?

I am amazed by people perception that T-mac can come back, win and lead with MICROFRACTURE surgery.

Yes a healthy T-mac is great, but I refuse to jump on the T-mac bandwagon fan saying "With T-mac we won't have 4th quarter issues or we can make it out of the 1st round with T-mac"

Half of you T-mac fans said Rockets won't even make it to the playoffs with out T-mac or Yao/Rockets can't win without T-mac. We are still 3rd in the west seedings. Rockets just need to work on crunch time plays. (Set plays, not motion), go with PNR (practice it to death), not what we seen in the last 5 games (AB and Artest ISO plays). I would even go as far as a PNR with Yao and set him up for free throw range shots. Anything is better than Artest and AB show.

My original post was begging people, please just drop this T-mac talk, unless you can magically convince me T-mac is super clutch in the 4th compared to Wade, Lebron, or Kobe and magically healed.

T-mac is gone and i will be amazed if we see him day 1 in preseason games(coming back from injury).

PS Interesting number this was 4th game of the season where Yao didn't have 1 Free throw.