Yao Ming Mania - Latest Comments in Novak whacks SAC with huge trey to win 8th straight

Re: Novak whacks SAC with huge trey to win 8th straight

Wilson — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 13:36:11 -0000

IT'S ALL STAR WEEKEND!!!
THE ONLY GOOD THING WORTH OF WATCHING IS THE ALL STAR GAME...THE OTHERS ARE JUST GARBAGE!!!
WHO CARE'S ABOUT THE DUNK CONTEST, 3 POINT CONTEST AND THE ROOKIE VS SOPHMORE GAME???

WHY THE NBA DOESN'T PUT SOMETHING INTERESTING IN THE ALL STAR WEEKEND LIKE...KOBE VS LEBRON 1 ON 1??? OR YAO VS SHAQ??? YI VS DIRK???
WOULDN'T YOU LOVE TO WATCH THAT??? THIS WOULD BE MORE INTERESTING THAN WATCHING ROOKIE VS SOPHMORE GAME!!!

Re: Novak whacks SAC with huge trey to win 8th straight

Bob — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:59:17 -0000

John, the reason I felt the need to make a point on the conference playoff standing is that I see NBA.com (http://www.nba.com/standings/t... is not doing its job right and many people who are relying on the information listed on that page might be duped. By comparison, ESPN's NBA Standings page is much better.

But you are right, a lot can happen with 30 games to go in the regular season. The optimist in me even believe we may end up being the number 1 seed in the west ... hehe. Realistically, barring major injuries to our key players, I see the Rockets will mostly likely go up in the standing. If our guards can hold their own, this team has potential.

Back to the game analysis.

There is no doubt that Novak saved our ass and McGrady sorta redeemed himself a bit with his penetration and assist on that 3-point shot. But it bugs me greatly that Novak was not involved much earlier. Time and time again Novak tried to move his way into the paint and was called by Yao and others to step back to the 3-point line. I don't understand why Adelman couldn't come up with a few simple plays for Novak to unleash his long-range bombs. Good thing Adelman stuck with our 3-pointer specialist till literally the last second even though Novak was virtually ineffective for much of time he was on the court. This could be a monumental confidence boost for Novak's NBA career, something unimaginable under JVG.

Another thing that bothers me Adelman didn't play Scola in the 4th quarter. I guess Scola's three quick and cheap fouls annoyed the heck of Adelman, who decided to give him a lesson.

The Rockets could match the Kings neither in defense nor in offense for the entire 4th quarter. Rafer thought he could be Jordan after a good 3rd quarter, but was dealt with a hard cold reality check. It's disgusting to witness another gigantic 4th quarter collapse with the team in near full staff. I hope this game wake our players up.

Rants over.

Thank you again John for your blog and your diligent work. We Yao Ming/Rockets fans owe to you great deal of appreciation.

Bob, Thanks for the compliment. Yes, I agree that the Rockets should have gotten Novak more involved with some long-range bombs before that final shot. -- John

Re: Novak whacks SAC with huge trey to win 8th straight

Derek — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:57:05 -0000

It takes a lot of guts to leave Novak there for the final period. And it paid off. The win probably wouldn't trigger a lot of things that would happen, for better or for worse. But it did give the Rockets as a team a great deal of confidence going into the second half of the regular season.

I wondered why Adelman didn't want to double Artest in the 4th quarter. Apparently Artest is too strong for T-Mac (or anyone on the team) to handle. I think it would be better if we doubled Artest hard to force him to give up the ball. And the Kings played great defense. How did they double T-Mac and Yao at the same time and still no one could get a good shot off? Why didn't we have some plays like the Novak's shot more often?

Re: Novak whacks SAC with huge trey to win 8th straight

Wilson — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 14:51:57 -0000

THE ROCKETS ALMOST LOST THE GAME AFTER 18 POINTS 4TH QUARTER LEAD LAST NIGHT...BUT AT LEAST THE WON!!! THEY ARE PLAYING WELL RIGHT NOW AFTER THE LOSE TO 76ERS AT HOME!!!THE ROCKETS WOULD HAVE LOST THE GAME IF IT WERE PRE-PHILADELPHIA GAME!!!

I WISH COACH ADELMAN PLAY AARON BROOKS MORE...ESPECIALLY IN THE 4TH QUARTER!!!

YAO + SCOLA + AB= ROCKETS NBA CHAMPIONS!!!

Re: Novak whacks SAC with huge trey to win 8th straight

Nuuj — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 14:32:35 -0000

John, good analysis, and I pretty much agree with the way you looked at this.

I think McGrady needs to do much less swaggering and sincerely put more heart and effort into playing great basketball. The latter takes humility and maturity which seems to lack at a level that enables a championship. He obviously has not learned much from the the 2 first round play-off exits. This forebodes much about the potentials of the team's post-season endeavor. It is pretty obvious to me that at circa $20 MIL/year, he is a liability and not an asset for the team. And then there is the issue of his health or lack thereof. I think that last assist should not be given too much credit. That was to my knowledge the only contribution he made in the 4th quarter in a game in which he played mediocre throughout. Conversely, his defensive responsibility scored at will. I thought that McGrady is supposed to be the superstar and not Artest.

It doesn't seem that there's much attractive trade option out there for a TMac package? But what scenarios can you imagine? I acknowledge that chemistry shouldn't be taken lightly, but McGrady is as solid as glass in so many aspects.

Nuuj, I think the Rockets will keep McGrady this season, then depending on how he and the team does in the playoffs will determine his future. If the Rockets don't make the playoffs or they play horribly in the first round and are eliminated, then I think McGrady will be traded for a 1st-tier point guard and they will fill the shooting guard role that McGrady leaves behind with someone who is affordable. If he plays well and the Rockets advance, then I think they will keep him and the Rockets will try to get an experienced 2nd-tier point guard (but someone better than Rafer) who is affordable. -- John

Re: Novak whacks SAC with huge trey to win 8th straight

Josh — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 11:16:36 -0000

John,
From what I have read, I believe the reason Novak was seldom used in the lineup is because his defense. But if he has the mental toughness you have mentioned, then he can be as Steve Kerr to the Bulls, and Robert Horry to the Lakers, a last dagger to finish off the game.

Thanks for the great blog!

Re: Novak whacks SAC with huge trey to win 8th straight

Brian — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 10:23:19 -0000

thanks for the coverage man
go rockets!
btw, what type of trade would you propose for the rockets?

I wouldn't mind the Rockets getting Sam Cassell for either Mike James or a first-round draft pick. However, I think Sam wants to go to Boston or another team that's high up in the standings. I would hope he wouldn't mind getting nostalgic and go back to the team where he started his career. And Houston isn't chopped liver, either. They could make a nice run with him. -- John

Re: Novak whacks SAC with huge trey to win 8th straight

Allen — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 10:12:02 -0000

No the ox aren't championship contenders. No they don't have a superstar point guard. No Yao is not the animal that Shaq was in his prime. No Mac isn't LBJ. No the personnel are not ideal for Adelman's system. BUT, we are doing exactly what we need to do to keep pace in the playoff race. We simply are not studs, but that doesn't mean that it is irrelevant that we are doing well. We are the hottest team in the NBA going into the break, and for anyone who has watched the NBA for long, it is the second half that matters.

All teams need to go through growing pains in both the reg. season and in the playoffs. We have undergone a coaching and philosophy change, so it is premature to think that we would have been contenders this year. No coach I can remember won a championship in his first year as a coach, and if there was one it was probably more fluke than practice.

For the way we started the season, I am frankly glad that we are where we are. Think, while we aren't out of the lottery yet, we were definitely there before. At least now we have played our way into a contending spot, which will make us more attractive to FA's this summer. It could be a LOT worse.

Re: Novak whacks SAC with huge trey to win 8th straight

AirChina23 — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 09:11:16 -0000

In the last few minutes of the game when the Kings have come back, I was looking for Carl Landry or Luis Scola at the PF. Instead I saw Novak staying in the game. I thought to myself, "they are not gonna rely on Novak to bail them out, right?" It was definitely a bail-out by Novak. Thank goodness! I don't think the Rockets should have any more 4th quarters like this one. Now they can finally rest for a little bit.

Re: Novak whacks SAC with huge trey to win 8th straight

Bob — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 08:27:26 -0000

"That makes a 3-way tie between the Rockets, the Warriors and the Nuggets for the 7th and 8th seed in the Western Conference playoffs at this moment and time."

John, this is not correct. According to NBA playoff tiebreaker rule #3, if the playoffs were held today, the Rockets would edge out the Nuggets for the 8th seed because Houston (18-13) has better conference record than Denver (17-14).

As of now, the Warriors have advantage over the Rockets in both head-to-head and conference record.

Tiebreakers
(1) Head-to-head
(2) Division record (if the teams are in the same division)
(3) Conference record
(4) Record vs. Playoff teams, own conference
(5) Record vs. Playoff teams, other conference
(6) Net points, all games

Anyway, last night's game exposed once again Houston's weakness at guards in pressure situation. Adelman has to address this problem heading into the late regular season. The only viable hope seems to rest on McGrady's revival.

Bob, I didn't bother to go into the tie-breaker like you did since it was 2:00am when I finished my post and I had to get to bed, and there are still 30 games to play and alot can happen during that time. But technically there is a tie...that's why they call it a "tie-breaker." Kind of like the U.S. Open in golf if you look at the leaderboard and there is a tie at the top, the players will have the same score, but then they will designate through an asterisk or something who won the playoff round to break the tie. Thanks for describing the tie-breaker, though, since that saves me some time from doing it right now.

Yup, you're right about exposing the weakness of the Houston's guards. After the Rockets game, I watched the end of the Suns-Warriors game, and I wished the Rockets had a point guard who can get into the lane anytime he wants like Steve Nash can. -- John

Re: Novak whacks SAC with huge trey to win 8th straight

jeff — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 03:36:19 -0000

A win is a win. However, screwing up a huge lead is too familiar with the Rockets. It is time for the head coach to show us that he can turn this around. It is obviously not a problem of one or two individual players. It is a problem of the team as a whole. We expect something different after the All-star break.

Re: Novak whacks SAC with huge trey to win 8th straight

curtis — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 03:07:07 -0000

its a gutsy call to have steve in the game handling the ball at that moment, give credit to aldeman for doing that, trusting rarely used rookies, and he made a big plays, also for regenerate alston to become a tony parker like point guard, he can turn some average players into gold, I am sure he is makinghis way to all of his players now, even if they go down this season, I think they have what it takes, I don't see any need for any trades right now, I like what they got. Why is landry and brooks got quiet lately, are they just one time wonders? I wonder....

Re: Novak whacks SAC with huge trey to win 8th straight

Will — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 03:01:34 -0000

I think Yao played well today. He shot well over 500 and in the 4th quarter he made some big plays(starting with that reverse dunk) to bring some life to the Rox offense in the 4th. Other than Yao no one else stepped it up(except Novaks 3) He made his late 4th quarter free throws and I wasnt too mad he missed that jump hook in the 4th. He was being guarded heavily and had to take the shot since no one else seemed to be able to make anything. Either way, he still had 6 out of 7 of the rox 4th quarter points before Novaks 3. How about Carl Landry though? The guy knows how to hustle!