Yao has a bad night, but McGrady and bench come up big in Utah
Friday, November 2nd, 2007
by John
Yao Ming shoots over Utah’s Andrei Kirilenko in a game where Yao struggled offensively with 11 points on 5-of-14 shooting, but he had a great defensive game to help get payback against Utah in a 106-95 win. Click here to see more photos from the game.
Even though Tracy McGrady came out and said before Thursday’s game in Utah that it was just another game, it didn’t appear that way from my perspective. He seemed to be very active on offense from the get-go, and actually started out playing like he was on a vengeance (kind of rare, if you ask me), hitting his first two shots of the game.
With the extra energy he had, it was like he wanted to show that last year’s Game 7 collapse against Utah — and his disappearing act late in that game — was a different McGrady on a very different team.
McGrady started off hot and kept it going, finishing with 47 points on 17-of-27 shooting in one of his best performances in awhile, keeping the Jazz at bay in a 106-95 win. It’s clear he’s playing with a lot more confidence compared to last season when he started off so cold shooting from the field. At this rate, he’s a cinch to win NBA Player of the Week if he plays halfway decent on Saturday night when Houston plays their home opener against Portland.
As great as McGrady was on this night, Yao Ming was the opposite. He hardly hit any of his shot attempts (5-of-14 for 11 points), but at least he was able to turn it on with some big shots in the fourth quarter. He actually played better on defense than on offense, getting 5 blocks and two steals. Yao might have been a step slow defensively in that series against the Jazz last season due to his leg injury, but you couldn’t tell he was laboring defensively in this game with defensive stats like those.
Yao Ming shoots over Utah’s Andrei Kirilenko in a game where Yao struggled offensively with 11 points on 5-of-14 shooting, but he had a great defensive game to help get payback against Utah in a 106-95 win. Click here to see more photos from the game.Even though Tracy McGrady came out and said before Thursday’s game in Utah that it was just another game, it didn’t appear that way from my perspective. He seemed to be very active on offense from the get-go, and actually started out playing like he was on a vengeance (kind of rare, if you ask me), hitting his first two shots of the game.
With the extra energy he had, it was like he wanted to show that last year’s Game 7 collapse against Utah — and his disappearing act late in that game — was a different McGrady on a very different team.
McGrady started off hot and kept it going, finishing with 47 points on 17-of-27 shooting in one of his best performances in awhile, keeping the Jazz at bay in a 106-95 win. It’s clear he’s playing with a lot more confidence compared to last season when he started off so cold shooting from the field. At this rate, he’s a cinch to win NBA Player of the Week if he plays halfway decent on Saturday night when Houston plays their home opener against Portland.
As great as McGrady was on this night, Yao Ming was the opposite. He hardly hit any of his shot attempts (5-of-14 for 11 points), but at least he was able to turn it on with some big shots in the fourth quarter. He actually played better on defense than on offense, getting 5 blocks and two steals. Yao might have been a step slow defensively in that series against the Jazz last season due to his leg injury, but you couldn’t tell he was laboring defensively in this game with defensive stats like those.