Interesting observation aboiut 40 out of 85 4th qtr shots being 3s... wasn't aware the % is so high. The opponents have been doubling TMac/Yao hard and leaving shooter open, but I agree 40 out of 85 is too much 3 pt chucking.. The Spurs guys would get open around the arc, but still drive to the basket (and maybe kick the ball around again). Maybe the Rockets need to do that more... or maybe look for re-entry passes into Yao more after the defense is scrambled. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/4358851.html http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/4358853.html
I believe we'll see a better game from the Rockets tonight as JVG has publicly stated that he wants better execution beginning with Tmac and company protecting the ball and getting more shot opportunities (other than 3's). With this brief homestand, they have time to clean up their act so let's see what happens.
If you want better defense and better offense in the 4Q then Gundy needs to play Hayes & Vspan more in the 4th. They were both out when the Wizs came back and almost stole the game. But Juwan was in. Tired in the 4th huh? I'll bet Novak had fresh legs in the 4th in every game so far. A good trait for being ready to actually hit some big 3's. Someday we might find out when Jeff decides it is the best thing for the team. He's figured out what isn't working. Now we are back to Jeff and his philosophy of mind over matter again. If your legs are dead, that doesn't matter because your mind can just decide to hit more shots and grab more rebounds. It doesn't matter if your defense sucks in every other game, it's the 4th quarter and now you are just going to decide in your mind to play great defense! You will decide to run faster and jump higher!! BTW the Nets put in all their reserves in the 4th against the Suns including Boki, our former scrub, and they ran the Suns 30-14 and almost won a game they had been losing terribly. fresh legs? Just a theory of mine. Hey didn't Popovich do this to us? Waiting on Gundy.
It is so funny how far the Chronicle and the Rockets themselves are behind the people on this BBS at figuring out trends. We have been saying all along that we need another penetrating player to go along when Teams double Tmac and Yao in the fourth...someone who has a killer mentality to take it to the glass. We have also been saying that neither Head nor Alston drives the ball to the hole. It just proves once again how the BBS should be running the show. DD
Head and Alston do drive... it's just that they suck at finishing after they drive. Anyone tracked the fg% on Rafer's high arching toss-to-the-heavens when he goes within 5 foot fo the basket? The sample size isn't big yet, but Spanoulis seems to have more success at finishing. Incidentally, Kirk Snyder sometimes have success finishing at the basket. Though he seems better at just catching and finishing rather than making things happen by himself.
Hmm...maybe because our players over-practice compared to the other teams? Is there any study on what is the maximum time duration for practice session before players can fully recover in time for the next match?
Yeah something else this bbs gets before the Rockets is playing Novak. We are shooting so many 3's because it's what the other team is giving us. Driving is great but the other team is clogging the middle late in the game and saying beat us at the arc if you can. And we can't. Sure there is an occasional moment here and there that driving would work and certainly Vspan would be better at determining that time but the fact is until the Rockets punish opposing teams from the arc open driving and postup play will be limited. So the next thing the Rockets and the Chronicle need to catch up on is playing quite possibly the best 3 point shooter in the league at least some in the 4th. Novak. Oh and one other thing most of this BBS gets that the Chronicle and Rockets have not yet caught onto is it is time to say bye to Van Gundy. Let's see how far behind the curve they are on that one.
Good to hear that. T-mac has the ball, Yao under basket, and Head/V-span for three. It's just that simple! Collapsing may has something to do with the team tempo. We should be patient in 4th Q for a high percentage shooting, even with a 24 sec violation which is still better than shooting in a hurry. That's why I do not like Alston. We do not want to blow out the opposite necessory. We want a win even one point edge.
Interesting comment by Van Gundy about (in transition) running for 3's instead of running for layups. It was running for 3's in transition that got Jim Jackson traded for Wesley. I've also noticed Battier doing a good bit of that. Could be what got him into a small VG Q4 dog house.
Actually JVG has stated in the past that he does not practice his players hard like other coaches. JVG stated that he didn't worry about his players averaging high game minutes because he makes up for it by not having hard practices. Vspan made a comment a couple of weeks ago that the day after a game all the players who didn't play had practiced, while the rotation players got the time off. Yao looking tired is more of an affect from his injury in the preseason and having to adjust to averaging more minutes per game, not because JVG practices Yao too hard.
That problem was glaringly obvious at the tail end of last season. Maybe a reason why they went after Snyder and JVG telling the Chron he was the frontrunner for a starting spot?
I thought JVG gave green lights to shoot the treys. I guess it's not now. Good. I hated those long range bomb early in the clock. Our guards played a little too much in those situations.
These 3s are not bad shots in terms of expected value, with Alston shooting 39% and Head shooting 48% and the team as a whole shooting 37.3%. Problem with them is that you can easily get in to droughts when you shoot too many of them, even if they are decent % 3 pt shots. PHX, another 3 pt shooting team, lost a big lead last night partly due to the fact that their scoring fell kind flat in the 4th. McGrady and Yao are getting doubled all the time, so it's hard to ask them to carry too much of the burden in the 4th by being on the ball and beating their own man and a help defender. If you want them to score, I think you have to put these two off the ball and give them some easy scoring opportunities. Otherwise, I'd like to see Battier and Hayes cutting for some layups in the 4th (Hayes' absence was somewhat understandable, it being his first night back). These two seem to finish around the basket best out of the role players now that Snyder is down. Maybe Spanoulis can do some penetration, too.
This is a good thread. Lots of discussion. In my opinion though, the turnovers are a bigger problem than shooting too many 3's. The opposing D really steps up the pressure in the 4th, and all the Rockets have had issues. Yao gets doubled harder, faster, and gets stripped more. T-Mac, Head, and Alston all get pressured more. I think sometimes the turnovers come from trying to force the ball in too much. So while, I don't see anything wrong with trying to get more layups (who can argue with that), I think the 4th quarter turnovers should be the primary concern. But back to shot selection. The NBA today is different from the NBA of 4 years ago. You can double a post player when he doesn't have the ball. You can guard him with 1.5 men, like a real sagged defense. If the defense is really, really, intent on stopping Yao nowadays, they can stop him. There's nothing any post player can do when you're being fronted AND defended from behind. So as first stated in the article, ultimately, the 3pt shots the Rockets are taking are good shots. And while Rafer and Head have come up clutch late, they have struggled otherwise in the 4th. But it's also on T-Mac (30% 3pt shooting), and definitely on Battier (26% 3pt shooting over last 8 games). If the defense is going to dare you to knock down wide open 3's, then you better start knocking down wide open 3's. Sure a cut here, and pick there, and you'll get a good basket inside once in a while, but ultimately the game will be won or lost, in my opinion, on the ability to knock down enough wide open 3pters.
Definitely Clutchfans over the Chronicle for the developments on team strategy. Even with all the crazy whiney posts at times, much more knowledge here than the major newspaper. Chronicle for team quotes since they actually can talk to the players but other than that nothing too insightful over there...anyways This is why this team is like teams of the past, with what seems to be an recurring issue of losing big leads : Live by the 3, Die by the 3. Have players now who score in very few ways or just one way and could use a player with a little bit of offensive creativity. I think that's why Mike James stuck out so much when he was on the team and why there's always talk of a 'third' scorer. Freaking Bonzi, man...A guy like that, late in the game you can feed it to him for easier put ins besides everyone launching 3's. Or, have a guy that can drive to the rim and open things up more for who we already got
Translation: Mike James. Seriously, teams are just going to try to shut down our main options. Until we have someone that can penetrate the defense, AND "finish" then we are going to continue to run into those problems. Tmac as a "facilitator" is fine. But he has to create for someone that can "finish." The more options we can present in the 4th quarter the tougher it will be for defenses to guard us. In the 4th quarter do we want Tmac taking shots, or him creating shots for Alston, Padgett or whoever that are just bricking shots? Vspan might be able to help us in the penetrating/finishing mode but until JVG puts him at PG instead of SG we will never know. Vspan standing around on the 3pt line is ridiculous. Talk about a square peg in a round hole.
