Last night's game against the Clippers showed a big contrast in strategy - Doc has his players moving setting up picks and screens to free up the PG and the shooters, and McHale has his players stationery, doing ISO and post ups with no one willing to set picks and screens. We could see CP3's strength maximized by having picks & screens set for him non-stop the whole game. When CP3 has good picks and screens and our bigs not coming out to help cut off his driving lane, he just destroys our defense. At first his assists to shooters just kill us. His scoring was just normal until Lin got 5 fouls and played much looser on him. Instead of getting same picks and screens, Lin got no help from our bigs who were just standing there waiting for the ball to dump in to them for post ups. Why didn't McHale insist his bigs get more involved in setting picks and screens like the bigs of the Clippers. If the players are lazy to set picks, it is the coach's job to pull them out or let them hear an ear load. We have a good pnr PG and an out of the world PnR centre and the coach does not insist to have more set pnr plays while our hero ISO balls and the 3 balls of Harden not falling, why? If McHale does not make the adjustment next time we play the Clippers, you can kiss the contending part good bye under this coach.
Howard doesn't want pick and roll or setting screens. He only wants to be in the post 24/7, which is one of the reasons he left the Lakers. Remember Nash and him going at each other one game ?
greg smith showed the most effort on PnR so far, and ive watched all preseason and reg season games some even twice off my dvr because i have comcast.
agree. howard doesn't have offense skills to be a low post threat. I said many times in other threads, the best way to use him in offense is to do p&r and to ask him to crash the offense board. anyway, get him involved in offense in motion.
Stop repeating this complete nonsense on multiple threads and starting new ones to validate your opinion. Do you even know the difference in a high P&R, mid P&R, step-up screen, drag screen or how the defenses play those screens to push them away from them? In my opinion, you can't even identify where the screens are in our offense because you fundamentally know so little about basketball. We run screen and roll on 90%+ of plays. Even when James goes ISO, watch the big man try to come up and set a screen for him, and watch as James waves him off - he did it to Dwight at least 2 times last night. Watch how many of our screens come early in our sets (like every single team in the NBA). Watch how many times the ball handler goes away from the screen - that doesn't mean "why we no run p&r?" It means that we have players making decisions, not robots running your 4th grade offense because your dad read a book on basketball offense.
http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=246228 we have plays but the players besides lin dont want to run them
Whether it's right or wrong, this team is built around and for Harden and Howard. Everyone else has to fit around them. Lin has done well to put up the figures he has, in his auxillary role, but if he wants to play in a more optimal role, with more p'n'rs, then it won't be in this Rockets team. Best thing for Lin is to look for a trade but he's not the type of player to try to force a move or make trouble.
So you have such high IQ on BB, why don't you become the Rox coach, you moron. If you watch the game, you can't tell the difference in how the two teams set screens & PnR, then your high IQ on BB is suspect. Anyhow, the result is there for all to see. We got blown out because the other teams had multiple players setting screens and picks for Paul. Just watch our poor PG having no such help as CP did and shut up.
In last night's game against Portland, we saw a definite improvement that players are more willing to help set screens or picks for each other. That thunderous jam by Howard was after he set screen for Harden and then roll to the basket on the weak side with no one around to guard him. He also screened for Harden so Harden got to score on easy mid range shots. It is much better playing this way. DH was successful with his post ups against much inferior bigs of the Blazers. That doesn't mean he doesn't need more PnR when the competition from opponent's bigs is much tougher.
LOL - last night we ran less P&R than we did in the LA game. What games are you watching (are you even watching these games)? We almost exclusively posted up Dwight on the block throughout the first quarter and a half. Another thing that I think you are missing... there is a difference in the types of pick-and-roll. You are (I'm guessing) imagining a traditional high P&R like the one that Malone/Stockton ran. Parker/Duncan run a mid P&R to perfection right now. We like running a mixture of those 2 plus drag screens and step-up screens. These are all viable options that only work based on the SPACING on the court (where are your shooters and how are their defenders playing them). It doesn't change the fact that we run a ton of P&R. We don't run plays down the court every time. That is another component I think you are missing. The coaching staff doesn't demand more P&R's all the time because they don't call plays from the sideline all the time. Look at when we come out of timeouts and dead ball situations - there is almost always a pick-and-roll (if we don't have an early post) or pick-the-picker play set up. When we run plays, we (and almost every damn team in the NBA) run pick-and-rolls. Watch the game and stop mouth breathing neanderthal.
I watched the Clippers the entire game and 2nd half of Portland game. Am I the only one complaining about the lack of PnR In that game particularly our PG compared to their PG? We tried post ups on them and didn't work, and Harden's drives without any screen didn't work nor his 3s without screens. When things don't work, then adjustments need to be made, either by the lead player or the coach. If the players don't make adjustment and continue ineffective plays, then the coach needs to step in to insist a change. Noop. Everybody could see they played the same ineffective plays and we got blown out. The Portland game we all saw D12 dominated the pain and scored at will. Then why changed the strategy? Just dump him the ball. But D12 was also active in setting screens for Harden at least, resulting in some nice fireworks for the team. I was glad that Bev came in at 4th Qtr and just played really well. I like his 'new' hook shot which the announcer said he learns it from AB, LOL. I think the team should set some more high picks for D12 so he can roll to the basket with power and speed which are his strength. He may not be as effective in post ups again elite defending but slower bigs. That is how he can kill them with speed by PnR.
To the uneducated eye most NBA level P&R go unnoticed. A good portion of them get cut off short of the obvious big-small screen because the opponent reacts freeing up an offensive player. Others have no identifying signature because the big will make a basket cut basket when the defender commits to early. Still more of them become positional screens where a crease develops in the defense. The P&R offense is designed to make the opponent react, and as soon as that happens the offense attempts to take advantage. Heck I have even seen plays where the ball handler follows the big to the basket like he was running behind a fullback. But they are all P&R.
What I wanna know is why in da heck does McHale have to "INSIST" they do any thing... He's the darn coach. If he wants them to run more pick and rolls he can just tell them to do it. Simple as that. I just solved the baffling mystery of why McHale doesn't insist on more pick and rolls.
Agreed. One of the biggest advantage of TT is pick setting. PnR with one, then draw the defender of the other, hand off/lob, boom! I'd like to see more of Dream's Deadly Combo.
Doesn't work, because there won't be any spacing in the paint. Other teams know Howard and Asik can't shoot jumpers, and Morey ball doesn't like mid-range jumpers anyway. Their bigs will calmly camp inside the paint and wait for Harden, Lin, or Parsons to run into them.
