The Spurs shot nearly 52% from the floor. Everytime I look at the boxscores lately, the Rockets opponenst are shooting better then 50%. I see a huge lack of commitment from our young guys on the defensive side of the ball. Mobley and Francis flat out do not put in the effort on defense. Right now, I only see Anderson and Thomas playing consistent D. Even Hakeem only picks his spots. This team may be young, but until it makes a SERIOUS commitment to playing both ends of the floor, they will continue to lose. They will be exciting, no doubt, but they will still LOSE..and LOSE often. Defense is the key to winning in the NBA. Most teams can score, but not many can stop you from scoring. I WANT DEFENSIVE HUSTLE...AT ALL TIMES.... Teach these young kids how to win in the NBA Rudy....DEFENSE !!!! DaDakota "Defense wins championships !!!"
Francis doesnt have great defense but it is good enough. Mobley played good defense tonight but thats the only time. We have pretty good defensive players we just weaknesses in some positions..
Man...I was just about ready to write how the defense played the best game of the year. DaDakota, we just can't seem to agree. We were all over the passing lanes. Finally. SA was turning the ball over at a big rate in the first half. They got better in the second. We left Elie open too much. But, that was very good defense -- for us, considering we are so short, playing against the tallest team in the NBA.
HeyPartner, I totally disagree. Our rotations on the defensive side were HORRID. The only person that should have doubled, was the one guarding Avery Johnson. We left too many people WIDE open. We did not mix it up, we doubled too early in the play, and we did not match our best BIG guy defender on their best offensive threat. If you want Duncan to struggle, put HAKEEM on him. You can not say we played good defense when the other team shoots 52%. We need more effort out of our guards, and a more consistent rotation. Defense is the key, DaDakota
Here you go, taking me on again--a glutten for punishment. Let me give you a quote from Duncan for starters: Add to that: 14 turnovers by SA in the first half was the reason we had the lead. Nice backseat coaching there suggesting we put Kenny Thomas on David Robinson. Also, since everyone leaves Avery Johnson, SA places him furthest from Duncan making it very difficult to help from leaving Avery. They can make you pay for that. With that said...you should bring up our defense...cause it is what we need improvement on the most...but last night's game was an odd game for you to use as an example, DaDakota. That was far from a bad defensive effort. Certainly not worthy of your slam post. I think you zone in on something before the games even start. You do that, and you can always convince yourself you were right during the course of a game. [This message has been edited by heypartner (edited February 21, 2000).]
Somebody donate a hard drive to Clutch, Heypartner's ego alone is starting to eat up gigabytes. DaDakota, give it up, when the boy's mind is made up, there's no point in arguing. I didn't watch last night's game but as a whole, our defense outside of a few games seems to be lacking. Overall, we have no defensive stoppers simply because 2 of the stoppers haven't been playing consistent minutes (Hakeem and Cato) and our guards aren't exactly defensive studs. From what others seem to be saying, Shandon has been the lone consistent defensive standby. I'm a bit disappointed in Francis' defense. Somehow I thought coming out of college his D would be a bit better than it has been. Hopefully it will improve. ------------------ trade them all and fire the coach.
DoD, Ego is what bball is all about! Gigabytes!! I think I finally have a theme for my "signature". I really do agree with DaDakota here. Just not his choice of games. In general, everything he said is right on!! btw: I welcome any criticism of my posts from you guys. Y'all make it fun. And challenging. We need that individual edge; not a bunch of pompous pontificators and followers.
Francis mentioned that he would like to participate as a regular All-Star in the future. Defense is probably the biggest area in which he is behind G Payton and J Kidd. Will he realize that and dedicate himself to improve that part of his game so he will have a better shot at being a regular All-Star? Mango [This message has been edited by Mango (edited February 21, 2000).]
HeyPartner, if you read my initial post in this thread, I said KT played good D. My point is mostly about our young guards, their man to man defense is really bad. Francis constantly gets beaten off the dribble by players FAR less talented then he, and Mobley is a terrible defender. I can never say we had a good defensive effort when the opponent shot over 50%, and scored over 100 in regulation. We simply do not play defense very well, and that is the main reason our record is so shoddy. Yes we are young, but you would think that a defensive commitment would be the first thing the young guns learn. HeyPartner has some good posts, but I don't agree with all of his strategies, but I never shy away from a good debate, when everyone only has the Rockets well being in mind. GO ROCKETS !! DaDakota
YESH...the man with the provocative thread titles is not backing down. You know, any thread with SUCKS in the title is asking for it. Alright...I concede. Because I love defense. I shouldn't detract from your main point. Let's have this discussion. It is about time someone posted this thread. Really!! Tell me...what did you like about SA's defense; aside from two 7'ers. Did you notice how they rarely ever bring a guy from weakside to double team...they are more ameoba like. Here's a question for everyone: with Cato and Dream, should we pattern our motion on theirs next year? Lately, I've been spending most of my time drawing up offensive plays and have not studied our defense. Much of this is because when Cato and Dream were out, we had no defense. Aside from personal match-ups, what do you look for in a defense?
With Dream being on his farewell tour? Only if you planned on plugging Rogers or somebody of similar height into the system when Dream retires. Mango
our D i thought had its ups and downs. But it is so hard to stop duncan no matter what you do even though kenny T had a great effort. Hakeem played pretty good D. mobley played good D. francis not bad, someone should have had a hand in avery's face. bullard and williams werent so great. shandon played adequete D. our D rotating on their shooters was not so good. our transition D was again poor. our interior D was actually very solid. the rockets still our inconsistent at D cause they are young. a rookie point guard like francis very very rarely plays good D until he gets a feel for the game and his opponents. DaDakota 52% for the spurs isnt too much to be ashamed of. duncan is so good and he makes a ton of easy interior shots, along with robinson. there often nothing u can do about taht. ------------------ --TEX
The Spurs are utilizing the new rules and playing a strong side zone. When we play teams with a GREAT post player, we should do what Orlando did, or Seattle when Dream was at his peak. Surround him with BIG people and make play the passing lanes. Too often we double team out of habit rather then necessity, I for one would like the Rockets to play better man on man defense. We have a quickness advantage at almost every position, use it !!! Our biggest problem though, is that we are just plain young and don't know how to win against good teams, especially on the Road. We need a smattering of veteran contributors before this team will go anywhere. DaDakota
I think the key to playing good defense could be as simple as the coach's commitment to implementing and stressing it. I've noticed with both the Knicks and the Spurs, when the opposing team gets anything remotely close to an 'easy' basket, Van Gundy or Popovich will immediately call timeout and chew the players out for allowing it (we saw this the other night in the first couple of minutes of the Rockets/Spurs game). Riley is the same way. The Bulls never did anything complicated on d, just straight up man-to-man, even against the dominating post players. Defense is all about effort, and those coaches demand it from their players. Rudy seems to rely more on his players just wanting to get it done on their own, and getting the types of players that are going to take it upon themselves to play the defense. That worked with guys like Maxwell and Elie, but doesn't seem to be working so far with this young team.
DaDakota, Explain the strong-side zone. Can you quote the rule book? I was expecting a lot out of that...thinking it meant teams could overload ball side with impunity. I haven't seen much of that. So, it is either rendered useless by spacing, or I'm misinterpreting the rules. It might only mean the defender on the ball gets more allowances to drop down to low post before the entry pass. Anyhow, I just don't see teams using that new rule. any input, or examples...much appreciated
HeyPartner, The strong side zone, as I understand it, simply means that you can play a zone on the side with the ball. Previously you could not double team a man without the ball, but now you can, as long as the ball is on that side of the court. Basically, you could double Duncan or Robinson BEFORE the entry pass. DaDakota
found this during lunch. Q: And the illegal defense changes? Thorn: Now on the strongside, you are allowed to do anything you want. The weakside rules will remain the same. You're right DaDakota; pretty simple rules change. It's odd to me why teams won't plant a center/pf barely on the strong-side of the lane whenever Mobley sets up. If he tries to drive, you can back-up into the lane to prevent dishes. Same can be down against Francis. All of our opponents seem to come out to double the ball, or provide late help. No zone against the guards that I can see; only doubling or one-on-one (even SA). SA used a zone on hakeem late to prevent him turning into the lane. But, that didn't work cause he simply turned baseline (the man). For anyone: If you were Rudy, would you use the strongside rule, and when/how?
I'm glad this came up. Of all the new rules this year, I thought the new defense rules would change the face of the game the most, even more than the 'no-touching' rule. Before the season began, I thought it meant certain death for the inside-out offense, but that obviously hasn't been the case. I remember watching the very first Rockets preseason game here in Seattle. Imagine those guys just licking their chops- at last! All those illegal defenses we've been doing are now legal! We can ambiguosly swarm and double with wild abandon! Sure enough, first possession, Francis is at the left wing getting ready to entry pass to Hakeem. Payton steps back, steps back, steps back, and is already doubling Hakeem before the pass (you just know GP is in lane-playing heaven). Francis just let fly a ridiculously wide open three right there. Missed, but the point was made. I would use strong side zone to attempt to prevent the entry pass on teams with strong post up men, and to greatly speed up double or triple teams. We have incredibly fast perimiter guys- if one is guarding a guy with a poor 3pt shot, say Ron Harper getting ready to pass in to Shaq- go ahead and back off him a little bit. Close enough to still get a hand in the face if he tries a 3, but far enough to try and intercept the entry pass or double very very quickly if the pass makes it.
KT's D has sucked so far letting Derrick "too slow" Coleman light him up. Several times KT did not appear to jump defending Coleman...pretty sorry ! ------------------ We would like to get rookie Francis on the break for some easy scoops in the first quarter...
