I love the idea of using Shane Batter is a rub screen for Yao to slip the front. Instead of having Shane camp out on the weak side corner three point line causing the front of Yao to get a sag from his man causing a front and a soft double team. The only problem with this so far has been AB. As soon as Shane creates the space and the one on one with Yao, AB is turning the ball the other direction instead of sticking with the play and allowing Yao to finish off his position and seal. Ive seen AB at least two or three times prematurely give up on the play. And to anyone who says Yao does not seal his man properly. He has every possesion dominated the space. 3 times AB failed and once he was demanding that Artest move to the corner once he had Pryz sealed. Artest failed. Love the idea though.
I would like to also ad. I have been tough on some RA decisions lately, and mostly his lack of change or strategy change, but I also loved the idea of using Scola as the hard double on Roy. Aldridge can be rotated to, thats not so much the issue, and he's not going to sit out there and drain 18 footers all night long.
it was also brilliant to not take Yao out with 2 minutes to go when he picked up foul number 2. Saw that one coming a mile away.
Let's suppose he took Yao out and the Blazers made a run. He would be blamed for it too. This wasn't Adelman's fault. Yao is pissing me off with his unathletic arse...but I still love the guy.
You know I was about to post the exact same thing. Meh. But wow did anyone see that last play where Adelman was Pissed off at AB? AB has ball top of the three point line. RA starts screaming for Landry to run out to run a P n R. Landry runs out, and AB waves him off. Rick jumps up screaming clamping his hands together as AB gets a total bail out call when he was stuffed underneath. I thought Rick was going to have his head pop off. You could hear him clap over the entire crowd. I hope he lays into AB for that bone headed idiotic, low BB IQ, dunderhead move.
Yeah, but I would protect Yao for the second half. That's what JVG used to do. I guess if we still had Deke he probably would have taken Yao out.
AB just does not like passing to 7'6' chinese guys for some reason. Ok, that reason aside, I think AB is too short and can't pass it to Yao without his defender/Yao's defender intercepting the ball. T-mac and Battier never have a problem passing into Yao cuz they are taller and can pass over players consistently. If AB was diligent in feeding Yao Ming the ball he has PLENTY of tools to do so - with his speed he can easily drive under the basket and hand the ball off to Yao Ming in there - it would be easy for Yao Ming to get the ball if he's being fronted as he could just turn around and be FACING the basket - if Brooks had the consistent vision and passing skills to do so this would be a great way to beat fronting. And it's about damn time Adelman changed Battier's role in the offense. It's absolutely useless for Battier to camp out at the 3-pt line since he can't even get open 3 point shots unless Yao Ming gets the ball and gets double teamed. Battier should always cut even if he isn't faster than his defender - there will always be times you catch the defender off guard and get open. Setting rub screens is also useful to. But alas Brooks cant even make a simple entry pass to Yao.
And people would put up his points scored without seeing his play making inability. It's hard to talk to stats-reading kids.
We did a great job of executing our offense when they fronted Yao in the 1st half. But in the 2nd half we act like we never even practiced beating the front.
You'll notice someone got his first shots of the game up in the third quarter. Not saying, just saying. Come on, Rox Gut this one out.
AB is really not a great point guard. He can score but he is not good at control the pace and setup for his teammates.
Might as well just say Ron's name. He wasn't the only reason why we struggled against the front in the 3rd qt. He also made some defensive plays that kept Portland from coming all the way back in the 3rd qt. The problem is we don't have good passing angles when Yao is posting up. We also must pass the ball quickly around to beat the front. Everyone must be ready to shoot and stop playing so damn nervous.
Is it me, or does it actually seem like they are using Yao as a decoy?!?!?! There is no way that they can miss Yao getting open that much. Yao actually got open several times against the front, but the ball rotated to the weekside just before or almost right at the same time that he is getting open. If they truely are using Yao as a decoy, that is just a gutsy display of some big whale nuts.
ya i am wondering the same thing. 2nd game and today..it's like yao doesn't even exist. as long as everyone steps up..we can continue to do that. that was one of the good things about having tmac on the floor..he would command attention from the defense even when he was missing shots.
It's not really Yao's fault he's not getting the ball. It's the teammates fault. Here's what i see: You have to understand that with Yao Ming, there is only a small split seconds when he's open, and by that split second, YOU HAVE to pass him the ball or it's TOO LATE. So a lot of the time is...the Rockets teammates always seem to be late passing to Yao when HE'S OPEN. They seems to be too cautious or not confident even when Yao is open. That's the problem i see. I am not talking about the time when Yao is already fronted. I am talking about when Yao already sealed his man off for that split seconds...that's when the Rockets were late passing him the ball.
Battier's 3 cant open up with Yao being a non-factor. But those Scola and Landry jumpers open up. Landry has 3 open jump shots a game automatically as soon as he checks into the scorer's table. Whatever the defense can give us at the moment. If Landry and Scola dont hit those jumpers though... Lets just say it, a good passing wing like McGrady can deliver Yao the ball, which the Rockets dont have now. And a good passing point guard like Rafer is adequate at it, too. Rockets have willing passers but dont have good ones. Artest, Wafer, Brooks, Lowry help in other areas but dont make up for the passing in those players
Once again we have a million post about getting yao the ball. It should be apparent to anyone watching that they will not let yao do what he did in the 1st half of game 1. In the 3rd qt when they singled Yao, he shot weak fade aways. The team played well when Yao wasn't on the floor and the team was tunnel visioned looking for him. I'm not saying they're a better team when yao is one the bench, but offensively they have been pretty efficient because bodies are moving and they're getting wide open shots. To yao's benefit, he battled, played defense and rebounded the ball. Why are people b****ing like portland isn't getting paid to play?
