It seems like Taylor seemed to tried to create his own shots and cost us some much needed momentum. We basically dont need anyone other than McGrady to taking tough shots. I even saw atb some points Jim Jackson doing the exact same thing.Jacksons job is to sort of be our mario elie for this team and I wasn't happy with his shot selection at all. As much as people want this team to be yao's , I think it will be a a huge mistake to center the offense around him. Yes, the offense should run through him more than it should but when you have McGrady able to penetrate at will on anyone that leaves wide open shots for teammates. If the rockets dont make to at least the 2nd round of the playoffs I see Phil Jackson as a perfect fit. This team has the key pieces to work the Triangle offense to perfection.
Actually I think Mo should have gotten more shots in the post last night instead of shooting jumpers which will run hot and cold. His footwork and moves around the hoop are good enough to warrant being a focal point for the offense when other high precentige shots are not falling (looking at Yao)
I agree, would have liked to have seen Mo get more touches off that left block especially when Yao is not rolling like last night. Anybody on this team that is a career 50% shooter should basically have the greenlight.
Mo seemed to force alot of his shots though. I agree that Mo needs to take his open looks but not force it up between multiple defenders
The offense overall is not rolling. I can't honestly say I understand what JVG is trying to do. It's not like Yao got a lot of touches on the block either. A majority of his misses (at least 4 or 5 by my count) were off drive and penetrates from 18 feet that he usually only hits 40% of the time. Yao's few touches in the paint either resulted in stupid offensive foul calls (Ben Wallace acting, Jim Jackson step back make that I guess they called an illegal pick on Yao??) and one or two misses. I don't think the offense should be that complicated. How tough is it to clear out an entire side and run either a pick and roll (with a guard and Yao) or post entry pass (and Taylor, Juwan, Tracy, Yao can post up) - there is no reason 40% of the plays should not be this with the other 3 players either spotting up on the 3 point line, slashing where appropriate, or setting picks and getting open under the basket. They are getting the ball up the court faster (except when Detroit pressed), but it still takes them too long to get set-up because for some reason JVG has these plays that require TMac to run around from one side of the court to the other, than back to the first side, just to have difficulties posting up. If these plays are working its one thing, but they're not really that effective. 40-50% of the time has to be either a simple post up or a simple pick and roll.
Mo didn't seem like a problem to me. He was at least hitting his shots at a reasonable clip -- better than TMac and Yao were. I wanted Jackson to go sit the bench though. Not that he didn't do any good out there, but he seemed to be forcing way too much, and failing at that.
If the shot clock is running down (and in this offense it will constantly), I think the ball should be in T-Mac's hands, period. He can create and hit the shot. He will not go 6-18 on most nights.
I cringed when they ran that play out of the timeout where TMac drove to the basket and kicked it out to a wide open Mo for 3. We couldn't we run a play like that for somebody with better range?
1. JVG plays way too SLOW of a game for this team. We need to speed things up and try to get easy buckets. Not walk the ball cross court and wait for the defense to set up. 2. It took 7 seconds to get the ball up, Lue/Ward dribbled around for another 10 seconds, and then we jack up a shot at the very end. 3. Yao never touched the ball lastnight. I don't care if his elbow was affecting him, the Pistons still need to react when Yao gets the ball.
I agree, the offense is too complicated. Just give Yao or Tracy the ball. The occasional backpick and pass from the top of the key can help mix things up, but a lot of times that doesn't work. It also enrages me when Yao posting and getting the ball is some huge ordeal, and then Howard comes in, posts up, immediately gets the ball, and then goes 1 on 1 against Rasheed. About JJ, i think the guy needs to know his role. He's just trying to do too much. Every time he starts dribbling or trying to post someone up, i cringe. His penetrations to the basket are also a real adventure.
We need less jumpers PERIOD take it to the hole!!! Rocket River That spin move Jam by Tracy . . . BEAUTIFUl more of that
It amazes me that people actually thought that we were going to just role into Detroit and come out with a win. Some people were just penciling it in. There is a reason that Detroit is the world champs. The Rockets did exactly what they needed to do last night, they had the game with in stricking distance with a very real chance to win in the closing minutes of the game. They actually did all of this with both Yao Ming and T-Mac having poor offensive games. How often does anyone think they will see Yao miss 3 of 4 free throws in the closing minutes of a game? If not for a variety of unbalievable shots by Rasheed Wallace we might have won that game.
