Chron: Failure to execute costly to Rockets

[Rockets34Legend]

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/2453006

The Rockets don't advertise the extra perk for those odd few who sit in the high-dollar, lower-bowl seats at Toyota Center.

Others sip wine in the wood-paneled clubs. Some broker deals or, odd as it seems, come to the arena to watch the action on television.

But those close to the court get to hear Jeff Van Gundy shout commands -- rarely with more verve or volume than in the Rockets' collapse against the Phoenix Suns on Monday night -- that reveal much more than what he wants at any particular moment.

"Attack!" he orders with telling frequency

"Move it!" he barks with enough force to sometimes have courtside waitresses scurrying.

"Run! Run! Push it!" he shouts, often in vain, to force the tempo his reputation would argue he discourages.

But the orders from Van Gundy seem to reveal the Rockets' unresolved shortcoming this season and undoing Monday.

They can't run. They don't attack.

When the Rockets meticulously run their offense, they have become increasingly effective at getting the ball inside to Yao Ming or penetrating the lane, usually to set up one another for open perimeter jump shots, especially from beyond the arc.

But they customarily get little from their fast break. And when the Suns, down 21 points in the second quarter, went to a small lineup and used a full-court press and half-court trap, the Rockets froze. The same qualities that have kept them for years from running a consistent break kept them again from beating the traps.

No matter what Van Gundy commanded, the Rockets could only walk into the teeth of the Suns' defense.

After committing 27 turnovers, seeing a 21-point lead disappear and the game forced into overtime, the Rockets were left with a loss Van Gundy labeled "inexcusable."

They also had other coaches likely screaming how to beat the Rockets.

"Our trap really bothered them," Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni said. "They struggled against it the last couple of times we played them. We found they struggle against a smaller lineup. The full-court press really bothered them."

D'Antoni, who was coaching the team with the worst record in the Western Conference, knew he had an advantage against the Rockets.

"One of the reasons we give them trouble is we played unconventional lineups," D'Antoni said before the game of his team's mastery of the Rockets. "We played four little guys. They struggle with that."

The Rockets this season have found ways, especially lately, around their deficiencies and have been effective in making multiple passes to find the open shooter. But that has usually been in the half court, where they seem to have become comfortable with their offense and each other.

In the open court, players must improvise, driving up the chances one of their passes becomes a turnover. In the three games since they committed a season-high 30 turnovers against the Mavericks, the Rockets committed an average of 15. Even before the Dallas game, the Rockets had shown signs of improvement, committing an average of 11.4 turnovers in the previous five games.

"It's just so frustrating when we revisit turnovers," Van Gundy said.

The Rockets' inability to run an efficient fast break takes away the primary weapon against a trapping, pressing defense. But it is clear why Van Gundy commands that his team attack for other reasons. Forced to spend so much time just to start the offense, there is not enough time left to run it. He has worked all season to get the Rockets to initiate more plays, one of the obvious improvements during the five-game winning streak.

Forced to slowly advance the ball against the Suns' press and traps, the Rockets had five shot-clock violations and forced up many low-percentage shots to beat the clock.

"The press allowed them to slow it down, get into the shot clock, which the press was made to do," Rockets forward Jim Jackson said. "It wasn't really to steal the ball. It really was to make us waste time off the clock. It was to make us not be able to run our half-court set the way we wanted to, which was to really pound the ball inside, get movement, get cuts. When you take 10 seconds off the shot clock, instead of working with 18 seconds, you're working with 13, 14.

"We didn't come down and execute like we did in the first quarter. It was a lack of execution."

Rockets summary

Case closed

If Rockets guard Steve Francis had thrown an elbow or fist, instead of a forearm, or had he landed an inch or two higher, he likely would have been suspended. Instead, NBA officials Tuesday reviewed the altercation between Francis and Suns forward Amare Stoudemire in Monday's game and ruled no action beyond the double-technical foul assessed would be taken.

Francis hit Stoudemire with a forearm after Stoudemire celebrated a dunk with a loud shout.

"The ruling on the floor -- the refs administered a double-technical foul -- is where it ends," NBA vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson said. "I would describe it as more of a forearm shiver to the chest. He may have caught Stoudemire's neck. The contact location and severity didn't warrant any additional punishment."

Jackson said he studied three angles of the play and that "one angle of the play shows he initially made contact with the chest area.

"Any contact to above the shoulders, the neck or head area, would warrant a more severe penalty. The officials had the option if he led with his elbow or fist to eject him or call a flagrant foul, as certainly would be the case of a punch.

"If it was a forearm but was above (the shoulders) it could have been (a suspension). Each case is different."

No consolation

Rockets center Yao Ming got 15 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter -- the second-most prolific quarter for a Rockets player this season (he has the top four scoring quarters for the Rockets this season.)

Yao made six of six shots and had nine rebounds in the quarter.

"We're trying to segment into one guy, or this guy or that guy," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said of Yao's fourth-quarter performance. "When you lose, it doesn't matter, nothing matters. We've got to get away from individual play. It's do you do enough to help your team win and we had chances to finish a game.

"So I don't want to single anyone out because we can all do more, and we need to do more and that is just a bad loss."

[Rockets34Legend]

I like the 1st 10-12 lines of the article. Finally someone speaks out about those high-rolling, snobby, non-Rocket fans who are not fans, but just occupying space...

[birat]

Originally posted by nWo34Life I like the 1st 10-12 lines of the article. Finally someone speaks out about those high-rolling, snobby, non-Rocket fans who are not fans, but just occupying space...

RIGHT.