There was once a point guard who ran the PnR to great effect with Tyson Chandler in New York.... But he's now amongst the personnel on our team incapable of executing that play......
Of course it wouldn't look the same as with Malone or Aldridge because they could pick and pop as well as pick and roll, but Dwight has shown over the years that he is a lethal pick and roll player in the mold of the other guys you mentioned. Jeremy Lin was extremely successful throwing those lobs up to Chandler in NY and Harden is also a very good pick and roll player although he looks for his own shot more in those situations. Pick and roll is defintely something we could be utilizing more and doing so with great success if guys were committed to running it.
Definitely remember those Lin/Chandler plays. Problem is that Lin isn't the focal point on offense now like he was in New York during Linsanity. If you're going to use Howard a PnR, you can't allow him to get so far out and away from the paint that he can't get back to the paint in time to box out. It compounds the headache/failure because our guards, for some reason, do not like driving in in this series. If you're not going to keep the defenses honest by actually making a beeline drive to the basket once in a while (rather than hoisting up questionable jumpers) and making defenses commit, then it's useless to run the PnR as the Blazers know you'll settle for crap shots all night.
i said this yesterday in another thread: Too much talk about doubling and trying to figure out some special way to guard him. Just guard him.
I agree but therein lies the issue I have with what McHale is doing: if Aldridge is going to put up 27+ on you every single night regardless of who you send out there, why handcuff your offense by using Asik AND Howard at the same time? I'm sure the Twin Towers can work against other teams (and it has) but if you have no answers on defense for their best player, why compound the mistake by putting Omer Stonehands McGee out there? If McHale had even tried to play Montejunas in either of the two games and he did absolutely nothing on BOTH defense and offense then I can accept that we need Howard and Asik out there. But if DMo can be somewhere between what Asik and Jones has given us on defense and can contribute on the other end then I have to question what McHale's been smoking/dropping all this time.
when players claim not to watch any tape on tendencies, i can only wonder if coach lives by that too. Man i miss watching battier and his almanac on every player in the league. How about battier for coach!
Did you see during Game 2 how Aldridge was watching gametape while he was resting on the bench? The Blazers did this all year long. I wonder why Morey/Les can't afford to give their players iPads that tells them they're playing like crap.
We don't play defense, what else is new, guys still do not know what they're doing...that is on McHale, but also Jones, Howard and all the others missing assignments. Pathetic at this point of the season, PA THE TIC!!! Like somebody else said in the Warriors Clippers thread, they committed a hard flagrant foul on Griffin and momentum changed. It seems like we're scared and nobody has the balls to even commit a hard foul.
And while i understand there is a set way to rotate, somebody still needs to get out there. It's easy to say this guy didn't rotate or just look at them....run over there and do it... it's going to leave someone open, but there are more Rockets round that guy to help. Just don't let LMA get even more comfortable. It's like he's getting shooting practice in.
Oh come on guys. You're just hating on Jones and Howard. We all know what you guys are doing. And everybody knows you hate them. Therefore this whole thread is a worthless. You're just nitpicking. Howard and Jones are the best pick and roll and pick and pop defenders we have. Besides that, everybody knows we ain't winning anything anyways this year. So let Jones develop. And get off your hobby horse. You guys act like you are the only ones that know anything about basketball. Signed, HaterofAsik............errrrrr..........doh bro :grin:
I guarantee that LA will not have these monster games if you just focus on making him work early. You can't allow a guy to start games off shooting wide open shots. Confidence is the number one necessity to playing well. If he starts missing, he will start hesitating enough to effect his shots!
yep. of course he's making shots with D draped all over him, 'cause the 1st half was wide open jump shot practice.
They honestly want to guard him but they can't because they have not team defensive concept, particularly on pick and rolls. I don't know why but Mchale has decided that the rockets will only defend the pick and roll with 2 players. The player who has been picked and the player who began the play defending the roller. The obvious problem with this is that one person will be left open at least temporarily. I suspect the reason Mchale defends the PnR this way is that it worked in the regular season. Because Howard and Asik are so good defensively, they can typically get back to the 2nd big man as one of our PF's stops the roller. Unfortunately, Aldridge is not rolling...he's popping and it's impossible for us to defend the play the same way. If you watch any of the good defenses, they go into a semi-zone when the PnR is initiated. The rockets must do the same. The entire defense must rotate and defend the pick and pop. The PF must come over to cover Aldridge after Howard shows on the screen. Depending on where Lopez is, a wing will probably need to swoop in and either box out or defend him. To make theses switches I think the rockets need to play Hamilton or Casspi more at the backup 3 since they are better at boxing out than Garcia/Harden
