I had absolutely NO problem with Francis in this one. He played very smart basketball most of the game. The guy only had 8 in the first half and then did what great players do - he carried the team in the 3rd quarter. What really impressed me was his willingness to get his teammates involved. He only had 5 assists but I counted 8 other passes that gave his teammates open looks that they just didn't make. He also turned the ball over only once. Mobley had his moments and made some big shots, but his problem was illustrated in the third quarter. He went up for a shot down the middle and was bumped by Dampier. The reality was he just missed the layup because Dampier was about to block his shot, but he got mad and then fouled Danny Fortson. On the next trip down the court, he fired up a LONG three over Jason Richardson without even making a move. It clanked big time. The problem is that Mobley doesn't know how to contain his emotions. When the Rockets ran up an 11-point lead, he started going one-on-one and jacking up long shots with people in his face or forcing dumb three's like the one mentioned. When the game was tight, he played smart and within himself. He took open shots (he should) and went to the hole including one beauty of a play in the fourth where he was fouled and hit the shot. If he could learn to better compose himself and Francis could play more like he did tonight every night, this would be a VERY good team.
I don't remember anyone complaining about the Jordan Pippen show or the Olajuwon show. Money players gotta score.
Jordan, Pippen, and Olajuwon weren't doing it with the (arguably) best players in back to back drafts watching them do it...
That's true, they were surrounded by veteran role players who did everything else that was required, which is was Cat and Steve don't have, which is why we are not playing for the championship this year. Once those draft picks get some experience and start doing their job we will be fine and Cat and Steve will not be critisized for scoring.
I agree 100% Jeff. I don't worry about Mobley when the game is in the line because he plays smart and hits big shots, but he is really emotional. I'm convinced that when Mobley and Francis player their game, play smart, and aggressive they're the best backcourt in the NBA period. And the first building block to a championship is a backcourt. You can be a title contender with a decent frontcourt and a great backcourt, but you can't be a contender with a great frontcourt and a mediocre backcourt. As soon as this team comes together and Mobley and Francis mature more and the team gets healthy and the frontcourt matures there's not a team in the league this team couldn't beat on a given night. When this team plays its game they're a lock for the playoffs.
How do you think Celtic fans feel? Walker and Pierce do the same things Mobley and Francis do and thats shoot the ball alot. Neither team has that go to #3 scorer so they must score atleast 25 for their team to win.
Why complain if Francis is averaging 30ppg and shooting at 50%? Mobley and Francis are great shooters and if they make the shots then Im not complaining. Its not like we have many other options for them to pass it to.
I was wondering when people would start calling Jay Williams the best player in the draft after that game against New Jersey. I think there's other guys like Drew Gooden and Caron Butler that can stake a claim to that right now. And as good as Richardson is, is he the best player in the draft? I think guys like Griffin would disagree with that.
So I take it you believe point guards are simply not supposed to score? Take a look at all the great point guards who led their teams to championships. I will name Havilicek and Thomas before I have to bust out the history books. The only problem with this team is the other players only do their job about fifty percent of the time. That causes CAT and SF to be wary about distributing too much. That is how Steve gets so many turnovers. If you are trying to pass to a player that doesn't know how to get open then you will be turning the ball over. I just think its funny how people want to pour haterade on the only two players who don't deserve it on this team. Did you see CAT and SF at Rhode Island and Maryland? They each had other good players on their teams (as far as college goes) and distributed plenty.
Jeff's diagnosis of Mobley is pretty good. Even further, though, he is the worst on the team (well, maybe Moochie is as bad) at a problem they all have. They get the ball and then they just stand there, hoping there defender will get tired of waiting, before making their move with only 12 seconds left on the shotclock. I counted a number of times when the Rockets ran only a pick and roll with Eddie Griffin yet it still took them a full 12-14 seconds to get into this "set." I don't understand why it is so complicated.
What a game last night. Being in attendance was something special. I had goosebumps the whole time during halftime. It is something I will never forget. I decided to watch a recording of the game this morning and just for my own personal knowledge, I decided to break down each possession last night and analyze our passing game and tendencies. I came up with the following which I found to be so interesting, that I thought I would share it with anyone who is interested. A = Assists - We all know what this is, but I adjusted it slightly to include assists that were made to a player who was fouled in the act of shooting and went to the line. AO = Assist opportunities – This stat is total assists plus assists that would have been credited if it weren’t for the shooter missing the shot (a good shot), having the shot blocked or having the ball stolen on the way up. OOS = One on One Successes – This is where the player going one on one either scored or was fouled in the act of shooting. OOT = One on One Touches – Not defining this as an ISO. I defined this stat as any time a player received a pass and attempted to score one on one (not an assist opportunity for the passer). OOSR = One on One Success Rate – The rate at which the player going one on one was successful when compared to total one on one touches. TO = Turnovers - No definition necessary. TT = Total Touches – Total number of times a player touched the ball in a half court set. A Griffin 2 Tomas 6 Cato 1 Francis 5 Mobley 4 Ming 0 Rice 1 Hawkins 1 Norris 2 AO Griffin 5 Thomas 13 Cato 1 Francis 9 Mobley 7 Ming 1 Rice 1 Hawkins 1 Norris 3 OOS Griffin 0 Thomas 7 Cato 1 Francis 11 Mobley 5 Ming 0 Rice 1 Hawkins 0 Norris 3 OOT Griffin 0 Thomas 10 Cato 1 Francis 19 Mobley 12 Ming 0 Rice 2 Hawkins 1 Norris 4 OOSR Griffin ------ Thomas 70% Cato 100% Francis 58% Mobley 43% Ming ------ Rice 50% Hawkins 0% Norris 75% TO Griffin 1 Thomas 0 Cato 1 Francis 1 Mobley 4 Ming 1 Rice 0 Hawkins 0 Norris 1 TT Griffin 36 Thomas 35 Cato 15 Francis 83 Mobley 44 Ming 6 Rice 15 Hawkins 6 Norris 18 Total Player Touches 258 Total Team Possessions 116 Avg. touches per possession 2.2 Total Team Assists (adjusted) 22 Total Team Assist Opportunites 41 Team Assist % 53.7% Total Team One on One Successful Opportunites 28 Total Team One on One Opportunities 49 Team One on One Success % 57.1% ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A few interesting notes: Kenny Thomas had the most assist opportunities, the highest one one one success rate and the lowes turnovers, despite having the second lowest # of touches of the starting 5. I think he was the star of the game. We averaged only 2.2 touches per possession. Thomas, Griffin and Cato, combined, had more assist opportunities than Francis, Mobley and Norris combined despite having a total of 59 less touches. Very interesting. Ming had a total of only 6 touches. If you look at the regular box score, plus the stats I just named, Mobley did not have a very good game. Despite all of his touches, Francis only set his teamates up for a score 11% of the time, Mobley 16% of the time and Moochie 17% of the time. Kenny set up his teamates 35% of his total touches. Anyway, hope yall have fun with these and Im sure everyone will take from it what they want.
No, seriously, really appreciate it...and, if at all possible, keep it up. What would be even more instrumental would be, if possible, you were to do the same thing for a Nets half, or a Mavs half, or whatever...so we could see a norm...
It was pretty much able to get all the stats down the first time i watched my recording. I watched it a second time just to verify that I got it right. It was very tedious. Not sure if ill be able to do it for every game. I record all the games and what I may do is, breakdown the games that get alot of heat on the board. Maybe Gater can contribute and contribute his own take. I know he likes to break down games. I might just watch a Mav or Nets game and see how they breakdown out of curiousity.
The cool thing would be able to convert some of the interesting possesions into video clips that we can download. From there, we can do some play analysis.
