People who know me on this bbs know I'm a fan of defense. But I'm also a fan to admire offense...don't we all. In clutchfans chat today during the dry spell in the 3rd Q, there were many comments like "wake up Adelman." No argument there, except I know many coaches choose their time to make the adjustment. What did Adelman do? First he waited. He had the luxury of a 15pt lead to wait, so he picked his moment in the 4th. With Mutombo not delivering his normal wagging defense (turiaf just pissed me off), Adelman switched to a 4 out 1 flex. Really Phil Jackson had no answer. We went 4 perimeter with one low post. This isn't just 4 around the arc chucking up 3s like Nolan Richardson did with the Scoreless Williamson team that almost won; this is more like the Iowa State Tinsley team with Horton and Johnson giving Fizer so much space to dominate. Adelman often started with two high post pick options for the dribbler with two corners shooters. The high post guys deliver a pick for the dribbler or leave to give a flex screen for a corner dude. Flex simple means the cutter and picker gets to decide which way to run around screen based on the defender. haha. take that Jackson. Sit your turiafs and mbengo's down. match-up big chief triangle. i love this game
Always glad to see in depth analysis from HP. Question on a slight tangent- I've read from a few pundits and I think from Adleman himself that he has only installed a part of his offense. The other night Barry said he'd only put in %10 of the offense. In another interview Yao Ming says they're not really doing the full Princeton offense. So, how much of the full Adleman are we seeing now, and how much is missing? As a less-educated fan, I can only say it seems there's a bit less movement now than in the recent Adleman Sacramento teams. What exactly is missing? Will he introduce it next season? We have a team firing on all cylinders now, yet will expand it's offense next season?
I think one area where I really feel there is an improvement over previous seasons is in-game adjustments by the coach.
In game, on the fly adjustments. These kind of adjustments could have taken the Rockets past the first round in last year's playoffs.
Adelman is great at making adjustments during games, but you point out a key, HP, I don't think about very often, which is the timing of the adjustment. It's a cliché, but timing really can be everything.
Personnel is also different from that Sacramento team... They had a great shooting PG in Bibby, 2 bigs that could shoot and pass in Miller and Webber, and one of the best shooters in the league in Stojakovic. I piece that is missing compared to that team is a great passing PF/C. Yao's a decent passer, but can't really drive like miller/webber. Scola and Landry aren't really known for their passing either. Miller and Webber were great passing big men... so they were able to do some great things from the key. However, in Yao we have the best post player in the league, so RA had to change his O a bit to cater to this team... I think he's doing an awesome job. Who cares if he's only using only 10 percent of his O... whatever works
Right move, wrong time. Wrong move, right time. Right move, right time. Hoho... one must have very good senses and feel to get both right
As the resident University of Arkansas student, I'd like to remind you that Arkansas DID win it all. And that's all I have to say.
Great analysis hey partner. I've always wondered what Flex means. I don't know too much about the rockets offensive strategy besides my meager attempts at playing the NB2K8 Rockets playbook. Thanks for the explanation. We need to bring back the monocle thread. Adelmen owned Jackson in this game of chess.
The Rockets got into Phil's mind from the beginning, starting with the small practice court. They'll probably make us practice at an elementary gym next time we meet them at their home (maybe in the WCF).
Word around LA is that Phil tells his team not to worry too much about guys on the perimeter -- just don't let the opposition get good looks inside. So when a team is hitting those threes, things can get mighty bleak for the Lakers. Also, it wasn't too surprising to see Rafer have a great game. Look at how Fisher is getting pwned by PGs over the last few games: B.Udrih: 9-16 / 10 assists / 25 points T.J. Ford: 11-23 / 4 assists / 28 points C.Paul: 9-19 / 17 assists / 27 points R.Alston: 10-22 / 5 assists / 31 points Too bad we couldn't get Aaron some minutes as a confidence-builder.
Actually, Jon Barry was saying he only got 10% so far. He mentioned it took the Kings 3 years to learn everything in the Corner series. He's not saying the Rockets can only do 10%, because of the personnel. He's saying they only do 10%, because there is an adjusting period.
Yeah, early in the game he told the sideline reporter that he wasn't worred about our 3-pointers because over the course of the game it would drop. That didn't really happen. Whoops. But it's interesting. Statistically, the Lakers appear to defend the 3-point line pretty well. 5th best in opponent 3pt%, and they are also in the bottom half in 3-pointers allowed despite playing at a fast pace.
I remember that. JVG is quite a comedian, I really do enjoy listening to his commentating. He is a huge rockets fan everytime the commentators say something negative about the Rockets it seemed Jeff would always back the Rockets up. You catch the part where they were talking about Turiaf's open heart surgery. Then Jeff cunningly replied something like some of the players on the first Rockets team I coached could've used one.
