First off, we should thank Bryon Russell, who made our job really easy by going 1-8 from the floor. Secondly (and this is not intended to be a negative post)... honestly how good of a coach do you have to be to call "get-the-ball-to-Jimmy-rest-of-you-spread-the-floor" type plays in the final minutes of EVERY close game? Atleast when we got it to Hakeem in our glory days, he considered passing out of the double team an option. I just hate bad basketball, and I think that's why Cuttino drives me nuts.
Its simple habitual stupidity is what its is. I was barking all night about the ymca-beyond-the-three-point-line-picks the Rockets kept running all night. absolutely inexplicable. ever play takes shape beyond the three-pont line -- not one man on this board can argue otherwise.
Duh....I wonder what the Rox are going to run?? Same old predictable boring offensive sets. High P&R starting about 127 feet from the basket with 13 second on the clock. If Stevie and the crew arent' shooting out of their minds from beyond the arc we can't even stay close to an average team. A tree frog could design a more intelligent offense than we are seeing. We're not gonna see a good shooting percentage....period when all we do is jack up perimeter shots. Also I'm glad to hear that Cato is hitting 52% of his dunk attempts. Mobley is a good shooter technically, but his shot selection makes him only 40% for the year. RT has to get in his face and remind him he has 4 other guys out there. And the amoeba zones are keeping him from going to the basket as easily. Pullleeeaze, let's see some variety in the offensive sets.
not bashing the coaching here, just an obersvation.... look at the rocket's inability to defend the John Stockton/Karl Malone "here it comes, we am going to set up the pick and shoot the jump shot off the pick...let us say again here is comes...we are warning you and we are telegraphing it and we run it every play!" pick and roll. I understand that is their bread and butter, but it blows me away how we are so inept against it. My point here is that is also surprises me how many times we see poorly execute plays. Someone is either not executing night in and night out or the coaching is not there....Calvin Murphy said it best in the those final minutes. He went nuts (like that is surprising), but this time he became irrate at the Rocket's not showing, flashing or at minimum switching on the pick to at least get a semi-defense against open lanes or open shots......he could not believe it and he has been watching this for years. He even said that despite the pick and roll being Utah's "bread and butter", you still need better defense that we give it...make them make decisions--he was clearly wragging on the execution and coaching!
Some of what each of you have had to say is accurate and unfortunately was blatantly obvious on several plays last night. But ... in some defense of Mobley .... 1. Execution: he is hurt and even when he tries to make some razzle dazzle plays and rests on his ability to perform them, he is slower and telgraphs his moves more and more lately. He was slower last night than even 12-15 games ago when his injury was fresh. 2. Inventiveness: teams have found Mobley's moves predictable and react a lot sooner. It's getting harder and harder for him to deke or passively fake out a defender. Not impossible for some predictable stars, as everyone in the building knows Stockton and Malone are going through the pick to the basket ninety percent of the time and yet they change it up (especially last night) enough to keep people off the ball. 3. Rythmn: he needs effective scoring early in the game. If his shot is off, he is cold for a long time. Sometimes that means an entire game or several games. He looked exasperated last night. That confidence that everyone seems to beat him over the head with, is his go-juice. He needs it to jam those shots fluidly. Without he is stiff and unsure. There's more but why pick at a festering wound? PS: I haven't read any other threads here this AM, so this may be a redundant point .... but having Mobes dead ass on the outside line with the nearest Jazz 13-15 feet away ... and KT is taking the shot from two feet beyond the line? Would love to have been at that huddle on the break.
As much as I appreciate Mobley as one of the keys of the Rockets, he frustrates me with things like that. One of the things I hate in the NBA are fade aways from TO deep away from the basket. Thanks alot Mobes. As for Russell, he makes our job easier just by being in the Utah Jazz's lineup.
"I like it when [Mobley] makes my job easier by taking a fade-away jump shot" He must have liked when Michael Jordan did that too.
The difference is Jordan a 6'6 legend as opposed to a 6'4 guy still trying to make his notch in this league. Jordan didn't fade either.
The only thing I can say in Mobley's defense (and, believe me, I've been steaming over many of his shots this year) is that he got the ball the play before that when the Rockets had been 0 for their last 5 shots and hit a tough shot to tie the game.
Thirdly, (and this is not intended to be a Rudy apology)...honestly how knowledgeable of fan do you have to be to see that Clutch's description of last night's play was not the Indiana play, nor the Laker play, nor the Knicks play. Those were entries into the high post of a defense, which is the interior of the defense in our offense...they are as categorically different as a Reggie picket fence or the dreaded Kobe elbow entry. They each had picking and different passing options than the Francis/Mobley isos. Clutch is describing many calls last year, last night's call, and the Francis-to-Moochie call. but...not the final minutes of EVERY close game. I just hate bad basketball analysis, and I think that's why Rudy criticism drives me nuts.
<B>Clutch is describing many calls last year, last night's call, and the Francis-to-Moochie call. but...not the final minutes of EVERY close game. </B> It's happened other times as well, I think. The Francis floater that won a game last week was kind of a Francis dribble for a while then do whatever he wants type play. If I remember correctly, no one else was involved in that play. Maybe people were involved in terms of picks to get the ball, but after Francis had it, everyone just pretty much stood there. I think the bigger problem is the dribbling before the shot. Yeah, Mobley's shot sucked, but Moochie dribbled for 15 seconds before even giving the ball to him. I understand they were trying to eat some clock, but our formula for clock-eating seems to be do-nothing-for-18-seconds, then start a play, realize there's not much time left, and chunk a bad shot up. It doesn't even leave the possibility of looking for an inside shot or passing back out if a good shot isn't there (ie, yesterday) or any other options outside of a desperation shot. My question, really, is whether Rudy calls these types of things or the players don't execute the called plays.
Sure it happens other times. I'm not denying it, nor am I apologizing for it. Nor am I calling it a "bad basketball" call from the bench. <b>The Francis Game Winner</b> I can't really categorize that Francis runner on his first game back, because the intended play got screwed up by the terrible inbounds pass that made Francis retreat so far back into our half of the court. I thought Francis just improvised after that. It was most likely going to be 24 High with Griffin that also had Mobley on the strongside for 3 option. In fact, I'm actually recategorizing the Moochie buzzer beater as that play. <b>Why Dribble the Clock Out</b> wrt you "why dribble the clock out by just dribbling" I consider it to be pretty standard practice in all levels of basketball to dribble of 15 seconds before starting last night's play. All you need is 10 seconds, and you don't want a freaking turnover just to be doing something before you want to shoot anyhow. A coach saying, dribble to 10 then run the play allows all the players to get their timing down, to make it easier to react on queue. This is not to say Moochie should dribble off the clock in other times of the game, nor is it to say that the Mobley play required people getting on queue. <b>The Indiane 3OT game had 3 excellent, non ISOs</b> btw: the Indiana 3OT last year has 3 game saving plays that I recall vividly that weren't ISOs that had a lot of picking. Take a look at the tape. I'll send it to you if you want...the regulation 3 to tie by Mobley was inbounds to Francis, gets a pick for the 1st look, Moochie fads to the right for a spot, and the whole time Mobley is circling under the basket and around a pick...pass...catch, shoot...tie game. This was repeated when Moochie tied it with a 3 in overttime...Francis was denied on his pick again...looked to Mobley left, passed to Moochie right, shoot...tie game. On the 2nd Overtime, Francis gets a high pick, drives the lane, Maurice is weakside...his man leaves him to stop the Calvin Murphy stop-n-pop by Francis, or drive and dish...Francis passes it to Maurice for the wide open wing 18'r for the win ... miss. Rudy calls every last second shot. <b>Bad Execution version Bad Basketball calls from the bench</b> That does not mean all the options are executed, however. I thought the Indiana, NY, and LA plays were different entries than ISOs. It provides different passing lanes and different dribbling lanes. In each case the picks came to free Mobley for a center entry in the free throw line circle. This gets the defender having to chase and allows a drive or redirection that forces weakside reactions...other options...Flex options. No, none of them had backdoor cuts for pin point passes and layups, weakside picking . . . but do you really think we can execute that stuff in the last seconds more effectively than simple slashing and spotting with picking for the playmaker. A lot of Triangle plays . . . that is all they do, with spotter weakside. A more comfortable player than Mobley makes them look easier, and will use the other options. It is like Mobley decides on his execution too early in the play. <b>Simplicity versus Cool Complexities</b> The less complicated a last second play is, often the better options you have, because the play gets executed more precisely...timing wise. Too much reliance on team coordination can result in a busted play from timing problems. And that is worse than a "bad" Mobley shot. And I hated last night's choice by Mobes. I'm not going to say Rudy's plays have options we aren't executing, nor am I going to say a Mobley or even a Jordan ISO has a lot of options, but I will say that many coaches go for simple precision at the end...picks or not...PF high post plays/low post plays or not...Triangle Entries with Kobe attacking the elbow...Utah pnrs . . . they all maintain simple reads with simple precision decisions requiring simple timing. <b>The Kobe Elbow Entry</b> for instance, I know for a fact Kobe has two reads often...go to the left or the right of Shaq ... next, take it or pass it to Shaq. If we run that play with Kenny and Mobley, we'd suck at it, because Mobley can't make reads that fast. <b>Stockton/Malone pnr Francis style</b> another one: if we run the Stockton/Malone pnr with Francis and Griffin ... first off, Francis prefers high picks; Francis gets trapped before Griffin even gets there for the pick; Francis spins his way to Griffin for the pick; the defenders (as well as Francis) merely ignore Griffins pick......Francis splits the defenders and could jump and pass back out to Griffin at the top of the key for a shot or a flex to Mobley....yet Steve spins/spins and finds Moochie....we win. Watch it...<a href="http://cache.nba.com/media/rockets/pod_norris_buzzer_010802.avi" target="_blank">AVI</a> <a href="http://cache.nba.com/media/rockets/pod_norris_buzzer_010802.mov" target="_blank">Quicktime</a> Simplicity is not a bad thing. It is a common thing. Last second plays often have precision simplicity. Boy, do we look frantic sometimes, though. So, what is a coach to do. Clearing out for a penetrator/shooter is not bad basketball as much as a busted play from plays requiring too many timing decisions or too much reaction player movement.
we do the same thing. close games when we have the ball its basically "give the ball to nick...nick do whatever you want" its usually a fall away or pull up J. its missed i think everytime.
I really hate the Cuttino fade and pray play... Honestly, does Cuttino ever pass the ball when he has it in the final minute of a game? The Moochie gamewinner came off a Francis pass, I don't see Cuttino ever passing it off like that. Although no one was hitting in the final few minutes except for the one Cuttino miracle shot on the play before, and the quotes in the paper make it sound like everyone's telling Cuttino to carry them, so I can understand him deciding to try to hit the miracle shot. My question still stands though, does Cuttino ever pass the ball in the final play of a game?
don't take this as a Mobley apology...but come on... First chance this year he did. Second chance this year he did. what? do you not remember? [throwing up my hands in amazement] please some one step in and remind BGM besides me...I'll just sound like I'm making it up.
In overtime against the Lakers, Cuttino had a relatively open 15 footer for the win in the final seconds, and tried to pass it to Willis underneath for a layup. The pass was deflected, and the game was over.
