Dear Adelman, Pls don't sit Yao and everything will be solved. Yao is healthy and is fine...don't treat him like a big Wale....he needs to be free like Willy. We can not compete in the West with Yao not playing i don't care if it's back to back. The big fella is fine from what i seen. He is healthy and energize...stop being too cautious. Just play him short stretch and you're fine. Learn from your mistake.....your mistake was letting Yao play long stretch 2 years ago...resulting in injury. You need to play him short stretch and play him as much you want as long as IT IS SHORT STRETCH. Use your brain and tell that Yao's Dr. to go to hell.
So you wouldn't have doubled/trapped/prevented Ellis from receiving the ball? You believe Adelman and staff had the correct strategy?
What is knee jerk about it is that it didn't deserve it's own thread IMO. There is a game thread for a reason... As for Hill or Patterson not playing, I don't see how either one of those two would have an effect on either game. Yes, seeing some plays from them would be nice, but the deficit was on the other end. We really had a clunky offense and Brooks was noticeably annoyed with Curry. We really needed some outside shooters to spread the floor and unfortunately not one Rocket was feeling it from range. We made some nice cuts to the basket, and drew the fouls, but we had zero floor spacing. Ish did an ok job at best, but without Lowry and Brooks this team lacks direction. I don't see how Rick could account for that. Let's also not overlook the fact that Curry and Ellis combine for 70 pts. Ellis made off balance jumpers, he made distance shots, he made everything. Doubling either one of them would have spaced the floor too much for GS. We banked off Ellis losing his hot streak, we lost. Yes, the occasional double would have been nice (especially in the 4th), but without a clear lockdown defender there's not much to be done. The risk was just too great. Hire Thibedeau if you think RA is the problem. I'm sure he'd ditch those lousy ass bulls for us....
I'd rather play Ellis straight up, with help defense on his drives. If he's pulling up for contested 20-footers and nailing them, then tip your cap. That's the sort of shot the Rockets defense is designed to give up. The important thing is to not compromise your team defense/rebounding, and that's what tends to happen if you're sending doubles/traps to perimeter guys without suitably athletic personnel. Also, I think Courtney Lee should have gotten more minutes on him this game. It probably would have been a good idea to start him in place of Battier tonight.
Hehe. Well that certainly didn't take long. This team isn't winning 56 games. They'll figure it out eventually, and they'll still be a good team... but there will still be nights like tonight where Chuck Hayes and Jared Jeffries just aren't going to cut it.
It is on Aaron Brooks and Kevin Martin to become better defenders, or Daryl Morey to TRADE for better defenders/two way players. I do agree that Jordan Hill should be seeing about 20-25 minutes a game right now...
didn't get to watch the game, so someone fill me in.. why is it that one the night yao doesn't play, brad miller played 3 min? this makes no sense to me.
i agree here, we overlook their defensive shortcomings because of their offensive prowess. if im adelman i would always have either lee, lowry, or jeffries in at all times.. this... BROOKS MARTIN BUDINGER or BROOKS MARTIN BATTIER (albeit a good starting line up)... aint workin defensively. its got to be something more like this... BROOKS LEE BATTIER or LOWRY MARTIN JEFFRIES or LOWRY LEE BUDINGER or BROOKS LEE JEFFRIES... i like these combinations much more, otherwise, we're sacrificing waaaay too much size and defense in our backcourt. i think its less about hayes and jeffries than brooks and martin on defense. hayes (NOT A CENTER) and jeffries (NOT A PF) should use their size at positions that place them in advantageous matchups on defense. at center miller and hill gotta get time when yao's not playing, i really don't understand why they got a combined THREE MINUTES tonight, while yao was out.. its not hayes and jeffries, its adelman's inability to play the right players down low both in games w/o yao and in games w/ yao during the 2nd and 3rd Qs.
Layup drills both way in the first half, second half Kmart and Rockets go on a freethrow drill whilst making nothing from the floor. Ellis and Curry completely raped all our defenders and made battier look like the worst defender in the league. Chuck and Jefferies played Center because Adleman's head exploded. Hill and Patterson didn't play because They want to become the next Gerald Wallace under Rick. and ELLIS killed us. With less than 2 minutes left and down by 6 Brooks dribbles the ball off his foot with no defenders in front of him. At the end of the game down by 4 and we go for a 2 pointer instead of Shooting a Three. Also brings me back to all of our shooters being duds this game not hitting any jumpshots. Also lack of Brad Miller resulted in no easy Baskets off Backdoor Cuts. Brooks looks really gassed the whole game and doesnt defend at all. David Lee Raping us on putbacks and offencive rebounds while the BEST defencive play by brooks in the whole game was when he fouls Curry on a shot and steps on his foot therefore taking Curry out of the game for about 3 minutes which rockets capitalised and made a mini run. You get the gest of it. HORRENDOUS DEFENCIVE GAME
I watched the game and literally threw my coffee onto the keyboard. I was thinking exactly the same. Battier is still the best defender on this team, but this is the NBA, there are nights some talented players just decide they gonna go off and no one can stop them, no matter how good you are on defense. In this case you need to put on your best offensive players to make your opponent work, wear them out. When Battier was on the court he tried so hard on D and make no mistake, I admire that. But the problem is he stunk on the other end of the floor, if hes not stopping his man from scoring hes useless. Its up to the Coach to make the adjustments and realise the obvious : GS has no interests in playing D, they always try to outscore you. This loss is on Adelman, he didnt get out coached, he just didnt coach at all.
Well considering you aren't Marty Mcfly I don't see how you can just assume TWO ATHLETIC BIG MEN wouldn't have been able to do anything on the court. Hill is also our 2nd best shotblocker after Yao, and his D has markedly improved judging from the preseason games. Again, this is the 2nd game of the season. Against the GS Warriors. If these two are gonna get PT it would have to be against teams like these. Clear lockdown defender? In the new age of basketball 1-on-1 lockdown defenders are a thing of the past, most everyone can do now is put a hand up on your face, something which we were already able to do repeatedly. Double teams would have forced Monte's hand into dumping the ball to someone else. Would Curry have blown up? Maybe...but then again Curry DID blow up anyway, so at worst the same thing would have happened. The crime is not that we lost, but that there wasn't even any attempt to do anyth Finally what do you mean by the risk was too great? Despite this conservative attitude we still ended up getting beaten so I don't see how not being risky worked out for us.
Giving mucho props to you DD for calling out RA. Somebody needs to be held accountable for our defensive "prowess".
i didn't get to watch the game last night....but this is the part that's inexplicable to me. can anyone shed some light on why Miller only played 3 minutes in a night where Yao didn't touch the court. so much for the whole, "Brad Miller is the difference" argument.
Well said.... In this kind of game, the coach has to take the responsibility. He has a team of players with different strength and weakness. He has to use it and adapt quickly. Not just stick to his rotation and hope for the best.
