Hi, I rarely post and never start a thread. However, I do troll these boards at least three times a day. Somewhat frustrated with the loss, but I think/know we will bounce back. This is not a negative post by any means, as I fully support JVG and understand that our superstars can have bad games on occasion. However, I just don't understand the philosophy of our fast breaks. Let me explain, durring any game, you will see Luther or Rafer go on a fast break, sometimes 1 on 1, sometimes 3 on 2, and because they do not have a clear route to the basket, they back down and start playing half-court basketball (which is fine, specially when you have the best center). But, watching some of the other playoff teams, you realize that most every other teams fastbreak philosophy is to force the layup (with the intention of being aggressive) and maybe draw the foul. I'm not a stat guy, but I think the % of getting a foul called in transition vs. halfcourt is much higher than half-court when the defense is set. (probably 2 to 1). I really do enjoy/love this current squad, but have never understood the transition game, I don't want to say it's nonexistent. Rafer and Luther are fast, and basketball is a game where you don't have to have many talents to succeed, but to utilize the few (sometimes even one!). I want to see Luther/Rafer be more aggressive and use their God-given footspeed. I'm really interested in hearing if you see the same thing, it happens at least 3 times a game.
LOL, probably because Luther and Rafer suck at layups and they know it. If they are confident of their layup abilities, they'd definitely be going for the layup rather than backing down. Rocket Zoom
Generally, Rafer makes pretty good decisions on fast breaks. The only time he pulls up and pulls the ball out is if it's really a poor situation (2 on 3, defender in position). Luther doesn't always (lucky for him, he's fast enough to get a few more breaks), mostly due to a lack of aggression on the break. Sometimes he'll pull the ball back out on a 1-on-1 if the defender is a step ahead of him. He's the most likely player on the team to start a fast break, but he doesn't finish all of them well.
you have to practice fast breaks....it just seems like this team has NO idea whats goin on in fastbreaks......maybe Steve was telling the truth when he said that JVG never makes them practice fast breaks.....
I call total bull****. They know how to run the fastbreak. Rafer is probably one of the best fastbreakers in the league. He knows when to dish it off, and who to dish it off to. Luther is pretty good at finding the man with the easy layup. Where they both lack in is in finishing. Rafer, sucks at finishing. Luther has been known to blow gimmes time and time again. Juwan, who also is a good fastbreak decision maker has been pretty good, and hayes has been improved. Tmac knows when to give it up. Shane, I haven't seen him do much fast breaking.
I agree with this. Last night we had a couple of opportunities, and missed the layup. When we have a 3 on 2 fast break I am very confident if Alston has the ball and is making the decisions on the break.
Unlike some other threads, I don't think this is a panic criticism. I think anyone following the Rockets will willingly admit that we've been a poor fast break team all season. First, we just don't run that much, and when we do we finish poorly many times. Clearly we're shooting poorly in the half court set this series and running in transition would help, but we haven't done it all season and it's not like we're going to magically get much better at it during the playoffs.
jvg not knowing how to do a fastbreak would not effect a player that does. but are you really going to say that a NBa coach with jvgs record doesnt know how to run a fast break? if so, then you are being completely ridiculous.
In games our focus is on rebounding so, we hit the boards instead of running out in transition. I bet we practice fast breaks in practice but, we just don't do it that often gametime. I wish we would play a bit more in transition especially when the offensive is stagnant. We need balance to be good.
Luther is usually a decent finisher around the rim. The only problem is that he gets his shot block 90% of the time.
I'm not sure about our fast breaks, but i've noticed that we don't allow alot of opposing fast breaks. I think this is because other teams double or triple teams our backcourt (i.e. yao). This allows them less players in the back court for fast break. this is another plus on why it's good to have a dominate post player.
