aka the Secondary Break aka the "Brake Check 'I've actually got to pay for advertising' blues" aka Mark Jackson's kid-in-a-candy-store meets "Groundhog Day" moment. I'm just constantly amazed at Mark Jackson's ability to take a small advantage, "run" (trot/go gimpy legged/"not walk") down the court, reach the top of the key and whip a pass to one of the 4 other Rockets who happen to be wide open. You know the axe is going to fall but you don't know where and quite when. In the grand total of 3 games he's played, there have been a dozen of so passes that have not been tried by someone in a Rockets uni (or at least in the past 15 years or so). A good number of the jaw-droppers have come on the secondary break - the bounce pass and the alley to Yao being the most memorable, the surgical strikes to Cat and JJ standing clean at the 3 pt line equally effective. This is not a "get a real PG" or "trade Steve" thread. I really believe a good percentage of that talent great PG's are born with and the great ones don't grow on trees... I'm just appreciating the beauty of a well-run break, that it's in slow motion only makes it better - I'm getting old and can't see like I used to.
Speaking of the Fast break! I was watching NBA FAST BREAK on ESPN.... The video of the Plays of the weekdid not have a single clip of a Rocket for this week. How the hell is that?! We have been playing good ball!!! Screw ESPN!! Screw NBA Fast Break!!!
Agreed. Good idea to start a thread about the fast break. It's one of the biggest oddities about the Rockets. I thought that it was simply a matter of coaching... but either JVG sucks at teaching it just as much as Rudy, it's not a priority for him (yet), or it's really just the personnel. It's almost amazing how poorly the Rockets run the fast break. On a good college team, there are often 3-4 guys (literally) who can run it better than anybody on Houston. Except... now we have Mark Jackson. Here's a question, for the basketball geniuses out there: why do we run it so poorly, no matter what kind of #'s we have? Francis might not be the brightest basketball mind, but he's improved in many other ways... but not his ability to run the break. And it's not that hard to do. The lack of using space is really amazing. It's very refreshing to see it run well. But I really want to know what the problem ahs been.
For those of you non-local fans, Brake Check donates something like $20 per fast break point to charity. Earlier this year, when Bill Worrell would give the recap he say something like, "Throughout the season, Brake Check will donate $20/point to the Boys and irls' Club of Houston... tonight the Rockets scored... uhh... 2 fast break points so that's $40 for the Boys and Girls' Club..." It was pathetic. I don't know how he kept from laughing/crying.
Because Francis and Mobley WANT the ball. See, they never think about wanting the ball, in order to give it up for an easy basket. They want the ball in order to score. Because that's their mentality. That's why when one of them has the ball on the break, they don't give the ball up until the HAVE to, and then it's too late because the defenders are all bunched up under the basket (turnover/offensive foul). They hold the ball too long. Or if one of them gets the ball on the break, he will not pass back until it's too late.
While the guards' mentality has a lot to do with it, so do a lack of fundamentals: spacing, getting the ball to the middle of the court ASAP, etc. Also, two less obvious points: 1) When other players repeatedly fill their lanes and don't get the ball, they tend to run out with less vigor, esp the big men. Now with Jackson, you know they're running harder. 2) Francis is too quick for his own good. He beats his mates down the floor, only the guards can keep up with him. If it's not immediately there, by the time the big men reach the front court, the guards have curled out to set up in the half court. Think about it this way: When is the last time we've used the trailer on the break? It's arguably Jackson's greatest strength when he pushes the ball because it brings all 5 guys into play.
Excellent points. I remember one time Kenny Smith said that one of his coaches or teammates told him in North Carolina that he was going too fast and that he should change up his speed. Going 100 pecernt all the time on drives was not the way to go. After Kenny took his advice his game opened up for him. He was able to see what was going on better.
See, "The Jet" is always right. I don't know if Francis has slow in him, though. He's like Tigger from Winnie the Pooh (Bouncy, bouncy...). Maybe you can say, "When you're in the middle of the court - 60%. On the wing - 100%. Oh, and don't forget to pass." I wouldn't hold my breath. Actually, he's been trying that one-handed floater in the lane ala Payton (and Mark Jackson, hmm..). It's been ugly - brick, hard off the glass, near airball. Imo, same problem, too quick into the lane... too much momentum... no control of the shot. With his pace and leaping ability, he should just "stop and pop" ala Calvin Murphy.
the way i see it. 1. francis and mobley aren't good at running the break. as has been said, we wait too long to give it up and then the defense is bunched. even though it seems like giving it up early gives the D time to react, it also gives you time for a return pass or gives the offensive guy time to change directions/react to the D. 2. the other personnel. besides posey who has been a good fast break guy with us? rice? tmo? taylor (yeah right)? cato (athletic but not that fast)? yao? collier? maybe boki but he plays about 3 minutes a game. 3. rudy and jvg are walk it up coaches thus we don't see it that often and don't learn from it that much. 4. coaching. i'm not sure how much this is a factor. watching espn classic, in one of those games from our title runs, everytime hakeem blocked something or we got a steal, we were out and running and succeeded every time. so either rudy forgot everything or it was never that big of a factor anyways and goes back to personnel. but i still think things like making sure the ball goes to the middle (or if it's 2 on 1 and you started from the sidelines, driving down the side,drawing the D, and then kicking to the middle to the other guy - the one type of fast break i've seen steve actually run correctly), things like slowing down a little, things like that should be taught better so i have to list the coaches a little. that's my take on it.
Nobody on the team is a finisher. And that doesn't help. Nachbar is the only one who even remotely swoops in like someone who can finish a break.
Hey, Phi. Good call. Knowing how to finish is also another issue. Gotta love that ablity to palm the ball. That's what helps Boki on the fast break. Francis has small hands. He's said that he can't palm the ball. And that hurts his ablity to control the ball (contortions) with one had for layups over the rim. Also... Finishing isn't all about dunking. In fact, it's about layup creativity, i.e. being able to layup the ball with your right hand on the leftside of the rim, right hand on the right side of the rim, left hand on the left side of the rim, and left hand on the right side of the rim. And either hand over the front of the rim. Trying to dunk in the same situation would end up in a block. I think the fact that Francis THINKS (or is forced by the fans) to DUNK everytime down the court, that it hurts his *learned* ability to layup the ball off glass in different ways. He's not used to it. He also doen't know how to use his body to block his defender before he goes up. He always tries to "beat" his opponent to the rim. That's not always what you want to do. Sometimes you need to slow down and let the defender catchup so that you can "leverage" the defender off, then decide which side to layup off of.
My theory is that both Francis and Mobley ALWAYS wants to finish a break with an ESPN highlite. They are looking for that alley-oop instead of a simple chest or bounce pass. This is why the decisions that they make during these breaks are very poor. They run with the mentality of highlite first then score.
Oh boy...bring back Lewis Lloyd and Clyde Drexler. Those guys both could run "one man fast breaks" Wow. The last guy we had like that was Shandon Anderson.
You're joking, right? The % of charges they commit on the break is atrocious. And they miss too many. Each turns a 3-on-1 from an easy lay-up... into a 1-on-1. Doesn't matter what kind of #'s you have if you don't pass... ot do it too late.
I've been one advocating more transition on offense for the Rox and think they have the talent to do it. As Yao's rebounding improves he can outlet the ball out to the guards and Taylor breaking down the court. Francis' and Mobley's speed gives them the burst to outrun opponents to finish. Both Jacksons have the sure hands to relay the ball to finishers on the break. Even Taylor has the athleticism and skill to relay or finish a break. Throw in a player like Nachbar and the Rox have all the ingredients to run good transition ball. IMO we haven't seen the break much because JVG's prefers a slower style for ball control and defensive purposes, minimize the opportunities for the opponents to score while maximize your offense's opportunities. Also walking the ball up gives Yao time to set up in the offense. Rudy also had the same attitude and would slow the game down at stretches to set up Hakeem and later focussed on half court spread the defense iso sets. I think as the Rox and JVG get more comfortable with each other we might see them running a little more. Also one reason why Mark Jackson was brought in is to teach Francis to be a better PG and open up the offense more.
Hakeem played 'free safety'. The D was funneled to him, and his defensive ability so great that it freed the guards to 'cheat' both on D and in getting out on the break. That made the break work, with numbers in Rox favor. I am a Stevie guy. Stevie is not a fast break pg, perhaps as poorly executing the 2-1 or 3-1 as I've seen. He does lots extremely well, tho I wonder if this winning system is a winning system for his talents. I hope he and the system come together because he is a great talent and a good guy. ABSOLUTELY NOT STARTING A TRADE THREAD, BUT...you know where Stevie would look great? In a backcourt with Kidd. He could take some of the pounding and pressure off JK and thrive. That would be a fun backcourt -- and I hope it never happens.
And Glen Rice's expiring contract... doh!! Or our #1 pick this year to sweeten the pot... doh!! doh!!
