I don't know the answer, but one theory I heard (and it makes sense to me) is that most nba players are rythm players, they shoot well when they are in rythme and they don't if they are not. Somehow JVG's system makes it hard for players to get in rythme. If you look at the stats of our players, they are not bad career-shooters.
You don't zone the suns. Everyone who's tried it has had three's rain down on their head. They already get enough open looks as it is and the zone would just give them more. Nash has no problem kicking out after penetration. Dallas got creamed when they tried zoning the suns last year. This year they stopped zoning completely and beat the Suns twice already. Most teams have one or two zone busters. The suns have seven. If the zone was some magic pill that stopped the suns' ball movement you could be sure that everyone would have picked it up already. If your gameplan to fight the suns is zone, then I'm really glad to have JVG as coach.
My major issue with Van Gunday decision making was putting Ryan Bowen in the game in the first half. It seemed like as soon as Bowen entered the game the player guarding him went and sat immediately in Yao Ming lap leaving Bowen wide open for a shot that he will only making about 1 out of 10 times. Also leaving ming double and sometimes tripled teamed. With Bowen a non threat offensively and the rest of the Rockets' jumpers not falling it was only a matter of time before things turned badly.
See that is one of my points - the way the Rockets' play Gundy's system it sure looks like an area zone as all five players pick a point on the paint and play right outside of it at times. Then they don't chase their man any further out - and they leave the 3P shooters wide open outside the 3p arc. It looks less like a zone when they play the Suns as they do end up chasing Nash & Co all over - but never out to the arc as they have to be ready to rotate and help on either side - it appears. But by no means does it look like a pure man to man system. The Suns get an awful lot of extra ppg from their 3p's and it would seem worth a try to do more man to man and really challenge the 3p shooters on ther perimeter while giving up some of the drives to the hoop for 2's - they get them anyway.
