It's good that you remember this too. What do you think JJ tell Steve? From seeing JJ pointing up to the clock, I'd say he chewed Steve out for bad clock management. I don't know if Steve even heard JJ or understand what he said. His face expression did not convey anything. He did not agree by nodding. He did not disagree by talking back either.
He was pointing out he didn't run enough time off the clock and Boston would have plenty of time to score again negating his free throws. JJ then fouled with one to give and Boston missed the last second attempt.
ricerocket - I'm not sure what is your point... Last possesion of: Q1: Taylor pass Yao / Yao scored and made the FT. Q2: Francis air ball 3 over Banks Q3: Francis fouled by Banks / 2 FT'S Houston got the ball with 20 seconds on the clock. Francis went early and left Boston 7.4 seconds. That's worth yelling about. If I'm watching the last possession of a 1 point game and Shaq is posted up, Bruce Bowen is the weakside corner, Robert Horry is weakside angle to the FT line and Reggie Miller is strongside at the arc, and Francis is the PG...my monEY'S on Francis to take the last shot.
Since I got into clock management ... I might as well add my 2c. Gater, Of course you know that the opponents want to do the same thing. IMO, you want 1 good shot+1 quick shot in exchange for 1 opponent shot. You don't want 2 quick shots in exhange for 1 opponent good shot. 1) If you can get a good shot and leave 30-35 seconds on the clock then you will get another chance for a quick one. 2) If you leave 37, 38 or more seconds the opponent will take 1 decent shot and leave you with 30-32 seconds so they get the last chance. 3) If you leave 27, 28, the opponent will run the clock down to 4,5 before shooting and chances are that you don't get another one off yourself. 4) You don't want 2) nor 3) and if you can't get 1) i.e. if you start with 40 secs, I think you rather use the full shot clock and get 1 good shot instead. It's not easy. There are times when things don't happen as planned. You want to take a shot at certain time but the defense makes you take more time. That makes you start your play earlier the next time. Then the next time, the defense isn't so great so you get your shot off too early ... You are right in that this is the same with Rudy as with JVG. I think we are not perfect but we are not too terrible either. The trouble we do have is the quality of the shots we get!
I agree putting the ball in Steve Francis's hands at the end of quarters. He is our PG, he should create. But I also agree he could be much more effective. A lot of times, as soon as he starts to drive, teams will double or triple team him and he still tries to shoot. Francis needs to learn that one of the most effective plays at the end of quarters is to start to drive to the hoop, and as soon as the defense commits, pass the ball to the open guy for an easy jumpshot. But I agree most teams in the NBA are not very good at last second plays.
you are saying jim jackson is better than francis at creating his own shot???!!! Then what is steve's strength??? Dunking?? So you dunked his way into averaging 20+ pts the last few seasons?
umm, those are games where the last second shot mattered!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He has made plenty more!!!!!!!!!!
every sing team in the nba that has a decent permineter player does that! GATER if you have so many tapes, then dont you see all the other teams going to there star permiter player
While he doesn't have to take every last-second shot, it's easy to understand why he does. Check out the games from last year. I don't know how many buzzer beaters he had, but it was silly. It looks bad this season since his FG% is pathetic. I wouldn't mind Mobley jacking up a few desperation shots (did I say that?).
