im not trying to stir controversy or get on his back.. I think JVG is an awesome coach and has done wonders for this team in terms of toughness, defense and conditioning.. but I end up questioning his decision making almost every game.. for example: When Yao is hot and starting to dominate why take him out of the game? people may counter that his stamina isnt there, its his normal rest time. I would say milk it for as long as you can. If hes hot get as much out of him as you can before you rest him. Its like when you starting getting good hands in blackjack, do you leave after a could 21's or do you ride it. My point being Yao can go cold later too, you should ride the hot hand as long as you can. The opposite is true too, if Yao is uneffective why not bench him earlier, sit him down and let him talk with Ewing and work on gameplan or strategy? JVG's timeout management is horrendous.. he seems to never save any timeouts and depletes them all before the end of the game. You dont need to waste a timeout to make substitutions you cant wait for any dead ball time such as after fouls or if the ball goes out of bounds. Also his substitutions are horrible.. how many times have I seen him take Yao and SF3 both out at the same time. Our team falls apart during these periods so why does he keep doing this.. make's me want to smack my head on my desk. I think this makes for interesting discussion and welcome any comments J
What was up with SPOON's DNP tonight? Why did we pick this guy up if we're not going to utilize him against the smaller/less experienced Lakers' PFs...
:start rant Also, those wide open threes didn't help our cause in the 4th quarter. That defensive scheme leaves much to be desired. IMO, it is not necessary to double down on most of these guys. A double team is warranted for Kobe or Shaq, but I don't think it is necessary for us to leave shooters like Fisher, Walton, and Rush open as we chase a slasher. Thats what Kelvin and Yao are there for. If we would just stay at home on defense more consistently, I think we would win more games. I mean, c'mon. This is the NBA. Most of these guys can make a shot when no one is guarding them. Have you ever seen shootarounds? :end rant but, overall, it was an entertaining game. i don't usually say that when we lose
Spoon+Cato has no offense, spoon+MoT is too undersized against Shaq and lakers. When Yao is in, there is no point of sending in spoon because either Cato or MoT can paly. Shaq played most of 2nd half, so there was no time to send in spoon. In the first half, Yao played 19+ minutes, so there wasn't much time to play spoon either. JVG is a guy who really milk on 6-7 guys who he feels most comfortable at any night. He was always like this. let him coach Kings or Twolves, he would go with a 7-men rotation most of the nights.
JVG had 4 fouls Does that mean the assistant coaches get to make the calls so that he doesn't foul out??
Agreed. If there were a defensive coordinator in basketball, it would be JVG. His timeouts were rather bad. And if anyone can think of a reason to have Francis and Yao out all at once... I'm not the one.
It is not VanGundy's fault.the fault is in the team.There need some changes in the team,especially the use of some players.rox need a perfect shooter to support yaoming.Meanwhile,the straegty must be fixed on "yaoming is core".
JVG is the one to blame for last night's loss Basically JVG is not near at level of Phil Jackson, you could easily see the difference in fourth quarter when game is close. He is just helpless when SF, MoT and Pike made dumb decison during Lakers' 13:0 run.
So if Phil Jackson were the coach of the Rockets, he would do what when SF, Mo T and Pike make dumb decisions?
I am not Phil Jackson, but even I could see the coach should tell those three guys calm down and not shoot quick jump shoot. SF was off the mark most of the night, Pike's shoot is not settled, and MoT was off his range. When your opponent was making a run and why the coach not telling his players to slow the tempo and doing the basketball 101?
How about bringing in CATO who was having what seem like a good game just a wee bit earlier I think Francis could have gotten a blow earlier too but NOT while YAO is out Rocket River
Even though I agree with you to a point, these reasons are not enough to point the blame on the loss to the Fakers. JVG made some good moves last night with the subbing of Yao at the the right times. He was playing chess with Phil Jackson last night and I think he outcoached him. A great job of preparing his team, especially defensively against the fakers. tsl99, your reasons to blame the loss on JVG are just plain silly.
why can't anyone accept that the Rockets played well except for a couple of spots when Yao was out - but the Lakers just outplayed them down the stretch. JJ had his foot on the line on the 3 that should have mede it a 2 point rox lead - then Kobe hit a 20 foot fade away OVER Ming - that was an amazing shot ! it just didn't happen last night - but I would give anything for Francis and Ming to play that kind of game every night - (sorry SF3 haters - 16 pts and 10 assts. is EXACTLY what you should want from him)
But JVG's timeout management really sucks, and has always been. Besides, he always had trouble calling a play to give Rockets players a decent chance to score near the end of a close game, last night's game also showed that. And yes, JVG was the person to blame for last night's loss.
You guys make good points about the coaching and subbing decisions. I have a few random thoughts I need to get off my chest: A. Haven't seen fans so into a game in years as they were after JJ's bucket. It was awesome. B. At the end of the game, you have Mo Taylor being played by Luke Walton. Granted, Luke was having a great offensive game (for him), but he can't play D. Mo was owning him thru most of the game in the post even though it was not one of Mo's better games. Why didn't they clear out the side for Mo to go 1-on-1 with Walton at the end? Feed the beast!!! C. SF and CM still play like 1st/2nd yr players at the end of the game. SF should know how to close a game and PLAY UNDER CONTROL at the end. It's like they haven't learned anything since they got in the league. D. Does anything kill a rally faster than a CM pull up jumper? E. Moochie Norris is a Knick right? Coulda sworn I saw our PG dribbling out the clock a few times. Trade the backcourt. Sorry for the rant, just wanted to voice my disgust with the end of game management. This forum seemed like the best place. Thanks.
if the Rockets wouldn't shoot stupid shots (SF3, Cat, Pike ALL did it last night) and start coasting when they get a 5 point lead, then maybe he wouldn't have to call so many time outs... to get them to settle down
Thats also true but only Pike's shot was a really bad one if you are talking about the 4th quarter. But Van Gandy should know better. Pike was a CLIPPER! He shouldn't be playing when the game is close. Again, JVG's play calling is really bad (I know this because I watched a lot of Hornets games and saw how Floyd called plays in close games). Rox needs some kind of an offense coordinator.
