http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/2976841 Jan. 3, 2005, 11:32PM Rockets can be pushy With team acclimating itself to faster tempo, scoring goes up By JONATHAN FEIGEN Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Knowing what is thought of the Rockets' offense ?or more precisely, of their "system," to borrow the word that amuses Jeff Van Gundy so ?Bob Sura could not understand the impression. He knew what people thought. He just didn't know why. "There's a system, but I'm a little surprised by how different it is than the perception people outside have," Sura said. "He (Van Gundy) tells us to get the ball and run up and down the court. He tells us to try to score in transition. People on the outside look at us and say, 'They are a slow-down, pound-it-in team.' But he wants us to get up and down. And we have a lot of freedom. "If somebody's open and that's their shot, he wants you to take it. He'll tell you, 'If you miss five good shots in a row, you miss five in a row. No big deal. Keep playing.' " Sura could go on and did. Then he realized he could not blame those whom he believed had gotten it so wrong. Not long ago, he was one of them. "I thought it was a slow-down system where you've got to walk it up, do this, then this, then this," Sura said. "But I was wrong. It hasn't been like that." Comfort level As much as Van Gundy mocks the "system" debate, the Rockets do have a style. They look to fast break, but if the break does not work, they usually run a half-court offense rather than freelance. Van Gundy doesn't harp on shot selection. If Tracy McGrady has been shackled, as many contend, he must be wishing to take more lefthanded shots with his eyes closed, because he has been free to take pretty much anything else. "I think now we're playing so well because we're comfortable in our offense," McGrady said. "I think everyone has adapted to the system that has been proposed to us. "For me, it was pretty tough (to adjust). I was hesitant in the offense. When I started the season, I really wasn't confident or comfortable out there. But now I'm back to my old self just out there playing ball, not looking over my shoulders anymore." The Rockets did not expect such a difficult adjustment period. And they do point out that most of their offensive revival has been against far lesser teams than they will face most of January. But with the Suns, the NBA's winningest and highest-scoring team, in town on Wednesday, the Rockets at least do not have to be ashamed of their offense. In the past 10 games, the Rockets have averaged 97.8 points on 46.1 percent shooting and 36.4 percent 3-point shooting. McGrady has topped 20 points in all 10 of those games. Before that 10-game run, the Rockets had been averaging 86.6 points, making 41.9 percent of their shots overall and 32.7 percent of their 3-pointers. In the past 10 games, the Rockets have topped 50 points in 10 halves. In the first 21 games, they scored 50 points in a half just three times. But beyond numbers, ball movement has become sharper since the trades for Jon Barry and David Wesley, and Sura has pushed the tempo. The Rockets have not broken any land speed records, but they have at least passed some of the traffic. "When you find three guards that are mostly catch-and-shoot or catch-and-penetrate, you're going to find the ball doesn't stop much at all," Wesley said. "We're going to look for the open guy first and take the opportunities when they come. We're not going to be hunting shots as much as looking for good opportunities." Spread it around The Rockets' half-court offense can also defy expectations, though Sunday's emphasis on cutting and motion might have been a function of the matchup with the Jazz and Yao Ming's fatigue after coming back from the flu. "We go through Yao and Tracy," Barry said. "Everything goes through them. But (Van Gundy) wants everyone involved. "It's more of a motion, passing offense than I anticipated. I expected more iso, dump-in, spot-up. But he wants everyone incorporated in what we're doing. He wants to get out and push and score." jonathan.feigen@chron.com
Finally we got some players in there that understand the system and know how to take advantage of it.
I hope it does. The personel is now in place to run this offense to near perfection. It will sure be a fun ride from here on out.
Van Gundy is actually adapting to his players... and did i misread or did someone put the words "freedom" in the same sentence mentioned wih Van Gundy coaching? You know what, maybe JVg is a better coach than we thought. Maybe in the beginning of the season he figured that our team wasn't suited for this uptempo attack yet because of the lack of chemistry and of course the worst pg's in the league just happend to be in our rotation. Now that our team is gelling and we aquired players that excell in transition and passing, Van Gundy can implement this up-tempo system with confidence that these players can get it done. It makes a lot of sense and I'm beginning to respect JVG a lot more, but winning makes everything look good. If we play good games in the next 2 weeks (win or lose) i will be off the fire gundy ship. He would have done everything I thought he wouldn't do.
Holy crap, people are now giving Van Gundy props?! There are so many mood swings in here you'd think the bbs was on her period!
Remember we started the season with Ward starting close to 15 games in the season with Lue backing him up. Those two guys just could not push the ball up or initiate a descent offense. It all comes back to personel. If you have crappy personel, any system will suffer. I am glad that CD and JVG are working hard and doing whatever possible to surround Yao and tmac with the right crop of players. There is no way we be were we are are with out Sura because of the intangibles he brings to the table each night. He may not be a star in the NBA but he knows how to play and run the point. There is no coincidence that our play and fortune started looking up when he returned from injury. I am hoping that Barret, Barry and Wesley will continue with this same spirit and effort.
Here is the Rockets summary of that article: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/2976841 Rockets summary Scoring help In Tracy McGrady's 10-game streak of scoring at least 20 points, he has not been alone. Yao Ming topped 20 in five of those games (missing one with flu symptoms). Guard Bob Sura did it twice and had 19 in another game. Former Rockets guard Jim Jackson topped 20 once in those games. "We definitely need a third scorer to step up, other than Yao (Ming) and Tracy," said Sura, who has averaged 10.7 points during McGrady's streak. "Whoever that may be on a given night. (Sunday) it happened to be me." Somewhat like Mike As disappointing as Sunday's game had to be for the Jazz, it will not be as unpleasant a memory as the game Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy used to help inspire Rockets center Yao Ming's comeback from his bout with bronchitis and high fever. "Coach told me before the game that Michael Jordan played sick against Utah and scored 38, so it gave me something to measure," Yao said of Jordan's performance in Game 5 of the 1998 NBA Finals. "He has very high expectations of me, and I couldn't give up on that." Yao, playing with a slight fever and clearly struggling, still scored 15 points, making five of eight shots from the field and five of eight free throws. jonathan.feigen@chron.com
i AM glad we are scoring more and this is great seeing the rockets gel. maybe i wont have to be depressed on rockets game nights.
I give props when props are due. I give JVG props for firstly letting t-mac be t-mac, ever since the first dallas game where he went off for 48. Many posters have their reasons for wanting JVG gone. My reasons were for 1) Not adjusting to his players 2) Poor time out selection 3) Poor sub selection 4) Not giving minutes to AB and Boki 4) Limiting creativity with T-mac and Yao. Up to this week JVG has corrected those things, I didn't just change my mood and be like today I like JVG! Since JVG has *changed* his approach, then I have no reason to want him gone. I'd wish he wasn't as negative as he is, but that is not my reasons for wanting him gone.
Evolution! People or rather fans like you out there failed to employ patience to allow evolution to play itself out with this team. We often forget that this team was virtually a new one in ever sence of the word with new acquizitions coupled with a trip half way accross the world to China. A prudent mind will expect tough times early and a likely slow start If anyone expected a blistering start, then that person maybe must have played way too much ESPN2k5 video games. People see change now but just like Sura said above, I don't see much changes save for a few personel and all important evolution.
Once again, another great article by Feigan. Seriously, this guy is a superb writer, it’s refreshing, because he’s always positive.
JVG stating he would not change is a sign that evolution will not occur. JVG in fact DID change and that is opposite of what he told us and shown us on numerous occasions. That is why I wanted him gone because he refused to change even though he was losing when he had it his way. It has nothing to do with patience. I was not impatient, I knew we would have a rough start due to our schedule and its a brand new team, but if JVG didn't change like he said he wouldn't, we'd be worse than we are now and t-mac would still be hesitating to shoot and we'd still take 16 seconds to get into an offense. And if you don't see a change from now since the early days of the season then I don't know what team you or Sura has been watching we now get as much fast break points in one game as we did in a whole week of basketball. No one expected these deals to aquire JBarry or Wesley, so I don't think patience can play into that argument. The problems I had with JVG were not the problems I had with the players. A lot of people wanted JVG gone for the short commings of the players (turnovers, missing open shots, lack of heart/intensity), I wanted JVG gone for his hard headed mentallity, that he will not change even when it's clear his system is not working. He has changed his system to fit his players. You don't go from walking up court and waiting for yao to post up 3 different spots before getting him the ball to shooting the first open shot no matter if Yao is in position or not and not say nothing has changed. JVG has changed and has yet to admit it. The closest we have gotten out of him was "I've changed enough.." - JVG
I think when the Rockets show some true consistency the anti JVG crowd (including me) will start to cut the guy some slack. The Rockets have been so inconsistent and had such bad games this year that it is going to take more than a 3 game win streak. We have had two previous three game win streaks, one including 2 wins against Memphis and 1 against Sac, only to follow them up with multiple losses. I am ready for a little optimism though so please let this be the real thing this time.
I wonder how much van gundy paid Sura to say all of that? Or did he have to promise him more playing minutes?
Why would anyone think Van Gundy has changed? Have they totally forgotten his frantic sideline arm waving at Steve Francis to get the ball up the court? And Steve's response was.....dribble...dribble...dribble... . Mark Jackson got the ball up the floor faster than Steve. Sura is stating something I have believed for a long time. VG wants to move quickly at a controlled pace (for fewer TO's), move the ball around and probe defenses from the inside out for the entire 24 second shot clock. He's not a genius nor is this a shockingly new concept. The NBA has a long history of teams that play good team D, force tempo with average team footspeed and go inside out in the half court. The reason I personally don't find it boring is I like the game played with lockdown D and early ball movement. As opposed to marginal D and early ISO.
It sucks to see some people teetering back on their original opinions of JVG, who knew a 16-15 record would be all it took! Was it that long ago that we lost to Charlotte twice in one week? I for one still believe that JVG is a good coach, just not one for this current team. As a matter of fact, he'd be gone already if not for his contract. I could go over a laundry list of coaches I'd rather have that are currently on other teams or aren't coaching right now, I hope you guys can still do the same... Don't get me wrong, I love the way we are playing recently and have always loved this team's potential. But until we start beating the teams ahead of us in the West and the teams below us in the East on a CONSISTENT basis, we will ONLY have that potential to hang our hats on this season... That being said, I'm dissapointed with Steve Francis' backlash on JVG. It's one thing to have an opinion on something or about somebody, it's another to run to the media with it... i.e. Kobe vs. Malone.
I was glad when we got JVG, but recently I have been a little disappointed in him. That said, there are still some things (even in our winning) that I'm disappointed in him. There are times when I see our lead start to dwindle because he's letting Yao or McGrady sit on the bench too long against a tough opponent. I still find myself talking to the TV saying, "Okay, Jeff, Ming/Tracy's been resting for twenty minutes and your lead has been cut to six. Ya shoulda put him back in the game a long time ago!" And I (thankfully) haven't recently seen us trying desparately to overcome a point deficit to tie/win a game. A complaint I've had about JVG is that he plays too conservatively when we're down by a few points will very little time left. When this happens again, I'll know more about my feelings for JVG. But I'm glad we're winning! We've won 10 of our last 14 games and are really getting back on track! -- droxford
