What would Rudy T Say after watching the last 2 games ??? He would see a team that has the potential for greatness it would get back to the basics of running an offense THROUGH the big man. The way Yao has shot (FG %) we need to get him ALOT more touches. He is shooting 63% in the last 2 losses - 10-16 from the field. You can see his confidence growing in his offensive game BIG TIME - yet he doesn't have the leadership ability (like dream) to DEMAND the ball. Open looks would be ALOT more frequesnt for T-Mac/Wesley/Barry/Sura/James - if we ran it through Yao - So maybe we can break out of this 2 game funk. ESPECIALLY with JH Out (and I admit this is part of the prob.) our shooters are only gonna get the same type of open looks as they were b4 JH's injury if they run it through the big man. Spoon has little or no offense at this point - we need to clear his ass out and open up the paint for Yao to run his pick and rolls and post-ups. Good thing seem to happen when Yao gets touches - He needs MORE shots. When JH gets back it can only strengthen what we've already built. What Would Rudy T do ??
WWRTD? easier said than done, i am not sure how rudy t would counteract the new zone defense rules which makes it much harder for yao to get good position without 2-3 defenders right around him before he has the ball. by the time the new zone rules were implemented dream was a mere shadow of his former self and so not much was run at all for dream. i think yao is getting plenty of touches, sure he had something like 9 shots last game but he also had 16fts which shows the ball was getting in to him. he fumbled at least 3 passes i saw that were made to him as well. this whole yao isnt getting enough touches is just getting ridiculous, he is doing just fine
Minny was using Garnett to pack it in against Yao, especially during the 2nd half If our outside shooters aren't hitting, then its pretty darn hard to get Yao a consistant string of touches inside that being said, Yao got alot of touches last time (don't just look at his FGA's, but his FTAs too) Yao is much more effective when we use the outside game to set him up inside, rather than going inside to set things up outside
True on the FT Attempts - good point - BUT - how many times in the last 2 games have you seen 3's jacked up that were not in the flow of the offense ? How many 3's were jacked up with 15 seconds leeft on the shot clock? A Ton. I know it's easier said then done - but JVG needs to get Yao in the Block earlier. He's moving in from High to Low too frequently. He's moving so much alot of possesions he doesn't get settled long enough to establish good position.
We've seen what the offense looks like when we try to go to Yao a lot...slow, low scoring, and LOSING. No thanks. We're in a little slump right now, no need to panic.
I just gotta say this though. With all due respect, no one complains when we jack them up regardless of the shotclock when they were hitting them like before. In reference to the last couple games, how else are you going to get back into a game where you are 20 points down? As far as yao and position, he has to move b/c he can't HOLD his position long enough. The main thing here, which is the most simple of concepts is...the whole point of the game. Put the ball in the basket. Rockets haven't done that the last couple games and it has shown in all facets of their game. You can analyze the details all you want, but if you can't put the round thing through that hoop/ring looking thing you won't be winning any games.
Yao had 9 FGA, 14 FTA, and 3 TO..all that in only 28 minutes. He was more than involved. Drop the subject
True - But we can't expect them to hit 56% of their shots every game either - like they did through their 6 game win streak.
Bottom line is that Yao needs to get more FGA's when he's shooting over 50%. Sometimes our role players need to defer a bit more and stop jacking up bad shots. BTW: Padgett or Bowen needs to start the next game because with Weatherspoon the offense is screwed by playing essentially 4 on 5.
althought true, I believe there is enough fire power out there on the floor to begin the game. Sort of the same idea of james coming off the bench rather than sura. I also agree that Yao's getting his touches. I also agree though, that if someone's hot you keep going to them! But there are so many factors here. Yao's playing well, the rest of the team did not last couple games. Plain and simple
No argument here. Yao got the ball a lot and passed out when doubled. The team just needs to do a better job of exploiting the double teams. We really looked amateurish after the ball got passed out.
I mentioned this in another thread...Here's the interesting thing. The touches for Yao isn't translating into any significant increases in FGA for him. Timeframe -- FGA -- FTA -- eFGA (FGA+(FTA/2)) Games 1-64 -- 12.3 -- 6.1 -- 15 eFGA/game Last 3 -- 7 -- 11.7 -- 12 eFGA/game Minnie -- 9 -- 16 -- 17 eFGA/game I believe part of the problem we are having is the interior defense is collapsing on Yao since we don't have a legitimate PF threat to stretch the defense or trail in like an Amare Stoudemire. I'd like to see us figure out a way for Tmac & Yao to play a two-man game with higher percentage shots to try and adjust for this.
Yao had a lot touches except 4th quarter last night. He had a lot FTs but missed too many. It was hard to get him the ball in 2nd half, sometimes he's just surrounded by 2 or 3 players without the ball under the basket. Other players still can do a better job feeding him the ball especially when they drive to the basket and Yao is moving towards the basket and kinda open(James, Tmac,Sura and Spoon all missed oppurtinity yesterday), but overall the touches were fine over the last 2 games.
This 04-05 Rockets are a perimeter team. We'll go however far TMac, Wesley, James, and Barry shoot us... ie Yao is a nice player, but not the deciding factor. The way this offense is designed, there is no "pound it in" option. Yao is the 2nd/3rd option in the cast of finishers. If Tmac goes 4 for 22, we lose. If he goes 10 for 22, we have a good chance to win. Either way, he'll get his shots. And for this year, I'll put my $$ on him being the lead dog.
I think what zcity is trying to say is when we are having a bad shooting night, such as last night, that our offense should initiate with Yao getting the ball down on the low post. Which I agrees, it's so far the most efficient way to start an offense when our shooters aren't hitting. Yao doesn't neccesserily have to shoot the ball every times he gets it, but this will at least force the other team make a quick decision, do we have double Yao? If we do, who are we going to doubling off of? And most importantly, whoever is open on our team doesn't have to shoot the 3!!! Drive, fake, throw one more pass, keeps the offense in motion. I think our biggest problem is that we are living and dying by the 3 pointers. And once our shots aren't falling, our players would panic, and don't know what to do. There are more ways to score other than jacking up 3s, and we have to start to learn that.
Thanks for the assist legendz - you are correct. How many times do you see shaq or TD starting a half court set - setting a pick at the 3 point line. start yao in the blocks so we at least have the def. back on there heels. we aren't going to shoot as well as we did in 5 out of the 6 game win streak (contrary to that - we're not going to shoot as badly as we did in the last 2 games) but to consistently get good looks, eventually we're going to need Yao the main option on Many plays. No better time than now with JH being out - to see if he's ready to carry that load.
