Less Jump shots = more wins

Unfortunately most of our players can't go to the hole and finish. Bob Sura can't even make a layup.

This is why we can win eight and lose eight. We can be up by eight and down by eight. No lead is safe because you can't make easy baskets down the stretch.

Jumpshooting teams are inherently inconsistent. And we don't have an athletic slasher or anyone really quick who can draw fouls. It's the same reason we rely so much on help defense because none of our players are quick enough to defend one on one. And of course it's also one of the reasons Yao picks up so many fouls.

We just need better players.

 

I'm starting to question the value of Mike James. He can shoot lights out, but he dribbles too much and isn't too good at penetrating and isn't much of a passer either.

 

Totally agree and was screaming at Tracy to drive the hole the whole second half. Don't stop until the Mavs are. in such foul trouble they lose the game. Get Dirk, Howard and anyone else silly enough to foul him going to the basket.

And take the shot when Tracy draws them in on a drive. I thought Tracy would punch Barry out for not taking that shot. The whole bench is doing it, though. No one wants to take the 3 anymore.

 

DD is right in concept. That's what I was screaming at my TV as well!

But RIET is also right. ;-) We just dont have those types of players in general. It is either Tmac driving or Yao in the post finishing on those Tmac passes.

Our legs looked tired in the 4th the last few games and those jumpers arent falling, the same jumpers that WERE falling in games 1 & 2.

 

DD one problem here:

TMac 27 FTA's based on 95 FGA's 28%

Dirk 44 FTA's based on 70 FGA's 63%

TMac goes to the rack more often than Dirk does. But look who is getting the calls.

TMac is probably just too bruised to drive one more time and then not get a call....

And the FTA/FGA ratio on everyone except Yao is pitiful.

Now the Mavs are another story. A whole bunch of them are around 50-60%.

But the officiating is not one-sided and it is not skewing the results of these games.

 

Yeah..when DaMpier went out..and Tmac went in for a dunk..we should have continued to attack.

Just because you can't drive or dribble or make layups doesn't mean you just stand at the 3 point line..maybe so you can get back on defense earlier..but it would be nice if multiple guys attacked the basket..cut to the basket and stuff.

 

In soccer game, if you flop, you will get not only a foul call, but also a yellow card. Two yellow cards and you are ejected.

FIFA applied that rule based on the same fact happening in the NBA: floppers were everywhere in one period. They even practised flopping in the training.

I think NBA should seriously think about changing the rules as well, if Refs think one player flop, give him a technical, 2 Ts then eject him.

 

Totally agree with DD. Same thing for the last two games....get up a decent amount where you think we should be able to hold on pull out the win, start settling for jumpers, lose the game. When it was 88-82 I was praying that we wouldn't start settling for jumpers with less than 6 seconds on the shot clock, but we did and paid the price.

It seemed that almost every time we drove to the basket something good came out of it (except for Sura's blown layup). We have three players that are capable of doing it (Tmac, Mike James, and Sura) and we have players that do a good job of putting back misses (Yao and Deke) against a small Dallas team.

 

When the outside shooters only make 5 of their 17 three-pt fg attempts, there's not a lot of room to drive.

 

DD, I couldn't agree with you more. I've been telling all my guys up here in Dallas the same thing. In the fourth quarter, our legs are just not there to hit the same shots we hit in quarters 1-3. Game three you could see Wesley and Barry missing "gimme" shots that were taken in the flow of the game. The Rockets simply have to take the action to Dallas because for they are just as foul prone as we are when it comes to defending the bucket. Dampier is a foul waiting to happen.

The big key is for us to convert on our drives to the basket, either get an and-1 or get to the line and KNOCK down both free throws. I cringe every time I see the Rockets missing a free throw early (or late) in a game. You lose a game by a couple of points and have 5-6 missed free throws and it's just a absolute killer.

T-Mac is a great free throw shooter, but he'll miss critical ones (like in Game 3). Barry and Wesley should never miss free throws, period. Yao has got to convert his and-1's. The shot he rimmed out yesterday could have tied the game at 91, but instead we were down 1 because he couldn't convert that lay-up.

We have to do a better job of not giving Finley and Terry good looks. For whatever reason, Finley is a career 80% (ok, maybe slighlt lower) shooter in Houston. But we're playing with fire if we rotate off of these two.

And for the love of God, make layups!! I had Rockets in 6 when the series started, so I can't change now... I'm putting my absolute faith in JVG and T-Mac. Yao, I'm not so sure what to expect out of him. But he's an intelligent, thoughtful person with a lot of pride. He's got to know that his reputation is on the line in this series. If he's going to a true great, he's got to impose his will in THIS series. Help T-Mac out and lead us into the second round.

 

We can't drive inside because we don't have the players to do it.

As I have said before, on our perimeter, it is McGrady and a bunch of scrubs. Just deal with it, we don't have the personnel to play the style you want us to play. JVG got these four guards to be jump shooters, not to slash inside, because he knew they can't do that.

As I have said before the series, the talent gap (their role players v. ours) would sooner or later bite us in the butt (funny how their role players ARE the ones who are winning games for them down the stretch and beating us one on one, ain't it? ).

People jumped on me when I said that an predicted Dallas in 7, now you know why I made that prediction. It is nothing against the Rockets, I love the Rocks, they have tons of heart and play as hard as they can, but there is talent gap that is too large to overcome, IMHO.

As Barkley said, "In a 7-game series, eventually the best team will win". I am amazed we are tied up in this series and still have a chance to win it, that tells you all you need to know about the toughness and heart of the Rockets.

Still, hopefully we will make it as tough on them as we possibly can, as long as we play all out and leave everything on the floor, then I am more than content with our team/season so far. You fight the good fight and tip your hat off to the opponent if you lose.

There is always next year, and just imagine how much fun this team will be to watch for years to come, this is only the first year of the McMing Dynasty era (our two stars, especially Yao, are VERY young). This team was built through a few trade here and there on the fly, and they are giving the most talented (probably best team) in the West a run for their money.

The league have caught a glimpse of the future, and with a few positions filled here and there, everyone better watch out!

 

Thank you! That's what I have been saying. And with that I reference this Dallas Morning News article about how the Mavs are keying on our role players as a way to stop our team.

###

Mavs' new strategy is a bench mark
Focus is on Rockets' supporting cast, not McGrady and Yao
11:54 PM CDT on Saturday, April 30, 2005
Dallas Morning News

HOUSTON – Avery Johnson stood in front of his team after Saturday's win and wrote the numbers 36 and 20 on the board. He drew a circle around both.

The numbers were the final scoring totals for Houston's Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. Johnson's message to the Mavericks:

"That's 56 points," Jerry Stackhouse said. "He said 56 points isn't going to beat us. The other players are going to have to get baskets here and there.

"Avery said it well."

Those who criticized Johnson in the first two games of this series, those who wondered if he was in over his 5-11 head, need to give the rookie coach and his staff credit. Johnson has instituted a major, strategical shift over the last two games that has enabled the Mavericks to even the series at 2-2 as it heads back to American Airlines Center.

Part of a team's strength comes in knowing its weaknesses. Johnson and the Mavericks have conceded that they don't have a viable plan to contain McGrady. They will grant Yao his 6-of-7 and 13-of-14 games from the field.

The defensive emphasis has shifted to the Rockets' bench.

"Tracy and Yao are still good enough to get their points," Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki said. "We need to focus on the other guys and contest them better.

"That is what has helped us win the last two games."

Johnson wrestled with how to defend Houston entering this series. He looked at the team's record when McGrady scored 30 or more points during the regular season – it was 22-3 – and determined that statistic was too overwhelming to ignore. The Mavericks would make McGrady their defensive focus.

The problem was McGrady. He scored 34 and 28 points in the first two games of the series and the Rockets still won. The Mavericks couldn't stop McGrady, they couldn't stop Yao (33 points in Game 2) and they couldn't stop the high screen and roll.

"T-Mac had us on the ropes," Nowitzki said. "He had his shot going, and he got the whole team involved with that simple play, the high screen and roll. He had us both ways, scoring and finding the shooter."

If the Mavericks couldn't stop McGrady, why not stop the bench? Johnson told his team before Game 3 that it was changing its defensive scheme. Let McGrady be McGrady. The Mavericks would no longer allow Bob Sura and Jon Barry and Mike James to drill uncontested jumpers.

Think back to the first game of this series. McGrady dazzled with his 34 points. But a major theme was how the Houston bench outplayed its Mavericks counterparts.

The Rockets' bench isn't more talented or better suited to win a playoff series than the Mavericks'. The Mavericks came to the conclusion that they were letting the Houston bench get the upper hand by not playing them honest defensively.

There's an axiom that you win with stars in this league. The Mavericks are going to make the Rockets prove it. The team is now willing to let McGrady score his 30 to 40 points. They are comfortable with Yao in the 15- to 18-point range.

But they will not let Sura or Barry or James win the series. That's why no one other than McGrady and Yao scored in double digits for the Rockets on Saturday.

"I think that has been a change of philosophy," Stackhouse said. "We wanted to make sure Yao didn't have a big game and Tracy didn't have a big game, but they still wound up having big games. We tried to contain them, and the other guys were getting easy opportunities.

"They are still getting some easy opportunities. When you've got players like that, they create easy opportunities one way or the other. But for the most part, we're making them work harder than they did early."

And they will continue to do that for the remainder of the series.



SUPPORTING CAST

Houston's bench has found it difficult to score since the Mavericks shifted their defensive emphasis.

First two games: 62 points

Last two games: 41 points

 

It is not too late for Yao to impose his will, but again, I said before the playoffs even began that the Rockets will NEVER win anything until Yao is at the ansolute prime of his career and plays with the kind of consistency that eliminates any guessing game his teammates/coach have to play before every game as to which Yao will show up. Until then, this team is going nowhere, even with T-Mac playing as unbelievably great as he is playing so far in this series, it is too much to ask of one person to do it at every end of the floor and be a PG and still have enough energy to make the clutch shots at the end. Even Jordan had Pippen to do the passing/defense on the Bulls, so that at the end Jordan could have his legs to jump up and make that jump shot.

 

they've played great defense on him this series. He dribbled way too much last game, and there were a few times in the 4th where he should have deferred to T-Mac. He just has to let the game come to him.

 

That article on Avery Johnson changing his focus on defending the Rockets just tells you everything you need to know: that the series will be won or lost with your role players.

He said let Yao and McGrady do their damage, but they won't beat you as long their role players outplay ours. That is exactly what happened in the last 2 games, that is what will happen in the next 2-3 games as well. And that is why Dallas will win the series.

I have to give Avery a lot of credit for figuring the Rockets out and going against the "conventional wisdom" in trying to stop a team's best players. He finally figured out that besides the "Big 2", the Rockets don't have much else to offer.

I guess the rookie coach has a few tricks up his sleeve after all

 

I think T-Mac should drive a lot more. But there can be a disadvantage to that since it is McGrady doing the driving. A couple of times in Game 3, for sure, T-Mac drove to the hoop and blow a couple of layups, again.

And, whereas as other players drive to the hoop and are able to cause a foul on them, McGrady seems to have this knack to avoid contact when he drives to the goal.

More often than not compared to other players, he drives to the hoop and doesn't get fouled.

T-mac is not as good as Dirk or Kobe when it comes to drawing fouls.