except padgett. i'll give hime his props for hustling to get rebounds, getting fouled, and hitting that three, but two missed free throws with the game on the line is inexcusable.
I'm not argueing with your post, but in general, when a team takes Yao out of the offense like last night(mainly by hammering the crap out of him with no calls), other than Luther, who is going to score? Do you think Bonzi is the answer? Luther, JL3 and Novak are our best shooters and scorers other than Yao and Tracy. Luther can't do it alone. While I like them for other strengths, you can't count on Rafe or Battier. You can easily point out JL3 and Novak's weaknesses, but the combined shooting of Yao, Battier and Rafe was what got us behind by 25 points. Snyder, when available, mostly scores by playing off Yao and Tracy. If Tracy is going to be in and out of the lineup, I think you have to rethink the rotation. If Tracy is out, all a team has to do to have a real good chance to beat the Rockets is to maul Yao and get away with it. Can Bonzi, after he gets into game shape, take up the slack when Tracy is out and keep the rotation pretty much as is?
Moe, we came from behind against the Laker's scrubs. That comeback means squat, except for people who need a fresh topic for starting a thread. Now, if you want to talk about what to do with TMac and Snyder both out, and no real Bonzi, yet...there are other threads talking about that. This one is suggesting that playing multiple rookies with Head is some answer, since it somewhat worked against Laker scrubs. If we go extended periods of time playing 3 rookies with Head, the memo will be written and forwarded around on how to stop that lineup with ease. Problem with rookies is NBA defenses and offenses adjust to them and exploit them MUCH MUCH faster than those rookies adjust to changing looks thrown at them.
Sorry you didn't like my choice of threads to post in. Not sure which one you would have preferred. Most every thread gets sidetracked. I just would have liked to have your opinion in the context I posed, not the 3 rookies with Head idea.
Only one problem: history tells us that teams utilizing lots of players and lineups are rarely great teams. Teams always have to go deep into their benches during the season AT TIMES due to injuries, foul trouble, etc. But, the team that plays a deep rotation on a normal basis is usually not very good. The further you get into the season, the tighter the rotations. Teams routinely go with 7 or 8-man rotations in the playoffs utilizing their best players and the guys with the best chemistry, which they build by playing together during the season. Under normal circumstances, we should RARELY play more than 10 guys each game with 8 of them getting the bulk of the minutes and the other two reserved for special duty (three point shooting at the end of halves/games, defense, etc) or spot duty to protect players from picking up extra fouls at the end of the half.
ok. But, I don't like second guessing coaches regarding the playing time of bench players and marginal starters. Now, if JVG sits down Yao in the 4th every time he goes cold or the defense starts bogging us down for whatever reason...then I'm going to have to start second guessing the coach. But something tells me, I won't be second guessing JVG wrt Yao's PT. Without TMac, Snyder and Bonzi, we live and die with Yao...and yes, with Battier, too. And that should make Yao a better player. As far as I'm concerned with these injuries and no real Bonzi, going to Yao in the 4th Q either works or it's good practice. No reason I can think of to not do it every game unless it's a blowout and you're only chance is bringing in all the shooters.
i really like john lucas i believe that kid can be a better point guard than rafer. i'd like to see this lineup: JL3 Head Hayes Bonzi and Juwon maybe
Thanks, HP. With Hakeem, he had more than one shooter to kick out to. I guess I am suggesting that with Tracy out, we might go to an additional shooter unless Battier or Alston are in a groove. This is in addition to Luther. I'm not talking about an entirely different lineup. If no one is stroking the jumper, or only Luther is hitting, a team can disrupt Yao and make it hard to get the ball to Luther in a good spot. To me the obvious additional shooter would be Lucas or Novak. It seems like overall, Padgett struggles when we really need him to score.
The guys who made the comeback should not be considered marginal players. Cleary, if you come within seconds of setting a franchise record, you aren't dealing with a complete fluke, no matter who the opponent is fielding. If it were a 12 point comeback... it might be considered a fluke. Near franchise record... that means something. With McGrady in the lineup, our ballhandling and offensive execution against pressure defense is average at best (hence our .500 record against the West). With McGrady out, and Alston carrying the load against pressure defense, we are well below average and possibly bottom of the West. Turnovers by the starters in the 2nd and 3rd quarter when the Lakers started playing the passing lanes is plenty evidence of this. Various other offensive breakdowns in the 4th quarter this year speaks of the same basic problem. The Rocket offense stagnates without McGrady to run the pick and roll against pressure defense. Posting up Yao with 4 guys standing around equals turnovers. If the starters aren't able to execute any plays as an alternative, they might as well put in JL3, and stop calling plays. I don't care about subbing the entire bench out of desperation in every loss, but there are obvious problems that that lineup was able to fix.
Hitting shots always helps, but getting rid of the massive turnover problem without having McGrady save the day was more than half of the reason for the comeback. Ahhh... JVG agrees with me. Lucas in the game halfway through second quarter against Lakers tonight.
