Game 3 Defense 1. Keep the game slow, get back on transition and force Utah to get into set offensive plays. This will keep Yao rested more and allow the rocket's excellent defensive rotations to take place. 2. Defend the pick and roll. Force Utah to settle for outside looks but get a hand in the face of whoever is shooting. 3. Keep Utah off the offensive boards. Utah has a huge team that can rebound the glass on the offensive end very well. Houston has to control the defensive glass and limit second chance opportunities. 4. Keep Derron Williams out of the lane and make him shoot jumpers and not be a disruptive penetrator. When Williams gets the ball in the lane, the defense breaks down and even if there is a missed shot there is ample opportunity for put backs on the offensive glass. 5. Limit Matt Harpring. Harpring has been unsung in this series but he has provided a lot of bench scoring. He is a crafty strong veteran who knows how to get inside and curl off screens. The rockets need to keep him in check so that they can make runs when williams or boozer are out of the game. Offense 1. Yao has to get better position on Okur. Yao has to continue to fight for low post position on Okur. Okur has done a pretty good job keep Yao away from his comfort zone. This has made it easier for double teams and congested the space between the three point shooters outside. Yao must work hard to get good position to force Utah to help out thus opening 3pt opportunities. 2. Offense must not stagnate in the first half. The first two games Houston has been out of sync on the offensive end in the first half. They cannot get down early and go thru prolonged scoring droughts on the road. The offense must be flowing. They need some of the other guys to make contributions especially Luther Head, Shane Battier, and Raefer Alston. 3. Tmac needs to get in rythym earlier and start making some of those good looks at 15-18 ft he has been getting of the screen and roll. McGrady needs to attack the hoop and get to the line. A big game from Tmac would almost guarantee a Rockets victory. 4. Shoot the long ball better. Especially from behind the arc. The rockets are shooting terribly from downtown in the series so far. Raefer needs to limit his shots. Battier, Head, and Tmac need to hit more of their open looks. The ball movements needs to be there to create those wide open looks. If the rockets can make 10 or more from range than they will win. Those are the keys that I came up with, what do you guys think?
Keep it simple: Win the Rebound battle. Minimize their FT attempts Better Shot selection. Off the wall: Dont give them any 3 pointers. Boozer cant beat us by himself(we saw that in game 2). Boozer shooting a contested 16 footer leads to at worse 2 points. 3 Pointers at home are worth more than 3 points in momentum. Momentum is tough to get as a road team, so dont give them any help in gaining it.
Yao - stay out of foul trouble and adjust deftly to the hostile officiating, while being aggressive on both ends of the floor.
Fortunately for us the Jazz are one of the worst 3 point shooting teams in the NBA. Still we shouldn't just give them an open look. I do think we have to defend Boozer better though. It's a dilema, because we also have to keep Yao out of foul trouble.
1. Rebound.....Yao has been getting great position for offensive rebounds but he's just not getting the balls, and when he does he's not finishing....Rebound and put it back Yao. Chuck Hayes needs to continue to crash the boards like he did in the first half of game 2. 2. Shoot better from the field. Battier needs to hit the open 3s and Head and Howard need to contribute more off the bench...Whatever rafer gioves us is gravy as far as I'm concerned. 3. Continue to get to the free throw line. They're a physical team so just use their aggresiveness to your advantage and get to the foul line. Tmac should have 10 plus FTs and Yao should have more. 4. Continue to make the Jazz shoot outside jumpers. They haven't proven that they can make the outside jumpers consistantly. Continue to clog the pain and let Okur and Fischer shoot from beyond the arc. Control Boozer inside. I'm okay with him shooting jumpers over Yao, but don't let him get into the paint. Be physical with him but don't get in to foul trouble.
yes, when he goes iso on his man, it usually spells broken play. when i mean iso, outside the 3 point line. more times than not, it doesn't end with him scoring. there are plays drawn up for him that i have seen. one is where he gets the ball in the post and does a small hook with usually the left hand.
He can be lethal from the corners but he can hit the ones at the elbow too. You're right though he is way more inconsistant when not shooting from the corners. If Battier can shoot 40-50 percent from behind the line like he did in the regular season, we'll be in good shape.
i would also add keep okur and ak47 ineffective. no easy outside buckets for okur, and nothing for ak47 in the paint area.
Hell, I feel like like if we can stop the pick and roll we can stop any Sloan led team for the rest of of time. Forget all that other stuff.
One more key is to match Utah's intensity. Utah will be going all out, no question about that. The Rockets need to play like its for the series tonight because going up 3-0 essentially seels it for us. Tonight is a perfect opportunity for Yao and Tmac to prove that they have the killer instinct.
Checking the Hotzones page with shot charts Battier's best zone for 3 pointers is: Right Corner... Rafer and T-Mac actually shoot 3's very well from the Top of the Key(40%+) Yao is 47% on Jumpshots from his 10-15 foot spot on each baseline.
The pick and roll can't be stopped. You can defend it well or poorly, but ultimately it cannot be stopped, which is why Sloan has never gone away from it. You can only hope the help comes before it is wide open jumper, but if it is run correctly the shooter will get the shot off.
Instead of having Yao fight for position by himself, JVG NEEDS to run some screen plays on Okur to free him up. There are some great plays I've seen this year to pick the person holding Yao on the weakside so he can have great position. I'm not sure why JVG hasn't tried much of that this series. Same goes for Tmac posting up on the shorter Fisher. Make him go through some picks so he can establish good position so he can rise over the top and shoot on the post to take advantage of his height. Also since they are overplaying the perimeter, guys like Raefer and Head need to pump fake and attack the basket (Or pull up for a midrange shot).
in my opinion its simple. we scored 98 points the other night and shot 38% from the field. our guys cant shoot that bad the whole series so its simply shoot better. of course we have to keep playing good d, keep them off the offensive boards, and dont foul BUT at the same time we know more often than not, our rockets do those every game.
