this thread is treading a very, very familiar wake. everyone acts like battier at the four is a new idea. even van gundy didnt use him there when his squad had a now hiring sign at the fourspot. this team doesnt need battier to play undersized, and get thrown around when we have new bodies. only in a fast paced system, ALA battier matching with diaw
Wait a minute, what about head????....How are you gonna close out quarter without head??...We need head until the very last second
Closing lineup should strictly depend on the match ups unless we have a blowout game. Some night, we might play Battier at the 4, some night, we could play Tmac at the 4, and some night, we can Scola...
of course the actual lineup will depend on the matchups versus who the other team has on the floor and also circumstance. i think the idea of the thread was to ask the question: on paper, using what we know of the players, what lineup would YOU feel comfortable trusting to close out games? it is rhetorical to say "it all depends" cause of course its all relative! its the bbs, play gm a little!
I'm personally leaning towards the traditional lineup, unless we're getting killed by smaller lineups and need to adjust. So... Yao Scola Battier T-Mac James Francis is bad idea in the closing minutes because he's not good at catch & shoot. And he'd surely be where the double-team comes from on offense. On defense, I doubt Francis can guard an elite team's opposing SG. If Battier were able to move over to the PF position, I'd lean more towards Bonzi at the SG. At least he has more size for the position.
Unless we trying to come from behind I'd like to see Yao get a lot more rest in the fourth quarter. His effectivness always fades when he's to tired to rebound, defend, and his offense gets sloppy. We may even try closing games with him on the bench and Scola playing center. Here's my five: Scola Battier Bonzi T-mac James This gives us scoring punch, help rebounding with Bonzi, and some all around decent defenders. I know some of these guys aren't speed demons but things tend to slow down to the half court at the end of games.
Man! Adelman has his work cut out for him! So many possibilities on this team. Bring on the preseason!
I agree with this. Barring any radical circumstances, I think the traditional lineup will work best for the Rockets down the stretch. As others have mentioned, if we are getting whooped or need to make a comeback, then yes, RA will change the lineup as he sees fit. Otherwise, James or Francis (if he indeed is a changed man) will be fine at the point. I would not be surprised if RA starts the fourth with Rafer, assuming he is still on the team, to play with a small lineup to give Yao a rest. Who am I kidding, there are SO MANY possibilities with this roster, I won't even begin to type what team we could put in for each situation. Bottom line is that I am stoked and can't wait for the season to start!
If we're on offense and needs to score: Yao Scola Battier Tmac Head/Francis Why Francis and not Mike James? Cause no matter how bad of a decision maker he is, he's still a proven clutch player and can be used to bait the opposing team to get pressure off Tmac. If we're on D and needs a stop: Yao Scola Battier Tmac Head (providing that the other team's PG isn't a big PG) Flame on!
it would make much more sense to put mike james instead of francis for offensive and defensive purposes. offensively hes a much better decision maker than francis, and hes a better spot up shooter, and defensively mike james is better hands down.
obviously people don't remember, but James was actually considered to be a very good on the ball defender when he was traded to the Rox from the Bucks, he's not as good as initially thought, but still a good defender.
Well, your "closers" are people who play the last few minutes of the game, not just the final moments when coaches micro-manage their lineup up for offense and defense. And even if you buy into his clutchness(something I don't believe in), we're never going to run plays through him during crunch time. That's when the superstars are suppose to carry you.
actually we don't need stats to tell us the luther head and jl3 are the worst defenders we have at guard postion
If you're concerned with Yao getting rest, then he should be getting rest earlier in the game. A team should always play its best players at crunch time, especially someone like Yao who shoots a high percentage, gets to the line often, and shoots a very high percentage from there as well. The only good reason to have Yao benched in crunch time is because he has been extremely ineffective and his replacement (Deke or Scola) has been effective, but that doesn't happen much nowadays. Your suggestion might have been good say 2 years ago, but Yao has progressed far beyond that. Even Shaq with his putrid FT shooting and also suspect stamina plays during crunch time.
I agree... Yao is our best FT shooter. He should always be in the game to close it out. I remember how they used Yao as the recipient of inbounds passes so that they can get him to the line.
This is untrue he is a better catch and shoot player than he is at creating his shot of the dribble off the dribble however he is very dangerous at getting to the rim. I think in the fourth quarter Stevie and Mike may play together and TMAC may play the three especially against a team like Phoenix. Battier will play the four and Yao at the five. Wells or our PF would be replacing Francis or Battier during games with slower teams or when rebounding is more important. Head or Brooks will likely come off the bench when we need to spread the floor for Yao.
