No, actually I think Tmac drew up those plays. They were not motion plays. It was just give Tmac the ball up top, and let him make a move. Bonzi fortunately was calling for the ball because of a mismatch of a small guard trying to guard him in the post. Why was a small guard trying to guard Bonzi? BECAUSE OF THE LINEUP ON THE FLOOR! With Steve, Tmac, Bonzi, Scola and Yao, EVERYONE of them has to be guarded closely or they can hurt you offensively. There will be a mismatch somewhere with every team in the league trying to defense this lineup. All the team has to do is find the mismatch and take advantage. All the players in that lineup are SCORERS! I can't give Adelman credit for that or a 13 point win against a Grizzles team that had a starter and their sixth man out. I would have given him credit for it if he went back to it in the second half. But his rotations in the second half showed that he didn't recognize the effectiveness of that lineup and most importantly WHY IT WORKED SO EFFECTIVELY! I have being saying this since we were 6-1, cause that record didn't fool me; nor does a 13 point win. So until Adelman changes the starting lineup, no matter whether we win or lose, to me he will still suck as a coach. Cause he is not doing the best that can be done with this team. Having to use Tracy and Yao for over 42 minutes each last night to be the Grizzles is not a sign of a team progressing. We only tied them in the second half and our starters played the whole way. We won the game when this lineup was inserted and took a commanding lead that the rest of the scrubs were able to hold on to.
I like this lineup too...but not really to start. I'm starting to warm up to the idea of Francis starting, he's not dribbling the ball as much and he is passing more than I originally thought he would. I also realy don't think T-Mac has lost anything. In fact I think he's playing some great basketball overall. Yeah he had an off night but thats expected of anybody every once in a while. How many dunks did he have last year? I bet he has close to that amount this year already! Anyway, I'm hoping that this can help us get on a roll and build some confidence!
Just a note I thought I'd throw in here. Was sitting 2 rows behind the rockets bench last night and Bonzi, somehow, still didn't know all of the offensive sets. At one point in the second half, he was looking lost when a ball got knocked out of bounds. Stevie tells him "He called "five" (made hand signal)" and Bonzi replies with "I don't know what the f*** that means" They throw in the ball and he just sort of stands there and gets RA yelling at him to move and get in the right spot. Otherwise he was hilarious. Had a moment in the first half where he came of the floor after Yao missed a rebound and just had a crazy look on his face, had the whole bench cracking up. On another note, the guys all seemed to love Scola, they were going nuts when he tripped Navarro after the loose ball scramble. He came back to the bench and eventually started smiling after some serious ribbing by Kirk Snyder. Mutombo is Mutombo which is one of the most enertaining people in the league. Should seriously mic him up one night and listen to him on the bench. Also, regardless of what you think of his play, Skip as a person and teammate is apparently great. Every game I've been to, he'll always acknowledge fans with a smile and whatsup. First guy cheering off the bench for everybody. Don't see him having a problem with a reduced role whatsoever.
I like you're line up Fuzzy, but I like the Francis McGrady Battier Scola Yao lineup better. I think Bonzi is a great sixth man because of his versatility, either coming in as a guard or a forward as needed. Battier, for all his offensive liability, is still a defensive stalwart. We have got to be one of the few teams in the league where the fans all want a completely different starting line up than the coach. I don't like it, but I can understand starting Rafer over Steve just due to the fact that the coach might think he runs the offense better. But starting Hayes over the FIBA MVP is freaking rediculous. There is not another NBA team that would start Chuck Hayes. I like Chuck, but Chuck is a bench player, not a starter. WTF!@?
We can't bring Scola to starting line up. Obviously, I would love him to play more than Chuck but the fact is Scola also plays our backup center. Solution: Trade some guards for a backup center. This way Scola can play PF more and Yao doesn't have to put up near 40 minutes a game. Back to back games are killing Yao and his weak stamina.
Not to say that Scola is not a Center at all the mid-term solution is to get Mutombo to play 6-7 minutes a game so that Yao can play around 35 mpg.
I find it funny that fans only thought JVG would be the only coach that would have a Skip,T-Mac,Shane,Hayes,Yao lineup. We have a brand new coach and he still uses our old lineup. Anyways, here are my lineup scenarios, yes, I have more than one: Francis T-Mac Battier Scola YAO -Much rather have Bonzi off the bench to give us a scoring punch. We also could use a great defender so Battier stays. Skip Francis T-Mac Scola Yao -Yeah, small lineup and Skip is still starting. But I always thought T-Mac played and defended better as a 3. Francis gets the 2-Guard spot so he is free of running the offense, even though he can run it just fine. This lineup gives Francis more freedom to score.
WHEN WILL RICK SEE THE LIGHT ABOUT THIS LINEUP? EACH OF THE INDIVIDUAL PLAYERS THEMSELVES, STEVE-BONZI-SCOLA; ARE ALL CAPABLE OF CONTRIBUTING ON ANY GIVEN NIGHT. BUT STARTING THEM WITH TMAC AND YAO AND GIVING THEM THE MAJORITY OF THE MINUTES TOGETHER IS WHAT WILL MAKE THIS A CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM! IT'S ABOUT THE MATCHUPS! THIS LINEUP CREATES MATCHUP PROBLEMS FOR EVERY TEAM IN THE NBA! ANYTHING ELSE AS A STARTING LINEUP WITH OUR CURRENT ROSTER, IS A STEP DOWN FROM OUR POTENTIAL.
There's the rub. Deke hasn't played at all in a few games. Scola has to come off the bench in this case.
I agree, except i'd still leave battier in the starting lineup. We need at least one 3 point shooter so the defense doesn't clog up the inside, and not to mention we need him to guard the opposing elite perimeter player. Bonzi and James should be the spark plugs off the bench. Whoever is doing well can finish the game. I really hope our starting lineup evolves into this soon. We need more scoring threats out there to contend with the great teams.
I agree that Francis, Bonzi, Tmac, Scola, Yao is our best offensive lineup. But taking defense and bench scoring into account, I would prefer starting Battier over Bonzi.
That's not the concern. Scola can start and still be the sub for Yao. When Yao need a rest, they can simply put Scola on 5 and Hayes on 4. It just means that Scola play longer time and two positions.
It just so happens that Okur, Boozer and Williams are pretty darn good. Chuck can guard either Okur or Boozer (and he did a great job on both but he can only guard one at a time) while Shane can guard neither for the simple fact he is a SF/SG. So what we were left with is either Okur or Boozer with a mismatch (depending on who Chuck isn't guarding) and Williams eating Rafer and Luther Head alive. Simply having Scola on the roster, assuming he adjusts to the NBA game by playoffs, is going to give us two mobile post players to defend against teams like that Jazz that have two scoring threats in their frontline. This team would have Utah last season with no changes on the roster other than the addition of Scola. I don't think people realize how close we really were to beating the Jazz which would have opened up the very real possibility of making it all the way to the WCF.
Honestly I did agree that should be our starting line up but how will we spread the floor that lineup leaves tmac as our only 3 pt shooter. If battier could play the bruce bowen role id be happy even though i hope they trade him. Also I we started those guys we would have the worst bench in history lol Francis Tmac Battier even though i hate him scola yao
Before everyone starts going nuts about Bonzi, remember he is actually having a pretty bad season. His stats are similar to the disaster that was last year for him. He has had some good games, but the one against Memphis was his first in a long time. Also, it was against the grizzlies who decided to try to guard him in the post with Navarro and Lowry. It made no sense at all and they wouldnt adjust. Im hoping like everyone else that Bonzi plays like this the rest of the season. He did of course follow it up with a two for nine shooting night against the Nets. I could see some changes being made to the starting line up, but I dont think you are gonna see Hayes, Alston, and Battier get sent to the bench all at once.
