I'm really glad when McGrady is away the rest of team step up big. I hope they can keep their ego up and continue to play well when he is back. Moreover, Rockets need be more clutch. That's what separates Rockets from elite teams. We saw too many times rockets gave up a big lead in the third or fourth quarter. Rockets are also hard to get back once they lost the lead. How to improve the clutchness? Here is my two cents. On the defense end, Rockets have the ability to stop the opponents. But just as I said before, they cannot keep this intensity throughout a game. As a strategy, I think Adelman may ask the team to put more focus on offense in the beginning and increase the defense intensity at the end. On the offense end, I have several points here. 1. Big man is hard to be clutch (even Shaq) unless he is a shooter (Garnet). Because big men usually slow and rely on good position to score. In clutch time, they are hard to get ball there. Even they get, they are high in turnover. They will draw a lot of collisions and the referee hesitates to call a foul at that time. So, we should not rely too much on Yao to finish a game, he will draw the attention anyway. Instead, penetration is the key. The penetrating guy should be quick and smart to decide: lay-up? draw a foul? or pass to a open man? That's how old lakers and spurs succeeded. I hope McGrady can take the role to prove he is still a super star. 2. Yao should improve his mid-range shooting. Right now, he is terrible. That's how he can be more clutch. 3. McGrady should reduce the role for setting up play, he should let the team rolling by itself and focus more on score and defense. 4. The team needs more consistent shooting. Boston and Houston are two my favorite teams in this season. I hope they can meet in the final. Boston is a very balanced team, no obvious weakness. However, Houston has higher intensity. When two great team face, the intensity decides the result. So, if Houston can go that far, my bet will be Rockets.
good post, i especially agree about the part T-mac being more the receiving end of a play set, rather than letting him creating a play for others. in the past 5-6 games, we can see that running RA's offense sets can indeed provide consistent scoring, T-mac should be a PART of the RA offense, not THE offense.
thats exactly the player the rockets need badly..i think i would do this trade..artest will bring it to the court offensively and defensively and he can hit the open 3
Yes, it is! The big three have clear role without overlap. Rondo is quick and can finish. They have hard worker and three point shooter (Eddie House). Their defence is as good as offense.
How to become an elite team? Beat the elite teams. So far against S.A., Dallas, Suns, Pistons, and Celtics we are 3-7.
How do you make a team to be more clutch? Play clutch players more minutes, especially in the...clutch.
Just make our team more balanced..make our starting five be contributors defensively and OFFENSIVELY..
1. Scola must be developed. We are going to need his size and shooting range in the playoffs. 2. Brooks must also continue to develop into a guy we can rely on as a spark off the bench (sorry MJ and Steve). 3. Bonzi needs to make layups 4. Yao needs to go back to the low post as often as possible ala JVG ball. 5. Tmac needs to go the rim (tired of saying this) But the two most important things are: 1. Guys need to stop standing and watching on offense when Tmac returns. I'm assuming Tmac is coming back with some trust in the coach and his offense. 2. Someone needs to step forward and be a real leader on the court. This team isn't going anywhere until we have a guy who everyone else respects and who isn't afraid to tell his team mates "you screwed up" or "get off the court if you aren't here to win" Yao is the only guy I can think of you can grow into this type of leader.
well this is a small thing but it falls in the category of tmac falling in line with the offense. HEY TMAC STOP THE "HEAT CHECKS"!! when he jacks up those stupid 3pters a couple times a game it kills any kind of flow. combine that with the times he takes jumpers completely out of the offense and you waste 4+ possessions a game. whenever he is taking mid range jumpers coming off of screens then he is deadly. it's just a matter of him not falling back to what he was allowed to do under jvg. adelman has to regulate on this somehow.
1)it's true that a big man who cannot create his own shot finds it hard to be clutch ESPECIALLY when he doesn't get calls (it's an open invitation to hack and hang all over) and especially for a guy like Yao, whose hands are suspect even to his own teammates and thus hesitant to pass to him at clutch time. Yao basically has to stand there open for 3 seconds before the guards THINK to pass to him and by then everyone in the building plus 2 defenders know it's going to yao. kind of hard to be clutch in that situation with 2 guys hanging all over you and everyone in the building knowing you're gonna spin and shoot 2)what is NOT clutch is tmac dribbling down and taking a 50/50 shot (at best) from downtown. do the math if it comes down to 2 sequences like that in the last 25 seconds... that's 1 in 4 games you win. if the game is close for the last full minute of the game... do the math it doesn't look good
Its really not that hard. Yao needs to dominate the paint every night. No letup against anyone. Every night he needs to put up 25-30pts grab 10-13 rebs, blks 2-4shots. He needs to show everyone in the league he is the most unguardable players in the league. After that, tracy comes back and be the best all around player he is. He too needs to get back in attack.mode like earlier in the season. he needs to be that guy that gives the rox the near triple-double every night. After that, the rest of the team needs to fall in line. Everyone else needs to do their part more consistently. Bonzi,Brooks. and Rafer penetrate to the basket, while chuck pick up the garbage, and scola keep improving.
Guys, T-Mac's highest % shot is when he takes a shot within the first 5-10 seconds of the shot clock. So, while you do want to limit wild pullup 3's, you cannot completely get rid of them. They can be total daggers when he hits them, and it gets him motivated and ready to dominate. Now, here is how I think the Rockets become an elite team- 1) The starting lineup needs to include 2 more offensive minded players. Whether it be Scola in for Hayes, Brooks in for Alston or Wells in for Battier, there needs to be changes. In this system, there needs to be AT LEAST 4 offensively potent players in the starting lineup that can create offense for themselves. Personally I like the starting lineup of Brooks/T-Mac/Battier/Scola/Yao because we keep our best perimiter defender on the floor while getting faster, more athletic and more dangerous overall offensively. I do wish we could fit Bonzi in the starting lineup as he is our best off ball cutter and could really benefit while playing with T-Mac, but whatever. 2) The team needs to develop a 3rd scorer. Whether it be Wells, Brooks or Scola, we NEED a consistent 3rd scorer that you can depend on every night to give you solid scoring when T-Mac/Yao are either struggling or on the bench. 3) The team needs to stay agressive when T-Mac gets back. For all of T-Mac's faults in stagnating the offense or hurting offensive flow, it is his teammates' resposibility to refuse to give him the ball when he demands it (see- Derek Fisher and Kobe Bryant) and to make hard cuts when T-Mac is standing and reading the defense. T-Mac WILL find you if you make a cut to the basket. 4) If possible, get C-Webb to the Rockets and give him 15-20MPG at PF/C. Right now we have no players that can play the high post, and only Scola has the potential to hit jumpers, drive to the basket AND make a great pass from that spot. Therefor, the Adelman offense will never operate at its fullest capacity until we get that type of player or Scola develops pretty rapidly. So, to remedy that let's get Webber. He is still a great passer, midrange jumpshooter and still solid off the dribble. What would make him such a huge addition is how he can teach both Scola and Hayes how to play the high post effectively and be potent from that spot over the next few years. 5) T-Mac and Yao need to stay healthy. 6) Adelman needs to call less iso's and more off ball plays for T-Mac when he comes back, just like early in the year.
