Wow. So now even hardcore Tmac fans are convinced that he doesn't/doesn't try to fit in RA's offensive system. ...6th man, that's the solution.
It's like saying that Hitler was only part of the problem in Germany in the 1930's and '40's. 37 points against, 30 points for. If the Rockets played defense like they did for the previous three quarters, they win with their offensive performance in the 4th. There is not a team in the league who wouldn't take a 30 point 4th quarter. Also, I want to say that calling all of the knee-jerk McGrady haters on this board punk-ass-b****es is an insult to punk-ass-b****es around the world. In the face of the overwhelming evidence that McGrady is playing on one leg (and playing well, at that), you whining turds still vomit up the most libelous crap against him. It's safe to say that you couch potatoes have never had to reach deep down for anything in your life other than pulling your underwear out of your crack.
How sad we are. When our offense get better,our defense get worse. We can't make progress on both sides in the same time!
Who said that? Pick and roll afte rpick and roll is not the Adelman offense, but for whatever reason with Yao out Adelman decided to have a steady gameplan of that...didn't work.
He had 9 assists tonight. We are all hard on T-Mac including me. I'll cut him some slack but I do wish he will pass out to wide open teammates or guys cutting to the hole. Either that or send the ball to the guard or to high post player and cut to the hole himself.
the problem is, sometimes those off balance jumpers do go it, and when they does, it's a marvelous scene. it's when they don't go in, you want to bang your head against the wall: WTF did TMac insist on shooting that? he was 1 against 5, and there was no teammates under the basket to pick up the rebound!!
No, I think Adelman and crew have been emphasizing a motion offense where players pass the ball to one another. I also think that the Rockets as a whole have a huge problem sticking to the game plan. Way too often you see somebody, like T-Mac or Alston, dribble down the court and immediately jack up something from the three point line. That's not good basketball, let alone good Adelman basketball. It's not critical when T-Mac controls himself and only throws up the occasional contested jumper. But when he insists on jacking up crappy shot after crappy shot that is pure poison for the Rockets. Not only is he inaccurate but his teammates don't get any touches. The issue with Novak tonight in the fourth quarter is really just a symptom of the underlying problem. I also suggest that you go back and watch the game again if you think Novak wasn't open in the fourth. Somebody else has already pointed out at least one example when the game was tied at 66 apiece where T-Mac passed up an open Novak to take a shot himself.
read adelman's quotes from the chron. he disagreed with you. he was pissed about the first half -> lack of penetration/aggressiveness. tmac didn't step foot into the paint one damn time. motion and ball movement CAN stem from the pick and roll. when tmac does the pick and roll, the big man ROLLS to the basket, tmac usually will pass there if he doesn't have a shot. if that guy catches and attacks, good things happen. if he gets a shot, it's a wide open inside shot. if he's covered, he swings the ball to the weak side for a 3pt shot. that's MOTION and MOVEMENT. at the beginning of this year, NOBODY attacked but shot 3pt shots. the only guy doing the pick and roll was YAO so all we had was a 2-man game. now the pick and roll involve both scola AND landry along with yao. scola should have had 24-25 pts tonight if he made his fts and layups.
You can't rely on those jumpers, that's the problem. T-Mac gets hot once in a while and starts draining stuff left and right. But those games are the exception, not the rule. If the Rockets want to win consistently they need to work on getting open looks at the basket for everybody. Winning basketball is not about making difficult shots. It's about consistently getting easy, open looks and consistently draining them. That's what T-Mac doesn't understand. He thinks games are won by highlight reel shots, which is the furthest thing from the actual truth.
Dude, the problem tonight was not the pick and roll. The Rockets are probably going to run the pick and roll until T-Mac and Yao retire. The problem is T-Mac taking way too many shots and the rest of the Rockets not getting enough. That's not to say there weren't a whole bunch of other problems. Obviously there was a problem with crappy defense in the fourth. Obviously there was a problem with blown layups. Obviously there was a problem with missed free throws. And obviously the Rockets still have a huge problem mentally. The fact that Adelman only talked about attacking the paint doesn't imply that there weren't other problems. Or do you think the fact that Adelman's isn't quoted about the defense in that article means that the Rockets' D tonight was fine?
tmac took 20 shots before his final barrage in an attempt at the re-creation of the spurs comeback. 20 shots are not "too many shots." if you really dissect the game and watch closely, outside of the 2 3pt shots he took in transition, all of the shots he took were "good" shots. those transition shots he has to learn to curtail or eliminate. but tmac was hot in the 2nd half -> 9-16. when he has it going, u want to milk him. u cannot really criticize him for the 2nd half. if anything, u blame him for his pathetic first half. he didn't attack, he settled, and never stepped foot in the paint. and the team as a whole did talk about the problems with fts and defense so no, adelman quoted those problems if you watch the press conference.
The real probelm is Tmac not hitting those shots at the end like he did in Seattle. It's only bad shots when you miss and then people second guess it. Tmac simply doesn't trust is teammates too much. I don't blame him.
Those shots have to come somewhere from a 23PPG big man out of the lineup, and no one better for it to come from than T-Mac. He had a horrible first half, but shot 9-16 in the 2nd half. I personally think that the pick and roll IS the problem, but some people simply disagree.
I can't read minds, so I don't know exactly what kind of offense Adelman has in mind for the Rockets. But I think it's a safe bet that he wants some balanced scoring in there. The last couple of games the Rockets have won have featured balanced scoring. Almost everyone on this board and Magic Johnson have commented on how much better the offense looked when he was out. This game we get one player riding the ball way too much and the Rockets lose. Coincidence? As for the game itself, I saw a whole bunch of shots where T-Mac fired it off early in the shot clock, from range. And that includes the fourth quarter and some unfortunate three point attempts. Yes, T-Mac had it going in the fourth, 9 of 16. But there was somebody on the Rockets team even hotter in the second half, somebody who scored 10 points in five minutes and was perfect in FGM/FGA for the game. Unfortunately that somebody didn't get a shot off in the fourth. See why the balanced attack is so effective? Yes, T-Mac was hot. But on any given night there may be somebody who's even hotter. At that point, get that somebody the damned ball. The real problem here is that with Yao out T-Mac tried to do too much to get a win. I think there's a good chance that when Yao gets back T-Mac settles down and goes back to playing team ball. He can certainly be effective doing it--see the fourth quarter of the Blazers game.
Frankly, I'd like to see them run less of it but I can't imagine that they'll ever get away from it completely. They can also run it way too much--the Jazz stopped biting on the double on T-Mac after the Scola pick. Also, this is just my impression but it seems to me that Brooks relies on it a lot less than either T-Mac or Alston.
everyone who played scored except for head. 4 guys in double figures (scola should have had 24+ pts). tmac shoudl have had more had he made his fts. 20 assists. 44%. that's great considering how pathetic we were in the first half. WE STARTED SLOW AGAIN. this is a trend for the past 4 years, not just this year. you're barking on the wrong tree here.
Last year T-Mac had the highest usage rating in the league and we won 52 games, including the 32 game stretch without Yao in which the offense increased. Coincidence Anything Novak did offensively was totaly negated by his horrid defense, and by the 4th quarter it seemed the the Jazz figured out how to defend him. When all that somebody can do is shoot jumpers, and cannot create a jumpshot off the dribble against NBA competition, and he is completely incompetent on the defensive end...well, you get the point. T-Mac is at his best when he is playing off ball or getting iso's on the wing. That was very clearly evident when he led the league in scoring over the first 8 games of the season, scoring 29PPG on 47% shooting. For whatever reason without Yao Adelman wanted the ball in T-Mac's hands the whole game, and that simply doesn't work. T-Mac doesn't just go out there and do whatever the hel he wants...moreso than many other superstars he follows the gameplan and does what he is told.
mind you his still on one leg Just kidding his horrible 1st half had no excuses, im sure he would be the first to admit that. For you all to rag him and the 2nd half is pretty inexcusable. Any team in the comp would take a 30 point 4th. On most given days that would have probably won us the game too. 5 stops, couple more free throws and we would have won easily. Honestly, the Portland game wasnt very pretty either we still won on defence alone.
I agree that in general when players are not involved on O they lose some interest in playing D, losing Yao didn't help too, from the HC: "Houston really needs Yao Ming because he is such a presence inside," Utah forward Andrei Kirilenko said. "We were able to drive to the basket and make some lay-ups without Yao because there was less resistance." But we only scored 89 points. Gotta improve on that.
