What's wrong with the Pick-n-Roll with T-Mac and Yao? It's very hard to defend and is probably our goto play for the two. Plenty of times last night T-Mac was able to hit Yao rolling to the goal but Yao had trouble finishing. The Pick and Roll works for them and is effective. I know everyone wants our role players to get more involved but this is what you pay your superstars for. They're suppose to provide a huge bulk of the offense while our other role players chip in where they can. They're suppose to step up and win games for the team in the final minutes. This is what they are doing.
I tend to see a lot of movement, I don't know what you guys are talking about. PnR, Mac comin off a few screens last night, people shifting around the perimeter and the paint getting into open spots...TMac is the facilitator of our offense probably 80% of our possessions. That's just how it's been drawn out by our coaching staff. He seems to be mixing up the game well. Also, you don't want everyone cuttin' to the basket if the play is for TMac to penetrate. They'll get in the way. Eh, I could go on and on about why I think it looks better and will continue to progress, but no point in it. People have their minds set. The real problem as a few have said here is defense. We are not locking down on the guys that get hot during a game.
Kitz, the fact is as tmac1 pointed out it is opposite of what you are saying about our offense being stagnant. The fact is that the offense is flowing very well, but it is just in people's mind because TMac is taking and making his shots. I am very surprised that when TMac was out, Rafer averaged 15 to 17+ shots and we didn't hear much from people.
Yao never really "fit" in the motion offense, this offense didn't give Yao open looks. It is Scola and other role players who became a lot more aggressive which resulted in Yao not getting doubled as hard as he usually is. Even last night and whenever Scola is looking and hitting his shots, Yao is getting the ball where he wants, he was just not able to finish the play, strips, missed jumpshots, heck even missed FTs. Yao is just in a mini slump, all players go through that. To blame TMac when the offensive numbers clearly shows that we are playing good offensive basketball is just a lame effort by YOFs to blame him for Yao's numbers.
Rick Adelman said that when Tracy was injured that they concentrated more on the motion offense. Since Yao was "player of the month" it would be an easy assumption to state that Yao plays better in the motion offense. Maybe I'm missing something, but it seemed like Yao, Brooks, Head and Rafer had easier shots when Tracy was out.
Hmmm, not too sure I agree with that. Perhaps there were some. But let's remember back, Brooks made good, smart drives and would hit those layups and was hitting the open 3s he got. Head wasn't exactly taking uncontested shots. He drove, popped the midrange, or was hitting heavily contested 3s. Rafer...well he has the same shots every game, it's just whether they go in or not. Yao just hasn't be able to get the ball the last few games. That won't happen all season. I'm not saying Tracy is the reason or not the reason. I just know, Brooks is now missing, Rafer is pretty much the same, Head is hurt, and Yao isn't getting many touches. Scola has been the beneficiary of this offense with Yao AND TMac in it.
Wait, you mean you actually watched the game and paid attention. That is unusual around here. It seems that some people have their eyes on one person the entire game and it isn't Tmac. There were more easy baskets last night than I have seen in a while and most were created by Tmac some by Alston. The only problem with Tmac last night was that he turned it over too many times(7) which is why the game was close in the first place. If we can keep our TO's under 14 we will have a very good chance of winning. This team will keep going to what is working for them. If it is the Tmac-Yao pick and roll which was working well last night, they will keep running it. If Yao is dominating his man as usual they will work to get him the ball. If Tmac is on fire, the you want him to stay aggressive as well as find the open man when necessary which he did last night.
Landry has benefited as well. Both him and Scola are finding the right spots in the defense to get easy buckets. They are proving to be a very reliable power forward tandem. I hope the chemistry between Yao, Tmac, Scola, and Landry will continue to get better but I am impressed with how well it has been so far.
This is a great point. The game against minnesota was won by the Tmac jumpers at the end. However, that is not going to consistently win you games. Tmac is a 40 percent shooter so down the stretch that means we will score 2 out of 5 times or maybe if he is hot 3 out of 5. Down the stretch other teams take it to the basket or make sure to get really good shots. We stand around and watch tmac jack shots. When they are going down we win, when they miss we lose. This is not a formula to win playoff basketball games.
40%? He is a 44% shooter, which is decent for his position now don't go point out Yao's FG% because Yao's 50% isn't that good for a center. Anyways, it is much easier to prevent Yao from getting the ball down the stretch than to keep it from TMac's hands. Now if Yao is prevented from getting the ball, I would much rather TMac take the shot than any other shooters on our team. By your logic, all shots should be taken by Centers because they have the "highest" FG% in a team. So Kobe should just pass to Kwame or Bynum down the stretch because they have higher FG%? You play percentage basketball if it makes sense. There is a reason why TMac on the team wins us a lot more games than without him. Same cant be said of Yao or any other rockets players.
The reason is simple. T-Mac does not pass the ball unless there is a good chance for an assist. That makes free flow impossible. Put it positively, he worried about creating direct shooting opportunities of other players too much. T-Mac is still playing with JVG's game and try to create shooting opportunities for other players. RA's game is to let the ball flow and opportunities will present itself. T-Mac often dribbles the ball around, penetrates and then passes to an open man. Since he will not pass at the first passable opportunity, all other players can do is to wait, which results in stagnation of offense and out of rhythm of other players. To fix the problem, T-Mac needs to pass as soon as possible if he is not in the position to shoot, instead of trying to create shooting opportunities for other players too much. Pass and shooting opportunities will come!
Not trying to be negative but it Seems to me T-mac is a black-hole, He sucks the life right out of the offense.
I think those 3 games are great. Why we want everyone to be involved if we have best player available on the court. I would rather give T-Mac the ball and let him finish the game if he can. If he can't, then I would start to use alternatives
Get those damned facts outta here. We want to blame T-Mac for ruining our offense. Carry on with the McLady-bashing, please.
All I get from this thread is, blame Tmac for the offense not running smoothly. Tell the Rockets to get a real PG and he won't need to have the ball. That's not the problem anyhow, the role players just suck. That's what happens when you have a bunch of wahoo's who can't create their own shots.
