Alright Folks, Here's my first Flash animation for a Rocket's play. This is how we beat the Robinson/Elie switch Friday. Starting with an entry to Walt in the low post against Porter. The great thing about this is note how the play can re-Flex back to Walt giving an entry to Francis. www.artmovement.com/sa-switch.html more to come...got to go to the game now
Heypartner: Man, you made it WAY TOO COMPLICATED. Plus I don't get it at the end...all you did was switch the people cato for kenny. This is a simple way to beat their defense. Its almost like a zone. The instant they switch, all you do is tell Anderson to run to the other (left in your case)baseline. In the other words...Admiral is forced to follow or its a layup under the basket. If he just follow and just stays in the key...you tell walt to dribble out a little and he's forced to come out and guard anderson or he has an open jumper. When he comes out to guard anderson...you have a big mismatch with elie on cato on the right. [This message has been edited by rocketsfan34 (edited February 20, 2000).]
RF34 Too complicated? That is about 5 sec of bball. The play drawn was real. We did it in the 2nd q. This shows how sophisticated Rudy ball is nowadays. People who tell me were are too one dimensional just haven't studied the new system. With that said...we got simple Sunday. Game plan was clearly to get Francis more involved and let him create. Then Dream showed up, and that always allows us to be simple. THE MAN!! The Anderson baseline complicates things more actually, because you are then expected to have CATO run the play on the swing!! Solve that, and let's talk some more. I do think there's an Anderson baseline, but it isn't as easy as it seems. I guarantee you that the General will not follow Anderson. Likely, they will just zone-rotate, leaving you clogged on the left. The play drawn is standard Flex motion. It can restart by KT throwing back to Walt with Francis now low post. Anyhow, I will update the file shortly to give you a complete flow, and the actual dunk by Cato. Anyhow, this was an isolated play that only worked Friday. I'm planning to start showing our high use plays. [This message has been edited by heypartner (edited February 20, 2000).]
*Note, did not see the game Just telling you from diagram. How does it complicate it? Everyone says exactly where they are in your diagram except Anderson. Anderson run straight into the key. Elie can't switch cuz he'll leave cato for an open jumper, so admiral follows. Admiral HAS TO follow or else walt just throws it right into anderson underneath the basket for an easy 2. When admiral follows..anderson runs all the way to 3 pt line on left. Walt swings him the ball. Admiral will not just let him take a open shot, so he will go out and trap him with SF in the corner. Obviously Cato is with Elie all alone on the wing. I understand. BUT, the instant admiral steps to guard anderson no one is in the key, and Cato breaks for the basket. Anderson lobs it up and don't tell me Elie can out jump Cato in an alley-oop senerio. I just thought this was one of basic things we used on our b-ball team. That's why no one does this switch cuz its puts the center on a SF, and is not a very wise decision. Oh, then there's a play after this switch...I thought this WAS the play and then they switch to counter. This was just a simpler way in my eyes to expose that switch. Instead of all that picks and movement of everyone. [This message has been edited by rocketsfan34 (edited February 20, 2000).]
I'm not sure I'm following you. Anderson will never get an easy two under the basket where I have Robinson...never. That's why they switch. How are you using the term "the key". That out front. Anderson can't move there because elie and robinson will just switch back. you mean "baseline" right. With Robinson in low post, Anderson is never open...he's the furthest from the ball and if he goes baseline to the other side, he's never open until he appears on the other corner. Robinson can easily cover the entire basket area from where I have him in the diagram. And, as I say, I doubt Robinson really would follow Anderson to the other corner...they would zone rotate.
HeyPartner, I would argue that the Rockets are ONE dimensional. Here is why: All of the plays come from our guards, this means the offense is initiated from only a couple of points on the floor. Thus, making it easier for the defense to stop your primary option, our guards. We need to put some of the Hakeem post plays in, and mix it up a bit. If not Hakeem then..K. Thomas. Have some plays that are initiated in the post...Hakeem..Thomas..Anderson..etc...have motion, cutters etc...but right now the Rockets are too predictable, and are easy to guard at crunch time. Variety would get us more wins....but so would playing some DEFENSE every now and then. DaDakota
Heypartner Sorry for the Confusion, lets see if I can describe this. This is slide 3...after they switch. From left to right, its WW, KT, SF, KC, and SA. 1. I'll use top right corner where Anderson is right now. He runs directly left toward the top left corner. 2. In the process of running directly left, he'll pass the basket. Elie cannot switch in time becuase he cannot catch up to anderson fast enough. Anderson will have an easy reverse(easy 2). So the logical thing is for Admiral to keep up with his anderson to prevent this. 3. When Admiral follows Anderson, SA just continues until he gets to top left. WW swings him the ball. Admiral is forced to step out and guard SA or else he gets a open 3 in corner. The SF cannot guard WW and SA, one will get open shot. What will probably happen is Admiral will trap SA along with SF help. 4. The Cato, alone with SG, on right wing or side breaks for the basket. SA lobs from the top left corner and should be an easy alley-oop over the SG. Tell me any numbers u don't get. [This message has been edited by rocketsfan34 (edited February 20, 2000).]
Crisco I can't agree that the ISO is the only play. Maybe this is just a difference of wording. But, I'm speaking as much from what I've heard Rudy and Mobley say as I am from watching tape. Francis never runs the ISO. The play may actually be called "Two Shakes", as in the 2 guard. (I need confirmation on that though. It is only run by Mobley and now a little Anderson. Francis gets all his plays through picks to the wing or into the lane. He decides on the fly which way he wants to go. Even in wing clear-outs for Francis, it closer to being a pick-n-roll than an ISO. The ISO is mainly a slow play. The ISO player waits for everyone to set around the perimeter. Francis never waits. re: Open mid-range jumpers. They do this with a dribble entry by Francis to the wing, then weak-side double picks for Walt and Bullard. This is also a play for Dream, although I haven't seen it in awhile. Walt, Bullard and Dream are our best spot-up shooters for Francis to work with. Rogers can hit it too, but we run more sophisticated plays with him. re: Posting up Cato. Sure, let him practice it. But, I'd only do it like how we used Othello. He would stay weak-side, and we be mainly a salvage option--ie if strong-side failed, we'd swing it around to Othello and he'd do his quick jump-hook. Otherwise, Cato is a long ways from being the post-up player. For posting up, we can use the guards. Plus Thomas is showing the footwork to actually makes moves from the high post. This allows us to have Francis on the wing, KT comes from the key to set a pick at the elbow. Francis can continue into the lane or pass it back to KT. Kenny then attacks the from the high post. That is awesome. Much better than anything Cato can do.
Mango "tell Anderson to clear-out if SA switches". Note that Anderson is weak-side with Cato. You can't clear-out both weak-side and strong-side...and maintain an ISO. Otherwise I agree. I suggest something different. Here's one thing we did in the 1st Q, against the switch. Evertime we go low post or ISO with Cato/Anderson weak-side, Elie and Robinson switch so Robinson is weak-side on low block "guarding" Anderson in the corner. We threw an entry to Walt against Porter...SA would switch. Thomas goes and sets a pick for Cato, Walt throws the ball out the Francis, who then swings it to Thomas who is now on the wing-arc where Cato was. Cato goes straight to the rim, and Thomas hit him for a slam. That happened. We could also bring Anderson along the baseline to the strong-side. Robinson must follow or he is illegal. Then Cato goes straight to the rim with Elie, for an pass from Walt who again is posting Porter. Alternatively, Anderson comes strong side (Robinson follows) and Cato stays put. Walt passes it back out to Francis, who then does a dribble entry to Cato's side via a pick from KT and then another from Cato. Now Francis is on Cato's side and Elie is stuck with Cato...now attack. Note how this also results in Anderson and Walt on the weak-side for swing pass 3ptrs.
Heypartner 3rd quarter? the whole game looked like the worst he has played to me. he looked soooo slow and old out there. not to mention his lack of shape caused us the poorest transition D ive ever seen, robinson beat him down court over and over. love the guy but it pains me to see him in there. Re: Cato's game/skills He has a few primitive skills taht ur right we could use as a salvage option. Thats why i say hakeem should hang up his shoes and become an assistent coach to mentor these guys. ditto for calvin murphy because his announcing while ok gets very tedious and annoying sometimes. calvin's cool tho and he knows his game. ------------------ --TEX [This message has been edited by TeXaSalsa (edited February 20, 2000).]
Regarding more cutters I can't recall who asked for more cutters. Understand, cutters are more for a post game. Our "cutters" are really more timed dishes resulting from dribble penetration. Watch the weak-side tonight. When a guard begins to penetrate, the weak side is looking to cut to a passing seam. Problem is: San Antonio is excellent at not allowing a passing seam to develop. THAT'S IS WHY WE GOT CRUSHED. With that said, we do use cutters on one play I've seen that Will calls the triple option. You'll see this run by Rogers and Thomas. Much more by Rogers. They will take up a high-post position with the ball, and two guards one at a time will cut by them: the first one goes around him to the baseline, the second around him into the lane. Think of this as a pick-n-roll with a stationary ballhandler who hasn't given up his dribble yet. The ballhandler is a screen for the cutters. He has three options. He can hand-off to either cutter, or fake at shoot should his defender go to one of the cutters. [This message has been edited by heypartner (edited February 20, 2000).]
Back to particulars of the game tonight: 1. Look for KT to came in early again to replace Bullard, 2. Look for continued post-ups against Porter. Especially Rogers. 3. If Rogers gets some playing time, look for him to be a primary picker for Francis. We can hurt them by playing Porter against Rogers!! 4. Look for Rudy to slow down the ISO to expose some Illegals. Also, as Mango suggested, I expect Anderson to come over to the strong-sdie along the baseline the moment Robinson and Elie switch. Then we will swing the ball to Cato's side via Francis dribble entries or passes to Thomas who takes up Cato's wing position with Cato going to the rim on Elie. 5. Everyone watch the Spurs defense. It is awesome. They play the passing lanes as well as anyone.
Cutters dont always work especially big teams like SA, but other teams if we tried it could be effective. give and go plays if they work right and are on the $$ in quick timing, they are fairly successful if it someone who takes it hard to the basket, shandon or somebody strong should be the one recieving it. but it wont work against SA cuz they have the rarity of two shot blockers. also did anyone see this? this i dont think is a set play but kenny T would be at the top of the key fake a J and thread a needle of a pass to cato right there for a layup. he did it twice in the 1st quater. does anyone think more top of the key Js would be good? the D would collapse and come out a bit maybe allowing for more layups, and top of the key Js are actually pretty high %. on todays game im worried rudy T will wimp out and play carlos 15 min to be safe. hope he doesnt cause we need him. also we NEED to stop all those role players avery, jaren J, elie, porter, rose, walker, etc. like 4-5 guys scored in double digits other tahn the 2 towers. oh yah off topic? whats everybodys email? heypartner? francis3? i know mangos criscokid? any icq? ------------------ --TEX [This message has been edited by TeXaSalsa (edited February 20, 2000).]
DaDakota, Offenses are always initiated from only a couple points on the court. Hell, Utah cetainly only has two spots. The much glorified Triangle had three entry spots: wing, low post, top. Where it is intiated is not the point. The options available off the various entry spots is the sophistication. We are in motion with options off each set. I can't help it if you don't see the various options on the plays. Learn some basic motion offenses before you tell me that a guard flex is one-dimensional. With that said, the Sunday game was majorly featuring Francis in creative mode. I believe the game plan tonight was to make sure he got involved, because Friday we didn't use him much. [This message has been edited by heypartner (edited February 21, 2000).]
Texas, yes...the KT needle pass was a set play. I described it in my response to mango. After the Robinson/Elie switch, Thomas comes out to take over Cato's wing position and Cato goes to the rim against Elie. Not only did KT get a pick from Francis, but he gave Cato a pick. Walt was with ball in low post and threw a C-out to Francis who swung it to KT. Perfect timing. Robinson stayed with Anderson and Cato got a slam. Note that the reason we were ready for this play, is because Rudy would never put Cato on the wing-arc without having a way of getting him out of there should we need to swing the ball around. Cato cannot be in the middle of a swing pass, because he can't shoot. It is a dead-end.
Spurs are the toughest team for houston. The 2 big men just take us out of the whole game plan. Rockets need to play smart today and make the open shots. I look for Houston to come out really strong. TeXaSalsa - You can find that in my profile.
RF34, Yeah...that's what I thought you were saying. Mabye I should draw the center's wing-span next time. In slide 3, Robinson can get to the other side of the rim in one step. Plus, really he already has one foot in the lane. The reverse lay-in is not open like you think it is. In the time it takes Anderson to catch and jump, Robinson is there. Plus, that is not as easy a pass as it looks. Also, WW would have to do a skip pass over Duncan and Elie to get it to Cato. When Cato gets it, he is not a dribbling threat, nor a shooting threat at that spot. I don't think it works. Maybe when Anderson reappears in the left corner, you might find Robinson illegal, but he'll just probably double Walt and let Porter go get Anderson. Two things I must emphasize where looking at the animation: 1) Robinson will stay in the block, count on it; 2) Cato ISO-lated on the wing is not an offensive threat.
HP, They sure do play illegal. I think that they more illegal than Clinton at Tax Time. Off of that one on the game. I didn't read all of the posts in this thread but read a few. Here is something that I was extremely impressed by: When there was 6 seconds left in the game and the ball went to Duncan with KT guarding him, Hakeem left the weak side to assist in defending Duncan. This was combatted 2 ways. First when a double team occurs, if the ball is rotated where the double came from, then usually they have an open shot if they execute quickly enough. Second, on this play there was only 6 seconds, is not enough time to inbound the ball, pass the ball wait for the double and pass off, unless perfectly executed where the place where the double was coming from can get in place of a different passing lane. What was so awesome about this, is that knowing that there was 6 seconds, Hakeem came to double coming almost from the angle that Duncan would have to shoot the basket, and then the most impressive thing was the position that Shadon got on Robinson, as well as the leverage that he got as well. I was really impressed.
