anybody have video of this? There was an entire sopcast and internet streaming fiasco in the Game Video and Audio thread ... didn't get to see much of the game, and that move sounds damn cool.
Exactly. McGrady wasn't bringing the ball up the court or taking sketchy hand-offs from Rafer at the top of the key and trying to dribble around double teams. It was very obvious that something was different with the offense tonight. Adelman and the rest of the coaching staff did a great job. Our PG was being a PG and Tracy was playing off the ball. He was constantly looking to post up on the wing, 10-18 feet from the basket. From that area of the court, there may not be a more legitimate triple threat.
In terms of style, nothing was different with the offense. What was different was 13-26 from Mac, 7-12 from Scola, 5-9 from Alston and 3-6 from BJax. The actual offensive sets were exactly the same as last game...primarily T-Mac in the high post. What was different this game was T-Mac had his jumper going, Scola was finishing above 40% of the time, our shooters were hitting their shots and the Jazz seemed to be over rotating most of the night. And once again, just because Alston is bringing up the ball and T-Mac isn't dribbling 30ft from the basket doesn't mean he is playing "off ball." He was getting isolation plays called for him...he created everything for himself. There was no off ball movement (aka making sharp cuts, catch and shoots, etc...).
God bless that man. Don't forget about his move to play Deke more tonight, who changed a ton of the Utah shots all night long.
Well the post is the most high percentage spot on the court, isn't it? More wing players should play in the post. When i was at the game the biggest difference i saw was that the rockets were getting more motion from their bigs. In other games Scola and Landry were looking to post up, which is where they are least effective. They were cutting to the basket and it was much easier for our perimeter players to find them. Also we actually tried to use Deke and Hayes on offense. I know everyone thinks they should never touch the ball but the more people that touch ball, especially in the paint, the more you force the defense to rotate. I saw our perimeter players get open much more than usual. I even saw Tmac open or single covered on more posessions in this game than in all the rest combined.
It's gonna be awesome to have Yao back next year and Tmac manning the elbow/post position. This team looked good tonight. Let's hope it carries over. I believe that Rockets will have a lot of confidence going into game 6 and we can expect a game 7 sunday! Good to see we have a coach who has a game plan on offense!
His passing ability and vision from the high post is beautiful to watch. He was able to connect with Scola for easy layups. Those easy layups were the result of "holy ****, how did he see that while driving" - the drive and pass happens so fast that you cannot defend against it.
<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UJv6gT35Ynw&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UJv6gT35Ynw&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent"
I'd like to see T-Mac transition to be a completely post-oriented player. This is what Michael Jordan eventually became, the 34 year old Jordan couldn't blow past guards from the 3 point line, but he could post up, shoot over them, make one strong move to the basket, and find the open man all night long. It doesn't require that much energy because it doesn't require deep post position, just good spacing on the part of the team to leave that area of the floor open. Tmac is having the same exact problems Jordan had in getting to the rim from the 3 point area. It requires truly transcendent athleticism to be able to get past guys and get in to the lane consistently. Tmac has done that maybe once this entire series. Just because he can't do that, doesn't mean he can't still be a great scorer. It's so much easier to drive from 12-15 feet in that it's indescribable. Rather than having to dribble and actually run past the guy, you can get the ball, face up, make one strong move and be in scoring position. If they try to play your drive, well, everybody on this board knows how easy it is for Tmac to hit an open 12 footer. If he works on that he could possibly get back to Jordan-esque field goal percentages.
That is sexy footwork. That's way more impressive than a dunk to me. But then, i'm probably in the minority on that one.
Beautifully said. I couldn't agree more. I think what T-Mac was doing earlier, in working off from the perimeter, required a tremendous amount of athleticism, explosiveness, and energy. I never doubted T-Mac's abilities, and felt that if he just had a better offense to work with them it would be much easier for him to shine his talent. Adelman may have truly come onto something, and I am happy that he did it before the series got away from us. We still have 2 more games to go, and I still believe. Not only was the whole team and T-mac playing better because of this offense, but it seemed more effortless and easier for the players as well. In the end T-Mac wasn't as tired as usual, and still seemed to have a lot more energy left in him. As a result of everyone not using as much energy, the players burst into the second half without as much fatigue and blew out Utah. Their defense was, as previously seen before, just incredible, in my opinion if they play defense like this every game they can definitely hold the name for the best defensive team in the year. Their offense has finally got a nice, less energy consuming flow to it, and I would be saddened to see this young, experimenting, high potential team go away so early. Adelman is still experimenting with this team as it's still the first year and he is still getting to understand the team better, and I feel it's just a matter of time before Rick brings this team to it's highest potential and strengthen it to its maximum.
t-mac needs to never touch the ball on the perimeter. he can't blow past quick guards especially when doubled. when was the last time you saw him blow by or split a double team? Never. keep posting up t-mac.
I'm with you on that one. Zach Randolph has some good footwork too ... it's a shame everything else. Thanks for the video post Casper.
