Francis lets fly in history's face "Francis had not scored in 11 minutes. But Francis had Stockton in his sights. Tomjanovich was calling for a timeout, but Francis ignored him, demanding the inbound pass and the last shot. He backed Stockton down, then calmly waited for the last tenth of a second to swish a 28-footer that completed the Rockets' trump of the Jazz's Hall of Fame-bound stars 95-92 on Sunday. "That was great. It felt good to knock a shot down like that, knowing the game was on the line," Francis said. "Once I saw the clock getting lower and lower, I wanted to get the last shot off. Coach was signaling for a timeout. I told Kenny (Thomas) to throw the ball in. I just wanted to get the ball up and get the last shot. I milked it just right." Asked how he felt about Francis' decision to ignore him, Tomjanovich said: "Well, it worked. Let's go with that. It worked." Asked if there would be repercussions, he said, "It worked." " I don't deny that what Francis decided to do was what won the game last night. But does anyone else find this the slightest bit troubling? Any thoughts on the matter? Personally, it makes me wonder how much the players are truly listening to Rudy in more situations than this. And if that's the case it's a serious problem that needs some sort of resolution in the immediate future.
Nope, it would be one thing if we were losing, but Steve had NOTHING to lose by going for it, and it worked. Good for him, maybe he is stepping up...FINALLY !! DD
From that statement I think Rudy intended to do his criticism in private. We haven't won a lot of games this year and perhaps he didn't want to appear overly negative. For Francis's sake, it worked. If you ignore the boss and it works, it ususally blows over. I think this is an example of it.
Here are some other thoughts on the matter: http://bbs.clutchcity.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=30314 It really depends how you look at it. It does show some disrespect to Rudy, but sometimes going with your gut can pay off. If the coach was Riley or Knight, I'm sure their would be hell to pay for something like that. B
First he blows off Barkley and now Rudy. I saw this in Hoosiers, but at least they worked it out in the huddle before the play.
Nothing wrong with that!!! Francis got a wide open shot. That's all a time out would have been for. To get a wide open shot. So, this is just Francis taking over at the precise moment of the game. If that's wrong, then Rudy is wasting Francis' talents. It's time to let Francis take over a game at the end. He's earned that right at least. And, Francis is learning. He didn't shoot a stupid shot. He shot a very nice 3 pointer.
Wait a minute, when Kenny inbounded the ball to Steve, I specifically remember Bill Worrell saying that we were out of timeouts. Did I miss something or did Bill.
Uh, part of that is Francis being unwilling to take a game over. This is another example of Rudy not being able to get his players to respect him. The inmates have run the asylum.
That's just a terrible statement on Steve's part. Here's the drill, Steve: Either call a timeout when your coach tells you to call a timeout, or, if you think the coach isn't worth listening to, go to the owner and ask him to fire the coach. NEVER cut the coach's nuts out from under him in the media like this. This coach has spent three years keeping his mouth shut at any opportunity to show you public disrespect. Do him the same favor or hang your head in shame.
What I find wrong is the fact that people are criticizing Steve after making a spectacular game-winning shot. Wins are a rarity these days. Everyone should be thrilled with Steve's performance.
Oh, I get it: If a player gets the right result, he can't have done anything wrong. I take it, then, that you'll never again post anything negative about the Rockets' performance after they win a game?
Yep, Bill did say that. Just a mistake on his part. I guess he could have been possibly saying that since he saw that the Rockets didn't call a timeout right after Stockton scored. But, Bill realized this later on I guess, as Bill and Calvin intereviewd Francis after the game and that topic came up.
Will, you know that's not true. When I see something negative, I will post it. Basketball is played by the guys on the court, not the coaches. I see nothing wrong with a franchise player designing a last-second play on his own now and then, especially in a tie game. If the Rockets had been down, then I would have had a problem with the play. The Rockets had nothing to lose in that situation. It was a gutsy play by Steve, and I am thrilled that he had the balls to take that shot.
When any kind of score will win the game, do you really consider a 28-footer with a tenth of a second remaining to be a good shot? What percentage of those will he hit? How about leaving the opportunity for a put-back or second shot? Just more ISO crap, if you ask me.
Ya, there definately is something wrong with that, BUT it is definately NOT Stevie's fault. If there is someone to fault, it is Rudy T and his soft way of discipline he gives his players. I agree that he is a good player's coach, but he is too friendly. I remember this year on my b-ball team, our coach didn't have that control over his team cuz he let players do what they wanted. Our team wasn't together at all and our starters disrespected the coaches verbally. This is not to say that Steve disrespectet Rudy, it was just Steve's feeling of space that Rudy always gave him, so he probably thought he had nothing to lose.
People keep saying that the worst that could have happened if Steve missed that shot was overtime. Not true. The worst that could have happened is the Jazz would have won the game in overtime. Nobody seems to be considering that. Still tho, no regrets , he made the damn shot. ROckS
Who cares. It's about time the Franchise player went on his instict. I'm NOT saying he should do this consistently, but with this year being over months ago, we need to establish leadership for next year. The person that is going to take the blame for losing and not playing well. The person that is the highlight of a nationally televised game. The person that is the all-star matchup, you know, when they advertise a game it's always something like "McGrady and the Magic vs. Garnett and the Wolves". That's one of the major problems with this team......we don't have a leader, and if Stevie wants to step up and become a TRUE leader, then let him. And we didn't really have anything to lose.......we're so far out of the playoffs, wins and losses don't even matter at this point in my opinion.
If you're going to have a coach, you need to listen to him, period. It turned out fine this time. But I don't care how you look at it, it's never a good idea to undercut the coaches authority. What next? Cat doing his own thing in the last few seconds. Anyone trust his shot selection enough to let him wing it too? The issue doesn't have anything to do with whether or not Steve made the shot. The issue is whether or not he had the right to take it in the first place. According to his stats, he had about a 43% chance of making it. Actually, about 33% since it was a three pointer. To me, the potential problems this kind of thing can cause greatly outweigh putting another notch in the win column. Ever heard of win the battle, lose the war? Steve's actions are not the kind of precedent I want being set. If I were Rudy, I think I would say, "Great shot, Steve, but..."
