Ok, before I start, I'm not even a Rudy basher. But somethings about last nights game really irked me. First of all, the reason Wang Zhi Zhi was scoring at will against us was because we switched every single pick and roll the Mavs ran. I can't tell you how many times I saw Kenny or Eddie or Terrence or insert another Rockets big man, on Steve Nash and subsequently, Steve or Moochie on Najera, Zhi Zhi, Finley, anyone else who decided they wanted to post up a small point guard. Wang could just catch and shoot over a much smaller Francis all the time in the first half, and Moochie was getting backed down by Finley the entire second half. That was real frustrating. Second, I'll be damned if I was Steve Francis and Rudy wanted to call a timeout at the end of a game to "diagram" a play. No wonder Stevie took it on himself to wave off a TO and pull up on Stockton in that game against the Jazz. Rudy has never been able to diagram a play to get someone a good look at the basket at the end of a half/quarter/game. I'll bet this is how that last huddle went... Rockets call a full TO. Rudy: "All right guys, we can't get too down on ourselves, we have to believe in each other and make that extra pass. We're doing everything right, and I'm just so proud of you all. We're really coming together as team, I can see it right in front of my face here. It reminds me of 1992 when I first took over and the team started to gel at the end of the year, then the next year we took a step forward and made the play-offs eventually losing to Seattle in 7 games. Man that was great, you know we won the championship the year after that... " Steve and Cuttino: "Coach, ain't you gonna draw up a play?" Steve: "I think Cuttino should get the ball, it's winning time." Rudy: "Yeah, good call Steve, ok, here's what we're gonna do, get the ball into Cat... you got three seconds left, make sure you don't shoot too soon, we want the last shot. We're not setting any picks for you, so it's all on you to get your shot off against the five of them." Buzzer sounds...... Rudy: "Win the game baby!!!"
Funny post. I would say that the rockets defense leave a lot to be desired and the instances you mentioned are among many. In fact there 28 games in which we lost by 7 or less points. If we played any defense at all, we would have been in the playoffs. I mean you hear all teams' announcers say you can get any shot you want against this team. I would put defense as the number one issue for the team this off season. If it is successfully addressed we would be in the playoffs.
On your first point, the Rockets decision to switch everything has been discussed in the Chronicle a couple of times. They are one of only two or three teams that do it. You'd have to dig through the Chron archives but I distinctly remember they giving reasons as to why they thought it was the best approach. I tend to agree with you on it most of the time. Sometimes it works and other times it's a disaster. But, right now, it might be difficult to judge anyway because we are such a bad overall defensive team anyway. As for number two, you are making assumptions you can't possibly backup unless you have sat in the huddle with Rudy for the past 10 years. It's fine to suggest that you disagree with what plays are called or that you don't like how the team approached a game, but I've never understood when people say things like, "Rudy doesn't know how to run a practice" or "He can't draw up a play to save his life." You need more information than you possibly have to draw that type of conclusion.
Rock: I agree with you, but couldn't it also be argued that the fact the Rockets lead the league in overtime games, games won or lost by fewer than 3 points and that they were in nearly every ballgame (win or loss) was a positive given the injury problems, lack of experience and depth. I've watched some games this year and thought that it was a miracle they were even remotely close in the fourth quarter. Seems to me that, in many cases, it is a glass-half-full vs glass-half-empty situation. I tend to think that, with a few less injuries, a couple additional players and a little more expeirence, those losses would be reversed. At least that is something we can attempt to fix in the offseason.
Switching on the pick, is what the opponent WANTS. I don't see how playing into the opponent's hands has more positives than negatives.
Jeff, I know I wasn't in the huddle to say for sure what Rudy told the guys before that last play. I was referring more to the fact that it appears the final play call at the end of games is to get it to someone who will do an ISO and try to win it all by himself. I would much rather see a play actually run for someone ala the Pacers and Reggie Miller. The play never starts with the ball in Reggie's hand. A play is drawn up so that he gets open and is put in a position to get a good shot, well a good shot for him anyway. That's what I'd like to see the Rockets do. And they kind of did that in OT when Francis and EG worked the pnr and got a tray out of it.
I agree 110% Desi. We NEVER get any guys open away from the ball. If we set a few picks before we in-bounds the ball, I'm sure we would have had a clean shot for a shooter.
I would totally agree with you if we had a player available who could run the play Miller has been running for 100 years. The only two guys on this team who run that play well are on the injured list - Williams and Rice. Mobley is not a screen-off jump shooter and neither is Francis. You have to have players that are used to running those plays and are comfortable shooting that way. Of course, Indiana runs the same play for Miller on last-second shots the same way Malone and Stockton run the pick and role just as we ran the dump it into Hakeem. They run those plays because they are high percentage. Unfortunately, we don't have the players to pull off high percentage shots like that under pressure which is why we very likely give it to Mobley or Francis and allow them to do what they do best. There have been plays this year where Moochie has won the game for us based on plays drawn up in the huddle, so it isn't as if there is nothing being done to set up a play. Execution has been the problem.
