Good work durvasa. This vid really shows the issues we have with the entry pass to Yao. The Lakers really turned up there defensive intensity in the 2nd half. Yao had his man sealed numerous times and yet the passer couldn't find a way to get him the ball. I also noticed there were several times when Artest had the ball and decided to dribble aimlessly trying to create for himself when Yao had his man sealed off. And to top it off, I saw Gasol front 1 time out of the 44 clips and Yao rotated to the other side and sealed him off anyway. This is going to be a huge problem in the playoffs if they can't get this fixed. We should not be having an issue with an entry pass if teams are going to play him straight up. We have enough trouble with teams that front. And the bashing Battier is taking for missing open shots is unwarranted, at least from this video. He missed one open shot and one contested shot.
these problems have persisted since forever. like i said, the team needs to have a "pass to yao 101" for 2-3 hours in every practice and 1 hour before game time so they get a rhythm. and can we pass to the damn ball to scola if we can't get it to yao? if scola gets single coverage in the post, that's a damn good option.
While i agree with you that the rest of the guys have to be smarter on getting Yao the ball if he's not sealing his man it frustrates me when fans says this is the real solution to the post problem. I dont think it should be that way when it's your best player involved. It means we can only go to Yao when the defense will allow it, that's the worst thing you can say about a go to option. Either Yao needs to learn to sealt he man or he can't be considered the go to guy, he'd just be another option.
that is the only way. if defenses play him straight up or behind him or double him with a small guy, there is ZERO problem getting the ball to him. if they front, put athletic big men or double on the blind side with athletic or tall guys, we struggle. that's been the case for YEARS. i don't know why people think it's something new. we have to adjust to this going forward. that's why we got better talent. scola would love to contribute too you know!
I put this in DD's thread, but feel that it is pertinent to repeat it in this discussion as well. We need to stop letting Yao's liability overshadow his strengths. The problem with Yao is he doesn't overwhelm in any one part of his game... he is subtly productive and consistent in many areas but obviously lacking in considerable amounts in a few. Many star players have major strengths that make up for their weaknesses (Howard's athletic ability and rebounding overcoming limited offensive moves, Lebron's driving ability offsetting his jumper) while others flat out have little weakness to exploit (Wade, Kobe, Duncan). Yao doesn't have the luxury of either, but he can excel if the team uses him, within the team concept and not within the star concept, to exploit other teams. He reminds me of that tall, sort of out of shape guy out there playing pick up ball at the parks. When the team doesn't really use him he is just this tall guy that uses his size purely to get rebounds but rarely runs and helps on fast breaks (which is like 3/4 of the offense in pickup games). Every once in a while a team (usually losing and probably not as athletic as a unit) will pick up on him and continue to feed him with quick passes over the top when he flashes near the middle. He strings a few together and all of a sudden it seems like this unfair advantage. Eventually some teams figure out how to stop it (front him, out-quick him) and the team with the tall guy goes back to what they were doing before. They might try to continue to forcefeed/cherrypick (usually with little success) or strictly run other plays (like playing 4 on 5). Whatever they do, that tall unathletic guy is now an anomaly that gets respect, and while they will lose for not using that to their advantage, there is now precedent. Other teams will pick him up later on with the same idea in mind and teams playing against him will expend much energy and preperation in response. Thus, Yao may not be in either category of "star," but there is a reason that despite his limitations, he is considered a star in this league. He is "that tall guy," and other teams DO plan for him. So instead of exploiting Yao as a mismatch, why not exploit other teams concentration and anticipation of Yao as the mismatch? The key is balance. I don't think Adelman wants us to forcefeed Yao, but at the same time Adelman knows he is one of our big guns. I felt last night our advantage was their lack of big men. In the first half we played a balanced game and Yao got his then rested. Pau had to play longer and started to wear down, evidenced by missed layups and missed rebounds. In the second half, Yao stayed in the entire 3rd. Yao is an advantage for us over Pau when both are full strength. Once Yao gets fatigued his production drops tremendously and Pau can still be effective. Kobe was going to get his, we just needed to score and we didn't. Switching in Carl for Yao earlier and letting Landry and Scola finish the 3rd would have worked out a little better I feel. It is a judgment call, the game was clearly in the balance. Do you change things up and try to change the momentum (for better or worse) or go with your starters and try not to let up too much more game? There is ALWAYS a moment on the switch where Yao gets Kobe on him or Ariza or is completely open. It seems like Brooks will ignore (or can't see it over Fisher) this when he is in pg mode (when he is in scoring mode, he just reacts and I believe he reads better ie drives and kicks to the open Scola) and just continue to pass it to Battier or Artest on the left or right side. They will then proceed to pass to Yao. Why this is so awful is because other teams get those points. The Rockets have to play great defense not to let Battier or Brooks get caught against opposing big men, or leave them open all together. Other teams capitalize on this situation. This means we are expending more energy on defense and stil occasionally giving up the freebies while on offense we don't get those freebies too. Lowry seems to understand that timing a little bit better. It isn't easy, but it should be doable for any NBA starting caliber pg, and hopefully Lowry does get the timing down. He found Landry flashing or cutting a few times and believe he could do this for Yao once that timing is established. Yao is ready for it, you can see him practically begging for that pass which would give him a higher percentage shot, higher chance of a mismatch, and less of a chance of offensive fouls or 3 second calls. Attacking and dumping on the collapse is also great, which is why Scola, who is deceptively quick, going to the hoop is such a positive on offense. The defense collapses, and more often then not, Yao is short pass away and in prime position to score or draw the foul. Lowry, Wafer, Brooks would also do well to do this. You might say "well if it were that easy, teams would do it all the time," but remember that we are in the unique situation were team defenses are designed to mitigate Yao's post game. In essense, I am saying you don't always have to go to Yao to be using Yao to win games. Also when you do go to him you need maximize those oppurtunities. There is a prevelant notion that more Yao is better... there is some truth to that, but only within a team concept. Less predictable Yao post ups (defensive success is predicated on predictability) means a more effective Yao, so when you have to "default" to that option (everything was taken away) the defense is combating many possible scenerios at once. This will tire our opponents and create more fouls. We are good ft shooting team, this is another weapon to exploit. Elements predicated on skill and timing, ie shooting and passing, may in many cases be affected by fatigue/defense ect. Elements predicated on natural ability depend soley on the individual and therefore the strict benefit of such is hard to measure in the game. Neither of those two elements can consistantly win you games. This is why people say defense and rebounds wins games. They are not being cliche nor are they misinformed, they are being scientific. Sure, if you score a 1000 points or dunk from the half court line you can win. If you are bigger and can just shoot over people you can win. You can grab all the offensive rebounds in the world, it might just mean your team is horrible at shooting. However, defense and rebounds are metrics of effort, and I believe that is what "defense wins championships" mean. It doesn't mean defensively elite teams will beat offensively elite teams. It means that most teams will be equally matched, particulary late in the playoffs. Desire, intensity, and heart will determine the difference, and as Battier said- things that you can bring everynight, ie defense, need to be brought. I believe that driving is an offensive equivelant to this element. It is predicated on ability and skill but many possess these talents in the NBA. It takes a lot out of you driving it to the bucket a lot. I saw Lebron drive his way to victory against one of the best defensive teams in league in Detroit in ECF. I saw Wade do it to win a championship. We don't have that caliber of player on the team... but we don't need to. We have Yao and shooters on the team, driving will only enhance those other elements of our team and increase fta. -V p.s.- Also I feel like we should try to tap the homecrowd energy and let's see if the audience can affect the "actors on stage" so to speak. How about cheering and whatever when we have the ball but become dead silent (no anouncements, cheers, anything) when the opponents take possession. Players like to "silent the crowd" but what if the fans act independant to their actions. It could be ominous and jarring. It could give them that "something isn't right feel" and be enough to get them to miss some jumpers here and there. Most players are too good to allow the enviroment to affect them much, but as sensational creatures and beings, humans react to change by doing different things. That can be huge in a game so dependent on rhythm and energy. If anything, maybe it could give our players a placebo affect. It could build a Houston comradrie doing something unique to the venue and location. Just my 2 cents gearing up for the playoffs.
I think shane's slump was definitely a problem that game and Kobe did leave him open, but i think everyone's just jumping on that and running with it. It wasn't just Kobe who was roaming around. Kobe just did it more because he's their best defender, gets the superstar treatment when he strips Yao, and he played a lot of minutes. All that makes him more visual out there, but looking at the clips, it was pretty much a game plan to make a pit stop at Yao anytime your man cut through or anytime you felt close enough to steal the ball. Sasha did it, powell did it, ariza did it, fisher did it, and that's just through half these clips. Not only did they do it, but they didn't even turn to check on their man, whether it was landry, shane, brooks, or lowry. They had no reason to because they either stole the ball quickly or trapped yao enough where he couldn't get it to the open man. So slump or no slump, shooters weren't getting the ball as muh as they could have. This is exactly why I mentioned on the other threads cutting or moving around wasn't going to help Yao much because once a Laker decided to to after Yao, he was comitted to taking the ball away or trapping him and Yao couldn't counter, so why worry about the open man you left behind? You have to give LA credit here also, it wasn't just on the Rockets. We're not the only ones who know about our great record when Yao scores 20+.
No you're right, it's not anything new. Yao has his stretches where he does ge position well, but the he always has problems again. The defense just re-adjusts to whatver he tweaked and it becomes a cycle. Unfortunately we're still considering Yao the go to guy , which at times is the problem istelf because we waste time trying to get the go to guy the ball, he can't get it, then we have to scramble to do something else with the shot clock running down. this has been a problem in the past during crunch time.
why do we have to go back to making him the go-to guy when the last 4-5 games of spreading the ball around in the 4th worked pretty well? we're going to keep having problems scoring in the 4th if we keep doing this. and if we keep doing this, it's going to be a VERY HARD habit to break. like i said. give more plays to scola, landry, wafer, brooks, artest... depending on who's doing well. hell, wafer needed more shots the last game for god sakes. he was the only one making shots in the 4th. scola needed more shots. landry too. those 3 were playing well and yet we ignored them. go to artest when he's playing well. he wasn't so don't bother with him that game. that's all i'm saying. morey has accumulated a lot of offensive talent. we're not a 2-man show with tmac and yao anymore. use those talent.
durvasa, i think the clips where it seems like the pass was a bad one is not always really a bad pass. It's miscommunication between yao and the passer. Technically you can label it a bad pass if if the passer still passes it when they're not on the same page, but i think when fans hear "bad pass" they think the pass must have been uncatchable, which isn't always the same, such as on clip #25. Here, the bounce pass goes right by Yao' left hip, definitely within arm's reach of yao, but Yao's hand is up high. Seems like Yao is only expecting the ball where his hand is, which is logical, but the entry passer sees Gasol can just reach up to swipe it so they realize safer pass is a low pass. So that's the miscommunication. It doesn't help that the entry passer has to fake it several times since their defender is being really active, so i think this confuses Yao as well, he thinks its coming high, then no it's low, then high, etc.
That would be the most logical solution, but given that Yao is the most efficient scorer, it's a shame that he can't be the go to player because he can't get the ball whenever he wants. That's the most frustrating part for me.
Great job, durvasa. Points: - Passers are very well defended, they try to deny the entry pass even conceiding the penetration. Nº1 objective for them is to difficult the entry pass. Anyway, you're an NBA player and must be able to solve the problem, making a good pass or a good penetration (not neccesary a penetration looking for the basket). - What players made some bad passes? Ron did it at 1st half, Brooks and Kyle at 2nd. Battier too does some bad pass. - Players like Wafer, almost never look for Yao. In this game he was hitting the shots, but that's not the way to play. Artest... very poor decisions, all of them SELFISH decisions. I hate that, and if I'm the coach, I put him on the bench. That's a ****ing team game. - Our players have low IQ. Sometimes, opening the angle, making a good cut in the opposite direction, etc, moving your defender, you fix the play... but they can't READ properly the game. Artest and Wafer the 1st ones, followed by Brooks. But even Landry. Finally, remember hoy much we miss Tracy in this sense (great basket IQ, great vision of the court, great passer with both hands), and remember why we signed Brent Barry. This is his strength, that's why he's a "playoff player", because that's the defense we are going to see in playoffs, and he knows the game. We must put him on the court in this games... (5-28 in 3s by the way).
scola shoots 54%. landry shoots 57%. and those guys have the ability to take their guys 1-on-1. not consistently, but for a possession or 2 here and there. and that can happen if we spread the ball around. then we can go back to yao as they have to be more honest in their defense. it's very simple. and yet we keep looking for yao every time down in that laker game and became extremely predictable.
Oh, and another point: This defense is not possible against the Magic. Because they play with a shooting PF. We have one now in Cook. It's a good time to give him a chance, open the court, and create some space for Yao. Adelman, you must read better (and faster) the game and make use of all your weapons.
plus they don't go to Howard most of the time even though their coach is one of the VGs. Don't go to Yao every damn time in the 2nd half.........it should have been a rule for Rockets if they want to win something.
If the rox consider Yao their GO-TO guy he wouldn't average less than 15 shots a game. I dont know much b-ball but dont you need to have about 20 shots a game average to be consider GO-TO guy?
No. Look at all the possessions in which the Rockets were trying to get the ball to Yao. How many of them did he actually take a shot? Not many. And that's not because the Rockets want to limit his shots. The other team has something to do with it, which is clearly evident from the posted clips.
Ok after watching all those clips, it was evident to me that. 1. Yao is dominant if he gets a decent pass and has position 2. Brooks has to do a better job of establishing spacing in order to get Yao the ball properly. For instance, on the play at the end when Gasol stole the ball, I hear alot of people saying that Yao didn't seal his man properly, and allowed Gasol to hang on his shoulder. Well duh, isn't it the PGs job to notice this before he tries a slow bounce pass at a bad angle? 3. Battier was the main root of the problem. Kobe was in the lane more than he was guarding Battier. Battier has to hit those shots consistantly, or he has to make it difficult for Kobe to double down baseline by either making a baseline cut, or spreading himself over towards the elbow or even the angled three point shot instead of standing there in his favorite corner hoping that eventually the pass will come his way. 4. Yao has to either stop dribbling and quickly make the outlet pass (which he did alot, but his players just missed the shots) or feel the double team coming and make a quick move to the hoop. Of all 44 plays, I saw Yao make the right decision on about 85-90 percent of the plays. His teammates need to step it up and make it easier on him by finding spots that he can get them the ball or start hitting the three. Heck even when Yao outletted, it doesn't mean you have to take the three. How about a dribble drive off the outlet, with a complimentary baseline cut?
BTW, great work. I guess without a clip people have difficulty understanding what I've been saying. Like, Yao played pretty much the normal way, like Yao used to be able to put up shots against Lakers when Rafer is here(when double comes from strong side), like they should do a better job getting open on the strong side so that Yao can see who to pass to, etc.
