What we also know that the Rockets are: Offense - 1st in FG% with 51.4 - 5th in FT% with 77.4 - 3rd in FTs attempted and 3rd in makes - 8th in 3P% with 36% - 14th in Assist per game - 8th in TOs per game Defense - 5th in PPG with 90.3 - 7th in FG% - 2nd in defensive rebounds with 99, tied for 4th in totall rebounds - 15th in steals per game and 10th in blocks per game Conclusion: The only thing really negative is steals, blocks and assists. The rest is all pretty good considering how the Rockets have played. The FT% and FG% is what shocked me the most, because we were terrible in FG% during the regular season and I counted a lot of missed FTs. Also the overall defense has been great though you would not really think looking at steals, blocks and opp FG%. The rebounding is great and blocks have picked up last night so we're in good shape. We need to move the ball better and keep up the good work on the boards, block shots and shoot better from behind the arc.
They could go small but that means they will not use Oden who has shown some of his physical offensive abilities during Game 3. I have been reading the Portand fans website, a lot of them think they should use more of Oden in the offense to 1)tire yao on the defensive end 2) provoke fous on yao 3) open the perimeters shooters. I doubt he will be successful on that because he still makes too many dump fouls (normal for a "semi rookie"). If Oden plays more, that will not allow the Blazers to use Aldridge to front Yao. Also, I hope their shooters will still be off on their shooting (except for Fernandez). If so, assuming we play with the same intensity, we will take Game 4 without too much suspense.
i disagree. i think the blazers will stick to their "sandwiching" of yao. both games they've done it they won one out of two, with the 2nd one being down to the wire. i see no reason for them to change their strategy as it obviously minimizes Yao's effectiveness.
I like Lowry and Wafer penetration. These are the type of players we need....who will attack the basket relentlessly. Back then, we don't have these players...Luther Head and Rafer can not do these things. I also think Lowry mentality of attacking is an indicative of what a great player he is going to become later on. Great players like Jordan and Kobe, they attack the basket to get the team back into the game. They don't only settle for jump shots. Only does it when they're open. But their main goal is attack when the game is on the line or sense the team is losing the battle trying to change the tile of the game. Wafer attack unconsciously even when we're up by 20. He's like Lowry on drug.
This is a little disingenuous. You're basically saying we blew them out and they came back because of luck. What I saw was a struggling Rockets offense that ALLOWED them to comeback in the first place. We scored just 38 points in the 2nd half and were outscored by 8. It wasn't just a bunch of lucky threes they made either. I remember a series where they got three consecutive dunks by Oden, Oden, and Aldridge, which led to an Adelman timeout. Aldridge started the 4th quarter making a jumpshot, making the score 66-61. Sorry, but I wouldn't call that controlling the game wire to wire. In fact, there was some luck on our side that the game didn't get closer. One was AB rebounding his own missed FT, another was Portland being called for a foul on Battier, when it looked like Battier just fell down.
Good post, but if Aldridge is guarding Yao, do you still think they will have Oden or Pryzbilla in the game. If so, Scola should camp out in the 15 to 18 ft range and hit jumper after jumper and more importantly leave Yao inside to grab offensive rebounds especially with Aldridge fronting him. If they are in, that gives Yao someone to guard cuz we know he would struggle mightily if he had to guard Aldridge or Outlaw (assuming that is who plays PF if Oden and Pryzbilla are not in). It must be frustrating to Yao as it seems the Blazers are more worried about stopping him then winning the game. It would be the same as Battier and Artest double teaming Roy the whole game and keeping him in single digits only to watch the other Blazers run wild.
Good point. I think the fact that Yao's immobility makes this doable with 1.5 people is the part that stings. It would not be quite as obvious as Ron/Shane sticking to Roy like glue leaving Batum, Fernandez, or Blake wide open. I think the Blazers may be putting too much stock into the blowout win in game 1. Part of that was Yao being perfect. Part of that was the rest of the Rockets nailing their shots as well. But I think a big part of it was that the Blazers just got steamrolled from the start because they didnt know what to expect. I wonder how they would do playing Yao straight up and making the offense work to get a good shot. Double Yao after the catch, but I think its only going to get worse for the Blazers if they keep playing 4 on 3 when they focus on Yao. I mean, its only two games, but in game 2 it eeked them out a win. Game 3 was an eek out win by the Rockets. Could game 4 be a comfortable win by the Rockets, followed by a blowout win in game 5 as the Rockets get more used to that defense??
As long as we can win, no one cares about how many points Yao scored, but the fact is : When Yao was involved more in the game, we can win big. Otherwise, when Yao was ignored, we lost to the Blazers in the last two games, one lost 4 points, and the other win 3 points, that's -1 totally. If we keep Yao out of the game, I say we got no future in the game 4. Do u guys agree? Maybe not.
Defense is the winning card for us. Offensively we often struggle in the 2nd half so we need to come out and build comfortable lead. If we don't have that cushion to compensate for inefficient offense in the 4th it'll be tough for us to win.
Sure, have Aldredge front Yao, he'll be abused and worn out by half time. And that leaves Prizgirla and/or Oldman defending Scola and/or Landry on the wings. Good luck with that! Porland's gamble with fronting and double teaming Yao is that our 3s and 4s won't consistently make those open 15-17 foot shots. My money's on the Rockets.
they had a different defensive gameplan in the 2nd half. JVG pointed this out. they fronted yao with minimal weakside help and this allowed them to recover/rotate to the other guys MUCH better. that was why they outscored us by 8 points in the 2nd half and we only scored 38 pts. in the 2nd half, they usually committed a 2nd guy behind yao as well in front of yao. so i think they're going to continue with this 2nd half defensive gameplan and our guys gotta step up. yao is not gonna dominate this series for us offensively with the fronting so our guys gotta step up. portland is not going to struggle offensively all game and in the 2nd half they picked it up a little bit. gotta continue to go to luis and carl landry when they are in the game. they can score v. these guys individually and within the flow of the offense.
Considering last game there was 21 assists on 32 made baskets I'd say the team is getting better. Thats the high for the series, with 12 in the loss in Portland, and 16 assists in the blowout win. Going from 12 assists to 21 assists against that fronting Blazer D is a good thing.
i'm not surprised. we don't have any playmakers on this team. brooks, wafer, artest are all guys who look for their shots first and only pass when they must. so those things -> low assists. but we're making shots so it's not a problem right now.
even with Aldridge alone on Yao, it'll still be tough for him to catch the ball, let alone score with it. and the other players wont have as much room since they're not doubling him. Yao has to impose his will like he did in game 1
I agree. Unfortunately, while Landry's around the Portland bigs' level, skill-wise, all of them have anywhere from 2-5 inches on him. His ability to finish is slowly being exposed with the absence of Tracy McGrady. His J won't be falling all the time.
Maybe, but I attribute his play to his injury more than anything else. For instance, he barely got in the air for a jumpball during Game 3, which was actually his best game so far. On the positive side, his jump shot is still falling.
how many pts did they score, how many fouls did they draw, or how many assists did those penetration "at will" result in? fronting yao certainly HAS worked for them. just look at yao's offensive output. that WAS the objective of their defensive scheme. how to defend yao is not the only thing on mcmillian's plate. it's not the only factor that decides which team wins. there are lot other factors that are just as important. how's this point different from #2? yao can defend well alright. but when he scores, we won easy. when he doesn't, we have close games - a road loss and a home win, both close ones. too early to say. it's just one game. overall landry has been below my expectations in the series. agreed. i called for lowry to start a few games after he got here. the question is, why does he only have so many minutes? shouldn't it be a lot more? you have already said this.
This Rockets team with so many players that play with heart and desire that i don't see them losing to Portland at all. Yao - extremely competitive Shane - extremely competitive Artest - hate losing, relentless excessively competitive Scola - All Argentinians are competitive Brooks - Not sure about him but he play like it Lowry - extremely competitive as demonstrate by his desire to attack Wafer - Not sure but do play like dogs out there Landry - Can be competitive Chuck Hayes - extremely competitive..never give up. So basically we have at least 6 players out of 9 from the rotations that are extremely competitive. This is very important because it's rare that you find players that have competitive nature in them. Sometimes you see players with great talents but non-competitive (see Tmac) or players that have extreme competitiveness but lack talents like those blue collar guys. Or players that have talents but lack competitiveness and IQ (see Oden).
