I kinda agree..Sometimes it takes AB forever to get Yao the ball, and usually by then Yao doesn't have that position anymore.Rafer was good at getting Yao the ball at the right time, especially when Yao would repost..I remember many times, Rafer would whip that ball back into Yao, where all Yao had to do was lay it in. I haven't seen much of that lately, especially in this series..The brief second that AB hesitates in getting Yao the ball makes all the difference... While AB is obviously one of the quickest point guards in the league and obviously a better shooter than Rafer, I think Rafer was a better "quarterback" for the offense. The offense just doesn't look as smooth as it used to..Too much dribbling at time..In addition, it seems like AB isn't as aggressive as when he was coming off the bench, and his main priorty was to score. Now, he as to defer to Yao, Ron and Scola at times..Having said that, I do like the AB/Kyle combo.
Can you please explain to me when we had Rafer why we did so poorly against the warriors who fronted Yao then, often resulting in a Rafer turnover when passing?
All aaron had to do was to give the ball to battier in the corner who would have made the entry pass. Side to side, like you said. Aaron inexplicably swung it to the wrong side for whatever reason. I know Aaron is probably the team's worst entry passer but all he had to do was swing it to Battier. Unless Aaron can regularly predict the future and anticipate whether or not *Battier* will turn it over, he shouldn't of swung the ball away. Aaron was in no position to judge spacing or turnovers in that instance, and considering he's about the worst entry passer on the team with a tendency to dribble-dribble and then get blocked (like our last few possessions last night before the Blazers started fouling on purpose), yeah, he should just swing the ball to the corner where battier will throw it in to Yao with his man sealed. This situation happened at least 3 times last night. Was that a lot? Considering that Yao's been hovering around 6 shots a game and that Aaron's made about maybe 1 entry pass to Yao all post-season, yeah, it was significant IMO.
We won the first game on the road, barely lost the second game, & won once again last nights. I don't see what the problem seems to be here??? I understand if we we're blown out or AB just feel apart but nether of these things happened... This shouldn't even be an issue:
Just to be fair, Alston's strength was getting his teammates involved and running the offense. Many point to his assist totals as a way to offset his bad shooting. Well, in 10 play-off starts for Skip(wont count his game 6 where he only played a half) he averaged 5.1 APG. In 3 play-off starts for Brooks, he is averaging 5.7 APG. While thats not an eye opening improvement over Skip, his shooting over Rafer is. So please OP, check some numbers before you make a thread based on something you think you recall from years past about the point guard for the Rockets. Also remember that Skip played against the Jazz who did not deny Yao the ball often. SO option 1 usually was available, at least to start the offense. Oh, and that T-Mac guy was out there helping keep the Jazz D honest as well.
you're looking at them individually, as in, who playes better when tey have a bad shooting night, but overall, houston doesnt play well when rafer has a bad shooting night because he took so many shots, houston can still play well with brooks shooting poorly because he doesnt over do it and creates havoc with his speed, allowing others to get open and hit their shots.. So Rafer goes to Yao, force feeds him, only to have Yao doubled. Then what? Yao kicks it back out for Rafer for a brick? Cus he's not going to drive it in or get the defense scrambling. Brooks may not always get the official assist, but once he gets the defense running around their out of position, then he passes the ball around which only makes the defense even more behind, then that guy passes it again, etc. Eventually the defense is too far behind to catch up and LAndry has a dunk, shane a layup, scola an open shots, Wafer a dunk, etc...
The Blazers are the best matchups that the Rockets can have in the playoffs. Brooks plays well against Steve Blake. There's nothing to b**** about. But fanz here like to jump into conclusion with the results of 1-2 games. By the end of the day, the law of average will hold true. The Rockets won't play Blake every game. So, Brooks is still a 40.7% shooter with 36.5% in 3PT. With Brooks low ~1.9 AST/TO ratio, he's far from a qualified starter at 1.
I miss the wildcard the Rafer was... AB is good, but I feel like the man had potential to contribute to a championship. We could really use his playoff experience.
Seriously durvusa, with your own analysis of all the play Yao was involved in (which was a good thread and kudos for your analysis), you simply can't deny than Rafer was a better entry passer than AB. Again, the 6:40 mark of the 4th quarter tonight says it all when Yao sealed off his man and AB was in a perfect position to pass to Yao. No way would Rafer turn Yao down - Rafer would have gotten Yao the ball. As for Battier, he would have gotten Yao the ball too at the 6:40 mark of the 4th quarter.
You owe me an apology after tonight's game. But you are probably so low on the totem pole, that is impossible for you. Don't tell me AB has superior passing skills to Rafer. The 6:40 mark of the 4th quarter in tonight's game, when Yao sealed off his man and AB didn't pass to him was the defining point of AB compared to Rafer. There is no way Rafer wouldn't have gotten the ball to Yao in AB's shoes.
Always keep it in ur mind, kids,AB is our future!! The one shoule be traded is YAO. Besides, it's RA's command to let Brooks drive 15 seconds and shoot a jump shot or layup, if AB failed, then we can give Yao the pass with 5 seconds left. Dare AB not to pass the ball to Yao even he sucked like hell on FG%? I dont really think so. It's Rick·I dont know·Aldeman's strategy. Rick's offense ranks the 17th in the whole NBA, which is the same rank in 2005 and 2007 we got when JVG was the coach. But the defence seemed diffrent between them, and the benchs were likely one is heaven, and the other is hell.
