All i know is we went out there and tried to play Nelly style ball against GS. May as well have changed our jerseys to Houston Warriors. My brother from the Bay Area called me laughing in tears watching our team try to play pure offensive small ball style against GS and asked if we had secretly tried to hire Nelly after his firing from GS. It was like a video game game gone stupid. All that being said, what is our supposed style of play this season? Whatever it is that RA's trying, it only seems like we're getting the offensive part because our defense looks non existent. I can't even remember the last time another team dropped 130+ pts against us or us scoring 120+ and losing. BTW, if these 2 games are anything to go by, AB is the second coming of The Microwave. Perhaps he's better suited to be our 6th man a la JT of the Mavs. Someone to inject energy from the the 2nd unit. Either sit AB and start Lowry or sit Martin and start Lee. He and martin are getting torched out there on the defensive end. I know, nothing new, but i doubt we can get far with the combination of 2 pure offense players in the back court especially in what's shaping up to be the golden age of PGs.
Because Adelman expects his players to be able to play man-defense on the perimeter, without bailing them out with double teams 20+ feet away from the basket. The core defensive philosophy of our team is to give up contested, long, 2-point shots. By doubling Ellis in the way you suggest, we are subverting our fundamentals -- what made us a great defensive team in the past. The Rockets would prefer to give up contested 2-pointers to Ellis than to open up 3-point shots or shots at the rim. Moreover, doubling away from the basket like that hurts our defensive rebounding positioning. Its playing the percentages, and if Ellis happens to be really hot than you just hope to weather that storm. That said, if the Rockets had different personnel -- a Scottie Pippen type player on the perimeter, or a dominant shot-blocker in the middle -- they would have more leeway in going for aggressive traps.
Nice perspective. I admit I wanted to see a few double-teams thrown at Ellis last night. I think your reasoning is correct, and it's an understandable decision by Adelman not to double. It's important to stick with your defensive scheme and build confidence in it this early in the season (game 2!). I'm not sure letting Ellis shoot 70% whether he was wide open or guarded closely is the best way to go about doing that, but I get the reasoning behind it. Understanding doesn't make it taste any better, of course. Watching Ellis make shot after shot after layup after shot was just SO. FRUSTRATING. Particularly after defense pretty much cost us the game in LA. Not much to do but hope it improves, because no trades are imminent in week 1.
I know all of that durv but there are nights when a player is going off that you have to adjust your plan. Because sitting back and continually getting punched over and over is stupid. Make an adjustment, there are just times when the best most well thought out plans are not going to work, you have to be flexible enough to adjust on those nights. DD
From Clutch's writeup: [rquoter]Rockets coach Rick Adelman called Ellis’ performance a “great effort,” but he wasn’t happy with his team’s defensive execution. “We did not shut off his drives and he was able to get to the basket on us,” said Adelman. “We talked about exactly what he was going to do when he gets the ball on the right side of the court when he comes off pick and rolls. You can’t wait and then be surprised when he attacks the basket. We’ve got to get over there, load up and zone up. Curry is a great shooter but they don’t have a lot of other guys who shoot the ball all that well. It was like he surprised us or something.”[/rquoter]
You can't let good shooters get into a rythmn. We probably should've fouled Ellis hard a few times to disrupt his shots. We never should've given Steve Blake and Brown those open looks from beyond the arc. Our perimeter defense is not very good at this point of the season.
durvasa: The strategy you advocate and Adelman carried out lost us a winnable game, therefore it was the wrong strategy. Trapping an unstoppable Ellis and letting Carney/Wright try and beat you from outside was the obvious way to go.
The answer is to trade Brooks and Jeffries to Cleveland, then trade Battier, Varejao, Budinger, Hill, and the 2011 Knicks swap to Denver for Melo. Then start Lowry at the point alongside Martin, Melo, Yao, and Scola. That way you can actually defend guys on the perimeter.
Dear DD, you are right on target. At least by halftime there needed to be a serious coaching move to take Ellis away from the offense. I am beginning to see Adelman feeling too good about himself.
So you're giving up Brooks, Battier, Budinger, Hill, Jeffries, and the 2011 Knicks swap for one 2nd-tier star who might leave at the end of the season anyway? Dayum.
Agree here. I am never against calling people out. I don't think any great defensive coaching mind would necessarily have played Hill though. Lee probably made Hill his pet in practice last year... JVG wouldn't have played Hill. Dampier on the other hand...
Its only the wrong strategy if you believe that sending traps 20+ feet away from the basket would have given us a better chance of winning. Now, the Rockets of course didn't play a perfect defensive game. But I don't think it was a failure in strategy; it was a failure in execution.
Not that complicated, don't need to actually obtain Varejao. Denver recieves : Varejao, Battier, Hill, and Patterson Houston recieves: Carmelo, Mo Williams, and Leon Powe Cleveland recieves : Brooks, Jeffries and Patterson
this team is definitely lacking defense.. I totally agree with you. First Shannon Brown and Steve Blake breaking the Laker game open with like 5 minutes to go in the 4th .. and then Monta Ellis going for 46!!!! Wow , that was sad to watch, almost as sad to see Yao over on the bench ...I hope we can get a win here soon
This must be the year Houston teams will score a ton of points and so will their opponent. At least the football team has a winning record. So the Rockets score 110 points on one night and 128 on another but are 0-2. I find this bothersome. This team has definitely molded itself into an Adelman type team.
