I think the best way to understand one’s own weakness is to understand how the other team had success with the Rockets. I believe the best approach to defeat the Rocket is to completely take Ming out of the game. But if they use 2 or 3 guys on Ming all the time, they are giving too much advantage to the Rockets. I think the best approach is to use a rugged power forward to front Ming one on one. I am not talking about double or triple team Ming at all. Just a straight up man-to-man defense is all that is needed. The reason teams hated to front players is that will give too much advantage to Ming IF he can get the ball. He will be in the heart of the defense IF he got the ball. It means either a dunk or a foul. Even if he didn’t get the ball, he is in a position to get offensive rebounds. But at this stage of his career, he is a telephone booth rebounder. In addition, since the majority of our shot will be parameter shots, the missed shot will be more than likely bounced far away from the basket. But if you looked at how we feed our inside players, one thing that strike out is a total lack of spontaneity. The only way the ball will feed into a post player is when the defender is set in stone for 2 or 3 seconds behind our post player. With every one and their grandma know where the ball is going, our perimeter player will lob the ball with the trajectory that last about 3 or 4 seconds to get to our post player. The only exception is our power forwards, both Eddie Griffin and Taylor had shown they know how to make beautiful inlet passes. That is where the second part of the strategy comes in. The defender will only defend our power forwards when they are inside. When Griffin gets to the three point line, he can have that line drive open all day. As matter of fact, I would use Griffin’s defender to keep track of our guards. By taking Ming completely out of the game, we don’t have any inside game. Actually, I think both Griffin and Taylor have some nice inside game, but Griffin will never get the ball even if he has inside position and Taylor only plays with the second unit. That is when our guards will decide that it is time for them to “show their leadership” by taking the game into their own hands. No, I am not saying our Franchise is selfish at all. As matter of fact, I think it is exactly the opposite. Francis wanted to feed Ming (at least for the first three quarters, but that is the different story). But he is good at scoring and horrible at passing and atrocious at turnovers. He is not an instinctive passer and he is absolutely horrified at anything different. Our other parameter players are pretty much the same also. Take last night’s Steve’s lob pass to Ming for example. Ming ran all the way back with only Grant fronting him and no other Heat players between Ming and the basket. Steve lobbed the ball and Ming just stand there. First of all, it is telling me that they had terrible communications. I don’t care how fast Ming is, if he is in the act of pushing grant, there is no way he can reverse pivot and get that lob pass. There got to be some kind of communications (eye, hand, or verbal) between them to indicate Ming is ready to receive the pass. Secondly, the lob pass is just a horrible pass. Even if Ming is ready, even if he can receive the ball, he will still be 15 feet on the left side of the basket. Not a lot he can do! That is telling me that it take Steve 3 quarters and with absolutely no Heat players inside for Steve to make a lob pass, and even then, he made the pass so far away from any Heat players, any advantage of a lob pass will be lost even if Ming can get the ball. It is telling me that Steve is desperately trying to pass to Ming and he is also so horrified to make a turnover. Ming is not without blame also. During the lob pass, I believe Ming raised his right hand. Assuming that is the signal to his teammates that he is ready to receive the pass when clearly he is not. Again, I don’t know what is the actual signal and I am just guessing. In addition, he is spending so much of his effort from stopping being fronted he can’t get position for offensive rebounds. Advice to Ming, if the other team willing to front you all the way to the three point line, there is absolutely NOTHING you or anybody can do to stop being fronted. If you can’t get the ball, get in position for the offensive rebounds. Any comments,
i am starting a petition to make tie22fighter the new head coach of the houston rockets. i will be sending the petition to the mayor, the owner, saddam hussein, ...etc.
Well, maybe my title is misleading. But in order to find a solution, one must know the problem first. Thereby, the purpose of the this thread. The strategy I proposed is gimmicky, but can't anybody think it won't work well against the Rockets?
Tiefighter, I don't think speedball was mocking your post, I think it was in reference to the Rudy petition thread. I thought it was a well thought out post, and I agree with pretty much all of it. Eddie Griffin RARELY gets a post pass. I'd like to see him get the ball fed to him a little more, especially like last night when he was having a good game. Chances are his post move will fail, but he needs the experience to get better, and it's preferable to Cat clanking a shot or Posey missing a layup.
Eddie Griffin is the only player that is doing fairly well. He's usually the inconsistent one. Now it's Mobley and Posey. Morris has been doing all right but he never gets the ball. EDDIE GRIFFIN MAKES GREAT PASSES TO YAO. But Mo Taylor? No...
Excuse me? Mo plays GREAT with Ming. It's actually a shame that they rarely play together. Don't you remember earlier in the season when they were on the floor at the same time and Mo would be virtually the only one who'd pass to Yao? Everyone was raving about him back then. It's not like Mo has changed his game to be selfish around Ming, the rotation has.
The only game that they played well together in was the Los Angeles Lakers game where Yao was 9-9 with 20 points. Mo Taylor helped a lot. But that was like the only time they played together. Glen Rice was the only one who would pass to Yao. I would like MO and CATO along with Yao!
How to stop the Rockets? Well, you have to be a sub .500 team. If you are, just play hard-nosed defense. The Rockets wont expect such hard-nosed defense from such a "sucky" team. By the time the Rockets wakeup from the shell shock, it's already the 3rd quarter, and the Rox are down by 15.
do opponents need to design a plan to stop the rockets? all they have to do is leave griffin, mobley and posey and send 4 guys at francis, who will dribble between his legs a gazillion times before charging to basketball, swinging the balls left and right and shooting up a ridiculous shot.
I am glad there are some intelligent discussion here. One of the purpose of this thread is to point out the problem of our backcourt is not of intend but rather capability. Bacause our back court players are not instinctive passers, either we got one who is instinctive or just emphasize this aspect of the game in practice. But one thing I am certain is that more team will front Ming without double teaming him in the future. The reason team hasn't really done that is because it is just a gimmicky defense, any fundamentally solid team will have tear this defense apart. Unfortunately, Rockets is not a fundamentally solid team.
I'm glad there is a rational dicussion here. Seriously, Houston is under-utilizing Yao big time. For all Yao's weakness, a properly used Yao is a devastating weapon. Unfortunately, if Houston continues their boneheaded plays, I can only suggests Yao go along with the flow and start playing street balls with Francis. Heck, it won't even be that bad. Yao is a quite good shooter himself. If he starts playing in the high post position, he won't get wear out quickly, he can still make passes to other teammates and he just might get hot enough to shoot Houston into a victory in the dreaded games vs sub 500 teams. Am I being sarcastic? Maybe, but I always thought one of Yao's strength is also his biggest weakness. He is too much of a structured player. He does only what he is told. He doesn't adapt to changes in games well, or not yet in NBA games. If he wants to be a great player, he needs to learn how to take over a game, which may mean doing things outside of a game plan. For Francis, he needs to know WHEN and HOW doing things outside of a game plan.
Interesting point. Seems that Yao and Francis are direct opposites. Francis: Wild, woolly, and creative. Athletic. But lacks discipline and fundamentals. Yao: Domesticated, level headed and structured. Fundamental. But, lacks athletic aggressiveness.
Chenyg, I'll have to agree with your post. It's probably one of the more objective posts on this board, good post.
