You guys know that I'm a pretty patient sort and I don't often question decisions made by the coaching staff of the Rockets because what I know about coaching pro hoops couldn't fill up even one page in their 1000-page playbook, but one thing really bothered me today. I love Matt Bullard. He's a great guy and a great shooter. But, what the hell was he doing on the floor for such a long period of time in the fourth. I understand Taylor and Thomas (or Rogers) in the frontcourt, but Bullard had no business trying to guard Szerbiak. Where exactly was Anderson? Personally, I would've put Mobley at the point and run with Anderson and Williams before going with Norris (who had a rough game), Mobley and Bullard. The one thing they needed badly in the 4th was players to stop the T-Wolves. They were able to cut down on Garnett's involvement but Szerbiak and Brandon were killing them as was Billups. Anderson would've helped much more than Bullard in that situation, IMO. ------------------ The way to use life is to do nothing through acting, The way to use life is to do everything through being. - Lao-Tzu
I have no idea, but the only answer I could come up with is maybe, Rudy is trying to match Wallys shooting, with our own? Instead of putting a defender on him. ------------------ "Kenny, The Basketball scientist, Whoo Hoo." Charley B, on TNT
Why wont anyone tell me who played Center ------------------ "Its a good thing they don't make posters of European players" -Walt Williams after getting "posterized" by Zan Tabak .
I would like to see Langhi get some minutes, he only lacks experience, and I love the way he plays with such fire and energy. This guy should be part of this growing process, Walt is not cutting it. I would start Langhi, play Bull behind him, and trade Walt for a bag of year old saltines. By the way Langhi is shooting better then both Bull and Walt...take a look. http://www.clutchcity.net/players.cfm DaDakota [This message has been edited by DaDakota (edited January 02, 2001).]
Oh, and Mo played Center, according to the ESPN boxscore. http://espn.go.com/nba/2001/20010101/boxscore/houmin.html DaDakota ------------------ If Mankind evolved from Monkeys and Apes, then why are there still Monkeys and apes?
Great point Jeff. I kept saying the same thing throughout the fourth quareter and couldnt understand where the hell Anderson was. I thought Rudy made some poor decisions in the second half. Maybe one 2 many drinks on new year's eve! I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. Rockets should win tomorrow nite vs. Cavs I think so dont be too upset all you Rocket-lovers! ------------------
For the most part Taylor played "center". The Wolves started Nesterovich but he did not play much. Dean Garrett (their backup) did not play at all, so most of the time, neither team had a true center on the floor. ------------------
Bullard had Sam Mitchell for 1/2 of the 4thQ. He had LaPhonso Ellis for awhile and Wally World after Francis fouled out. Bull gave up a TOTAL of 3 points in set offense situations (he fouled KG on a switch). The Rockets (specifically Steve and Cuttino) could NOT stop Brandon. That's what lost the game in the 4thQ. ------------------ GATER
How many times did someone BLOW by Bullard only to be fouled by someone else or Someone rotate and their man got and easy basket on an assist. Bullard is a defensive Liability. IT is more than how many points his man scores. . personally. I think since we chant DEFENSE wins games [Mr.Rudy] but in the Defensive unit in the 4th. NOT WALT . . NOT BULL. Rocket River ------------------
Rocket River - The answer to your question is NONE. The only Rockets getting "blown by" were our guards. I replayed the tape of the game and this one is not NOT Bullards fault. No way in hell. If you have a tape, go back and look. If you don't, I'll gladly e-mail you a TWolves set by set for the 4thQ. Brandon flat out torched Mobley and Francis. The tape doesn't lie. -------------- GATER [This message has been edited by GATER (edited January 02, 2001).] [This message has been edited by GATER (edited January 02, 2001).]
Gater, While I agree that Brandon did most of the damage, I saw Bullard's bullfighting move on more than one occasion. Generally, it was not his man, but he would be the second line of defense and he would step aside a bit = easy score. Not just his faut, but still some not so great defense. Shandon seemed to be playing pretty wellbefore. Not great, but more contribution than Bull/Walt. ------------------ EZLN
Actually, Gater, to be slightly more specific, it wasn't the guards that cost us the game in the fourth, it was the poor rotations on defense, ESPECIALLY against the pick and roll. I didn't see a big man show ONCE against one of the T-Wolves guards and our guards weren't able to get over the picks. ------------------ The way to use life is to do nothing through acting, The way to use life is to do everything through being. - Lao-Tzu
Gater, What type of VCR are you using? One that edits Bullards mistakes apparently. I have to agree with Rocket River on this one in that Bullard is in fact a defensive liability (to slow to guard most small forwards and not enough bulk to guard powerforwards). The only time that Bull benefits us is when his offensive game is on and he stretches out the other teams defense. With that being said Bull is not the reason why we lost this game. Nor are our guards defensive play the reason why we lost this game. Our TEAM DEFENSE is the reason why we lost this game. Our defense was awful in the second half. How many times did we see Brandon or some other Twolve gaurd use the pick to loose one of our guards. If there was one change that I would like to make to Rudy's defensive philosophy it would be: how we defend the pick-n-roll or just picks in general. I am so tired of seeing guards get penetration or open jumpers off of picks. At this point I could care less about mismatches, just get a body in front of a player. Please. Also forget about weak side help. What is weak side help, we have none. When are guards do get burned and the opposing teams player penetrates, someone from the weak side should abandon their man to cut the player off. Doesn't happen for us. Which leaves me with two questions. Does Rudy not see this problem? Or does Rudy see it but chooses not to change it? ------------------
Jeff - I 100% agree, but that big man on the screen roll was Bull only 2 (maybe 3) times. The other times it was 'Los, KT, or MO. The majority of the quarter, Bullard was on Sam Mitchell who was playing a perimeter game and was not involved in the screen rolls. The majority of TWolves pick and rolls were done with Garnett (and Brandon). Bullard was never assigned to guard KG. My apologies for being so intense, but I just get tired of revisionists bashing a player they dislike and ignoring the facts. Bullard is not as popular as Mobley but NOBODY mentions Cat hogging the ball the entire 4thQ. Forget Cuttino's 10 points from the line. The Rockets as a team were 3 for 17 in the 4thQ. Nobody could get a groove because they never touched the ball. Who wants to play D when they get zero shots. The Rockets had 1 (ONE!!!) assist the entire 4thQ. They trapped, Bullard played the passing lane and deflected the ball to Cat who went against Szczerbiak. Cat made a circus mid-air wrap around pass to Moochie for the only assist of the quarter. I do not propose that Matt Bullard is the epitome of NBA defense. How can it be that the Rockets play 12 minutes with 1 assist and their fans blame one individuals defense as the root of the loss. This is pure BS and is totally ridiculous. Has anyone leveling all this criticism gone back and watched the tape? ------------------ GATER
Gater I agree wholeheartedly about Mobley and his lack of passing in the 4th quarter. I mentioned it in another thread. That kind of ball-hogging affects the entire team and has, at least, some impact on the defense. The other players have to be getting frustrated by not seeing the ball on offense. ------------------
We started 3 guards and two forwards- Mooch, Steve, Shandon, Kenny, and Mo. Almost as small as those four guard Phoenix lineups which had KJ, Nash, Kidd, Chapman, Robinson/manning. ------------------ President of the Charles Barkley fan club...Oh he retired? When?
Glad to see everyone is coming to the realisation that the rockets Defense is what is stopping them from being a force and winning piles of games. With the broad range of players being criticised for their poor Defense, and with his love of playing Walt and Bull, then maybe the Biggest problem with the Rockets Defense is RUDY. It seems more and more that RUDY has no idea about defense, especially when you no longer have the best defensive player of the year playing centre and covering for everyone else's mistakes. ------------------ "What is it with this girl, has she got beer flavoured nipples??" - Heath Ledger in 10 things I hate about you
