It will probably last until Wednesday when we play Portland. Seriously though, -If they can crush the Blazers by 30 or 40 points, I will be in some kind of awe, I tell ya. ------------------
Heypard- or anyone else who saw the Atlanta game- just what did the offense look like? Did we actually have some weak-side flexing? Most plays I've seen die if the first two options are prevented. What was so different that made the ISO's unnecessary? If we aren't running two shakes, what are we running? Heypard- when are you going to put up those plays in flash, man? ------------------
Nolen, I was at the Atlanta game on Saturday, and I don't know about weak side flexing or nothing, just a bunch of alley-oops. The crowd loved it - Either Mobley to Francis, Mobley to Cato, Francis to Mobley, or the Wiz and one of the above. Actually , the Mooch got involved bigtime with moving the ball and defense. At one point he stole the inbounds pass and made a quick basket, and then immediately stole it again. No way is Rudy tellin em to tank it! ROCKS ------------------
Nolen, Rocks is right...many alley-oops. Here's a quick list of what comes to mind: 1. Alley-oops. Including the playground alley-oops and fast break ones, the rockets seem to be showcasing some called-play ones. Cato (mainly, but sometimes SA/KT)will be weakside/lowpost in front of his man and spin around him for an alley-oop. These are called plays in the sense the defense did not really make a mistake on converage, rather the timing is perfect and obviously well-practiced. When I was on the 8th row, a was in line for two alley-oops from a vantage point behind the passer. Both passes were made when Cato began his spin, and actually loses eye-contact with the passer, then he jumps, finds the ball in the air and ooof. The defender is like a corner back who is helpless by the timing of the play (not because they were out of position or anything). I suspect the success of this play is directly proportional to the amount of attention the defenses give our perimeter men. Beautiful. Rudy has apparently drawn up a play of uptmost simplicity to make the defense remember to watch our weakside lowpost players. Bombs away! 2. Next on the list is clearly the Wizard plays. These are primarily your standard Flex Double Pick (eg. Reggie Miller coming around double picks on the weakside and getting a pass at the high post). It is Flex in the since Francis first has the ball on the opposite side and will keep the defense pinned with a threat to run a play himself. In fact, he will if the defense becomes preoccupied in not letting Wizard come around the picks. 3. Francis and Mobley getting low post entry passes. They come around baseline picks and get a pass in the low post. First option is a 5-10" turnaround J. Mobley tends to make up his mind whether to shoot immediately, whereas SF might break some ankles first. This has some flex to it. Those come to mind rather visually. The other thing is our tendency in the game to simply force action through dribbling rather than settling for 3s. A combination of doing the straight drives and dishes, but also what seems to be a group awareness to patiently dribble out of the double team/traps rather than give-up with a passive swing pass. Moochie and Mobley seem to have slowed down somewhat by dribbling around until they have a crease to pass through. I was particulary happy to see Mobley do this once. About flex-ing Nolen...what I look for is not so much that the offense has a play on the weakside ready, but that when the ball ends up there, you find that the offense doesn't break down to improvisation. Look for whether the weakside knows how to handle strongside roles and vice versa. Fluidness is what it tends to look like. With picks continuing, and drives being timed with cutters, etc. Some will say sarcastically, Brilliant heypartner!! you're saying we should just move the ball around, drive and look for cutters; that what everyone is saying. Yep. But what I'm also saying is that this is harder to do from strongside to weakside than many fans appreciate. Most teams have no ability to flip roles as the ball passes around. In the most simple terms, that is Flex Motion. Harder to accomplish than you think. Dean Smith, Knight and Coach K make you expect it see it, but it is hard in the NBA to do. Five guys making quick decisions and quick transition from strong to weak side is a must in the 24 sec clock. NOTE: you won't see much flexing to the weakside when the Wizard has a hot hand! ...I don't think so!!!
