I don't disagree with some of what you say. I just really don't see TOO much difference between what they are running the last few games vs. last year. There are SOME different looks, but it's still mainly finding a way to get Yao the ball, and you feed off of that if he's playing well. As far as Tracy goes, I think he was mixing up his driving and jumpshots well. I think while playing hurt, he obviously settled outside more b/c he simply couldn't drive. And perhaps that's why he decided it's better to sit out since he's not helping his team if he can't be a more balanced attacker. I'm not saying they don't move brutha. I'm saying if you were to make a weighted list the reasons of why they seem to be playing better, I'd be more inclined to put actually making shots, hussle, finding a way to get Yao the ball. I'm saying that the ball movement or just general motion of the offense is not much different from the beginning of the season. Many of us here, braodcasters, etc. made many comments about how it looks much easier to score. We are not all of the sudden moving better. We are making shots better (making vs. missing). Personally, I can't give Alston's recent play enough credit for our team's recent play. To me, he has been the key. His finishing and making from the 3 is huge. He's always directed people, nothing new there. He's always pushing the ball, nothing new there. He's the same, except he's making his shots. If....big IF, he can continue to do that when Tracy comes back, the league should seriously look out. If Rafer can continue his good play, we are back to what we thought at the beginning of the season. We have so many people on the bench that can potentially go off. T
Yes, we are playing better without Tmac because of the ball moves quickly and the team plays better overall team defense. Tmac is a great one on one defender but he lacks the team concept of defense and rotating to the open shooter. In addition, when he's hurt, he slows down the fast breaking ability of rafer, luther, and AB. Yes we play better without our McLady.
You are really singing high praise for the Mac. If you could remember, words like " I will keep shooting" " I won't stop shooting" frequently coming out of Tmac's big mouth. He is a volume shooter. He needs a lot of shots to reach his percentage. And he took 4-6 "challenging " jump shots every game. And most of these shots won;t fall and typically result in a easy basket for the opponent team because of the long rebount resulting from his miss. And he would at lease take 2 shots per game when no Rox players are around, at least, for a rebound from his miss. And in crunch time, he has a very bad habit of jacking up jump shots with 20 seconds on the shot clock, either we are leading or we are trailing. Tmac is great player. His passes/dunks are fantastic. But the habit he developed when he was the only scoreing option in Orlando, sometimes, is killing the Rox team.
Precisely. Most dont really KNOW what will happen when T-Mac comes back in. They all assume that the offense was the same all year as it is now and that T-Mac brought it down. Now that he is out its been given a chance to breathe. Rick has said that after the losing streak started he tried going to sets the main guys were more familiar with(that they ran under JVG) and thats one of the reasons for more T-Mac iso plays. When the ROckets were going 6-1, there were many many easy buckets for Yao AND T-Mac that we simply hadn't seen the past few years. But the role players could not hit the open shot. Heck, some couldnt even make a lay-up. They went 6-1 despite getting little to no production from anyone not named Yao or T-Mac. Best offensive game for the Rockets came in the game against the Bulls. T-Mac played(before the injury he got/aggravated in Detroit), scored 20 points, and the Rockets had it clicking on all cylinders. The movement was there, the energy was there, and T-Mac wasn't dominating the ball. Is this not a more reasonable expectation than assuming T-Mac will bring the Rockets down when he returns to an offense that he has played very few games in??
so why are we making our shots this time? are we just lucky? or is it because we're moving the ball better to find a high% shot ( open man or yao closer to the basket ) ???
http://youtube.com/watch?v=suQISupcgvI You call that dominating the ball? Everything for T-Mac that game was off ball or i the flow of the offense, and he wasn't doing much of the playmaking either. I keep talking about T-mac playing well because for a good stretch of the season, T-Mac wa splaying within the confinises of the system and playing EXTREMELY well. He still got his iso's, but they were in positions where he could get high % shots, which is why he was averaging over 45% shooting before the knee injury. That is the purpose of Adelman's offense...to get players in the best position to succeed. With T-mac he was able to accomplish this immediately, and in the past few weeks, starting with Mac's last few games, he has found ways to get the team as a whole clicking. Basically, I don't think the offense is better without T-Mac, and with T-Mac back in the lineup and the role players finally clicking I feel this thing could really take off.
This is the NBA. Players at that level that are normally good shooters dont keep missing. Sure, all players have slumps, but they are called slumps because you come out of them. Gene Peterson's favorite line(based on how many times he said it) over the first 15-20 games was: "______, wide open 3, no good."
The chicago game was a good game but the bench was the key to the ball movement,If you remember in this game rick took the starters out because they weren't looking good running the offense and brooks and scola and head came into the game and we started clicking. He takes them out and the starters with tracy come in and give up the lead. The second half things started clicking but it was keyed by the bench and Tracy just fit in to what everybody was doing. The key is going to be if he can assimilate himself into what Rafer is doing right now and How we run the offense through Yao because in the chicago game he was doing the same things the bench came in and gave us the lift to turn the game around.
Not to mention the Bulls were nailing everything that first quarter. Bolded the reason folks should have a bit more optimism for when T-Mac returns.
It's better spacing, the offense isn't so predictable,Tracy and the Iso offense including Yao was easy to defend and lock in your assigments defensively which is why we had a very difficult time scoring.We are now getting better ball movement but more importantly PLAYER movement. Guy's are moving their bodies and setting screens. Watch them brutal screens Yao was giving the wizards, we are moving our bodies. ISO kick out,Trot the ball up the floor offense was killing us.Tracy should occasional bring the ball up the floor and if he does he needs to push the ball.With rafer and brooks in the game together we are pushing the ball up the floor,We are also getting more fast break points. We have more movement overall,which leads to better ball movement and better shots.
Early on it was good for one person and that was Tracy. The key is how can tracy blend his abilities into a Team concept on offense and defense. He has trouble fitting hsi talents into a WE atmosphere
I saw much better player movement the first week of the season than I did last year. We only digressed because folks couldnt hit any shots, and Adelman thought going back to something more familiar would get guys into their "comfort zones". He was wrong, but at the time it wasnt an unreasonable decision. And even then guys got good open looks but still missed.
He didnt have too much trouble in 2005 when he had guys that could score. Lets not forget in game 7 vs the Mavs nobody could hit a shot, other than him and Yao. Sound familiar??
Eh, I saw guys a bit tentative due to the new system, but the movement was there. For certain, after 30 games they are looking a whole lot better.
I, like some others, remember that early on this season we were moving the ball better. Although, Aldeman said he hadn't put in a lot of plays or all his sets, they were running a simplified version of his offense rather smoothly. Tracy was definately shooting better because he was getting shorter shots coming off picks. The announcers were all gushing about the back picks and easier shots the rockets were getting. It seemed to break down when Tracy reverted to his old self and started settling for jumpers and long threes. Also about that time, James started tanking and all the SF hysteria began. Maybe it is as simple as Rafer and Brooks doing a better job at PG and the guards again going to the hoop. I'm really hoping that Tracy will go back to short jumpers off picks and being aggresive to the hoop.
He should be used as a designated scorer, not a guy who creates anything and everything for his teammates as well as being the go to scorer. He did this earlier in the year, but the rest of the team was struggling. Now they have found their rythym, so T-Mac will likely be used as he was earlier in the year...as an offensive option, not THE offense.
