I think the Dallas/Golden State series is changing a lot of peoples minds about how important it is to have great athletes as opposed to great strategists. The half court sets aren't working as well as the Golden State or Phoenix way of running teams into the ground with well conditioned players who can guard, shoot and slash. We are too predictable, and not disruptive. I wouldn't play Yao and T-Mac together as much as JVG does, they appear to assume 50% of the pressure instead of both playing as if the other was only a role player. Run Yao out there with Snyder, Battier, Juan and Rafer I would love to see Mac, JLIII, Battier, Hayes and Deke 2 superstars is only one look and it doesn't seem to be working so well. 1 superstar surrounded with athleticism we can do twice.
I have actually noticed a variation of what you mentioned implemented by JVG. the only times that both superstars are out there at the same time are the beginning of halves, to counteract a run by the opposition and crunch time. it seems that gundy tries to get as much out of both superstars individually as he can (surrounded only by role players). this is similar to how phil jackson distributed time amongst jordan and pippen during their championship years, as well. so to say he hasn't been doing this altogether...I would simply have to disagree with you there... but to say these are the split of teams that would be most effective in catering to that superstars talents...I guess you could make an argument there
IMO, this team was faring better with Yao out. Its not Yao's fault, though, but Tracy's. He gets lazy when Yao's with him on the court. Juwan and Deke don't play as well as 2nd stringers.
Having Yao on the court w/o TMac does mean more entry passes thrown by Rafer, and he hasn't exactly been a success on that front. As long as they're able to get the ball into him, it works fine. What I also find interesting is that the Jazz have completely neutralized the TMac /Yao pick-and-roll. By doubling hard on TMac every time and sinking the perimetery players to play for the steal in case Yao gets loose they've been textbook efficient. Until we see some other guys hit shots, it's going to be pretty much impossible to play the two-man game, since Utah will routinely leave guys like Alston and Battier open.
I've criticized JVG in the past but the Jazz are showing that the JVG strategy can work. They are playing tough D, getting rebounds, controlling the clock and now getting calls. What it takes though is to hit shots which the Rox aren't doing. JVG strategy is good for getting a lead and hanging on but when the Rox can't get the lead its not working.
I thought we only play Yao with Hayes and Deke with Howard because we can't only have all offense or all defense in our frontcourt at once. With Hayes and Deke, we would control the rebounds but the defense would be so keyed in on T-Mac that we'd have trouble getting any points on the board.... whiiiich seems like out problem the last couple days. If our shots were falling, we wouldn't even need to give it a second thought. Hopefully we come out of our shells tonight and start doing what we've done all season... knockin down open shots.
Reducing your stars on the floor takes away options. It is much easier to take one person out of their game instead of 2. What needs to happen is better communication between the two. Is that such a pipe dream?
