What lost us game 7 actual goes much deeper than offense or defense but rather a philosophy from a coach who spent so much energy drilling into the guys work harder on defense and the rest will fall in place. And while that may have been effective in the regular season. Come playoff time everybody is stepping up on defense and it's the teams that can still score in those situations that win. JVG never had a real plan for that and he just kind of hoped that Tmac would take care of it for him. In the end his stubbornness and lack of allowing for other alternatives on the floor are more responsible for losing than anything. But why dwell on his napoleonistic reign. He is gone and already the future looks much brighter. The Rockets will win more games this year but more importantly they will go much further in the playoffs and they will do it with much more entertaining style. You can have your cake and est it too.
Your list is fine, given that you have the right players. 1. Pick and Roll/ Backcut basketball - With the team we had last year, do you REALLY think this would work? Who is going to cut to the basket? Rafer? Chuck Hayles? Deke? Juwon? Outside of the Tmac/Yao Pick and Roll we had nothing else. 2. Free flow Fastbreak style basketball - Again, you going to fast break with Rafer, Chuck, Deke, Juwon? We already cringe at the fact that Rafer shoots too much, so you want him jacking up more shots? Do you really want to see Chuck chucking up more shots too? 3. Iso basketball - Works great for Yao and Tmac. Who else are you going to run ISO plays for last year? You really want to see Rafer go 1v1? LOL
Seriously, WHAT OTHER ALTERNATIVES DID WE HAVE? Outside of Yao and Tmac, the Rockets had nothing. Why dont you share with us all your brillant plan to score more with the guys we had last year.
if JVG could bear w/ bonzi and just let him play, that's another option. bonzi would have changed A LOT. yes bonzi was at fault, but as a coach and u know your team's weakness, u gotta take a gamble and just let bonzi play. he was never respectful.
Let bonzi play? The guy admitted he never bothered to learn one of the plays JVG had, and was just winging it the whole time. He wasn't interested in getting in shape, so I don't think he'd be a good teammate, or dedicated player last year.
Chuck Hayes got pretty good at working that pick and roll with t-mac. He also set some mean picks higher up on the floor. So he could do it.
Had we had an all around powerforward with some height, like Scola, and a spark off the bench, like Mike James, we win Game 7. Also, Juwan really struggled with his jump shot throughout the game. He missed some big shots. Everyone came up big in the 2nd half, particularly in the 4th quarter, even Juwan with some key offensive rebounds, but Tracy didn't take over down the stretch and he missed some very important free throws. We were oh so close.
Last year was clearly BOnzi's fault. He was way out of shape and way overweight. You can't throw him out there. He quit on the team on his own free will. He knew we were better without him.
One thing you have to admit was the Rockets didn't come close to playing their best basketball near the end of last season and against the Jazz in the playoffs. Sure, Yao and Tracy were the two big dogs and (except for Shane) the other players were sorely lacking. But when it counted the most, instead of rising to the occasion, the team sank. That's a coaching issue in addition to the players.
They beat us because of TMac's inability to take over in Games 6 and 7. Just like Dallas beat us in 05 because of TMacs inability to take over in Games 3 and 4.
The team didn't sink because of coaching issues at all. It's called being exposed, which is exactly what happened. A team of 1 dimensional players surrounding our 2 stars. The Rockets regular season stats were inflated by devouring on weak EC teams. They may have seemed like contenders to most of the board, but it was apparent to me at least that they were several players away. This year we definitely have the raw talent/potential to contend.
this is what feign had to say about the first 6 days of camp so far: 1) tmac's passing continues to be raved about. i guess he'll still pass a lot in this offense and will probably be used like chris webber on the high post 2) mike james looks like he'll play w/ rafer + tmac + yao more b/c he can shoot 3) francis struggles in the half-court of this offense b/c he still doesn't know how to cut or move w/o the ball so i believe he'll play w/ the 2nd unit 4) didn't say much how yao was playing, just that he picked up the offense well and more... read this http://blogs.chron.com/nba/2007/10/the_word_and_what_we_hard_at_c.html
I didn't think we were contenders, but we should have beaten the Jazz. It was obvious last year we didn't have the talent to win 4 playoff series. While the 1st round loss wasn't all on JVG, he deserves some of the blame.
The Rockets will win more games because they have more talent. Give Adleman a season with Mutumbo, Hayes and Alston logging big minutes and see how many points the Rockets score. The "stubborness" came from a coach that squeezed as many wins as they could on a team that just as easily could have went to the lottery. One of Van Gundy's scraggly pubic hairs knows more about basketball than you do.
Uh, isn't the thread about Adelman's offense, and the reaction of the players to it? It would be a pleasent change if it didn't devolve into yet another JVG argumento.
Umm.. part of fast breaking is defensive rebounding. A poor defensive rebounding team can't be a successful fast breaking team, right?
Another point...is that there was nothing wrong with the defense!!! Similar to Flip Saunders inhereting the Pistons...nobody talked about defense in the intro phase of his arrival. Same goes for Coach A, the offense is the problem, so that is the focus!
