Did Rudy and the Rockets know Malone would be the one who receive the ball? Did you read the post game quote by the Jazz players that the play had many options. So, yeah, you've got to react to the situation. The coach can't tell you EXACTLY what you need to do. To suggest that the coach should tell the players to do something NO MATTER WHAT WITHOUT DISCRETION is just dumb.
If we played a lick of defense during the first 47 minutes we never would have had to foul in the 48th minute.
what is wrong with him telling them to foul before somebody is in the act of shooting "no matter what"? it is understood not to foul a player while he is shooting. with 3.5 seconds left, the call should have been to foul. send them to the line for two. with 10 seconds left, the call is up to the coach. i don't think there is a right or wrong decision with that much time left, because the game can be dragged out to 3 or 4 more posessions, and anything can happen. foul with 3 seconds left, and the game is essentially over, barring a serious miracle, AKA miller in the garden 10 years ago (i know it wasn't the same situation, but, a miracle of that magnitude). here is the bottom line: with all the other ignorance that rudy t has displayed this season, it is VERY easy to blame him for this, even in hindsight. call it luck, call it a miracle, whatever. but to me, it's just another indicator that rudy's time has come. coaches, like players, apparently can get worse with age.
End of Regulation: Team A, on the road, has ball down 3 with 3.something left, inbounding out of a timeout. Team A gets wide open look from a couple of feet beyond the 3 point line to tie the game. End of Overtime: Team B, at home, has ball down 2 with 12.something left, inbounding out of a timeout. Team B gets whatever you want to call that Mobley thing. Team B's offensive situation is better than Team A's in every facet. Yet Team A executes in a hostile environment with limited options and time, and Team B doesn't even get a shot off at home, with multiple options (tie, win, inside, out) and plenty of time. Team A is being coached by . . . Team A's backup coach. Team B is being coached by . . . Rudy "Shi" T Exhibit # 02/03-874 for the Prosecution
I watched the game..all the players were acting as if a foul was not the assignment. Looks like this was Rudy's mistake. If he told his team to foul as soon as the ball was thrown in, they would have.
The claim earlier in this thread that said no Rockets players confirmed that a player mistake occurred has now been debunked by Steve Francis on postgame for the 2nd game. Post game interview he said, "yeah, one of our younger players made a mistake at the end of regulation." there you go verse. Rudy did not lie, simply absurd. JR, You really call a 27 foot shot that Harpring says he had to shoot higher because of a charging Yao to be "wide open."
heypee, you are being ridiculous. that quote proved nothing. that could easily being taken as yao/morris (since he didn't clarify) didn't make the right decision. oh, and i don't know what game you were watching, but yao was not "charging" at harpring. he stopped 2-3 feet short of harpring with his hands straight up in the air. JR, don't let heypee lie to you...
"proves nothing" what? it proves a mistake was made and that you have to keep desparately dispelling the evidence that Rudy didn't lie. Oh, and here is Harpring's quote: <blockquote><hr>Feigen: Despite sore ribs, Harpring's 3 ... not only cleared the outstretched hands of Yao Ming, but the 27-footer found nothing but net. Harpring: "I was aware Yao was guarding me. I knew I had to get that shot off as high as I could." Feigen: "With Yao fast approaching, Harpring had little time but to shoot and shoot high."<hr></blockquote> and if you don't believe the Chronicle, this is from the Salt Lake Tribune... <blockquote><hr>It was, despite a <b>lunging 7-foot-6 rookie trying to get a finger on it.</b> "I had to get it up high because I knew Yao was there," said Harpring, who missed only three of his 14 shots. "When I let it go, I thought, 'Hey, that's got a chance.' "<hr></blockquote> "Hey, that's got a chance." Yeah, sure sounds like the words of a man who is "wide open." go ahead verse...spin that anyway you want, but it remains described as an altered shot by Harpring and two journalists versus a wide open shot as described by you and JR. Even with your description of Yao stopping at 2-3 feet away...two feet, for the wingspan of a 7'5 Yao!!...that is *not* a wide open shot. yeah, we are all just lying, and so is Rudy.
I think it's pointless to argue whose fault it is to miss the foul assignment. We would be better off trying to figure out why so many times ROXs with the lead going into the four and fold so often down the stretch? Anyway, it should never come down to the last second decision.
as usual, HP latches on to the tiniest of disputable items [the difference between being wide open and open enough to rain a game-tying 3 without having to do anything fancier than catching and shooting] in an otherwise undeniable critique of [fill in HP Rocket Sacred Cow here].
I learned from a Chinese newspaper that Yao actually said "I don't know if I SHOULD (not could) foul him or not at that time, but I think I should have fouled him.". Clearly, Rudy didn't give him (or the team) clear instructions whether to foul or not. Don't get me wrong. Rudy is a great coach, but everyone makes mistakes, it was just his turn this time.
