Yeah, too bad he's only 6'-6". If only he was 3 or 4 inches taller, we'd have a legit PF that could allow us to match up better with the competition.
Our frontcourt is plenty fast enough...our backcourt...not so much....well those in the playing rotation. DD
note to self... next time we play the Suns.. go do something else for the night... instead of wasting time at home.
I thought we were in win now mode. That is why we traded our 1st rounder for Battier (who has a reputation of disapearing when games really count). I think this team needs to reload on talent. In this league you can not win with just 2 players.
what I hate about him is his unwillingness to make some adjustments, I mean if you see it just doesn't work out, try someone else he puts in Lucas who did a good job on defending Nash, and then he gets him outta the game and doesn't bring him in anymore?!?! you just have to ****in wonder what the hell is he thinking but, nash was not a threat tonight, it was barbosa and marion grabbing almost anything that was flying thru the air...JVG did not make the adjustments on those two players and we lost
When they leave you alone, you better score. Sun's plan was to let Hayes beat them. Now, you can see the results.
GRRRRRR..... JVG DUMB, MAKES PLAYERS MISS WIDE OPEN JUMP SHOTS!!!11!! WHERE WAS SYNDAR, VSPAN, BONZI, LUCAS, CUTTINO, MAXWELL??? LOSING TO TEH 2ND BEST TEAM IN TEH LEAGE? FIRE GUNDY!!!
DD - You and I are in total agreement on JVG's lack of coaching adjustments during the games... Even down the stretch of that horrid game against the Celtics at home... absolutely ZERO offensive imagination when we only needed 2-3 more baskets to win... And, when I say JVG lacks offensive imagination, I was totally thinking about the high pick and roll with Yao shooting over Amare from the foul line (where he's an 80% shooter), and TMAC/Battier/Juwan/Hayes rolling to the basket, and or Luther/Battier and (only as a last resort) / Rafer shooting the treys... I cannot, for the life of me, understand why, against the Sun's tiny little team we don't have our smaller faster guys going the rim EVERY TIME, with Yao and Deke coming behind to clean up the misses... Not to mention the wide open shots Yao would have at the free throw line. Remember that play with Dream coming off the pick and popping the 15 footer on a regular basis!!!
We just match up poorly against them, just like we struggle against the Raptors. The Rockets are built to stop inside buckets and play the inside-out game with Yao. The Suns thrive on hitting from the outside and they do a great job of collapsing the interior against Yao. Losing to the Suns on a back-to-back isn't an embarrassment. There aren't many teams that play with the Suns. Our big two played horribly, Battier was something of a no-show and Alston had one of his worst games of the year. Stick John Wooden out there with these guys tonight and the Rockets would have lost. Having said that, the Rockets surely can do some different things out there. I would hope in a playoff series that Van Gundy can find some different combinations out there that include Snyder and Lucas. We need speed out there. The main problem in Nash's game is his defense. You can get to the basket against him. Unfortunately, finishing at the basket is Rafer's albatross, so we need to get somebody else to drive to the hoop. I think V-Span might be useful in this capacity if Van Gundy is willing to grit his teeth and try him out. I also hope they can make some adjustments to handle the pressure on Yao better. It's easy to collapse on him when Tracy and Rafer are shooting so poorly, but the Suns will probably not change their strategy until the Rockets make them pay. For a while Yao starting finding cutters to the basket and it looked pretty effective. They need to work on this. I hope when Yao is fully back in game shape that he will show a little toughness against them. I am sure he will. The big thing the Rockets would need against the Suns is a tall, athletic 4 to counter Stoudemire and Marion, but that guy isn't on the roster. It's a tough match up for the Rockets, no question.
rafer took some ill advised shots, with the shot clock at 20 seconds. instead of setting up a play, he goes up for some what are you doing teardrop. kind of hurt the offensive flow
Rafer 3-14 (1-7 Behind arc) Tracey 8-28 Yao 1-9 = GAME I'm still pissed at Gundy for not inserting Spanoulis when it's obvious he would have made up for the 21 point deficit. Same goes for Snyder but what you going to do when you have an imbecile like Jeff who couldn't coach his way out of a High School Gym. With my remote control dagger I'm going to teach the Rockets a lesson next time they get trounced by the quicker, better, faster, deeper, etc ad nauseam team. So you say we lost to the second best team in the league? Bullfingers! Facts are subjective and obligatory!
I only saw bits and pieces tonight but you sum it up very well. With Yao and Tracy at their worst and Barbosa doing his Kevin Johnson imitation, we had no chance. Tracy has no excuses for this game. He was just terrible. Our flow on offense was awful. There were a couple of times we looked in sync but it wouldn't last. This is totally on JVG. The poor shooting (esp. Tracy and his chucking jumpshots) isn't on JVG. Call me a hopeless optimist (I'm not though) but we can beat the Suns in the playoffs.
i hope there are scouts at each and every one of the suns games from now until the nd of the seaso, cause someone needs to find a hole rox can exploit
You expect JVG to introduce a complete different offensive scheme as a counter-move? Yao hasn't played in the high post (for good reason) since his rookie year.
