There are a few Mobley threads on page 1, but I wanted to single out a play from last night that reflects a tremendous adjustment by Mobley and may signal great things to come for our offense. At the 9:34 minute mark in the 2nd quarter (or was it the first quarter) last night, I saw something that I have not seen in any of the previous games, regular or preseason, this year. Mobley passed the ball to Yao in the low post; Yao had poor position, and passed back to Mobley; Yao re-posted deeper, but the re-entry passing angle was awkward; Mobley dribbled to his right, correcting the angle, and made the re-post entry pass into Yao. The striking thing is that Mobley would have been justified to drive left to the basket because Yao had moved the Portland center out of the lane. But, Mobley stuck with Yao and it was beautiful. I cannot even remember whether the Rockets scored off the play, but it was text book. Pure textbook. Mobley's play this year deserves much praise, and I think that is being addressed in the "Who has been the most consistent player" thread. He has been boneheaded at times, but has been a very necessary and terrific scoring option, paritcularly while Steve has struggled. I hate to make too much out of a single play, but I got out of my chair and yelled as if we won the game right there. This adjustment, with Steve's continued development of his playmaking skills, is critical in the Rockets development on offense.
No offense, but you haven't been watching the games that closely then because Mobley has dumped it into the big guy many times on an initial entry pass or a repost pass. Still, I agree that Mobley is showing signs of playing within the confines of the offense, even more than Steve. Mobley, more than any other guard, has shown a "do whatever it takes" attitude this year.
The same ones I've been taping and watching several times later. It's a flat out myth that Mobley does not pass the ball to Yao. As far back as the 4th or 5th game, I have listed complete half court sets by the minute and by the quarter dispelling the "Mobley doesn't pass to Yao " myth.
Stop the bickering, the intent is that Cat passed it to Yao, Yao passed it back, re-positioned, and received the ball back. That is something we had not seen last year at all. I was at the game, right behind the Rockets goal in the 2nd half. There were plenty of times Cat came down and instead of throwing up a wild shot or dribbling the air out the ball, he passed, or waited for teammates to get in position for a pass. Cat is playing ALOT smarter this season and seeing it in person from the floor last night conveyed that alot more than what I have seen on TV. It is the little things he is doing that shows me that his B-ball IQ is alot higher than before.
I agree that Mobley's play within the system has gotten much better over the course of the year. He still takes quick shots a bit too much for me, but he also shoots a pretty good percentage this year so that hasn't been bothering me too much (no, no, no, YES! syndrome). The Rox as a group are really starting to come together on offense, especially at home. We will be extremely dangerous all year as long as the guys play within the confines of what JVG is trying to do.
Good post and good thread. It sucks when threads like these go unnoticed when the same tired guard bashing threads turn into 8 page 250 post monsters.
Gater, I'm not saying Mobley never passed to Yao. The point of my post is that I have never seen such a well executed sequence of passing between Yao and Mobley before. I have watched each game this year and simply don't remember any other instance, and I look closely at the offense. I might be wrong, or maybe I went to the fridge for a coke at the wrong time. I'm just saying that this is a critical development. The initial entry pass is just phase 1 of many. We need multiple passes among all players to reach the level of ball movement and offensive consistency enjoyed by the elite offensive teams, like Sac and Dallas.
Nothing is more maddening when a great post player can't get the ball. Many times you see a post player get the ball out of position and then pass it out. And only a select few times will the post player "get it back" from their teammate after better post position has been established. It is those teams that do this that are more mature and stay with their offense and ride their big time post player. I was not able to watch the game but am glad that Mobley did do this. When the Rockets stay committed to their offense and their game plan they do well. They pass the ball well. But when they get out of their game plan and kind of play on "instinct" that is when stupidball rears it's ugly head.
good observations, Riley and Gator Cat also made a good pick and roll pass to Yao. But Yao got blocked
I was thinking of posting a cynical thread about how many still want to get rid of Mobley for anyone, but a positive thread praising Mobley is better. Aside from passes to Yao, don't forget that Mobley has bailed the Rockets out over and over by hitting critical shots over and over. The Cat is always ready to take the big shot and it is something you can't readily. quantify, but it is defintely there. Contrast that with last years playoffs when Parker, Ginobili and most of the Spurs, except Duncan and Kerr were afraif to take the big shot.
R-Dog - I also have noticed a difference in Cuttino's play, but wanted to set the record straight. Early on, almost all of the post entry passes came from JJ or some from Steve. What most posters failed to notice was that almost never were Yao, Steve and Cat all strong side at the same time. Cat was always weakside when the post was being fed. This is where the "Cat never feeds Yao" stuff originated. It was never true. Just a misperception. To have Cuttino actually feeding the post and a re-post (and not just a 2 man game or a PnR) is noteworthy. I'm not a Cat apologist but up until now, Cat has not been that involved with low post entry passes. Cat/Yao low post passing beyond a 2man game and a PnR is new and hopefully will be successfully utilized.
I forgot to add. Did you notice during crunch time last night, when Stoudamire was killing us with threes, they switched MOBLEY on him and that cooled him off. Cat hit the clutch shot plus he pulled it out defensively,
I, for one, did notice how Mobley cooled Mighty Mouse off defensively. Mobley SHOULD get picked for one of the all-defensive teams this year, but will probably get dissed. They'll give it to Quitten's decrepit old a$$.
The re-feed into the post by Mobley is very rare. It could possibly be the first that I recall and I've watched plenty of games. The Cat is really playing well, smart and within the system.
Gater - point noted and youare correct - Mobley has not been the main entry pass person. But Mobley has in the past had opportunities and but declined to pass. (I'm really trying not to turn this into a Mobley criticism thread). I just love seeing Mobley addressing this part of his game. As Mobley becomes a consistent, reliable passer and executer of plays, his overall role on the team offense should continue to increase. I was very encouraged by what I saw from him last night. He is playing at a very high level of efficiency. It is up to Steve to find a way to further augment the offense. Great points by you guys on Mobley being sent to stop Stoudamire. I suspect JVG has resisted doing this before because he wants to hold Francis accountable. But, we were in danger of losing an important game so the switch was made.
Yep I agree Mobley has been passing the ball more and more. The last loss against Portland was probably the peak of his stupid play, since then he has steadily improved. Also, he's shooting 45% this year. Which is great. His adjusted FG% is even higher, possibly as high as Yao. Mobley has definitely been playing well recently. If he doesn't regress, I will stop dissing him.
Actually Steve handled his man very well. There were a couple of lapses, but on the whole he handled his well. Of course if you had watched this season, you would have noticed Steve playing tremendous defense on Chauncy Billups, Stephon Marbury, and Baron Davis. I guess you'll see what you want to see though.
