[Fox Sports] Charlie Rosen analysis on Rox loss to Mavs

That's true, but even if Yao AND Tmac go off, it's still not a guaranteed win like it would be with most other teams because we struggle guarding them. They are quick on the perimeter and take advantage of Yao's pick and roll defense. We are closing the gap with them however, and hopefully by mid season we will be better offensively and can overtake them

 

The title don't make sense. I mean the game went all the way down to the few minutes in the 4th quarter...it's anybody's game. Some of the things he said are correct.

Like Bonzi taking bad shots. I think Bonzi strength is ALWAYS post up and attack the basket...that should be his #1 priority. There is nobody in this league that can stop Bonzi from driving to the hoop. So he should stop taking jump shots.

 

Yao didn't get enough touches. PERIOD. Against a team like Dallas where the have no shot at defending him, he should only pass out if absolutely necessary, like if he can't even see the basket anymore. T-Mac has shown that he can take over games, but if we want to win a lot of games consistently, Yao needs to have close to or the same amount of shots as T-Mac. Dallas clearly had no answer for him down low, so I don't know why he wasn't being spoon fed the ball down there.

The only thing I can think of is Adelman is still experimenting and seeing if Yao can adjust and if the team can adjust to gametime situations. After all, it's only the 4th game and we were 3-0 coming into the game, it would be a pretty good time to see what works and what doesn't.

 

I agreed. When James is taking more shots than one of our superstars...there is DEFINITELY a problem here!! And why is Jason Terry going off...i didn't watch the game. Is it because Rafer can't defend? If so, we should start James. I always feel Rafer suck at defense and the other PG is just licking their chops everytime they see him. If we're such a good defensive team...why is the Mavs going off like that...

 

Sounds almost like the game I watched last night on the TV!

 

MJ took 13 shots???

 

in 25 minutes. Yao took 12 in 37 minutes.

 

not to mention, James so far this season has actually scored for us being the 3rd scorer we needed. He just wasn't there last night :\

 

Very nice analysis by Rosen. I'm aching to see what Adelman does tonight to address the shortcomings discussed by Rosen but tonight's game will be somewhat different in that the Spurs have a better low-post game (and players) than do the Mavericks.

 

Rafer has trouble staying with the quick guards in our league. That's basically everybody on the other two Texas teams: Terry, JJ Barea, Devin Harris, Tony Parker. When this happens and their guards penetrate, we have to have one of our bigs to rotate over and give help. Otherwise, it's an uncontested layup or tear drop. But when this happens, it leaves a man open underneath the basket.

James is a better scorer than he is a defender. He has the speed to stay in front of his man, but he can't guard the perimeter. If the guard has a quick release from 18 to 20 feet away, James is doomed. That narrows the candidate down to Terry, Harris, and Parker. Let's not forget, Barea can also hit the 3s.

Basically if you have a PG who is fast enough to penetrate AND hit the outside jumper, we're pretty much finished. Let's see, in the West, that's Nash, B. Davis, Deron Williams, and the above mentioned four.

It's still early in the season, but at this point, we've been exposed by Dallas last night. Any team that has an excellent PG and a combo PF can create matchup nightmare for us. That list will be:

1. Jazz
2. Spurs
3. Dallas,
4. Sun (let's see how Amare recovers from his knee problem)

If we wanna advance, we gotta play FLAWLESS defense. It's gonna be tough.

 

Well I'll be, 2 straight Rosen write-ups on the Rockets that I agree with. I do think he exaggerated the ineptitude of the Rockets guards defense (though naturally if Terry went off, blame should go to whoever's guarding him). And Yao's passing and playmaking was good for the game, but overall that particular aspect of his is a bit overrated. Yao is a willing passer with good intentions, but to this point still is not a very efficient one...

Outside of McGrady and Yao and besides Bonzi, who chucked up outside shots playing to his weakness, who in the lineup besides Mike James can create their own shot? Yes he along with the whole team should defer to Yao when he's on and they're not, but up to this point it worked. McGrady was Player of the Week, so naturally thats who you'd want taking over late. Its probably impossible to avoid critique there, cuz if Yao was PotW and he tried to take over but was off, people would say McGrady should have got all the shots late.

Overall, the issues are real but nothing too severe that can't be improved upon. The Rockets need to not get complacent and just "make it" to the playoffs though, do like last year and try to get home court advantage (except use it correctly this time)

 

That sums it all up basically.
Plus, YOU'RE SUPPOSE TO GO YOUR WINGMAN NATURALLY FIRST. And for those of you think Tmac was selfish, he tried to pass the ball to Yao but he was constantly double-teamed and denied the ball in the post.
We should shoot Rafer for trying to take Dirk on himself, and sadly enough, he couldn't even get past Dirk!

 

Another thing I want to mention is, we GOTTA get other people involved. Our offense is so predictable, it makes me cringe sometimes. On NBA TV last night, there was a short interview segment with Avery Johnson and the reporter asked him what he thought of the "new" Rox offense. He smirked and basically said "There ain't gonna be too much changes in Houston. Everything will still be the same. When they wanna score, they're STILL gonna go to Yao on the left post and Tracy in the middle. It's STILL gonna be those two. There's nothing new."

Man, I was pissed when I saw that interview last night. But you know what, after last night's game, Avery's right! What motion offense??!! It was still TMac and/or Yao doing the things that they've been doing? Where's everybody else?? Still dumping the ball to those two to bail them out.

Battier had two opening baskets, but faded after that. Why not attack the basket more? Luther could've been set up for more 3s. Scola....why doesn't anyone set up some plays for him? WHY??? This is the 4th game in a row where he's been ignore on the offensive scheme. It's like they're turning him into a Chuck Hayes. Dammit, he's better than Hayes!! Plus, he's open 60% of the time!!

The reason Scola looks so bad on offense is because NOBODY gives him the ball after he rotates to the basket. Scola is not big or fast enough to create his own offense. He's at his best when scoring within the play. Is this the rookie treatment????

Key to improvements:

***Get Battier, Head, and Scola more involved on offense. If we're gonna go all the way, these three are gonna have to shoulder some scoring load.

 

This is rare, but I agree with about 99% of this analysis. Very spot on, including the work we still have to do to catch up with the Mavs and Spurs.

I am hopeful that:
- RA will utilize Yao more, especially when he is hot
- RA will slap the guards around if they chug the ball up too much and take bad shots
- and one day in a fine December, the team will suddenly click. Yeah, I think for a team to click, it is about gradual learning, but when it clicks, it will suddenly click, at least for the 5-6 players who play together most of the time.

 

Winner.

It's half RA's fault for his silly insistence of high posting Yao against weak-ass interior teams like Dallas, and half Yao's fault for being such a weiner. SHOOT THE BALL YAO!

 

Um, no, you're supposed to go to your center first. Inside scoring is better than perimeter scoring. There is a reason why the Spurs and champion Lakers run their offense inside-out even though they have very good to great perimeter players. If you have a great inside threat you use him.

McGrady made a few token attempts to pass to Yao but it was obvious that he wanted to take control of the game and hog the ball. Too bad his shot was off, and it was obvious that his shot was off, and that Yao was doing well but not getting fed.

 

Personally I want to see him shoot over double teams and force shots. But then his FG% would go down, and his turnovers would go up, and everyone would complain. Yao played like a team player yesterday, McGrady didn't.

 

The pick and roll killed us. It's so much easier to just have the defender switch. Yes we will get their guards on our bigs, but otherwise they have a clear path to the basket or an open three. If we had quicker and smarter guards then I would say we should try to break the pick, but Alston and James don't know what they are doing.

 

Dallas shoots their way out of most jams. When you have that many accurate high percentage shooters, a team can make mistakes and still win. Terry is streaky, but when he is hot, he is really hot. Stackhouse just makes shots, day in day out. And Howard is a beast. We still don't have the shooting talent Dallas does.

As to the Rosen article, I don't usually care for Rosen, but it is hard to disagree with his observations this time. Not quite ready for prime time. I really doubt that Yao or TMac have the temperament to be truly "clutch" in a playoff series. They consistently have a hard time finishing out regular season games. Who will become our "Bobby Sura?" We need somebody to become the Rockets "junkyard dog." And no team can miss that many layups and expect to win. I know it was over ten point blank misses. Can't do that.

 

(1) Yao isn't the dominant inside scorer that Shaq was, and Shaq isn't the outside threat that Yao is.
(2) San Antonio uses Duncan in the high post even more frequently than we've been using Yao in the high post.