Code: FG 3P FT OR DR TR AST STL BLK TO PF PTS Ming 8-12 0-0 3-3 5 7 12 2 1 0 6 5 19 Miller 10-18 2-4 8-10 6 5 11 3 2 0 2 4 30 Tonight's game against the Kings was a microcosm case study for freeing Yao. The Rockets were torched by Brad Miller. In contrast the Kings swarmed Yao in the interior to deny him the ball resulting in about 6-10 fewer shot attempts for Yao. Instead of relying on a single-dimensional scheme when it's obvious the defense by the other team on Yao is working it's time to make an adjustment and FREE YAO! Let me be clear. I'm not advocating that the Rockets switch Yao to a pre-dominant high post game. He's proven that he can be a beast in the paint. But when the opposing team is able to slow Yao down in the paint then it's time to try a high post or a reverse inside-out (little guys in, big guys pulling the trees from the lane) game.
Yao did stroke an 18 foot jumper off a screen and roll again Sacramento. When the Rockets are struggling to get Yao the ball in the post, I wouldn't mind seeing him try that jumper.
0-11 from field of Rafer tonight. Can Yao take some of those from Rafer? Anyone who can shoot FT of 85% definitely can shoot those mid-jumpers.
When are they going to work on Rafer's shooting fundamentals? His shot is horrible, elbow flying out, too much hesitation and not enough leg left. He's all arms, and he doesn't release the left hand for a clean follow through and he is rotating his shoulders to the left. And this has been going on all season. Sometimes I wonder about Van Gundy being too wrapped up in the durn defense to even pay attention to these players offensive fundamentals. Bogans is just as bad. They need a shooting coach to sit down with film, break down their shot, and fix their mechanics.
Yeah, the Rockets need better players but... #1 we don't have the players now. #2 The idea of not developing Yao's outside game is not mutually exclusive with the Rockets needing better players. #3 Relying on the argument that we simply need better players would be like conceding that Michael Jordan didn't need to develop a jumpshot or Hakeem not needing to come up with the Dreamshake. Yao has the skills to both pound it in the paint or light you up from mid-range. Brad Miller demonstrated tonight what it could look like having a big that can play outside.
With 5 games to go, who cares. As long as Yao doesn't get himself hurt, everything else is too little, too late.
gUT THIS TEAM. WE need new players. Yao/T-Mac are gonna need guys who can actually play. The only good thing about this season is Yao, but with Tracy injured, he had to bear the burden of carrying this team. unfortunately Yao is a Bentley surrounded by a bunch of beatup Toyotas. No matter how great Yao develops , and he will be even better, it wont matter if all we got are a bunch of scrub ass role players who cant seem to get him the ball.
J Diddy you hit the nail on it's head!! But there are hints being dropped that the rockets are not going to make too many changes. If there is any truth in these hints it will take the Rox at least two years to put a championship caliber team together, but I hope the opposite and that we can go all the way next year, if Tracy McG is OK.
I was thinking the exact same thing. We clearly weren't beating their defense, as guys were unable to make the right pass or make the open shots. The whole situation had everyone befuddled. Even when Yao got open, Juwan would just throw up a shot without even seeing him under the basket. Why not let Yao and Rafer run the pick and roll, and have Yao shoot some jumpers? Nobody else was making anything. There's nothing at stake. At least let them have some fun out there.
I'm not saying it's a bad idea, I just fail to see why the Kings wouldn't have continued double-teaming Yao even farther away fromthe basket if he continued to be the only one that scored?? I know there is a natural tendency not to double team that far away, and to protect the paint, but it is not as if they ahd some prime shot blocker in there preventing Rafer and crew from going for layups even WITH Yao in the paint. Heck, even with a good shot-blocking team, they still don't take advantage of the double team on Yao by going inside nearly enough. Just because he is doubled doesn't mean you have to shoot open jumpers...slash to the lane, create movement, defensive confusion, and you should get easy layups even with Yao still playing the block. These are symptoms of either (i) poor coaching or (ii) sub-par role players. I think it is predominantly (ii) with a little bit of (i) thrown in.
Bogans had me reeling lately. Last week at Seattle, Bogans had 0 rebounds in 20 minues of play as a forward. In Portland, he missed a wide open layup in crucial moment of the game. Against Golden State, Bogans went scoreless as a starter. Last night at Kings, not only did he miss all his FTs, he threw a friggin' airball at the line! The other night we saw Stro' hit an airball when he shot a FT, but at least we know Stro' has some uncanny abilities in him when he entertains us with ferocious dunks. Talentless Bogans, on the other hand, has become unwatchable.
I actually don't disagree with what you're saying. However it just seems to me that we have other things we can try. I don't know why we didn't drive to the basket more. I'm guessing one reason was the paint was too crowded with the Kings defending Yao to allow Rafer or someone to cut to the basket. If we pulled Yao out of the block maybe it would of created better spacing for the guards to attack the rim. We were missing that outside shot anway, why not see if we could get a higher percentage shot that way instead of chucking it up and missing from the outside? If we started to make those the Kings would have had to respond by guarding the lane. We should then kick it back out to Yao to see if he could drain that mid-range J. If they continued to double Yao while he was on the outside then have Yao find the cutter to the basket from the high post or something. Actually I thought we started to make an adjustment late in the game where we finally found a way to beat the defense denying Yao the ball by swinging it from the wing back to the high post to Juwan. Juwan chose to shoot the ball though instead of passing it to Yao in the paint.
Make your jump shots when your open. Pass Yao the ball when he is open, which coincidentally our guys suck at. How something so simple as the post entry pass is so hard for these gifted athletes just boggles my mind. Step 1-ask the post player where he likes the ball to be passed to him, Step 2-once the post player has established his position and put his hand out hit his hand with the ball, Step 3-repeat!!! It is really sad to see the way basic fundamentals have deteriated in the game. These guys need to go buy Magic Johnson's fundamentals videos and study up in the offseason......lol
