This is supposed to be Rudy's job, but since he is not doing it all season long, and I saw the game plan going worse, I think it is time for them to make the changes, otherwise Rox is going nowhere, even in the next few years. We all agree Rox is one of the most talent team in NBA. So, we do not need trade for more people, Posey is a good player, but he can not contribute much in current Rox system, why? Rox can win against any good team in NBA (other than Dallas, I do not see a good way to win against them yet), but it is hard for them to win any close game, why? There are several things they need follow in the 4th quarter. 1. Go to the Hot man. How many times you hear this from Murphy say this in a close game? Like last nights game, in 4th quarter, whenever you got the ball to Mo's hand, there will be 2 point, even he miss it, Yao would get the Offensive rebound, we still can score. In 1st overtime, Yao was hot, every offensive was go through him well, suddenly Steve stop doing that for 2 possession, no point for those 2 possession. luckily Laker did not score neither. But why he decide suddenly change a good offensive way. Some other situations like the game we play in San Antonio. Our bench bring our game from down 10 to lead 2, because of whom? Morris and MoTalyer, you continue that, why suddenly let Cat shoot the next 4 out of 5, and give away the victory to S.A. Another game is last Tuesday against Jazz, Morris his two 3 point and we only trail by 2 at end, why we do not give the ball to him again, I do not remember how many times Cat did not even release the ball when time clock expire, SF still pass the ball to him, it seems at end there is only 2 player on the court, SF and Cat. He either dribble to the central and lose the ball or he give to Cat and Cat did not shoot. Go watch how the other good team win the game, Bulls always go to Jordan, Laker always go to Shaq or Koby, S.A always go to Duncan, Old Houston always go to Olajuwon. Jazz always got Stockton and Malone, that is how a good win, and why the talent team lose. (Dallas and Sacramento did not have a clutch person in close game.) 2. Shoot the open shot without dribbling. I used to miss some 3-point shooter like Regie, Van Excel, who can shot the 3 pointer without looking in our championship years. But compare to current Rox players, now I miss so much our stand and shot people like Mario Ellie, Horry, Casel, Kenthy Smith(he is the one sometimes and run and shoot). They can always deliver when we need it, when they got the ball in open position, there is not doubt they will make a good looking open shot as needed. They may not be 100%, but 80% they shock the opponent. (Horry is the one still doing this, but he is doing it for Laker now). I just do not understand why Cat always need go 2 step inside and shot one with 1 or 2 people in front of him, instead taking the wide open shot from 3 pointer line. Sure, we only need 2 point at that time, but is his 2 step inside shot has better percentage than his wide open 3 pointer? Something happens to SF and Moochie too. It seems like they always want someone in front of them, so that in case the shot do not go in, there is a backup foul call. It does not happen in tough game. This is something the Coach's mistake, he can always force and train people not to do that, but I see this happen again and again. I do not see our guard can not do it, it just they have bad habits need to be changed. 3. Follow and practice one of these two strategies. We have both weapons to score in the last 5 minutes game. One way, get the ball to Yao, if he play aggressively like yesterday, he can either score or get the a foul shot. (and he is tough enough to not miss any of those clutch FT). If he got doubled or tripled, he will pass the ball to open man, the open man need shot right away without thinking, if he dribbled again, the defense is coming, everything was wasted. For this strategies to work better, SF need get the ball to Yao ASAP, it almost need to be an automatic way and do not need him to decide if Yao's inside game or his dribble game. (it seems in decision time, he think his dribble has higher priority, only when he can not goes in, he decide to pass). Second way is the defense is try front Yao, or even put 2 people on Yao even he did not get the ball. That is the time he try dribble in. But stills, even when he dribble in, his first choice is to attract 2 or more people, and he need pass to an open man before he runs into the defense. This include fist choice Forward like Mo, Griffen, Rice depend on who is in the court. They shoot a better percentage 2 point than Cat's 3 pointer. Only when no body was open, he will pass to Cat. This is how Kidds, Nash, Stockton, Payton always rated better than Steve in this position, even though Steve is more talent than any of them. You see stockton goes in, you know he is going to pass to Malone, but you still use 2 person to defense, ok, something happens again, Malone put the ball in, they never stop scoring in the final minutes. Onetime you did not concentrate, Stockton put the ball in himself. I think SF will do much better job to put the ball in if they do not put 2 or more people try stop him. But every time you saw SF dribble in now, you know he is going to lose it. Overall, we had the best line-up in the league. I am not say one of, because we do have the best if you compare us to another team in NBA one-on-one. Compare to Laker, Yao may not as good as Shaq in offensive, but defensively and FT wise we should be not better and even. SF may not as good as Koby but Koby take too many shot, and the team does not win because of that. Our other player and bench are much better than theirs, you can see this easily in the games when we play them. Compare to Sacramento, Yao outplay Divad easily, we only need play a touch defensive on Sacramento team, we will automatic win. Proved in the last 2 meeting with them. Compare to S.A, they do not have any people can guard Yao, samething we do not have anyone can guard Duncan, but our other players are clearly better than S.A. We may have a hard time play Jazz and Minnesota, but overall we still have better chance against them, because they are proved to be 1st or 2nd round team, not championship team. The only headache is Dallas, it is lucky for Laker not play Dallas in the last three years, because in those games, the Center (Shaq) will become a no-factor, Laker without Shaq is like 60% of their team, compare to other teams, it is easy for S.A or Sacramento to beat Dallas on good defense, but not a 60% Laker team. Anyway, if we could improve in the above situations, we could make the playoff, even win the championship this year. But we need a change as soon as possible. Not coach wise, not player wise, just game plan wise. Time is running out, if we do not change soon, we will be 9th is the west.
Excellent analysis! However, I believe SF and Mobley will always worry about their stats other than the team's wins. Therefore, SF will continue his dribblings and Mobley will continue taking his off-shots. Therefore, Rox will continue to lose. Yes, lose, lose, lose ...... !!!
Make FTs. It amazes me that a team with "good shooters" struggles so much from the FT line. Right now I would have Yao shooting technicals... that's how little I trust the guards shooting FTs right now. Sure, Cato missing a FT is to be expected... but Mobley? Moochie? Francis?? And look at close games, especially close games on the road, and look how many missed FTs the Rockets had...
I totally agree about the free throws. The Rockets guards are much too good to miss free throws. The games we have lost, especially the games we have lost to teams with worse records, have been lost at the free throw line. Look at the stats for the losses and you will see nights where the Rox miss 10 or 15 free throws and lose by 3 or 4. I also agree about the decision making down the stretch. In the championship years, Olajuwon always got his, but there were different guys every night putting up numberrs and the Rox won because they always went to the hot hand. If Horry is hitting (like that night against the Bucks), we fed him the ball over and over and over. Whether it was Cassell, Elie, or Clyde, whoever was hitting got the ball down the stretch. I think the Rox would be a much better team if we had our own internal 3 second violation. When you get the ball, you have 3 seconds to shoot the open jumper, make a move, or pass the ball. The Rockets of the early 90's were the best because they kept the ball hopping. It was like watching the '72 Knicks with all the inside out and around the horn passing. With Yao's passing ability and sheer size, he could turbocharge the passing offense.
