I have to agree that's one of JVG's biggest weaknesses as a coach he just does not know how to make adjustments to his strategy. He stubornly sticks to his one and only game plan. Yao got torched by boozer. Should he have guarded Okur? I'd rather see Okur try to score 30+ points than Boozer because he's not as gifted a scorer as Boozer is. Plus, he likes to shoot from the permeter were he wouldn't have got fouls called and permeter shots are lower % shots. Why not try a few zones or let Deke see if he could do better against Boozer he couldn't have done worst than Yao on defense and Yao could have been fresher for the 2nd half of the game.
Forgive me if Im wrong, but I dont remember too much of the Jazz series(thank goodness ) I dont know why Boozer wasnt double teamed. Maybe he was and thats why Okur started to burn us but it seems to be a real big flaw of Jeff VG. I dont understand how you can allow players like Boozer(and Kobe in the reg. season) go off on us without any doubleteaming till its too late. Also I dont know why Deron was allowed to bring the ball up the court with no pressure. For a defensive genius, he sure seems to make some crucial mistakes, or fails to correct them fast enough(adjustments).As far as Yao on Okur, i dont see why not. Somebody said that Hayes wouldnt be able to guard Boozer because he is shorter, well he didnt seem to have a problem with Okur who is much taller. Its not like Yao is guarding Reggie Miller out on the perimeter. Any time the opposing team's Center is putting the ball on the floor thats a good thing. The only draw back I see is the Rockets interior "D" would suffer. I guess it was a "Damned if you do and damned if you dont" scenario. But I guess its real easy to say when your an armchair coach like me.
Okur is way faster than yao. when giving space, okur will burn yao in seconds. if you don't see that, there is no reason i should continue to discuss with you.
LOL exactly! Everyone's thinking about defense rather than how Scola will do against Boozer on offense. http://www.82games.com/0607/06UTA12C.HTM Boozer allows opposing PFs to have a 15.9 PER. Granted that he's in the west and we have better PFs, but thats still means hes only an average defender at best. Scola will be a lot more effective than Chuck simply because he'll be able to score on Boozer.
Boozer was NOT the reason why Rockets lost last playoffs. I was actually content if Boozer scored 40 points on us because I don't think he is able to lead a team to victory. Rather, Deron Williams just crushed us and he was the reason why we lost. Most of Boozer's points were from Williams and if we limited JUST Deron, we would've won for sure. Now, I think Mike James has the ability to guard him. Back in Detroit, he and Lindsey Hunter were known as "pitbulls" due to their aggressive defense.
Actually this is false. The main factor separating Okur and Nowitzki is that Nowitzki has excellent handles and is quick while Okur has poor handles and is slow. I'm not sure Okur is even faster than Yao; he never tries to take anyone off the dribble. He either scores as a spot-up shooter, or when facing a smaller defender he may take them in the low post, but he can't take anyone off the dribble. Still, the problem remains that if Yao goes to the perimeter to check Okur, we have no interior defense to counter Utah's cutting guards (i.e. Giricek, Harpring, AK-47), even if Scola can handle Boozer (which I seriously doubt since even Duncan had lots of trouble with Boozer).
Real? how faster than Yao, do you have the data to support it? Okur is not quick than Dirk, not even quick than Duncan, but Yao can guard Duncan without much problem.
I think that this is a valid point. Williams definitely played a larger role in our losing to the Jazz, even though it was Boozer that scoring points in bunches. Even if our PG additions (namely SF3 & MJ) can't adequately defend Deron (and Chris Paul, and Baron Davis, and Jason Terry, and Steve Nash, and [insert name here]), what they can do is make the opposing point guard expend energy on the defensive end, in hopes that it will limit the opposing point guard's productivity on the offensive side (will probably work with Terry & D. Williams, but I'm not sure about Nash and Paul, just because of their superior play-making ability). D. Williams is extremely talented, but IMO can't take over a game (at least not yet) - if we wear him down, I sincerely believe that his impact on the game will be minimized. Last year, every point guard in the league was afforded the luxury of relaxing on the defensive end, due to the lack of scoring threat that Rafer presented. This will definitely change this year. -Turbo
Bingo. JVG had a choice of putting Yao on Boozer or Okur and given his foot speed and position on the court, Boozer was the best option if we were gonna have him on the court.
That's the main reason that Yao never guarded Okur, because he was just about the only thing that we had inside and chuck was getting called for fouls against Boozer left and right. Look, you can bash Boozer, but last year wasn't a fluke, he's a good player, but last year was the first time he went a whole season without being hurt in a long time. I was beginning to put him in the same boat as K-Mart, but he finally decided not to get hurt for a change. Boozer and Deron Williams were carrying them, but when Okur and AK-47 started to hit their shots, we unraveled. I think in that type of series, Chuck did a better job on Boozer and I would put Scola out on Okur. Mike James would never let Deron Williams get past him like Rafer did. Scola is going to be good, but he still needs work on not committing a lot of fouls. He had to sit for long periods during the FIBA games because of foul trouble. I also think were are going to be more of a match up problem for them this year than last year.
LOL Yeah Okur is a real speed demon. Yao was better off with the statue that is Boozer Warning: Do not click if you are in a suicidal depression. This could be overwhelming Spoiler <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/G9xcOiAkoHw"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/G9xcOiAkoHw" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
I think it's better to double down on Boozer inside, with Battier and Scola, or Battier and Hayes, and let Yao guard Okur. This leaves AK47 or Harpring free, but they are more prone to cut than fire long jumpers, and Battier can react. It's a pick-your-poison situation, but clearly the guy to double is Boozer, with 2 bigger guys that can seal the lane. Yao doesn't get fouls. He can corral long rebounds or leak out early the other way. We have more fouls to give on Boozer. We can play rough, more aggressively. Our new, bigger guards should do much better at disrupting Williams. He likes to penetrate and then deliver the ball. Immediately after he gives that ball up, he should get punishment. Our guards corps has some size to play physical. I'm guessing they may also be allowed to play the passing lanes, to deny the ball to targets Boozer and Okur.
I don't know. I don't know how good a rebounder Scola is. JVG's philosophy is all 5 guys crash the boards. WIth Adelman, our defensive rebounding will surely go down. I don't know if putting your best rebounder and tallest guy on the floor at the 3 point line is a smart decision to make defensively, particularly against the best offensive rebounding team in the NBA in Utah. 4 out of their 5 starters last year averaged over 5 rebounds a game, and Kirilenko, a small forward, led all small forwards in rebounding.
Boozer scored 41 in game 2 and they still lost. We quit defendin down the stretch in game 7, that's one reason why we lost. And TMac couldn't take over. Juwan couldn't make a shot.
I can't really advocate Yao at the perimeter, either. Out there he can't rebound, clog the lane, or block shots. All he can really do is keep Okur from scoring 15 points a game. Not the best use of Yao, IMO. What I would like to see Adelman try out is a mixture of some zone D, sitting Yao and having Scola play center, double teams on Boozer, and full court pressure on Williams. I'm no coach, so I really don't know what would work best defensively, but I sure know what WON'T work-- Yao guarding Boozer straight up. I have a feeling, though, that we're just going to try to outscore them. If that works, I'm all for it, but it won't if Okur continues to be able to cover Yao by himself.
You fail to see the effects of having Yao out on the perimeter guarding Okur. Yes, we might limit Boozer, but then Deron Williams easily gets his way into the paint and makes things happen. You can't let a terrific pg like Deron easily get into the paint and draw fouls, get easy buckets, get offensive rebounds, etc. With Yao guarding on the perimeter, we rely on the 6-5 chuck hayes to get rebounds and our perimeter guys to help, meaning easy shots in the paint. As far as help defense, anyone would be a fool not to play it. You must play help defense at all times. It's a percentages game. Players have an 80 percent chance of making a shot within 8 feet, compared to a 29% chance of making a 3. I'd let a team shoot contested 3's all day if I were playing defense. The Rockets did a good job of cutting off the 3 point line in the majority of the games. Game 7 was the lone exception. Okur hit 2 3's for the first time in the series. Kirilenko hit his first 3 of the series. And all those shots were because of defensive mistakes. Zone is for p*****s. You're not going to beat any team in the playoffs playing a zone defense with only 2 guys that can score offensively. And you don't put in a grandpa at center and expect him to replace Yao's 30 points in the playoffs. Deke got owned by Boozer. And he can't do jack offensively. He deserved 10 minutes a game to give Yao a rest.
1st, do you have any data to support okur is slow as yao? 2nd, is that how you come up conlcusion? do you know where td is on court most time? do you know duncan can beat yao badly if yao defends him along perimeter? you forgot td plays closer to the basket than okur. when yao defended td most time td tried to do low post move. there is a reason why yao can guard td w/o much problem. yao is slow. plain and simple. this is his weakness. you, and all rest of those fans who provoke yao should guard okur along perimeter have to face the fact. whether you like or not, all other weaknesses yao has are pretty much related to his slowness.
