Hybrid offense > Sacto Offense, and play action pass?

two parts to this post:

Part I: Houston Hybrid > Sacto offense?

It's far too early to draw any conclusions on how good or bad the Rockets' offense will be under Adelman. But we're here to speculate so ponder this.

I think we are working toward an offense where we have the ability
(and more importantly, the personnel) to run a conventional low post offense through Yao, as well as the Sacramento/inverted offense. The big knock on Sacto was their inability to get key stops and key baskets late in the 4th quarter (that and refs screwing them over vs LA). The game grinds down, defenses lock down, and motion is more difficult. Put it differently, in Q4, it's about stars making plays and perhaps has always been.

With the Rockets, our inverted/motion offense is a work in progress. But one can readily visualize success with James and Bonzi cutting, Bonzi working the low block, Yao eventually getting comfortable and sure handed at the elbow. Last night, it seemed fairly clear that Tmac was enjoying good looks at the hoop with a minimum of effort because he didn't have to create. He went to the basket a lot more than normal because he didn't spend all his energy initiating the offense. Yet, when that bogs down, if defenses lock down on the cutters, we can always go back to Yao in the low block. If Q4 is about stars making plays, we have Yao on the low block, Tracy on the PNR or iso, and Yao at the elbow with Tmac taking the screen/handoff.

I think this can be a distinct advantage over what Sacto had. In Q4, they usually relied on Bibby's outside shot or Webber's mid range jumper. In crunch time, they didn't have a low post presence and outside/midrange shooting is unreliable.

Part II: Play action pass

In Q4, we will have the ability to run a motion play or throw it down to Yao. The key to making this truly lethal is disguising the offense, so that the defense is at a disadvantage in reacting because they can't tell what we're going to do (like football's play action pass).

I am having some difficulty, from an X and O's standpoint, envisioning how we disguise what we intend to do. Perhaps we can run yao to the low post, and rather than camp there, he can then extend out to the elbow, creating flow and space where he just vacated and dump the ball down to a cutter, or screen/hand off to Tmac? I'll give this more thought but invite others to describe plays that might work.