Wow, Van Gundy breaks out the intricate pick and roll offense on Christmas Day to beat the Lakers. I wonder how long it will take the league to adjust to that ... (<-- insert sarcasm) - The Grinch P.S. Yao looked great in first half, and go Rocks !
Dude...quit crying in every thread. Your thread got locked, get over it. If you have such a problem with how the admins run things, then just quit posting.
Not every team can run the pick-and-roll effectively, so dont act like its so simple. The reason it works well for the Rockets is because they have a big man who can shoot the ball and/or post and has excellent footwork, and guards who are threat to either shoot, drive or pass and be successful often. JVG is smart for sticking with the pick-and-roll throughout, getting a lot of touches for Yao, Steve and Cuttino. Even Taylor is an effective pick-and-roll player. He also is a defensive genius for making Lakers like Medvedenko shoot a lot of shots, while contesting every shot for Payton, Kobe and Shaq.
Well, as usual, others beat me to the punch much more succinctly, but X, this link is for you and anyone else interested. http://bbs.clutchcity.net/php3/showthread.php?s=&threadid=70435
Exactly. People act like some of these plays are the simplest plays to run in the league. The pick and roll isn't exactly the easiest thing to run. If it were everybody in the league would run it.
dude i'm not crying...i'm just acting melodramatic so Jeff can truly feel important and empowered. Seriously man stop over reacting..and jumping on the bandwagon. Merry Christmas Jeff...and have a happy new year...
The pick and roll is freaking easy if you have 7-6 giant screen, who can also sink 18-footer easily! I watch it time and time again when Kobe bumps into Yao's giant body painfully, and Yao just sank those 18-footer with ease. Francis crossing over Fisher/Kobe/Payton was cool to watch too!
What I liked was that it wasn't just a straight pick and roll. There were multiple screens happening on most plays including back picks that freed other guys for open shots. This wasn't just run around a screen and fire up a jumper.
For the most part, every team runs pretty much the same type of plays - pick & roll, motion, low post, high post, iso, etc. I don't think there is one team that just runs the pick & roll everytime they get on offense. It the coaches job to evaluate and make the gametime decision on what plays to call and when. Bad coaches don't know how to teach or execute the plays and furthermore make bad gameplay scenario decisions. Great coaches knows how to inspire, adapt, and re-invent his coaching techniques and gameplay decisions. Jeff Van Gundy did that today in my opinion for the first time this year. He inspired the team, he recognized and adapted to what the Lakers were giving him, and he let his players do what was working. Steve looked like he was having a lot of fun out there today. I know Reebok must have been thrilled today! Did anybody notice his new shoes tonight? Great game and great Christmas gift!
The adjustments the team made between the third and fourth quarter were excellent. It seemed in the third that the defense was coming apart, and the Lakers were getting several offensive boards. It seemed like a different team in the 4th, hands in the face of shooters, middle sealed off and solid execution on offense. I was very impressed by the in game adjustments of JVG. Also, I am hoping that Steve Francis is starting to find the areas in the offense where he can get good shots. The fact that the team ran many more high pnr plays today really allowed Francis to flourish esp with Yao hitting the 18 footer, and Mo hitting from the perimeter as well. Considering the excellent defense this team plays, if they are even middle of the pack on offense, they will be in good shape. However, until today they have consistently been in the lower echelon offensively.
I noticed that when SF's assists go up, our chance of winning goes up. I hope he knows it. But the sound thingy on SF tonight was fantastic. Seeing how the team celebrates after the win, I'm 100% convinced that they all love each other and all play with all their hearts despite many rumors about Rockets' selfishness. Anyways, Congrats on the win.
Indeed, but remember... assists are a two-way street. Sure Steve should set up guys as much as possible... but these guys HAVE to make the wide-open shots. In the Indiana game, probably the worst Rockets game this year (given that it was at home, against a beatable opponent), there was a stretch where the Rox got FIVE good looks at the basket (mostly of SF passes), and they missed them all. Tonight, JJ had his stroke going early, Yao hit some long jumpers, and Mobes and Mooch had those back-to-back threes at the end. The ONLY sure assist Steve gets regularly is the pass that leads to a dunk (probably the Cato alley-oop play)... anything else is dependent on our guys hitting wide open shots. Tonight, we hit them...
