Where do you go from here? It's not a hopeless situation, so this is more than an academic question. There are some intriguing options open to him, although none of them will mean a lick if they don't translate to the scoreboard. Still, let's take a look at the options open to you if you're JVG: 1. Get Yao, Now. It has been obvious at times in this series that the key to scoring on the Lakers is getting there defense to concentrate on the inside. When SHaq is guarding Yao, and the perim players are looking to double on him, the inside out game really exploits the Lakers lack of foot speed on rotation off the kick out. And as we saw in Game 2, when Jackson tries to compensate by letting Shaq go mano a mano with Yao, Yao has the ability to get beat Shaq or get him into foul trouble. So we might want to go to Yao on just about every half court play, not necessarily to score, but to get it started...I'm talking go to him like we went to Hakeem. Extrreme, but maybe that's what we need. The negative of this is that it requires the team to go to Yao consistently, which they still are reluctant to do when he hts any kind of bump, and it requires Yao to play aggressive and keep the ball high long enough to maintain possession when the Lakers do double down. On the surface, this seems to be an option I'd seriously consider, but it does put our eggs firmly into Yao's basket. Whether a player in his first playoff series and second season can carry the basket without dropping the team is up for debate. 2. Run them off their feet. This has an initial appeal. The Lakers are old, and look older right now. They are playing hurt, and the Rockets are relatively healthy. Additionally, they are top heavy, and getting to their bench, while not apparent so far, is actually what you want to do. The downside: Running also exhasuts Yao, and doesn't use his strengths, our faster players aren't really all that effective in the running game, and there is also a huge risk in trying something new in the playoffs. On the other hand, it can be argued that what we're doing isn't working, so this is an option to think about. 3. Go Retro. None of us want to see a return to Rudyball, but if there is a time and place to emphasize Cat and especially Steve in isolation, this might be it. Probably our biggest matchup plus on offense is the fact that at this stage Payton simply cannot stay with Steve, and if Kobe rotates over, he Cat can beat him too. We'd still have to stoke the big man some times, but this might be the time to let the guy with the years under his belt do what vets are supposed to do; play big in the playoffs. Yeah, I know this is Steve's forst go, but he's a hell of a lot more experienced than Yao. And Cat usually plays well against Kobe. The problems with this are as glaring as it's potential benefits: For one thing, if they do rotate Kobe onto Steve, Kobe will try to bait Francis into a battle of egos, and Steve might bite too often for our liking. Additionally, if you try it and fail, you are in serious trouble short and long term, having resurrected an ego problem to no avail. ANd once the Lakers are aware ywe're not going through Yao, Shaq will be freed up to choke the paint, leaving the perim players with only jumpers as an option; and Payton and Kobe can still guard you if they know what you're gonna do. All in all, while tempting, I'd probably stay away from this. 4. Get Creative We all know JVG gets the big bucks for the way he teaches defense, but it's time he showed some offensive savvy too. If you conclude that Plan A isn't working, it might be time to try some wrinkles which aren't too much of a deriviation. Get Yao out to the high post more, and make Shaq come out or pay. You'd have to do it EVEN IF Yao misses his 1st 2 jumpers, though, which we rarely do. Play some 2 man with Francis and Yao...reintorduce the handoff play they used to love. Try to set some staggered picks for Cat...as I said, experiment. Downsides are all over the place, but who knows. You might strike gold. 5. Dance with the one who brung 'ya. Some might argue that we aren't really in need of an adjustment, just better excecution. Actually, every coach who ever lived will say that no what, but it might be true in this case. Certainly both games have been there for the taking, if we'd played smart. If we'd stayed with Yao in Game 2, or held onto the ball in Game 1, this could be an entirely different series. SO it might just be that we stay the course, and hope we simply do what we do better. Obviously, there is a downside. Well, two. First and foremost, it simply might be that we'e played as well as we can, and we'll go down the same way we've played so far. Additionally, the Lakers haven't really played all that well either,and while our defense is part of that, a continuation of the stauts quo probably allows for their improvement. I am almost certain this is the way, with a nod to number 1, that JVG WILL go...but what would you do if you were him, and why?
Walk away. Now. It would require a RudyT miracle for this team to win this series. To your points, through both his Rockets and Knicks years, JVG has proven that he isn't an "outside the box" thinker. He has his plan (defense, defense, defense), and sticks to it. He has also proven that he is not good at making adjustments. That leaves "5", and (IMHO), they have played about as well as they can. The Lakers are simply the better team with the better coach.
I'm not sure which of your five it would fit in, but it seems that the play we've had the most success with in the series is the Yao/Steve pick and roll. It'll either give Yao an open look or draw Shaq from the basket (at the beginning of Game 2, Francis did pass to Yao on a couple of pnr's, but he wasn't able to sink the jumper), it gets Francis space for a drive, and, in Game 1, it messed up Payton's back (not that I wish injury on him, but setting picks is one of the few things an offense can do to hit back at a thuggish defense). If they put Bryant on Francis (because Payton keeps getting beat), have Mobley run it. If they put Malone on Yao (to keep Shaq near the basket), have Taylor set the pick. Not that I wouldn't run other things as well. I'd also want to put Yao in the low post to start the game just to see if he can get something going there. But the pnr strikes me as the bread-and-butter play against this team. It uses Francis' talent for the drive and Yao's touch and size. But, it'll still require that Yao can hit a jumper.
I agree, JVG does not make any adjustments what so ever. He preaches D, and sticks with it. I guess what JVG doesn't realize that you can't win in the West scoring 80ppg. Come on Macbeth, you know JVG has no "offensive savvy."
I agree, JVG does not make any adjustments what so ever. He preaches D, and sticks with it. I guess what JVG doesn't realize that you can't win in the West scoring 80ppg. Really? Someone should tell that to San Antonio, ranked 11th out of 14 teams in the West in scoring, scoring a whopping 2 more pts per game than we do.
This is a myth that Van Gundy (and his staff) don't understand offense or have a good offense. But first understand what their offensive system is built on. 1. Good spacing. 2. Good ball movement/ crisp accurate passing. 3. Good picks and running effective pick and rolls 4. Effective and timely entry pass to the post 5. Getting open shots Our offensive execution breaks down when we get lazy on our spacing. Hold the ball and dribble half- hearted pick and rolls stupid passes force up shots because the other 4 things are screwed up Van Gundy and Poppavich are very similar coaches. And the Spurs run a very similar offense to ours. The difference is their low post player is Duncan Their guards Parker and Ginobolli execute better Their spacing is better and their passing is better They have fewer turnovers and they just have the best low post player in the game.
EDC Let it go; RudyT is gone. I know it is hard but at least try.....for your own good. At least if you want to pick bones blame the players and "Mr Mean" for letting him down. In all, it was destiny and fate that resulted in his ousting. Deal with it.
I'd like to focus our offense on PnR with Yao and Steve & Mobley & J Jackson, when O'Neal is guarding him; force feeding Yao inside as the other option when anyone else matched up against him. We all know O'Neal is not a good defender outside of the paint, so use Yao to set up pick will greatly expose his weakness. I'd like to see more of Cat & J.Jackson involve with Yao than Steve in the PnR due to the fact that both of them are better shooters at this time, and LA's guards prefer to go under the screen, leave the ball handler open most of the time based on my observation from last two games. Francis doesn't seem to have confidence on his shots behind the screen in the last two games. Another benifit is that Yao is more effective when rolling to the basket, where Shaq got two fouls trying to defend him in the 2nd game. Also, when Cat gets involves more this way, he can get Bryant work much harder to go through those picks, which in turns will effect his offesive productivity. When O'Neal is not on Yao, we need to camp Yao in the paint full time. Malone is the only other Laker who can push Yao out, but we can use Spoon/Talor/Cato to set picks to help Yao get better position. The key here is taking the time & sticking with the plan, for both Yao and the guards. Don't just give up after Yao misses a couple shots, or get strippered a couple times, which we have seen happening more often than not this season. Go Rockests!
One needs an understanding of offense to coach defense. The point is that Van Grumpy has a very limited offensive palette, and is unwilling (or unable) to adjust his scheme to accomodate his players. The Rockets' offensive scheme is uncomfortably close to that of JVG's Knicks.
Remember, the collapse under Van Gundy (6-11) was worse than that of Larry Smith (8-9). Maybe it is time for "fate" to roll again...
My God! You must have been in my head last night! I came to the exact conclusion while watching the Spurs & Grizz. I also think that JVG's offense will ultimately look a lot like SA's in time. The problem he has now, is what you have outlined above plus the fact that key members on the team - SF & Mobley - have never bought into what he wanted to do on offense so they stop trying to implement said offense at the first opportunity. On top of that, thanks to the ineptness of the front office, JVG's bench is nowhere near as good as Popovich's which further limits what JVG is trying to accomplish.
