It's not rocket science people! Adelman - beat the front!

We had quite a few plays for fronting defenses, but for some reason, we just didn't run them today. Earlier on in the season when Rafer was still here, we ran some of them pretty well.

 

good post. hope it leads to some good discussions.

 

A bounce pass in the middle of the lane to Yao and his sure hands sounds like a great idea.

 

Pretty much what I thought. However that play was amazing. I love how the guy who made the pass at the end is just running down the court not looking before it's over like, "yeah, we just did that"

 

I don't know the answer to that question. I ask myself that all the time. Whenever teams do it consistently, it seems to work (i.e. D'antoni's Suns). I guess it can be pretty tiring to front a guy for a whole game, but I'd personally just rotate my bigs and front all day long.

 

Good post, the Rockets have been struggling when Yao is fronted.
They should run some pick and rolls with Yao. At this point on the season its a shame that the Rockets seem clueless when Yao is fronted. Once again another painful loss to a sub .500 ball club.

 

jon feigen has nailed it. all left to do for the rockets is practice and execution.

There are solutions to the fronting defenses. The Rockets see so many of them, their eyes should light up when teams try it, knowing just what to do and how to attack.

Most teams send their other big men to cover for a lob over the defense, taking that option away. But that should make it easy for Luis Scola, the Rockets' most accurate jump shooter, to free himself for mid-range shots that he hits all night. And when he moves freely, with his man helping on Yao, he can also get in position, often at the free throw line to set up Yao inside.

Better still, if a team cannot devote two big men to Yao, the best option is for Yao to seal his man on his back and move quickly to the weak side as the ball moves with him. Get that right and he is putting in layups, dunks and short jump hooks.

A little Scola-Brooks pick-and-roll can send Brooks flying toward the lane, where big men are out of position from the time spent on Yao. If Brooks gets a screen, there is no way a team can keep two bigs on Yao. One has to come up to help. That should free Yao posting up inside or make him a force on the boards, as with the game-clincher against Kevin Garnett's fronting defense in Boston.

It also gives Brooks a chance to set up Yao, or if help must come from the wing, and it will, to pass to guards open outside. The Rockets do hit a high percentage of catch-and-shoot 3s. It's those-off-the-dribble, going-sideways things that kill them.

There were, of course, other short-comings that led to the worst collapse in franchise history. But having seen so many fronting defenses do so much damage, and with Yao so important these days, taking care of that issue seems to have jumped toward the top of the list.

very nice piece by feigen. every rocket should be able to recite it.

 

fantastic

 

damn, they're good.

someone just cuts into middle instead of three-point stand still like us. solved.

so simple yet we haven't done anything like these.

 

because yao only scores 20pts a game? not exactly the most devasting offensive force that would warrant to over play him?

 

good post.

 

RA is stubborn, he likes to not be a coach and let things unfold as they should. For example, even though I haven't seen the game but from what I've read and by watching games I know what type of game it was:

- Why not play Deke when the Bulls get so many offensive boards, Yao is in foul trouble and they're clearly bigger than us ??
- Why not use Lowry instead of AB when AB is stinking it up ??
- Why wait until the last moment to call a timeout ??
- Why let Artest get away with bricking threes at the end ??
- Why not call a play in the last 10 secs instead of letting Artest doing his
T-mac impression ?
- Why not suggest a way to beat fronting ??
- Why not call more plays for Scola when he's been consisten all year long ??

Great video by the way and those 2 plays show that that team is better at the motion offense than this Rockets team will ever be. Even though we are better than earlier in the year and we move the ball better, everybody is still standing around, not cutting, not setting back screens to get open, not helping Yao to get in position etc.
Even in the 6 game winning streak, especially in the Cleveland game I saw Yao working really hard at getting position because guys like Artest & Wafer set such poor screens + Artest even refused to set screens at times and wanted the ball himself.

 

HOPEFULLY this game will be a big lesson for coach ra. We NEED to practice several solutions to the fronting Yao defense.

You learn more through failure than you do through success. We need to learn from this horrible game.

 

AB0 has 6 weeks to work on his passing skills.

 

Fronting should not be that hard to defeat. Defensively, I'd consider it a risky style of defending that can be exploited without much problem.

Hopefully the team will get it worked out soon.

I saw it suggested that Yao position himself for a rebound when they are fronting. I wonder how an AB / Scola pick n' roll with Yao in perfect rebounding position would work out as a strategy ...

 

The play in the video would work if Scola could pass like that..but unfortunately hes really a crappy passer. yao's coordination would be put to the test too because he needs to be quick to seal his man off and catch the ball without fumbling.