From http://espn.go.com/nba/columns/stein_marc/1481490.html: Rockets changing (and winning) on the fly Intermittent turbulence in Houston is understandable. The Rockets have grappled with inconsistency while retooling their offense midstream to capitalize fully on the emerging Yao Ming. One opposing coach whose club faced the Rockets recently came away "shocked" by how rarely Houston is going to its well-worn isolation sets for Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley. The Rockets are increasingly funneling the ball through Yao instead to take advantage of his passing ability. "He moves like a 6-10 guy in the post," the coach remarked, "but he's 7-6." Given how fluid things are, Houston's 15-11 start might be more impressive than it looks. "I don't know about that," Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson said, "but I can see the light." -----------------------
The light coincides with Rudy's might!! Props to Rudy for calling less isos But I also think that teams use the zone more this year, making isos less likely. Whatever is the reason, it's still better basketball for the Rox and its fans.
You don't have to wait until any future game... the Rockets have made Yao the "center of attention". The offense is being run through him regardless of what stats may or may not say. Period. If you watch the game closely, you'll see this. Other coaches apparently have...
lol. Uhhh yeah. Isolation is out because there's more zone defense! And that means less scoring. And now...pretty much everything goes through Yao. He does his stuff. And sometimes our Rockets forget about Yao and try to score by themselves and then we start losing. They try to score but they can't. And then we calm down and pass it down to him and we are all happy again. The only reason we lose is if Yao is too tired. And he gets tired a lot. lol CD can "see the light"!!!
I hope the Rockets don't completely disregard ISO's. Francis and Mobley are terriffic one-on-one players, and we should use those skills when they'er to our advantage.
yep...like when we play the Golden State Warriors. Steve Francis vs. Earl Boykins. He's only 5-5!!! LOL. But he is pretty good and FAST. Yeah, we can't just stop doing ISO and pass to Yao every time. They will find a way to prevent the ball from going to him. That has happened. Hopefully our intelligent coach, Rudy T., will come up with a brilliant strategy...
So, basically ... damned if he does, damned if he doesn't? What do you want from the guy? All these years, we've been waiting for a more fluid offense, and when it looks like we're bout to achieve that, it's not good anymore?
