How many people here remember those 90s Knicks? You know the one that always beat up on people. The one that played suffocating defense almost the entire season. The one that would throw wave after wave of big men like Ewing, Oakley, Mason, Smith, Bonner at you. To make things worse, Harper and Starks would always swipe the ball off of your hands. Riley's troops were instructed to slow down each possession and grind out every single game. They played with intensity. They roughed you up every night. They won good amount of games in the regular season. All that was fine and dandy. However, there was also a theory back then that Knicks played in 5th gear all season, and the difference between regular season Knicks and playoffs Knicks was minimal. While other teams went into overdrive once playoffs arrived, Knicks were about the same. They were a team full of thugs though, and had somewhat decent bench so they attained success in playoffs. Keep in mind that, that success never translated into a championship though. Let's fast forward to Rockets. JVG is from Riley's school of basketball. Both men demand high intensity every game. This year the Rockets provided it. The Rockets played with superb intensity all season and had very good success. Hayes and Shane spearheaded that attitude, and helped the team in finishing with 4th best record. The question though is, now that the playoffs are here, DOES THIS TEAM HAVE ANOTHER GEAR IN IT? Can they sustain that intensity or even match Jazz's intensity, especially considering that they dont have any bona fide enforcer type player that the Knicks had? Can Shane and Hayes step it up in playoffs or have they pretty much peaked in regular season? Has the 8 man rotation taken it's toll on the Rockets, especially when that rotation includes a 40 year old, a 13 NBA year PF, a star player with a bad back, and another star player who will always have stamina issues because of his size? Personally, I feel the Rockets lack the toughness, have over-achieved in regular season, and will have a hard time stepping it up if they advance to the next round. I see a lot of Knickness on this team without the one thing that made them tough: Toughness. I would like to be wrong though.
No, I agree with most of what I said. I have always maintained that this team, by and large, is a 'finesse' team because its two star players around which the entire system is built are finesse players that shy away from physical play. That's just their nature. We don't have enforcers on this team like those old Knicks teams had, or even like we did two years ago in Sura and James (although that year we still lacked the requisite talent to beat a bad matchup for us in Dallas). If JVG wants to implement the same philosophy/style as Riley did in NYC or is doing now in Miami, then he needs to start collecting "JVG type" players that can give him that toughness/edge he's looking for. Overall, this team is too...nice. So yeah, my opinion hasn't changed.
The way I see it, the Jazz also lack intensity. I think that the Rockets seem to be playing at a lower level this whole series due to Jerry Sloan also having that intense defensive mindset. Remember that he's the same guy who threw cheater malone at us game after game. It's going to look rough each game of this series. That said, the 8 man rotation has always worried me. I wish JVG would play with a deeper bench, but we don't have an owner to spend $92m on us to GET us a deeper bench worth playing.
To be fair, both Riles and JVG managed to take the Knicks to the NBA finals in the '90s, so that was a successful formula.
I don't buy things about finding an extra gear. It's a cliche that commentators grab onto and overuse. If a team plays with intensity all year, they are more likely to play with intensity in the playoffs. If a team plays soft all year, they are more likely to play soft in the playoffs. The Spurs and Pistons championship teams certainly didn't win because the "found an extra gear" in the playoffs. They kept doing what they'd always been doing. The Heat didn't win last year because Wade "found an extra gear". He just got hot after the Chicago series, got favorable matchups, and played the best month of basketball of his life. You could say that Shaq "found an extra gear" in the playoffs with the Lakers, but that wouldn't even be totally accurate. Really what he did was start out lazy every year and work his way into shape. By the time the Playoffs rolled around, he was playing to his potential.
Good post Zboy, that is why a Rudy coached team would l beat a JVG team in the playoffs,given the same approximate level of talent. Of course cince Rudy can work with head cases, he would usually have more talent
Rudy never would've had a headcase quit on him late in the season before a playoff run. Sincerely, Vernon Maxwell
Interesting post, but I'm not sure I agree with the implication that Van Gundy should get a demerit, however tacitly, for having his team over-achieve in the regular season.
Rudy would coach a hero and inspire him to score 21 points in game 7 on the NBA Finals. Sincerely, Vernon Maxwell
