Woodlands, I saw your post below on Terence's 5 assists among his other stats in his limited playing. Good post. The Rockets got a good overall "team player" in Terence. It was obvious early on that he needed confidence. Defensively, Terence will help greatly, I can't say enough for his shot blocking and his "intimidation" factor. You mention "passer". Those are words Red Auerbach would like to hear. I heard Red at a banquet once say about the Celtic dynasty years, "we did not have the best talent, but knew how to play together better". That is a key with me, passing can make up for a lot of talent. Earlier in the season lowly Princeton gave #2 Maryland a tough time for most of the entire game. Reason, thier teamwork and passing made up for the lack of talent. The guy who rarely gives up the ball makes it so easy for the opposing defense. Got to have the triple threat to pass, penetrate, or shoot. Fundamentals, but that was why the Celtics won year after year with Red. FREDTERP
If you ever want to see how teamwork is suppose to be look no further than the Nets. They have 5 players in double figures, they share the ball, run after every rebound and just because Kidd can create so much, he doesn't just dribble the clock out. This blast the theory that a rebounding guard kills your fast break. When kidd gets the ball, everyone, including McCulloch runs hard because they know the can get dunks , layups, foul and short jumpers. Byron Scott is doing a great job with the princeton type offense and it makes the avg players look real good. If you need further proof, all you have to do is watch them play and you'll ask yourself, why can't we be like that? I'll tell you why. No atheleticsm at the 3, failure to share the ball with EVERYONE not just your buddies, and a coaching staff that hasn't gotten the idea that iso's are dead. If you take the highest scoring teams in the league, most are the most probably have the highest asst. This is not to say the have shooters, it says they get fast breaks and early offense which is vital to beating these hybrid zones teams are playing. They're not playing a standard zone, its more of like a matchup sag back type to kill 23ft dribble penetration which the Rox and heat like to do. Move the players with the ball and they'll get higher % shots. If not even with Francis back and a healthy Rice and Thomas, we'll struggle like we have.
Puedlfor, You are correct they did have a lot of talent. But, as Fredterp stated they played as a Team... That's the only way that they could be Wilt and his team..... But what about the Orlando Magic 2 years ago. they almost made the playoffs with a bunch of no NAMES...... Doc had that team playing pure TEAMBALL... Passing to the open man... Not 1 man can be 12.... The Rockets still have enough talent on that team to win games... IF THEY PLAY TEAM BALL.. In the first quarter of Tuesday's game they gave you a glimpse of what could happen if they play together. The problem is you have about 3 or 4 guys who want the spotlight and the glory...
I don't know that it's so much that the Rockets have players who want the spotlight, but rather that the team starts to panic when the opponent starts to clamp down defensively. And when the team panics, Cuttino, Griffin, Thomas, Moochie, Walt and Willis start making bad decisions and forcing plays. When they force plays, they miss shots and do even worse.
I have a prob with that.... I can understand Griffin making bad decisions because he is a Rookie.. But the other 5 have players have been in the league long enough to know the game a little better. All of these guys have been taught to pass the ball to the open man, since they started playing. As a professional that rule does not change. All I keep reading is excuses to why they are not winning and I can say that all of these excuses are BS... EXCUSES are like A * * ( 0 ) everybody has one... Last night Orlando beat Utah without any Star Players.... But they went out and played as a team..... This is something that the Rockets do in spurts... If the Rockets played as a TEAM I am pretty certain they would have won half or over half the last 14 games that they have played....
T-Man, thats what I'm talking about. I watched the clippers and probably their most talented player have 8pts 10asst and a few rebs. The player I'm talking about is Odom. In the 1st quater Magette was hitting, in the 2nd and 3rd it was brand and in the fourth it was Q. It doesn't seem to bother them who's hitting and scoring. Some nights its McGinnis who scores but they're happy because they're winning and isn't concerned with the spotlight. I bet you this is the only team in the league where the 2 best players on the team has arm bands with each others number and their sidekick has both of their numbers on his arm band. Why not just you're nickname and the team name. I'm most sure Q,Brand,Maggette, Odom, Miles, and all the rest of them are tight, but they don't do it. This isn't really a team and they don't play team ball. Some of it has to go to the players and some to the b.s. offensive sets they play.
Puedlfor, Red STATED that the Celtics "did not have the best talent" during the dynasty years and that they won because they knew how to play BETTER TOGETHER. Even if they were to have the best talent, I have seen many a team with the best talent lose because of lack of teamwork. I don't get a chance to see many Rocket games, but do the Rockets have good teamwork? Of the few Rocket posts I have seen, sounds like there is much room to improve. One of my favorite movies, Hoosiers with Gene Hackman, the Coach (Hackman) stressed, team, team, and team. FREDTERP
