That was hardly reaming. He mentioned mental mistakes and a lack of concentration down the stretch as well as having new guys in the rotation. While those are all true, a lot of the mistakes and breakdowns had to do with essentially playing 6 guys against a team that was throwing fresh legs into the game starting in the 1st half. Rick could have found a way to rest the heavy minute guys more in the 1st half. The obvious reaction is "then we would have lost because we only won by a few points" but it was obvious that certain players were winded down the stretch. With a little more legs, maybe they make a couple more stops or a few less bad decisions or cut a little harder off the ball and get a couple better looks on offense late in the game. Even if the bench guys allowed the lead to dwindle more in the 2nd quarter, perhaps our starters are less physcially and mentally fatigued in crunch time. Maybe the bench doesn't give up much of the lead despite struggling in limited minutes. Who knows? Rick didn't allow us to find out for better or worse.
The solution is very easy, you don't need any other players, it's a matter of call the sets and keep doing some offense, don't limit yourself to tire out the possession and stop attacking. If the PG doesn't do it, you're the coach, stand up and yell him; don't wait for the press confference to cry. And if players are tired, use your damn 12 men roster.
Pop showed the coach's will No matter how close the game became, 13 or 3 points, neither Duncan nor Mano stepped on the court again. It was not the first time coach Pop did that either. In his earlier years, Tony Parker was often pulled out and yelled at. I am not sure whether coach Pop was trying to discipline his starters or protest before the referees, but it was clear he was exposing his will on the game. It was possible that the starters may win the game when they were down by only 3, but I believe what coach Pop did was good for his team in the long run. Coach Pop is one of the greatest in recent years, isn't he? Now let look at our Houston Rockets. Martin STEPPED OUT OF BOUNDS at clutch time when nobody was close. C Bud committed a very unnecessary foul to send the opponent to the line. Martin and Brooks each pulled up for long and contested jumpers. Though the Rockets won tonight, but the sequence of the last few minutes was the formula of how to lose close games. Give some discipline to your young players, coach Adelman!
You could be right. My opinion is that it was hardly unusual in tone or choice of words. I've seen him make similar comments 15 to 20 times this season about mental mistakes, closing games, lack of concentration/execution, etc... I'm not sure if all the postgames are available on Rockets.com but maybe I'll check this one out compared to some other ones from past games. Maybe I missed something but I watch every postgame and this one didn't seem out of the ordinary to me in the least bit. Adelman is an even keel guy but he shows a little frustration now and then and almost always offers some kind of criticism whether we win or lose. Either way, it's not that surprising to me that a bunch of fresh legs off the Spurs' bench were able to cut into a lead against a below average defensive team that essentially used 6 players because of coaching decisions and because 2 of it's best defenders are out due to injury.
Dude, Martin stepped out of bounds ONCE in the game. You don't pull out your scoring machine because of a silly mistake. Adelman's coaching style emphasizes letting the players battle past their own mistakes. He wants to encourage creativity, not stifle it.
Timmy D is just not as good as he used to be especially on the defensive end therefore the spurs aren't as good as they were.
Defense was a bigger problem than offense. Almost every team in the league runs isos late in the game with a lead. It limits the chance of a turnover and allows you to milk the clock by running time off on the perimeter until someone doubles the ballhandler. The Mavericks run almost exclusively isolation plays late in games. Again, defense was a bigger problem if you want to find something to complain about. Part of the reason is we have some poor defenders out there. Another reason is we essentially used only 6 players tonight against a team that went all the way to the end of their bench. Another reason is we have some new players in the mix still getting used to the defensive rotations. Don't worry, Lowry will be back soon. That's what you're getting at. There is no option right now and PG decision-making was not the biggest problem down the stretch. If anything, complain about the team defense and the fact that Adelman didn't allow us to rest the big minute guys more in the 1st half when we had a big lead. Even if that cost us a little, our starters would have been fresher mentally and physically down the stretch. All of the guys were winded on the court late in the game, particularly Brooks, Martin and Scola. Mistakes on both ends should have been expected.
I would think Duncan's and Manu's age/injuries had to do with sitting them. Duncan was great in the first half.
Wrong site. I believe you are looking for this: http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=2/
The idea in those end of half and late game possessions with multiple possession leads is to kill clock. It's not Brooks or Martin going freelance. It's the coach's decision and the players executing his decision. Adelman has the other 4 guys go to the corners and spread the floor while the ballhandler kills clock. When he makes his move, he is supposed to look for his shot if there is no double. If a double comes, it's up to the player to find the open guy. On all 3 or 4 of those late game possessions where Brooks and Martin missed outside shots, they did just about everything right except make the shots or possibly look to get closer to the basket because they didn't get doubled. They were exhausted so that may be part of why they settled instead of going all the way to the basket. On other late possessions where Brooks got doubled out high, he did his best to move the ball. He wasn't perfect but he was a lot better than his norm. Defense was a bigger problem than offense down the stretch and a lot of it had to do with Adelman using essentially a 6-man rotation against a bunch of fresh Spurs players all night long. Even if it was a risk to keep bench players in earlier in the game, it seems to me Rick may have been served well to do that with the big first half lead. He was trying to go for the jugular or perhaps figured our only chance was to keep our foot on the pedal early.
From the first half, when Brooks and Martin stayed on the court for almost the entire time, it was pretty clear Adelman was going to play his starters (minus Hayes) major minutes. Adelman seemed set on putting the burden of this game on the starting lineup, as if he was telling them to man up because there's no one who's going to help them. It felt like a "trial by fire" and the players really responded. So in his own way, Adelman was showing his will, as well.
Wow...what a game. 3 guys with 30 points or more??? And that many free throws??? I want Scola to forever be a Rocket. I love that man. Y'all don't even understand.
