1. Lack of height 2. Poor boxing out 3. Yao is tipping balls instead of grabbing them 4. T-Mac isn't crashing like before(notice when he decided to crash against the Blazers he was beating everybody for the ball) Maybe due to his knee. 5. Opponents are shooting high%, which results in less rebounding opportunities.
bingo! bingo! we have a winner!! when the other team shoots the ball no one is finding a body and blocking out... yao a lot of times just gets beat to the spot... they need to watch tapes of charles barkley
What may be even worse than our lack of rebounding. Rockets getting 2.66 blocks per game. Opponents getting 6.16. Ouch!!
Defence strategy has changed. Old JVG team focused on protect the basket and prevent penetration. The tradition has completely lost this season.
This is the main reason why scrappy teams like Utah has a huge edge over us. Yao is 7'6 but that means he's slower reacting to rebounds away from him than everyone. He can snatch from up top over everyone, but 7 athletic footers like Aldridge or other athletic PFs/C's (like Boozer) can sometimes outhussle him if Yao's not in favorable boxout position. Another reason could be that Yao sometimes is forced too far out of the basket area if he's forced to guard PFs/C's who like to shoot jumpers (like Okur). That leaves us without our best rebounder in those situations. Landry at 6'8 can be outrebounded if the matchup is taller than him and just as athletic. Scola same thing. But overall, I think its just a lack of focus and discipline, although its not too dire right now.
could it be the defense is gear towards perimeter defense, that results in less players going for the boards? Its not often you see such low 3p% over 6 games.
“We just have to find ourselves,” Artest said. “We’re still searching. It’s coming together. We haven’t played our best ball yet.”
