I do agree he has improved in at least getting back on transition defense, but I still think he's terrible at closing out on the shooter in the half-court.
Looking at today's game, it does seem that Coach gave a green light to Rice to shoot more in quantity and variety. So far Rice delivers, hopefully he keeps it like that.
He is more involve in the offense tonight for sure compare to the past few games. What he said in the paper is true. This team need to get everybody involve for them to win consistently. Hopefully the guards will continue to get everybody involve instead of dribbling away chances for the team.
He is complaining about a basic Rudyism. Rudy milks a play over and over until the other team stops it. The problem is that other teams were stopping our plays and we kept running the same old crap over and over again, and we kept on losing. Rice is absolutely right. This team needs to start playing team basketball. Look what happened today after Rice's comments. Our point guard was a distributor, had a season high in assists, and took 4 officially shots. Four players took 10 or more shots; no one took more than 13; everyone who played took at least 4 shots. And we won - easily. That's exactly how basketball should be played. It forces teams to guard everyone and lets everyone on the team get into the flow. That improves the offense from all over the field. Instead of reacting to defenses all the time ("we'll take what the defense gives us"), maybe we need to start forcing defenses to react to our offense.
We have two star guard players who like to take the game to themselves and offen do not make good decisions on court. Nobody dares to say anything about it including Rudy T. I am glad that we have Rice who can stand up and say something and really walk all the talks.
originally posted by HP : I'm completely with you. I don't trust Feigan. There's something oily about him.
I think its hard as a shooter/ scorer to go multiple possession without touching the ball. I don't think Rice wants to shoot more, just stop the guard domination of holding on to it for the entire possession . I can draw plays on top of plays to free players and most start with Ming. I don't think Rudy will ever do it, at least now because Francis seem like a person who gets his feeling hurt easy. The play should start with Ming on most possessions and let him make the decisions with the ball while other people cut and back pick for the others.
Looks like many people (this writer and some players included) are sick of our guards jacking up shots! Sharing can be fun By JOHN P. LOPEZ Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle Real basketball genius must be a viral kind of thing. It must come and go -- a little here and a little there, like strep at a Mother's Day Out center. It must be that way, because one day the tandem of guards in Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich's system appear to be stricken with some kind of ballhog-itis. Or worse, drain the shot clock and heave a fadeaway jumper-itis. But the next day, they're just sick. And that's sick, in a hip-hop video kind of way. A Rucker Park, in your face, now we're having fun kind of way, which is what Tuesday's 94-86 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves looked and felt like. "The results tonight say everything," said Rockets center Yao Ming, who knows a thing or two about playing basketball the old-school way, which is to say with five players participating. "This kind of play can help us to win more games, but also it can be fun to watch." For Tomjanovich, who is so old-school he still talks about checking other scores from "a ticker," Tuesday's win was prettier than a spanking new pair of Chuck Taylors. He looked like a wizard of the hardwoods. He caught the basketball genius virus, with everything going so well and the Rockets ultimately proving to be too much and almost too unselfish against a team they figure to battle all season for a Western Conference playoff spot. "We just played the game the way we have to play it," Tomjanovich said. "It's not going to be like that every night, but the guys trusted (the offense). Nobody cared about getting all their shots." The verdict: Bash Rudy T, Cuttino Mobley and Steve Francis if you must for an offensive style that often has looked stagnant and uncreative. But this game showed it is not the system that has faltered; it has been the people running it. On the way to losing four of six games before Tuesday, the Rockets in their half-court offense indeed coughed up yesterday's lunch more than a few times. Shooting percentages went the way of the NASDAQ -- down, down, down -- while patience ran short and confidence wavered. Mobley and Francis looked less like big-time guards and more like masseuses -- massaging the ball, dribbling, dribbling, until finally tossing up a jumper. Rudy T was criticized. Maurice Taylor was lost in the shuffle. Eddie Griffin was locked into a one-dimensional role as a shooter. And Glen Rice, the proven and veteran presence, was rendered almost a non-factor. Even during one early moment when the Timberwolves took an eight-point lead, a fan could be heard in a quiet Compaq Center pleading with Francis to "pass the ball." But it's nights like these that can turn those Rockets frowns upside down, especially if your name is Taylor or Rice. And it's nights like these that can make Tomjanovich's half-court, isolation, guard-reliant offense look practically stylish. Not one Rockets player took more than 13 shots in Tuesday's win. All but one of the nine Rockets who saw the floor took at least five shots, and the only one who didn't was named Steve Francis. Surprise, surprise. "This is the way you've got to play basketball," Francis said. "If the shots are there, I'm going to take them. If they're not, I can pass the ball." The concept caught on to the point that for 2 1/2 quarters after the Wolves' early run, it could be argued the Rockets played their most unselfish, complete offensive game. Taylor had his best game of the season, finishing with 18 points and six rebounds, clearly benefiting from crisp ball movement. Rice, frustrated over not becoming a bigger part of the system, got 10 shots off in 26 minutes, hitting five of them, including four 3-pointers. Yao was making typically splendid passes. The ball was moved smartly inside and out, up and down the floor. There were even a few fast-break buckets mixed in, lifting the Rockets to more than 50 percent shooting through most of the game before they chilled in the fourth quarter and settled in at 45.7 percent. But the picture the Rockets painted on this night, the standard they set, was clear. And you don't have to be a genius to figure it out. Share the ball and share in the fun.
