New Article from Jason Friedman about the Rockets using the closer by committee approach. Link Click the link for the rest.
who was the piston's closers when they won the rings? Closest thing to that was probably Billups. the way we are composed now is much like the former Pistons. We have good threats to score late rather than a Great threat to score so it would limit teams to just focusing on one guy. One thing for sure is don't turn Ming into that, turnovers are bound to happen.
Let Yao be the closer from what I recall. I believe Hakeem was the closer before Clyde the Glide got here. Double teams are going to happen for sure, because not one center in the league can contain Yao. Yao is the answer, and if they front them a player is going to be open.
the ball usually goes through billups down the stretch and he makes all the plays--not necessarily takes all the shots. so he was their go-to guy. we don't have one but who cares? it's working. will it work in the playoffs? we don't know.
adelman tried. fortunately, he stopped. now we call plays depending on the situation. could be yao, brooks, artest, scola, landry...
I think if our role players can gain a little more confidence, i.e. brooks, battier, scola, wafer (even Chuck Hayes, did you see him dive for the ball against the nuggets?) then we have as much closing ability as we need, or, say, as much as we had in 1994... and like that team, it may be better if its disguised among many players, rather than an obvious go to closer. If we start playing with just a bit more confidence in the fourth quarter and learn how to hold a lead and close teams out a bit better, I think our chances are better than many would give us credit, obvious closer or not.
Majority of the team it's to Yao, then it goes to Artest and then it goes to Brooks. From what I've seen.
most post players dont get the ball late in the 4th because they'd rather double/front than let a post player beat them than a perimeter player. Best thing is to blow the teams outright, as in today's game
[rquoter]“I don’t know,” admits Shane Battier. “I hope so. I’m not saying it’s impossible; it’s just more difficult. You just have to execute your sets much better down the stretch, so that’s what we need to focus on. Instead of worrying about what we don’t have, we’ve got to focus on executing what we can do at the end of games. “It’s a huge advantage when you can put the ball in someone’s hands and have them create at the end of the game. Every championship-level team has one. That’s probably the biggest thing we miss with (Tracy) McGrady out. Now we have guys who can do that, it’s just not their strength. Ron Artest can do it but it’s not what he’s best at, so we have to do it by committee. Aaron Brooks is still learning how to do it – I think eventually he will be able to do it – he just needs to learn and go through the experience. Then obviously, as best as we can, we need to try to get the ball to Yao, which we’ve had mixed success doing as well.”[/rquoter] That's the value of a player like McGrady. Some argued that McGrady has historically hurt us at the end of games because he doesn't play within the offense. But for most any team with an elite shot creator, when its crunch time that creator is the offense. In past years, it's obvious that the Rockets closed games better when McGrady was available and healthy.
Our closer will be on defense. Chuck Hayes drawing a charge or saving a ball. Battier playing coach and calling a timeout.
Yao is the closer. But I think those guys saying we need a big name star just to hit big shots are silly. Lets go back to clutch city...who hit the big shots...Horry, K.Smith, V.Maxwell, Sam...it was role players who hit the big shots. We need our role guys to hit those shots, that's it.
EVERY championship team does have that ONE guy, including that detroit pistons team. chauncey was their playmaker. hopefully, aaron brooks learn fast b/c he's our best guy at breaking down defenses. just hope his playmaking IQ skyrockets real quick. he can score, no doubt. but when team shuts down his drive, that's where his playmaking has got to improve. but right now, we're just going with everybody.
i think Ron could be the guy the problem is he can only really create for himself and not necessarily others. case in point: phoenix game he could have probably got himself a better shot but luckily shane did call a timeout. but down the stretch he did hit some big shots on shots he created for himself. if i had to put my money down right now on a player it would probably be AB just because of his dribbling ability and speed. personally I prefer Lowry for the future since he can dribble, pass, quick (not as quick as AB) but strong enough to finish inside with contact as well.
yao can't close and has never closed. he's not aggressive enough nor does he have the arm, hand, finger strength to do anything in crunch time where they will definitely be physical play and fouls with no calls. i'd rather have someone much more mobile or able to get fouled take those shots. i think adelman's plan as of late is good as it's not just dump it into yao at the close. it should be a variety bucket of plays to keep the opposition on their toes.
He's never closed so therefore he will never close? Yao has the skill to close out games for us. Actually if they let them play physical thats fine, as long as they are not letting guys flop Yao outta the game.
ok, i take that back. i don't know if yao has ever closed successfully, but that would be blanket statement attempting to make a point.
