Rosen's take on McGrady-Yao debut

Rosen's take on McGrady-Yao debut
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Charley Rosen / Special to FOXSports.com
Posted: 59 minutes ago



The opening three or four weeks of any NBA season are invariably characterized by sloppy play and disjointed teamwork for several reasons:

Since rotations are usually shorter during preseason games, players have to get accustomed to extended daylight. This puts a burden on their physical condition as well as their ability to maintain concentration.
Because everybody's intensity level necessarily amps up once the bell sounds, most average and/or deficient defenders tend to get over-aggressive and get tooted for even more fouls than is their wont. This means that coaches have to go to their benches earlier than they want to — which, in turn, leads to more players of lesser abilities and experience on the floor at the same time.

At this early stage, most coaches have installed perhaps half of their playbook on both ends of the court. With fewer offensive options available, defenders are more able to key in on specific calls and sequences. The result is lower scores.

Another factor leading to reduced scoring is simply that shooters need to shoot under pressure to get into their accustomed grooves. This takes time.

Also, since all rookies are NBA virgins and vibrating with anxiety, the more playing time they get the more fouls and turnovers they'll commit, the more deviant routes they'll run, the more defensive rotations they'll blow, and the less orderly and more chaotic the games will be.

Even the veterans' execution will be spotty. Especially in the endgame, when everybody is just a wee bit more weary than usual.

Those teams which have added important personnel in the off-season will need time to evolve overall chemistry. Unfortunately, games won or lost in early November count just as much as Ws and Ls in April when teams are battling for playoff spots and rankings. However, in many cases teams have such overriding issues that even their very first game can give a significant indication of how their season might play out. Such is the case with the Houston Rockets where Tracy McGrady must make the transition from being a one-man band to being a vital cog in the Ming Machine.

Before Houston's opening game at Detroit against the battle-tested, defensive-minded reigning champs, Van Gundy the Balder was exuding confidence: "I have no concern about Yao and Tracy playing well together," he opined. "I have no worries at all." Let's take a closer look at the game to try to discover is Van Gundy was being truthful, ignorant, misleading, or was just whistling in the dark.

The focus here will NOT be on how well T-Mac or Yao might have played individually, but how well they played together on offense. In all, McGrady and Yao were on the floor together for slightly more than twenty minutes (20:16), and articulated with each other in varying degrees for only eleven plays.


First quarter
On Houston's initial offensive set, Yao and T-Mac were both lined on the right side opposite the ball, the former in the low post and the latter on the baseline. Yao then set a pick enabling T-Mac to cut toward the ball, but the cut was more of a tip-toe route than a hard slash. When the ball didn't come to him, T-Mac drifted to the periphery and became a spectator. On Houston's second offensive set, the two switched to the left side (which as before was the weakside) where Yao's pick and T-Mac's desultory had the same outcome. (These plays were never repeated.)

A few minutes later, the Rockets executed an inbounds play beneath their own basket in which T-Mac and Yao were in a screen-roll (S/R) tandem. McGrady proceeded to dribble around the pick and miss a jumper.

Then came a most significant sequence — McGrady had the ball at the 3-point line and took a quick look at Yao, who had good position against Ben Wallace in the pivot. But McGrady ignored Yao, dribbled to the middle and hoisted up another errant jumper.

Until T-Mac was forced to leave the game with two fouls, Van Gundy ran multiple isos for him (including one after a time-out) that didn't involve Yao.

Meanwhile, the big fellow seemed hesitant. Sure, he was suffering from a slightly torn ligament in his left elbow and was wearing a brace. BUT ... injuries are indeed part of the game. By Christmas, virtually everybody in the league will be playing with bruised, strained, sprained, and/or contused body parts anyway.


Second quarter
Because of mutual foul trouble, Yao and McGrady played together for only 1:02. With Yao on the bench, the itinerary was more isos for T-Mac. When Yao re-entered the fray, another S/R was called and T-Mac committed a charging foul while trying to enter the ball to Yao as the big man rolled hoopwards.


Halftime
Whenever the two players shared the same court-time, Yao was almost exclusively stationed at one side of the high post (the foul-line extended right), another big was at the foul-line extended left, and T-Mac had the ball up-top and in the middle. The idea was for T-Mac to dribble to the side of his choice for a S/R. Only rarely did Yao venture into the pivot.


Third quarter
On the double-high-post set, McGrady dribbled to Yao's side and missed a long jumper. Then, late in the quarter, came a familiar sequence — McGrady snatched a defensive rebound and dribbled casually across the time-line. Meanwhile, instead of moving into the pivot, Yao lingered near the 3-point line offering still another high-pick for McGrady. This time, T-Mac dribbled off Yao's pick and sank a 3-ball.

On another S/R involving Houston's dynamic duo, Yao chose to fade and McGrady found him with a perfect pass — the big man then missed a wide-open jumper.


Fourth quarter
Every time McGrady dribbled across the mid-court stripe, Yao was in the neighborhood of the 3-point line. And every time this happened, T-Mac either used the pick or faked using the pick and pulled-up for a 3-pointer.

Only once did McGrady make a direct entry pass into Yao (who was fouled on his resulting shot). Otherwise, Houston ran isos for McGrady (on the left wing or at the top of the key) — this produced several shots for guess who, one bad pass, and one neat drop pass to Maurice Taylor.

In the endgame, Houston's primary strategy was to have McGrady carry the ball into the attack zone, look for another brush pick, and let him create something (usually for himself).

Hey, it seems like we've all seen this movie before — an all too familiar and all too dismal re-run of how McGrady was used last season in Orlando!


Notes
The Pistons moved the ball well and turned up the screw on defense late in the game, but had several long stretches where they couldn't hit a shot. ... The pressure of playing for a contender already affected Antonio McDyess, who missed a 35-yard field goal and was booted from the game. ... Rasheed Wallace was in mid-season form — 24 with a technical foul. ... Van Gundy was likewise in mid-season form — whenever a Piston brought the ball to the sideline adjacent to the Houston bench, VG jumped into his defensive stance, crouching, jumping, waving his arms and coming perilously close to stepping on the court itself. It's a tactic that's distracting and definitely unsportsmanlike. Coaches have been complaining about V.G.'s "sixth man" antics for years, and some day an opposing player is going to knock him on his keister.

Opening games do not a season make. Yet Van Gundy's pregame certitude sounds more like wishful thinking than anything else. Right out of the gate, the Rockets look like the Western Conference version of the Orlando Magic.

Charley Rosen, former CBA coach, author of 12 books about hoops, the next one being A PIVOTAL SEASON — HOW THE 1971-72 LA LAKERS CHANGED THE NBA, is a frequent contributor to FOXSports.com.


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