I've said it a billion times though, I hate zones. It worked to a degree last night but it gives up open shots and I hate that. Minnesota actually got killed in the 2nd half of the season running a zone. With that being said, how can you say the Rockets didn't play good defense last night though!?
I agree with you 100%. However, I think zones are a necessary evil IMO. A good majority of todays players aren't fundamentally sound when it comes to defense. So while todays players are more athletic than the players of yesteryear that had to play man, they arent able to tap that athletic edge because of bad fundamentals. In reality, based on athletic potential alone, todays player should be successful man to man. Thats the only reason I can fathom as to why we see so much zone played.
One of the things I like about zones is the havoc created when you suddenly switch to man and have the athletic players to do it effectively. As anyone watching the classic University of Houston/Louisville game last Sunday would have noticed, Houston was playing a zone during the first half... pretty well, I thought, against a great Louisville team. And Louisville got and maintained a lead. Houston came out in the second half playing outstanding man to man D and Louisville couldn't handle it. With the players the Rockets have, they'll be able to switch from a zone to man (and back) with great success. And with time they're just going to get better and better at it. I like what I'm seeing.
I didnt watch the game, but if the rocks held the blazers to 83 points i think we did somethin right. Heard it was a great game.
RocksMillenium... huh... Unfortunately I can't also ignore when you're posts are quoted in someone else's posts...otherwise I'd do it. Nobody is saying they played bad defense. The whole thread is supposed to be about, and ex your ramblings is about, whether or not the zone was working when it was being used which wasn't the whole game . They played good defense overall.
AT, You got to admit that you got the negative reactions to your post based on the Thread Title. Maybe you should have called it: "Rudy stoned the Zone" He obviously made a game-winning adjustment at halftime to feature Hawkins and our man-to-man with no center. imo, Rudy got us back in the game, allowing Francis to close it out.
I'm not so sure the negativity was based on the thread title. Certain people just don't think before posting..which admittedly I have done once or twice. To make the comment that "we were playing the zone the whole game and it was awesome" or that "they only scored 83 points so it must have worked" is baseless and lacking in perspective. Of course the beauty of the thread title is that it got more looks initially and kept the topic active in a fairly quickly moving BBS these days. Unfortunately, however, I can see the dark side. The cheerleaders go on the offensive without thought to the content of the post. A quandry. And yet I was forced to develop my "Ignore List" game...a feature which had to date gone unused, but which will forever be a staple of my BBS experience.
