Here's a different idea. To beat the Lakers, we should run. They are too old and slow to keep it up. They are injured, they are hobbled. We can set up Yao more quickly and get him easy buckets. Yao will tire, sub in Cato for oops. Attack Malone's injury - use Taylor in a quick hit. Play dirty with Kobe - smack him on the way down court and bust him up - you know he'd do it. Get Francis some quick Iso's with room to attack. Sub in shooters for bombs. Attack early, attack often. On defense, play 3-2 zone. Man up on Kobe, let the rest beat us. Deliver punishment to anyone coming in; attack Shaq from the weakside for the block. Keep the ball away from Shaq. Remove passing lanes - try to force the ball to Kobe and Malone, who don't play two-man so freindly. Let them bicker. Eliminate team play. The Rockets are probably not good enough to keep it up, but they should pull this trick out of the bag at least 3 times in the game. Used intelligently, it's an appropriate tactic vs. LA.
you can't play strong defense if you are running everytime (you get too tired) - but I wouldn't mind seeing more of Francis, et al attacking the basket and setting Yao up at the high post to shoot jumpers over Shaq.
One, we don't run breaks well, two, if we run it will detract from our defense, and three, that would open up the floor for Kobe, lights out.
THAT is exactly what the Rockets need to do, Francis can blow by payton everytime, all he needs is Yao to get outside and not clog the paint. With Yao and MO he has to options that can hit the outside jumper if Shaq or Malone help out.
Running on the Lakers is definitely a good way to beat the lakers. That was their biggest weakness, even at the beginning on the season when they were beating everybody. But the fact is that the Rockets have a lousy running game. We don't have big guys that run the floor well, and we don't have guards that can make good decisions on the break. There is a reason why the rox are like 27 or 28 in the league in fast break points. Too bad the grizzles weren't matched up with the Lakers, they could have run all over the lake show. As is, we just have to continue cranking it up on defense and hope the the offense shows up soon.
NO ---All we can play is a 1/2 court game. We will turn the ball over more moving fast. We only stayed in the game Fri by making the Lakers play at our pace in the 1/2 court. Half court - control the ball fewer turnovers and we should be able to compete tonite....
