Basketball ain't a beauty contest, and thank god. Kid went off tonight, like we have been waiting for. I know it feels good to do it in SA, good for you LUIS!
Scola was great, but for him to contribute to this team, he has to get touches and shots. He's a blue-collar player, but can't affect the game defensively the way Hayes/Battier can. The question is how many opportunities will he get with T-Mac and Yao on the court? I really hope for the sake of the team that the number of shots T-Mac/Yao (mainly T-Mac) decreases substantially. I know Adelman said he wants to make it easier for T-Mac and have him finish plays and instead of starting them, but THIS is the year that a "point-forward" T-Mac would actually work because we actually have some scorers! Since T-Mac and Scola are pretty good passers, I would like to see both run the high-post offense as well, allowing Yao to stay near the basket for rebounds or to get great low post position. There's no doubt that Scola will and should be starting soon.
I think you are right that he needs touches, or at least looks to be effective, because he is not an off the ball presence like Battier. But the offense is designed not to have Tracy and Yao take all the shots, even though they end up doing so sometimes, it is simply meant to run the ball through both of them so they can create for themselves, or even !!!! for a teammate! It's no secret this offense is designed to get good open looks for the 1 and the 4 positions. Scola's midrange game will be the tantalizing compliment to Yao's style that we have all been waiting for.
he is still the same scola just proved that he needs to have the ball passed to him and more important, trust from teammates.
I agree he has to get touches and shots, but he also has to take them. Do you remember that game where T-Mac passed the ball to an open Scola, and he passed the ball again, then T-Mac chewed him out? When T-Mac passes to Scola to take the shot, he needs to step up and take it.
I am so glad Scola can hit the wide-open mid-range jumper with superior consistency - I almost start missing J-Ho's shooting at 4. Scola will get plenty of those wide open jumpers and Scola's finish under the basket is great. Finally, the Rockets have a servicable 4. But the BIGGEST stats of Scola in the Spurs game is: 3 FLOPS!!!!
I'm just wondering when the Rockets will remember he can also score in the post. When Yao in on the bench we don't go to Scola in the post?
Yeah, Scola is awesome. I love his hustle and he will only get better. Scola demands that defenses focus on him. He must get touches and he also must have the trust of his teammates. I think he earned that last night. Thank you to the country that brought Ginobili, Oberto, Hermann, Nocioni, and now Scola to the NBA.
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Offensively, Scola was great. ...but on defense, he's still has some stuff to learn. I'm actually kinda worried that Scola becomes a flopper like his fellow Argentines.
tmac made a conscious effort to pass to scola even when he was pissed w/ scola a few plays b4. but scola airballed a wide open J and missed a few too. he just has to be confident. teammates will look for him. take the shots when they're there and don't think.
lol Flopping is part of the game change the rules. I still remember that ridiculous flop of Ginobili last time we played the Spurs. Bonzi didn't even touch him and Bonzi got called for the foul.
I saw a spurs fan post in a forum, that if scola was on their team they would be the most flopping team in the nba...right cuz they aren't already that, right? On a totally unrelated not. I know he had a good game, but Tim Duncan has been so overratted the past few years it's not even funny. Parker and Ginobili don't get their due. If somebody feels that TD is better than even Barkley or Malone individually, they are idiots. It's funny how people have actually compared him to Hakeem. Yesterday, we were terrible in transition at some parts of the game and he got wide open dunks, courtesy of good penetration and ball movement. Had Michael Finley had not done his Jason Terry impersonation, we would have won convincingly, even with the Typical terrible officiating.
For those who were asking Scola is and average man to man defender and a good positional defender, in offense he has two really good weapons and a third that we use a lot in our NT. First is the midrange shot which he shots at an 50% FG% in all the tournaments he played he averaged above that i think. Second is a play that you can see on many youtube videos and is a play that he takes the ball in the high post and using his speed he penetrates over his defender and finishes near the rim, he did it once last night i think. His third option is the post up offense that he uses a lot in the NT because in our NT Scola plays the same way TD plays for the Spurs playing in-out game all posessions, he has a pretty good back to the asket movements, but in the rockets Yao may fill that role better.
They just need to get him the ball on the low post every time when Yao is out cause he can score from anywhere in the paint. They should have included him in the offense a long time ago.
I always thought Tim Duncan was way overrated. If the Spurs have never won a championship, he would just be another allstar forward who was good but not great. He's just lucky he's had good players around him. No one, not even Barkley and Malone, will ever be better than Hakeem. Hakeem is the best ever.
