The team does look like it has more freedom to create on offense and less like they are waiting for JVG to complain because there were 4 seconds left on the shot clock to burn. I hope this is a sign of JVG trusting his players to do the job they are paid to do. On the defensive side, all of the teams should improve on offense as the season progresses do to improved chemistry and comfort level on the court.
I heard an interview with one of the so-called NBA analysts wher they said that Orlando is looking for a shoot first point guard and wanting to move SF to the two guard spot.....lol I've got two reasons why Orlando is appearing better this year. Dwight Howard and Grant Hill.
I also think JVG has given McGrady the green light to do his thing. McGrady said as much on the Jim Rome show a few days ago.
The question is WHY are we making more of our shots? You explained nothing with your post! Do you think it's just luck? Me:Why are we winning more games? You: It's simpre really.....WE ARE SCORING MORE THAN OUR OPPONENTS!!...... lol The reason is we are getting much easier shots now. JJ could never get an easy shot for himself ora teammate. Neither could Tyronn Lue or Charlie Ward. John Barry, and David Wesley can run the court, stop and pop, come off picks, etc. Sura can cause havoc. They create higher percentage shots for themselves and teammates.
I believe it is less a matter of JVG allowing them to run more (he's always advocated this) as it is the team becoming more comfortable in executing the offense. Yao, the supporting cast, and especially TMac are becoming more comfortable in their roles and the leeway they have within the offense. The less they have to "think" about executing and just "know" what to do via muscle memory and repetition is letting them get out and play. Maybe, maybe no.
first 22 games 86.8 points scored - 88.5 points allowed = -1.7 Last 12 games 100.3 points scored - 95.3 points allowed = +5.0 The first game of the 12 game stretch is the home game against GS. I specifically remember that game where Bob Sura ran all over GS. It really seemed to me that JVG had changed the game plan and running and shooting was allowed as opposed to running then setting up the half court set. Any way you look at it scoring more than your opponet is the objective so the Rockets are doing something right these last 12 games.
Read the quotes from the players, especially T-mac, from the beginning of the season. He said he wasn't suited for this "walk it down the court offense" and wanted JVG to let them play more uptempo... WHY in the world would that even come out of his mouth if JVG "always" wanted a uptempo offense. He waved his arms frantically just to get past half court to start the 20 second play sooner, not to run a uptempo free flowing offense. JVG has loosened the shackles on the offense and the media has all the quotes to prove it, except a quote from JVG himself stating this. All we have had was JVG saying "I've changed enough..".
Because he was walking it up after the opponents made a bucket Gater. Rudy's teams didn't have a clue how to defend once Hakeem got old and retired. There was no defense. Steve ran under Rudy every chance he got, which wasn't too many because he was usually picking the ball out of the basket after they had made a layup on us.
You mean a pass first point guard. Because they want to run and play even more helter skelter and take more advantage of Steve's finishing skills on the break. That's all. If anybody doesn't think Steve wanted and wants to play up and down basketball, I don't know what Steve Francis you've been watching. You can trace it clear back to Maryland. Steve likes to get up and down the court. He likes to force the high pace. He likes quick shots. He wants the opponent to take quick shots so he can drive the ball back down their throat. He wants to release on the break. Van Gundy didn't like his decision making and the fact that he was a shooter. Van Gundy wants a point guard who distributes and spots up at the 3 point line. He wanted Steve to run across half court and start throwing the ball around the horn so more players could touch the basketball more times. Van Gundy did not want to play fast break basketball, because in fast break basketball, sometimes the guards have to release instead of go to the defensive glass and sometimes the guards have to let their man go and force a quick shot so that they can get the game up to speed. Van Gundy doesn't like giving up anything defensively or on the glass. That's why the game was so slowed down last year and the beginning of this year. He has all 5 players go to the glass and defend 24 seconds. The good fast breaking teams of today and yesteryear always get their guards out and pass the ball out to ignite the break. Van Gundy's teams notoriously crash the boards and hand the ball off to the PG to bring the ball up the court. He did it in NY and he did it here last year and the beginning of this year with Charlie "Roadrunner" Ward. He has only recently backed up and allowed the Rockets to run with some sort of flow and dribble all the way into the paint on the break. It is a definitive change of style for this team in the last few games. And I hope we keep pursuing it and Van Gundy leaves his hands out of muddling up the offense. Just don't try to convince me that Van Gundy has wanted to play uptempo basketball for the last 15 years. He hasn't.
The real question should be why are we only 7-5 in those games, especially with some of the cupcake teams on the schedule. This team shouldn't be regularly beating the Dallas and San Antonio and Phoenix (of this year) type teams, but a win here or there against the Lakers and trying not to get swept by the Bobcats woudl have been nice. That said, maybe they are ready to turn the corner. These next few weeks will tell. Playing a lot of good teams, but have a lto of rest in between most games.
As to why we are 7-5, well we lost one game to the bucks when we were severely undermanned and emotionally drained. We lost another to the suns, when they were playing relli relli well. And we lost anoter to the lakers, when we just came out flat. I am not saying that it was not our fault, but it was just a flat performance. In the second half,we outscored them by 17 points. So if you do not include those three games, we are 7-2, not bad.
What matters is W-L. 10-12 first 22 games. 7-5 last 12 games. Rox have gone from 2 games under .500 to 2 games over .500. An improvement but nothing decisive since we have had a soft schedule lately. I'm not rushing to judgement just yet until we at least face the Mavs, Rox beat the Mavs and we can start talking about the Rox competing against the high scoring Western conference teams.
