Without any judgment here were Van Gundy's decisions last night: Guard the paint with his modified zone-help defense ringing the paint. Leave 3P shooters open all night. Leave a hurt David Wesley in who was not only 1 step too slow but 2 steps too slow. Play Rybo. Energy. Not play Jon Barry or Chuck Hayes. 3P shooting and rebounding, good fundamentals. My editorial: The Suns have a great motion offense. The Rockets area team in offensive transition, learning to play together and move from a Gundy set play offense to one that mixes set plays and some motion offense, that is several steps behind what the Suns are doing - a team that is learning to play together. Every ten games or so Head goes to the hoop and scores. I would like to see more of this, and him getting involved with Yao & Alston on sneaking in underneath the basket. So many teams contain our three guards including McGrady out past the top of the key and we dribble and pass from one side to the other but never penetrate past the foul line or know what to do when we get there. With the doulbe team on Yao it seems that would open up some real opps to run someone like Head in on the opposite side from Yao for a quick pass & layup - assuming the layup could be made.... Van Gundy amazes me. My TV mate and I just shake our heads night after night regarding his decisionmaking.
I am not glad JVG is the coach, he is stuck in mud and getting left behind each and every year. He has yet to adjust to the new hand check rules and allowing zone defenses. There is a reason he never won a championship, he is too unwavering, he needs to take yoga and get more flexible. DD
well, if we hit our shots this wouldn't be such a big problem. We were killing them in the paint in the first half. Taking out Yao to combat their 3pt shooters would've been a moot point. You lose more on the offensive side than you do on defense.
Yeah, i got discouraged watching last night just like the last suns game. Last night was more about mistakes by the players to me. They just "seemed" to make mistake after mistake at crucial points in the game. The suns just kept pouring it on. We are a good team with Yao playing as he is, and Tracy playing like he is currently. The other players are doing ok. But Tracy is obviously not his usual self, and until he becomes that dominiating player again we will not beat a "good" team.
I'll be the first one to bash JVG if I think he is making boneheaded decisions, but you cannot pin last night's loss on him. TMAC was a no-show, we were coming off a back-to-back, we couldn't hit a shot, and the Suns are just a faster team. We're about to go on another win streak, so everybody take a deep breath. Losing to the Suns does not mean we cannot beat good teams. We will sweep Dallas and spilt with SA.. Book it (contingent on TMAC showing up though).
You know, I would really like to believe that the Rockets will sweep Dallas, but I don't. Have you seen them play recently? There is a greater talent gap than there was last season. They may be the best team in the league right now. I am not saying it isn't possible, but the Rockets will have to have the best games of the year and Dallas have an off night. Just like the Suns, the Mavs are quicker and much better shooters.
We have a lead late into the 3rd quarter, and then it happened, Shawn Marion killed us from inside the paint. We didn't lose the game based on 3 pt shooting or leaving them open. We lost because they went on a run when Yao was taken out for a rest late in the third quarter that carried on to the 4th quarter. We were getting fouls called early in the 4th and the best we could do is to hope they miss at that point. Their offense is ran almost flawlessly under Nash and Co. If we make half the shots that went halfway into the basket in the 4th, it would've been a game. Tired legs? Maybe... but the gameplan was one of the better ones from JVG all season. Remember, this is the back end of a back-to-back and it's against a run and gun team like the Suns. Zone defense that goes out to the perimeter would've killed the Rockets early.
OMG not another I hate Van Gundy Thread.... Plain and simple we can not match the running game with Phoenix... If we do our guys get tired and they dont have that lift in there legs to get that shot off right.. Hence Wesley and Rafer's poor shooting. Were just not used to the full running game yet. Will we ever be? I dont know.... Van Gundy is doing a great job with this team and hopefully in the off-season we can aquire players who can shoot the ball with dead accuracy and can fly across the court but who know's dreams might come true.
Oh please......enough of this stuff already. We just need some quicker perimeter players and hit our open shots. We were neck and neck with them at halftime and then they opened it up in the second half. The only thing that changed was our ability to hit the open jumper and stop Nash from penetrating. T-Mac was off all night, Wesley tweaked a hammy, and Yao......well he was just a beast and probably could have gone off for 40 or 50pts if they would have continued to go to him, but he got a little tired in the 4th from fending off three guys all night. JVG is not the problem.......our guard play is! Look at the Phoenix bench, jeez the kept bringing in a platoon of guys 6-6, 6-7, 6-8....where do they find these guys. Other then T-Mac who no our team is that tall and athletic? Answer = NOBODY!!!
Our guards are plenty quick enough, it is our center that is not NOR WILL HE EVER be quick enough. Our guards were having to cover for Yao and Juwan's lack of foot speed and this was leaving people wide open on the perimeter. There are ways of working this out, but most of them require some form of zone defense or not rotating off of your man to help. DD
OK so beyond the quick slap across my face, tell me what did Gundy do right and was there anything else he could have done last night? I am not ranting, I am discussing. If the guys were tired doing a back to back why didn't Van Gundy play fresh legs, like Barry and Hayes much sooner? Why can't a guy who shot 45% 3p's last year get off the bench, even in garbage time, when our starters are shooting poorly? BTW I did not say I hate Gundy. But the guy seems to have some real strengths and some real weaknesses and sometimes I think they may be one and the same. Welcome to Dr Jekyl & Mr. Hyde.
When will JVG realize Luther isnt a PG....he is an off guard...forcing luther to be a PG is hurting this team...and also ive noticed that JVG can not adapt the lineup during the game...if the current lineup is getting spanked he doesnt change it up...evidence is subbing Deke in....i love Deke..but he doesnt need to be playing against the suns...Stro or hayes should have played.....speaking of which..where the hell is Stro hopefully the Malooof's will not renew adelman so we can pick him up for next season..and keep JVG as an assistant coach (for defensive purposes)..its no argument that JVG is an excellent defensive coach...but he just fails to adapt..and his offensive schemes are almost laughable
Wow, you must really watch a lot of the games....Stros been out with an ankle injury for the last 3 games
I don't think anyone in his right state of mind would believe that JVG will stay in Houston to take the assistant job under the situation.
you're blaming van gundy's so called lack of adjustment for him not winning a championship? what percentage of coaches have a ring and how many coaches currently in the nba have a ring? first and foremost TALENT wins championships and van gundy hasn't had a championship caliber lineup until possibly this year then injuries derailed that. his knicks team that went to the finals severely overachieved and that's probably a testament to his coaching and getting those guys to play defense.
MY only issue with the Rockets perimeter players is: Why don't we have a good shooter on the team while the Suns have 5-6 of those? It just seems so unfair. Our guards were even afraid to shoot wide open 3s or jumpers near the end of the game. Imagine that Yao plays for the Suns instead of Nash. He would have created open 3s and Reja, Marion, Jone, Babosa...you name them, will happily nail the majority of those.
And I question JVG and CD's strategy. If you want to use Yao to attract double or triple teams, you need shooters to punish them, period. We had Horry, Sam, Smith, all great shooters to nail wide open 3s from kickouts from Dream. If you don't have perimeter shooters on your team, what's the point of having Yao triple teams in the post? Just to lose the games?
