Well...If You Wanted Proof That It ISN'T The Coach, You Got That Tonight.

The funny thing is that JVG seems like he basically threw away his offensive playbook and just said "F$%* It, do what you do TMac." And it worked.

We had 100 FG Attempts! That's got to be a JVG record.
We had 10 fastbreak points! Another record.

A loss is a loss, but atleast we put up a good fight. This was a good game and a tough loss. FTs killed us as well as a lack of bench. The one thing we need to do is get to the line.

But I guess the one thing we didn't predict was Dirk bending us over for 53 points.

 

Yes we are soft but.......


we are classy

 

i disagree.

the players look confused, hesitant (yao & tmac have stated this)

tmac lighting it up for the first time this season right after jvg tells him he should score more? coincidence? no. why didnt he say that earlier?

why did we wait until dirk scored 10 in overtime to double?

why do we never get any easy baskets? because we get no rebounds? only part of the answer.

how come you rarely see yao QUICKLY get the ball in the post? (it isnt always because he hasnt sealed his man, and besides, playing a post game is fundamental- the fact that everyone on the team seems to have trouble with it says it all...)

why do teams consistently take advantage of yao having to guard the perimeter? (and then we all complain he gets no blocks or rebounds....i know he is not as good as he should be in these areas, but ive seen him too many times trying to stay on someone when he should be getting position...he should be roaming the paint)

why, when rudy coached, could guys you never heard of come in and REALLY contribute and make a difference? why did so many no name post players all the sudden have serviceable post games under him? and we see yao struggle now?????

why did we look better earlier in the season? why are we getting worse?

why, 17 games in, are players and coach already having "exchanges" in the media? frustration? sure. losing hope? hmm.

i dont profess to know the answer to any of these questions (or the other hundred im unwilling to type), but i suspect jvg has plenty to do with it.

 

Theres no crying in baseball




EDIT: bleh, wrong sport.

 

yeah that is pretty funny lol the way you said it
Hmm so JVG can coach us on defense.. now he can relax on offense since Tmac will score..and he can think about our defensive matchups

 

That "mega" performace merely off-set the "ULTRA" performance from Dirk.

If he has an avaerage night the Rockets run them out of the arena

hell... if he has an avaerage OVERTIME the Rockets win

 

I guess you can say that tonight was a moral victory. But we fancy our Rockets to be a playoff team not a perennial loser like the Clippers or Warriors, so we should be far from satisfied with "moral victories".

 

yeah, they added rodman, all time tough guy, but they added another guy too, former minor leager baseball player. i think he might have had an impact on that team as well. can't remember the name...

 

JVG has done almost everything he can. It's up to the players to bring some heart onto the court.

 

well to be fair it took an even bigger game out of dirk for the mavericks to even win. that nice little blocking call that knocked yao out of the game helped too.

 

He's referring to the fact that by the end of 95, Jordan had regained his full form (if you watched the 95 playoffs, Jordan actually looked quicker there than he did in 97 and 98... more energy, younger age).

Even if Jordan hadn't regained all his form in 95, that 96 team DOES NOT win 72 games with just Jordan, Pippen, Kerr, Kukoc, Harper, and Perdue/Wennington/Longley.

Rodman gave them the best rebounder, one of the best low-post defenders, and a guy who knew his role (and was probably the best at it), as he actually helped make their offense very fluid at times.

 

Its funny... everybody agrees this team is soft.

Everybody agrees that this team doesn't show much fire.

Everybody agrees that this team has a paper-thin defense, and maybe only one player is an above average one-on-one defender (McGrady), and he sometimes saves all his energy for offense.


... If you had told me all this, and I had no clue who the coach was, I would have said JVG is the one guy who will be able to fix all these problems. Not PJ, not Doug Collins, not even Rudy T.

Funny how it all comes full circle. I do believe its up to the players now (yes, the players that JVG picked out)... and if they don't respond with more games like tonight, there won't be anything that he can do to save himself.

 

This game didn't do anything to show me the problem wasn't Van Gundy (two negatives make a positive, right?). It actually seemed to confirm that Van Gundy did have the wrong approach. He threw away his old ways -- his minimizing possessions, his start the offense with Yao (well, not entirely), his long offensive sets that eat most of the clock, his starting lineup, his rotation -- he chucked it away and we looked better than we have in awhile. If he did anything, he undermined his insistence that we need to play inside-out and his insistence to limit possessions.

To his credit, however:

1) I think the Rockets played harder than they have the past few games, which may be the real reason they played better. The credit for the renewed inspiration goes to the fans for getting on their asses, but it also means that the credit doesn't go solely to Van Gundy coaching in a non-Van-Gundy fashion.

2) After all his quotes making him look stubborn as a mule, he did make changes to the way he coached the game. Maybe he'll be more introspective and flexible than I thought.

 

Well, I would like to, but Dr of Dunk closed it with a little lecture on why old threads should not be brought up .

 

I agree I was really happy to see that JVG was't going to follow the train tracks to the bitter end and opened it up a bit.

I'm not one for moral victories but I'll take this. The Roxs will simply destroy the 76ers and the Hornets with this style of play. I really think that we will see an up swing in our season and I'll be the first to give JVG his due when it happens.

 

I don't think that Van Gundy just gave the team free reign last night to do whatever they wanted... they were still running the offense.

But this time, instead of just deliberately going thru the motions with no intensity (as they did the last couple of games), they set picks with authority, cut the lanes with authority, and they didn't succumb to the "slow motion" that they normally do.

There were no isos ala Rudy's old style... this wasn't just give the ball to T-Mac, and everybody else get the hell out of the way. It was still a structured offense, based on motion, picks, and spacing, designed to get wide open shots (all of JJ's), high percentage shots (Yao missed a few point blank ones), while still leaving room for an individual's creativity (T-mac).

The only difference I saw in this game was that T-Mac attempted to create on every single posession... now, if JVG literally told him not to do that the first 16 games, fine... but I have to think that it was a little of a struggle on both sides to find out just exactly what T-Mac should be doing. (I'm sure T-Mac thought, along with JVG, that getting Yao established early in the game is the MOST important goal, since he can't create his own shot... and Tracey should get his later on anyways).

Still... the #1 assets that JVG can give this team is mental toughness (still lacking for guys like Yao, Mo-T), a good defensive game-plan (which was, and has been, nonexistant so far), and a sense of confidence with a killer instinct.

Those are the 'intangibles' that supposedly made JVG so desireble in the first place, not just his x's and o's.

If he can instill those things before the end of the season, this team can be successful no matter what sort of plays they're running. Its the idea that "we're gonna stomp your brains in..."... that's what I want this team to "get" before its all said and done.

 

the only thing i've learned from this thread is that ultra is more than mega. thanks!

 

The most important thing is that we get rid of some players who have always been losers and who will always be losers.

I mean, Howard had a good chance to come back with a vengeance, but he simply did NOTHING.

Taylor cannot get a rebound to save his life.

They both have a career losing record.

Gaines is only a borderline NBA player.

I say, definite keepers/untouchables are only:

- Yao Ming
- T-Mac

Players which should/could be kept, considering their role/performance/contract size, would be:

- JJ
- Padgett
- Boki
- Barrett
- Sura
- Dikembe

Players which could be traded and nobody would care too much are:

- Ryan Bowen
- Tyronne Lue (expiring contract)

Players who MUST BE TRADED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES AT THE FIRST OPPORTUNITY WE GET either due to their lack of performance or because of their contract, or because of both are:

- HOWARD
- TAYLOR
- Weatherspoon
- Gaines
- Ward

Personally, I think we must be ready to include JJ in a trade if it helps to get rid of Howard or Taylor and to get some value in return. By value, I mean someone who actually rebounds and plays hard at the PF position, or a young, promising point guard.

All that being said, I think JVG needs to turn it around quickly, or he needs to go as well.

 

The sky is not falling:

If one was to look at the Rockets first month schedule before the season started, and took into account the massive overhaul in personal, a reasonable record coming out of November would be 8-8. Unfortunately, we finished up 6-10. A whole two freaking games "behind" schedule. Off the top of my head, losses to Atlanta and New York, both inexcusable, were the difference between 8-8 (performing up to expectations) and 6-10 (fire the coach, blow up the team).

When JVG was hired by the Rockets, I thought he was a good, solid hire. He brought with him the ability to devise gameplans to take away an opponents number one option. Listening to him talk one could see that he was an intelligent and deliberate. 17 games into this season, I think he is still a good fit for the Rockets. He knows he has a lot to prove, and he is working on meeting those expectations. During the T-Mac press conference, he said that everyone involved has a lot to prove. He has to prove he can win a championship, and Tracy has to prove he can play winning basketball.

For those who thought the Rockets would contend for a title in year one of The New Big Two, your expectations were unreasonable. This is a flawed team in many ways. What you'll see over the next two years is a team being built around these two premier talents. Molded by a coach who knows in his heart of hearts what will win championships. Go back through the last decade of NBA champions (Rockets, Bulls, Spurs, and Lakers) all of them consistently depended on turning up their defense to make critical stops and suffocate their opponents, taking them away from what they do best. How soon we forget how close we were to being up on the Lakers last year in the first round. JVG equipped that team to overachieve greatly. A missed shot in game one and a costly turnover in game four sealed their fate. He hasn't forgotten what it takes to win.

Oranges and orange juice:
Last year, JVG said something that has really stuck with me since. When asked about his team's fourth quarter meltdowns, he used the following metaphor: "When you're under pressure, and you're being squeezed, what's inside will always come out. If you squeeze and orange, you'll get orange juice. There's no hiding what is on the inside, it will always come out." Truer words were never spoken. This team is being squeezed, and rightfully so, right now. With any successful organization, there has to be trust, a common goal, and sacrifices. JVG knows this, and is trying to steer the ship back onto course.

After yesterday's loss, T-Mac said the following "I had a long talk with coach (Jeff Van Gundy). I understand what he wants me to do now, which is to be aggressive the way I was in Orlando."

Great, he gets it. Being scared to make a mistake is not an excuse. I'm sure that Jeff will find a way to turn this around. He knows that with great expectations comes great pressure and scrutiny. This is his defining moment as a coach (Alonzo Mourning withstanding). A Yao-centric team is not working right now. Yesterday, we saw the birth of a McGrady-centric team. There was a flow, there were open looks, they just got beat because of some missed free throws, stupid fouls 94 feet from the basket (we've heard that before this year) and some blatant missed non-calls that went in the Mavs favor last night.

Truthfully, there's no one on the Rockets' roster that can check Dirk. You just wished they could put the clamps on the rest of the team, 53 points didn't beat us, it was the collective efforts from the others that put them over the top.

In time, we will have a more acceptable solution at the four, I believe that. The same weakness we had last year, a tall, athletic four who could shoot, still causes us to have problems defensively. Until we get someone who can match length and quickness with those types of players, we have no hope of trying to contain them. No defensive principles will contain them forever without jeopardizing and compromising defending the other four guys on the court.

We're at home, we'll have time to practice, and Ward will come back eventually (Ward as the primary backup >> Lue as the primary back up). Give it time; let the "system" work itself out. Give me a guy who cares too much over a guy who is resolved to mediocrity any day of the week (twice on gameday).

 

Has the Badman bulked up yet? How is young Mr. Malick doing these days?