It's a whole bunch of things we need to do. Obviously, missing TMac hurt like hell. We need consistent scoring out of the role players. I say we played Luther Head 25min, he will bring that Sura attitude with more athleticism and youth. The most important thing is have a strategy to bomb away from outside so people can't just collapse on Yao all night. If we have a Steve Kerr, we'll be 3-0 now. When Yao is shootin 50%, pulling a 20+/10+ and we still come up short at the end, Houston we got a problem.
Coaching. Yao shouldn't be down low in the final stretch. He should pull out to the high post. Yao can play low effectively for the first 3 quarters, but in the fourth, when they front, that puts two men clogging the path to the basket and our perimeter players just look befuddled, trying to force it in. They should be free to cut around a screen or stop and pop, but that makes us a jump-shooting team, dependant on guards screening for guards, or a pick-and -roll team, dependant on our power forward being able to operate with a wing. Frankly, our 4s are not good enough to deliver as primary in a pick and roll and our guards aren't good at generating perimeter shots. If Yao comes out, the interior is free for guard penetration. They can't front Yao in the high post (or if they do, it's stupid, because then they have left the basket open). Yao can get the ball and pass it or shoot it. He's a good jump shooter from the free throw line. Our team is a finesse team and JVG will eventually have to allow them room for good passing movement and clean shots. They will never be good at pushing their man off and forcing action. We have lost the last two Dallas games and the three this year the same way, as noted in this morning's paper. Van Gundy knows there is a big problem with the fade down the stretch. That's been true with Tracy and without, with different players. The only constant is JVG. His game plan is flawed. It's not that the team doesn't "believe enough" as he'd like to put it. The problem is the plan doesn't work.
Making shots. So far, our 3 new players shooting percentage : Swift: 34%. DA: 32%, Alston: 33%. Old players: Wesley's 24%, Bowen's 25%, Yao 46% Yet, we were pretty much in every game until the end.
When Tmac gets back we will go on a huge roll and get back on track. Swift and Yao played great last night I was very happy with them. I hope vs the nets Tmac comes back and plays cause we really need him. The bottom line is this needs both Tmac and Yao in the game at the same to be elite and if they arent both in then it hurts the rockets. Think about it though if we had had Tmac in these last 3 games we are 4-0 easily. Go Rockets!!!
How about playing Deke for most of the 4th and let Yao come in when there's 5 minutes left. My lineup for the first 7 minutes of the 4th quarter would be: C - Deke PF - Howard SF - Anderson SG - Barry PG - Alston
No. I'm not buying that argument. Are you saying our team (minus T-Mac) is as bad as Orlando 2 years ago minus T-Mac? In that case, when he returns we're not even a playoff caliber team. These guys need to step up. They need to hit their shots. We need SOMEONE to care enough in the 4th quarter to not let games slip out of our grasp. We need guys to reward Yao for working hard down low in the paint by giving him the ball when he calls for it. With or without T-Mac, our supporting cast has played terrible. T-Mac coming back isn't gonna solve the problem. These guys just aren't getting it done.
I would disagree with you... It all boils down to player execution. There were multiple times last night against Miami in the 4th quarter where Yao had position in the low block and for whatever reason the team stopped going to him. DA was taking some really bad shots throughout the game, I know he had 20pts but he missed a lot of BAD shots that led to points on the other end. Yao is the key and the players need to realize this, T-Mac does. The other team cannot stop him which is why he is swarmed with 4 guys everytime he touches the ball which just leaves our guys open for jump shots (which we haven't been hitting). Agian its all about execution. Whenever Stro gets the ball down low he never looks to pass, there have been several times where the defenders collapse on him leaving Yao wide open but Stro either doesn't see him is not looking for him and forces up a shot. Execution I tell is the key!!!
As Van Chancellor would say, "At this particular time, the Rockets need to put the ball in the whole."
What has hurt us this season is the exact same thing that hurt us at the beginning of last season: the offense is too one dimensional. It's way too Yao-centric and too predictable. We can't just force feed the ball to Yao every time down the court. The reason why Yao has been ineffective in the 4th and the Rockets have so much trouble getting the ball to him the the 4th is because by the time the 4th quarter rolls around, the opposing team has completely adjusted to our one-dimensional offense. The defense has figured out that we only run one play that revolves around one player and they've figured out that if they shut that one play down, the Rockets offense will be completely lost. Van Gundy, himself, said last season that the ideal offense for Yao is one where he is not the initiator on offense, but someone that gets his offense in the flow. I don't why he's going away from that. Even with Mcgrady out, he should still stick to that plan. What I'm hoping we see next game is more plays that are initiated by Alston, DA, Head, Howard, and Swift. In the 1st quarter of the next game, instead of working to get Yao off to a good start, we need to work to get our role players off to a good start. Run some more plays for Alston, Howard, Swift, etc. That way, by the time the 4th quarter rolls around, that'll keep the defense honest and that's when Yao can start to take over. Yao NEEDS to go back to the role that suits him best, being the finisher on offense rather than an initiator of the offense.
Make some sense. But w/o T-Mac, Yao still needs to take more shots that he did in the last three games, especially in the fourth down the stretch.
what do we need to start winning? GAMES! we need to start winning games! the honest answer is without tmac we need a second scorer to help out yao.
