Why don't we ever see......

1) good coaches usually find a way to get their star player the ball. In the case of Kobe, he can just bring the ball up the court

2) You'd probably disagree with me on this one, but I've seen Francis push it up the court with everybody else lagging behind, even Yao. Also, he and Mobley are usually trying to get rebounds instead of letting the twinkie twins try and get some, resulting in less fast break opportunities

3) See #1 about good coaching

4) Rudy has NEVER liked the zone, and was one of the staunchest opposers of the zone. Doesn't he have a reputation for being stubborn?

5) Sorry DaDakota, you know as well as I do that if Steve tried that and it didn't work, you would be all over his ass for making "boneheaded decsions" and not trying a simpler pass...I'm sure you would conveniently forget this thread if that happened, though.

 

I am going to start a petition to put DD on Rudy's coaching staff....

Early offense

That might be a problem for Yao. He is just not built to run up and down the court. We need to slow it down or Yao is going to be out of breath in 5 minutes. Yao did get good touches last night from the high post plays.

Zone defense

I don't think our boys are disciplined enough to play zone defense. They have enough trouble concentrating on just one player.

Pass of the backboard

I love this play and do it often with my league team. We should get EG to be the passer. God knows he jacks up each bricks. This play will come naturally for him.

 

1. HELPING DEFENSE! Kobe was set free many times by PnR, none of the Rockets know how to defend it. I counted 6 times when Yao's man set up the pick, he was waiting behind the pick for all but once.

The Rockets just don't have good individual defensive players. Their help defense is just as bad. They got away with the zone early in the season, but they hardly use it any more. Without Yao stationing in the middle, the Rockets are a terrible defensive team.

2. Actually, I prefer a slower pace instead. Yes, you want to run when you have fast break opportunities, but given the way the guards handle the ball, I won't encourage them to do that. The obvious example was the first possesion yesterday, when Francis went against 3 defenders. Plus, Yao is already tired to play 30+ minute, he is too slow to keep up with that pace.

3. Cannot say anything there, but maybe Rudy has his established pattern?

4. See 1.

5. Unless other guys can consistently hit the outside shots, the opportunity won't be there. They can just stay close enough for doubling Yao fro the weak side.

 

Exactly. Our guards should be sprinting down the court and let the big fella get the boards.

 

I nominate DaDakota to replace Rudy, just ahead of Jeff Van Gundy.

 

1. On defense-

The way the Rockets play the PnR makes me want to gag. Switch it and hard double the ball handler. MoT started doing it to Kobe and it slowed him down enough for the Rockets to climb back into the game.

2. Early offense -

"We wait too long to get into our offense, ..."

DaD - a direct hit. I wish I knew where to find the stat for 24 second violations. It doesn't even have to be a fast break..a controlled transition (delayed) break would work.

Also, I'd trade a pound of the crossover dribbling for an ounce of some weakside player movement. Passing the ball to another player who is standing still but reasonably guarded and having only 7 seconds on the clock is NOT getting your teammates involved.

3. Situational substitutions -

This blows my mind. The Lakers are behind, the Lakers use Horry at the 5 to drag Yao away from the basket and no Cato after a timeout. The Lakers need a basket and MoT and Rice are who we send out to defend? We had used only 1 of our timeouts at that point.


4. Zone defense -

Not to Rudy - adapt or become extinct.


If it was just one game, that's OK but I have been seeing the same tendencies for 3 seasons.

 

Lessons from The Whopper; I love it! God, those were the good old days. Guys with limited ability played hard and smart with an eye out for the team-- not this crud we see exhibited today.

 

I taped the game, but haven't reviewed it yet. I want to see what we were doing during that short stretch when Mooch was in the game. Was that the best he's played all year or what?? The second team was in with him and we climbed right back into the game. I wish they had left that unit in until whatever they were doing stopped working. Maybe someone can explain it to me.

God, I have a headache. Last night was hard on the 'ol brain and body. If I survive this season it'll be a miracle. If I stop posting for a long time just figure that the team killed me.

 

Deckard -
Rudy does not like to switch the PnR. I don't know if it was Rudy's decison or MoT doing it on his own, but at some point MoT switched off on Kobe in the PnR and he and Mobley hard doubled Kobe. I have the tape as well, but this is when I recall the comeback started - with the hard doubles on Kobe.

 

I just can't believe we lost to the Shaq-less Lakers.

Here's my suggestion:

Switch the line up. Go with this from now on:

Ming
MoT
Rice
Posey
Francis

Bench: Mobley (play the 1&2), Griffin (3&4), Cato (4&5)

Its over. It's time to cut the crap, go to the players who bring something to the table. We can't wait for griffin top get consistent, or for Moochie to look better.

The way Cat's shooting, we might as well put Posey at the 2. He can shoot just as well as Mobley. With the way Posey is shooting, we might as well put a respected shooter in his place, Rice.

 

Really. That isn't a bad lineup. YAO...is well you already know. Mo Taylor has been awesome off the bench. His defense is not that bad either. He is just too short. Glen Rice brings his leadership and shooting. Posey .........well the Old Posey....had speed and energy and could make at least one shot occasionally. He is tall and can defend bigger shooting guards...but he may be too slow.

Now 1. I wish we could do that. But it's not that easy. But the Rockets didn't even attempt to prevent him from getting the ball. They tried to challenge him. But he is just way too good. I don't even know why people allow Kevin Garnett or Amare or Duncan to get the ball.

2. Early offense. Well Posey is always already down the court. He is way faster than everyone. Yao is always lagging behind. Glen Rice does not help the transition. Mobley and Francis are accustomed to just staying out back by themselves and slowly bringing up the ball. I guess they need time to set up plays... But I agree. We should initiate the offense earlier...man...JUST PASS IT STRAIGHT TO YAO. Or break down their defense and draw fouls or something.......

3. Yeah...well I think we should alter our starting lineup. I'm not sure about benching Mobley. But Mo Taylor should start. And we need Glen Rice. Sorry...he is almost as slow as a turtle. But we don't have any shooters... And he provides leadership and control.

4. I DO NOT KNOW. Call Rudy!!! It's just dumb. We never use it. Maybe the players say they don't want it. Since they are "streetballers" and like going one on one and stuff... ????

5...well all I know is we need to get Yao the ball.

 

In 1979 teams would not have been able to front Yao Ming because you could just lob the ball over the top of the defender and 7'5" Yao Ming would have an easy lay up.

With todays zones you can't do that because now there is a weak side defender that is doubling Yao Ming instead of the man he would have been covering under the old rules. So now if you try to make a pass off of the back board ala the Big Whopper, the weak side defender would have position to get the ball off of the back board instead of Yao Ming.

 

5. a pass off the backboard to a post player being fronted? i've never seen that (too young, i guess?). how hard is this to do? isn't the pass difficult to pull off, since I would think that, if it's not passed perfectly, the ball would either bounce off the side of the backboard, or ricochet off the side of the rim after hitting the backboard, making it unlikely that the post player could react quickly enough to catch a ball ricocheting all over the place.

this is all assuming that the entry passer is passing in from one of the wings.

now, from one of the elbows, i could see how it could work, since the entry passer would have a better angle to the backboard without having to worry about hitting the rim as much.

interesting. i'll try to remember to try this next time i get a chance.

 

Errmmm.. did you watch the game last night? It's not rocket science (pun intended). Someone *was* wide open. Someone *was* found, but they were bricking. The offense was working in that a double-team of Yao was leaving people open cross-court. The problem was that more often than not the open man would brick a shot.

 

As far as fronting Ming, why not swing the ball and have him seasl the defender in front of the hoop. Early offense is also a problem. It would be niceto see Francis and the guards stay above the ft line on defense and offense. This keeps good defensive balance and starts the break ealier. The sub part is where i have the biggest problem. Morris have been playing good lately and posey is one of your best defender . Why not front kobe with posey ,and then have Morris play Fox? Rudy just has to go.

 

DaDakota...if you watched the 2nd quarter...well actually the first half of the game against the Pheonix Suns...I witnessed some of the things that we are not expected to usually see.

ON DEFENSE...well POSEY and RICE are doing fabulous on the 0-7 Marion. Marbury is just trying to get calls...doing all right. And Amare has been quieted a bit not by Griffin...but by Taylor.

EARLY OFFENSE. They are really doing this well today. They are actually running today!!! A miracle!!!

Substitutions...GOD. Somebody must have read this. Eddie Griffin played for less than 6 minutes and Mo Taylor was in. Mo Taylor already has like 10 points off the bench and has prevented Amare from getting the ball. So has Griffin. Griffin's actually hustling too!

DEFENSE. Well we still aren't using zone defense...I don't think we ever will. At the beginning of the game...they were just getting easy layups. Rudy called a timeout and everything has changed. We have some minor flaws...but our defense works out pretty well especially with Yao, Cato, and Eddie protecting the basket. Moochie seems to play better defense than Stevie these days...

They did not try passing off the backboard...but they passed it to Yao 4 times in a row...even though he only succeeded on one attempt. That's a good sign. Confidence.

Anyways...the Rockets are looking good. We should be in the playoffs. We can beat the Suns....