One game we give Cleveland their second worst loss of the season and the next game we lose to Chicago. Another game we stomp New Orleans then get dismantled by Dallas. I know the NBA season is a long one and any team can get beat on any givin night, but we are too inconsistent. With our up and down play and lack of offense at times there is no way we are contenders. So I ask, Who are we?<p>I know this is beating a dead horse, and no I am not a TMac fan but a healthy Tmac would make us contenders. If he was playing the way he did in last year's playoff with this roster we could beat anybody. And with that said I still think we can make a good run in the playoffs, but the problem is the coaching. Now this is my first time being critical of Adelman, but for him to be such a offensive minded guy he sucks at making offensive adjustments to counter the defense. Everyone blames Artest for alot of the problems and rightfully so cause I get tired of seeing him jack-up contested 3's or driving to the whole with 3 defensive players surrounding him, but Adelman is not putting these guys in situations to succeed and keep the offense flowing. If you notice Artest really gets crazy once the offense bogs down. So to eliminate that Adelman has to come up with better game plans and situational adjustments. Here are some ways to keep the offense from bogging down:<p>First, and our #1 option is Yao. Yes we are going to feed him in the post and let him do his work and kick it out to open shooters when they double, but we know that they are going to take that away and stay on the shooters and start fronting him. So when that happens Adelman should just pull Yao away from the basket and let him shoot those jumpers. Before the season started alot of us on here said we thought Yao should shoot more jump shots, but the others said we were crazy from wanting to pull him away from the basket. And don't get me wrong Yao does belong in the post, but if he can't get the ball because of the fronting then I would rather see him take 10 jump shots a game then to not get the ball at all, or see a turnover or Artest shoot some wild shot as the shot clock expires. We all know Yao can hit that 15-20ft shot on a regular basis. So if he takes 8 a game, he will make atleast 4 or 5.<p> Second, don't have Yao getting beat up and worn out trying to get post position everytime down the court when you have other post players. Scola has shown us that he can be a post presence when called on to do so. They know what he is gonna do but he still scores and there is not many who can stop him from getting his shot off. We also can post Landry, He can turn and face up and take the jumper or take his man off the dribble and finish at the rim. Then we have Artest and Battier who can post up. Artest can take his man to the whole all day, though he doesn't always make the shot he still gets fouled(if the ref calls it). I know he doesn't make his freethrows like he should but if not for anything else he can get us in the bonus early and we can shoot more freethrows and plus it keeps him from being out on the perimeter dribbling the shot clock out. Now Battier is not an offensive player but his strengths can be used. Battier and Artest or both SF and normally when on the court together Battier has a SG on him. Most of the time the SG is smaller than Battier as was the case last night when Kidd and J Terry was holding him, so why not post him up. He is pretty reliable with that baby hook he throws up. Plus in ths series he will have Roy holding him. He should get a few touches in the post.<p>Third, we have two pretty good PG that compliment each other but are being under utilized. Brooks is a scorer and can shoot the 3 or finish around the rim. So when everything else if failing and the offense looks stagnant, put him and Yao in A pick and roll. If Brooks man goes over the pick then he is fast enough to beat Yao's man to the rim. If Brooks man goes under the pick then he can shoot the jumper or 3 pointer. If they take both those options away by both defenders collapsing on Brooks then he can kick it to Yao for the jumper. We can do the same thing when Lowry is in the game. Though he can't shoot like Brooks he still can finish at the rim and he will also draw alot of fouls on the defensive player. He is also a good passer so once we pick and roll them to death, and it is working then the wing players will start to cheat over and help. That's when you put your shooter (Battier Wafer Barry) in the corners for open 3's. Adelman can also put Wafer in a pick and roll game with Yao. We all know Wafer will finish at the rim or a pull up jumper. Heck i would even use Barry and let him chunk up a couple of long range shots.<p>I'm not saying I'm smarter then Adelman or know more because I don't. But I would rather see them run pick-and-roll or pick-and-pop all game long, then to see them try to force feed Yao the ball when he is being doubled or fronted. All that comes of trying to force feed to Yao is 6-8 passes on the peremiter back and forth or alot of dribbling and they still can't get him the ball, then someone has to take a wild or crazy shot as the shot clock expires. Pick-and-roll with someone taking a jump shot or taking it to the basket will eliminate this problem.<p>Now to answer my own question I asked in the beggining. Who are we? We are a really good defensive team that thrives on our defense because it is our back bone. A team filled with guys that get after it on the defensive end. Now on the other end of the court we have alot of guys that can score and contribute if they are put in the right situation and play to their strengths. We don't have that one guy to take over the game except for Yao, but we see how easy it is for the opposing team to take him out the game. When we are rolling we can beat any team. They say defense wins championships which makes us a championship caliber team, but you have to be able to score also. With all that said, if we plan on surprising and shocking everybody Adelman is going to have to step it up. We know our defense is going to be there, all we need is for Adelman to come up with different schemes and strategies to get us there. Everything I mentioned in ways to stop the stagnant offense Adelman has tried but don't do enough (ie..post Scola, pick-and-roll) when the offense is sucking, but maybe he's saving something for the playoffs.I Hope
