Would extensive use of the zone work against Utah?

Yao can't guard Okur at all. If yao has trouble with troy murphy, how can he guard okur? The jazz are a bad matchup for the rox. Just like the sonics in the 90's, its strenths vs weakness. The rox have problems with athletic,moving teams and utah fits that profile.

 

I was so glad that our coach used the zone to save the game. As for the Utah game, I say we should use the zone again, how much? that depends on what is going on in the game, If Yao can not guard someone, and you do not want to take him out the game, then just use the zone. I think our coach is smart enough to decide it. If JVG is still our coach, he will likely not use the zone no matter what is going on the court.

 

It's pretty simple to me.

On our Defense:

1. In the first 5 minutes of each half, we'll see how Yao is faring on the offensive end. If he's not effective, or if he is having one of those butterfingers nights, pull him quicker than normal. He is a complete defensive liability. Under this scenario, he plays 25 minutes or so.

2. Play more Hayes on Boozer. Chuck's ability to strip the ball is unmatched. You could also see Artest on Boozer.

3. Okur is a problem but Scola is up to the task.

4. Make Dwilliams a jump shooter. Let him stick jumpers all night. go for it.


On Offense

1. Do not force feed Yao. Check his effectiveness. Feed him if it's one of those good nights.

2. Feature Scola and Artest. Both are tough enough to deal with the Jazzholes.

3. 2nd unit must push the ball. Lowry and Wafer should go off.

The Biggest key -- Turn this into a fight. We need a minor incident early. I mean this seriously. Force physicality so that the refs must blow the whistle on both ends. Otherwise, the Jazz get away with all the shoving and holding, while we play by the rules. Let it be a chippy game. Let there be blood.

F_ck the Jazz and
the sorry state in which they play
the lousy unis they sport
the inbred pathetic fans that root them on
the absurdly dirty tactics they employ
Boozer's ugly mug
Derron's ignorantly misspelled name
Kryalinko's emo meltdowns and skeletal body
and their pathetic, no championship winning tradition and legacy.

That is all.

 

good point. was thinking the same thing.

and somehow i am not worried about yao that much. he will get his 20-10 tonight.

 

You're just reposting what I wrote originally: "The real issue with Okur is that traditionally the Rockets have been unwilling to lose Yao's defense in the paint by letting Okur pull him out to the three point line." The problem in the past has been that no Yao in the paint = no shot blocking or big presence to deter the easy layup underneath the basket. I was just making the point that Okur is no Bosh or Bargani. He's not going to be driving past him to get to the basket, he just doesn't have the mobility or foot speed. Then again from the perspective of the Jazz if Yao's out by the three point line, mission accomplished.

The zone defense has always been about denying the opponent easy buckets in the paint and forcing them into perimeter shots. The way to beat the zone has always been to light it up from outside or to break it down by driving into the paint. Overall the Rockets are tougher defensively than they have been in the past (Scola has made huge strides, Landry some, Lowry is pretty good and he's big enough to defend taller guards, and of course you now have Artest and Battier on the floor at the same time). They also have some options: playing the zone, playing Hayes instead of Yao, etc. My guess is that the Rockets will try a bunch of said options in tonight's game. Hayes usually does an outstanding job on Boozer, btw.

 

Probably not. If it was me, given that the Jazz represent a huge nightmare matchup wise for the Rockets, I'd try it just for the hell of it and play Hayes on Boozer just to see what happens.

 

true Both UTAH and TORONTO have similar bigs that take yao out of his comfort zone.. but i'd say the biggest difference between these two teams is that Toronto sucks and UTAH is pretty damn good even tho i hate them
Tonight will be a tough game for us... with that being said i think we definitely need to deploy some type of zone tonight ....boozer always seems to like to play against us but we have SCOLA now!!