http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=128603 Read thread and look at those happy in denial YOFs.
I'd at least like to see what happens when Yao guards Okur. Having him guard Boozer clearly doesn't work. Heck, I wouldn't mind seeing a little zone, even. In general, the Jazz aren't the best 3 point shooting team, and their bread and butter offensively all revolves around pick and rolls, or baseline screens. Zone might eliminate that. The obvious downside is you may still be giving up those mid-range jumpers that the Jazz are good at, and offensive rebounding, BUT the Jazz had 15 offensive rebounds last night anyway.
You, my friend, need to watch the games a little more closely. Chuck playing Boozer last night effectively shut him down WITHOUT Yao in the game. Because when Yao was in the game he was on Boozer in the half court, without exception. Boozer can't speed around Chuck, and he can't back him into the paint. Taking away two of his most effective weapons. It has nothing to do with who's in the paint when they are 1 - on - 1.
I'd rather Boozer take all of the shots (mostly jump shots) instead of getting everyone else involved. Our defense needs to realize that he goes strictly too his left and doesn't pass well when making a move to his left. Force him to his right for a jump shot. Booz would murder Chuck and Scola - foul trouble waiting to happen. The other Rocket players, such as MJ, Shane, etc... can step in the lane and take a charge. Not Scola and Chuck, stay with Okur on the 3point.
It's amazing that some people still think that Hayes can't guard Boozer. When Yao went out and Chuck switched onto him, Boozer did nothing. As usual.
Yao cant defend Boozer, it's a simple fact. putting Yao on the court is because he is one of our WMDs and we can let boozer take 30 shots but still win the game. Yao disappointed me for lacking of decision at the offense end. Hope he can do better next time.
Agreed. The naysayers have the tendency of making Okur a Reggie Miller as well as Manu Ginobli, which he is neither, not even close. Okur's 3-pt shooting % is not much better than Rafer, at best. What's more, unlike Rafer, 3-pt shooting doesn't constitute the bulk of Okur's shots. Of course, Sloan can change his game strategy by designating Okur as Utah's exclusive 3-pt specialist. Even so, I don't see how that's more devastating to the Rockets than Yao guarding Boozer, which has been miserable.
I saw Yao guard Okur one time, Okur could not shoot, had to pass the ball, and resulted in a TO or a missed shot.
Boozer is athletic and Yao is not...does anybody really expect Yao to completely shut him down. I would at least try to have Chuck or Scola guard Boozer all game and let Yao try and guard the also unathletic Okur.
Exactly...oh, but Hayes is an undersized midget, he can't guard anyone!!! It's like half the people have never seen Chuck play...
Yeah when Yao checked out the first time in the 1st, our defense all of a sudden got dramatically better with Scola on Okur and Hayes on Boozer. It made my mouth water thinking how great of a fit Scola is not only for our offensive scheme but for matchups like these, where teams look to those European big men to open the court. Scola knows their games, he sees how they think! He will not fall to their flops and he will not hate their lies.
That's a good point, also stop Booz from going left or having the defense drop in the lane except for Okur's man.
I do not see why we cant put shane on okur, chuck on boozer, and yao around the paint (somewhat keeping kirelinko in check) because we know the only way he scorers is getting garbage buckets. I know im gonna get shot down but hey its an interesting strategy.
It didn't happen because he was matched up against Yao and put up 30 and 16. Imagine him in the post against Chuck or Scola, the refs do not give them the benefit of the doubt when calling fouls. Booz scored on jumpers last night and scores going left strictly. He doesn't look to pass except to Okur when he can. He would murder us on the boards if Yao didn't guard him, since Yao would be on the 3 point line with Okur.
It's not just Okur that you have to worry about if Yao is switched onto him. The entire perimeter defense will be weakened by it. Our defense around the basket will be weakened. Our defensive rebounding will be weakened. Our transition defense will be weakened. Defensive matchups don't occur in isolation, particularly against a team like Utah where the players move so well without the ball. It's 5 against 5, not 5 1 against 1s. If you move Yao from the basket and ask him to play on the perimeter, the entire defense will collapse. Boozer is going to score 25 points regardless of whether Yao is matched up against him. He's just really good. It's not worth it trying to reduce his production somewhat at the expense of messing up the entire team defensive concept.
This was the conclusion I came to last year. Utah is simply a very bad matchup for Yao, as they can continuously exploit him on offense AND defense. Yao had something like 6 turnovers last night, and again was embarrased by Boozer's face-up game. I'm not saying Yao sucks; far from it. I love Yao! But Utah has the personnel to more or less neutralize him. Against Utah, and I know this sounds a bit silly, I would start Mike James and Scola and bring Yao and Rafer off the bench. With Scola in the game, he can guard Okur fairly well while Chuck works to contain Boozer. Boozer will still score, but he'll have to work much harder against Chuck than he does against Yao. We'll lose Yao's scoring against the first line, but Mike James can take up some slack and then we bring Yao in when Okur is ready for a rest. Then Yao comes in a ****s up Ron Milsap. This keeps Yao out of foul trouble and then we have the option of leaving him in the game for long stretches in the 4th quarter. It sounds r****ded to not start Yao, but I think it's the best way to take away Utah's biggest advantage over us. I think if he's used like this against Utah, Yao will be able to do much more in less time.
I understand the logic behind it, but I just don't think it's a good idea to bench Yao like that. In the playoffs, teams are going to exploit his weaknesses. He can't hide from that. Yao is capable of being a force offensively against any team. And Utah fouls like crazy, more than anyone else. Yao *should* be able to capitalize on that, if he can be strong and use his size like he's capable around the basket. Yao won't be able to check Boozer, of course, but he can still be a force around the basket, on the boards, and blocking shots. Those are things he should be able to do against this team.
We don't have to imagine. We've played the Jazz 12 times over the past year. Look at the tape. When Hayes is on Boozer, he is much less effective. Hayes is quick enough to crowd, taking away the jumper, and still recover on the drive. He's strong enough (with a low enough center of gravity) to keep Boozer from getting deep position, and usually forces him to take turnaround fadeaways. His hands are good enough to get the occasional strip as well. He has not picked up any more fouls than Yao when guarding him. The whole 'hayes would get murdered by Boozer' sentiment is a myth, plain and simple. He does the best job of anyone on this team, and probably much better than a majority of power forwards in the league. Now this doesn't necessarily mean that I think we should stick Yao on Okur. I would like to see a stretch of it to see what happens, but the very few times that Yao has been switched onto him for whatever reason has been a nightmare. It usually resulted in open threes, pumpfakes, drives, and Yao fouls. If we prepared a gameplan for Yao on Okur it could be different. Maybe have Yao try to chase him off the 3 point line and bring help defense and see what happens. unfortunately that would result in our defense being continuously broken down, and a lot of scrambling, as well is rebounding problems. Our current strategy of putting Yao on Boozer reminds me of the Spurs putting Duncan on an island against Amare. Amare went wild, but the Spurs contained everyone else. It worked because Duncan could murder them on offense. I think this whole problem goes out the window if Yao mans up and drops 30 on Okur every night.
