That's what the rocket's are playing, and that's at best. Battier, Artest, and T-mac can't stay in front of anyone, and it's not for lack of trying, but it's killing us. Yao is a fine anchor but he's not dream or even a 40-yr old mutombo, and he can't rotate over and stop all these guards from getting in the paint at will. You fix the defense, you beat these mediocre teams. I said this last year but we'd have a good 5-6 more wins if Van Gundy was still the coach. He does a great job of getting more out of lesser calibur players and making sure even if we couldn't score, they sure as f#$k weren't either. Adelman thus far has proven that he can't do much if he doesn't have something to work with. That said, this team isn't winning anything with any coach in history if they don't get healthy which is why it's a little silly to give up on adelman. This team turned it around last season when people started coming back from injury and I suspect we will do the same, but I haven't been this frustrated watching the rockets since before Van Gundy. We were spoiled with a smothering defensive attack and now that it's not there it is maddening watching these teams hit shot after shot.
Excellent analysis, especially the middle part. JVG could always get more out of less. Coaches like Adelman and Jackson need offensive talent to make things work. They are ego massagers with average Xs and Os, especially on the defensive end.
I think some time Ron, Scola and Landry overplay the screens. The got so many open layups when they overplay 26+ feet from the basket. A little less gamble, just help and get back to your man.
All 3 of our best wing defenders (Artest, Battier, McGrady) are hurting physically. Scola tries hard, but he lacks strength against most bigs. Landry still makes a lot of mistakes on pick and roll coverage and rotations. No Mutombo. Oh, and the coaches probably aren't focusing on the team's defense like the previous regime used to. Yeah, all of that will add up to mediocre defense.
Yup, Van Gundy did great things with guys that had seemingly fallen off the map before they came here. Mutombo is prime example one. He also turned yao ming into the beast that we're hoping comes back. I'll never understand why people think he underachieved, with the rosters he was given and especially with the injury circumstances. There's no way another coach would have done any better. no way. I think adelman is a fine coach if everyone is healthy and since we have to have everyone healthy to win a championship i'm not going to get too bent on some of these regular season losses.
We play defense in spurts. The players know what to do but the execution whether it be mental or physical is waning way too often. I LOVE battier but more often than not he's looking like a liability. he doesn't provide enough offense to justify him playing when he can't move like he should. he's still in the prime of his career and he's not injury prone so I'm 100% sure he'll bounce back fine, but he's got to sit out and get that thing healed. ugly truth or not but him getting healthy and playing elite level defense is absolutely integral to winning a championship. Artest doesn't rely on explosion enough to have his offensive game significantly altered by his ankle but his defense is poor right now. other than gambling and picking off the occasional pass, he is not staying in front of anyone. Of the three wings, he's my last choice to sit, but he's not right out there. Mcgrady isn't known for defense, nor does he consistently play it, but when he's healthy he has ability to stay in front of anyone and can be great when needed. Right now I'm not sure if he can stay in front of anyone if he tried. You add that up and we're giving up more layups than I can honestly remember. I watch every minute of every game but never have I wanted to turn the tv off more than this season, and we started way worse last year. Injuries are a legit reason why we're struggling so it's hard for me to not still have optimism for this season, but I'd much rather sit battier and Mcgrady until they can play and put some guys in who can guard somebody. please bring back deke too.
it's a chain reaction. poor perimeter defense leads to poor interior defense. plus we're short outside of yao.
