This game exposed all our weaknesses. It showed just how far we are from the elite teams. It showed that Yao still hasn't figured out how to punish teams that choose to go small against him (ineffective on offense, a total liability on defense). It showed that T-Mac still hasn't figured out that he needs to attack that basket when a clutch basket is needed, not to shoot step back 22 footers that are contested. It showed that we are still sorely lacking that third scorer.</p> Oh sure, we can blame it on the schedule. Yeah, we've only lost one game against a "bad" team. Yeah, three of our losses came without T-Mac in the second half. Same crappy excuses as last year. Against the Western Conference elite -- Spurs, Mavs, Suns -- we are now 1-5 to start the season.</p> Our bench is still wildly inconsistent. Bonzi Wells has been horrible except for a couple games that are long gone. So much for the "resurgence". Scola had two nice games when all the attention was on Yao, but he follows it up yet another poor outing against the Mavs. Luther Head continues to show stunningly poor ball handling and decision making and is a frightening defensive liability.</p> We got decent games from Rafer, Battier, and Chuck, but we still need that versatile third scorer to step up for us. Maybe it's time for Francis to get some time. Rafer and Luther better be looking over their shoulders right now.</p>
As I've said b4, yeah we have a hella long way to go. I don't care if we are losing to great teams, in order for us to be great, we have to be able to play with the big boys.
Well I wasn't too high on the team when we were 6-1, but I'm not too down on us now. A few different bounces of the ball in a few past games we'd be 8-4 now, instead of 6-6. I was expecting the team to get off to a bad start and to be frank, 6-6 at this stage isn't too bad. Dallas started 0-4 and Phoenix 1-5 last year, and they both had 60-win seasons. I do see that we don't have the same chemistry that those teams had but our schedule definitely plays a big part in our record. If we had Boston's instead we'd probably be 10-2 or 11-1 right now. Luck of the draw here.</p> I do agree though, Adelman needs to change it up a bit. Rafer Alston and Mike James have been doing terribly so far, so as I've been saying for the past few days now, why not give Francis or Brooks a shot? Rafer had a good game today but we surely can't count on that can we?</p> Don't know why also but it's seeming that our offense is becoming more and more like last year. All the hoopla about the new look dynamic scheme is back to a half-court setup. Much different from that first quarter of the first preseason game against the Hornets when the key was wide open...</p>
Do you all think Yao's disappearing act in the 4th (28 pts before 4th Q, 2 pts in 4th) had to do with playing 40+ mins? Not like Adelman really has much of a choice with Yao being the only consistent offensive threat right now. It's a shame such a good game by Yao 30pts/15rebs/6blocks resulted in a loss.</p>
Yao got some rest in the middle of the third, presumably to keep him fresh for the fourth. But it didn't make a difference.</p> I don't know why Yao was quiet in the fourth quarter. He had a monster third, so maybe Dallas started to focus their defense more intently on him.</p>
durvasa, I think this goes down to what the Rockets talked about before the Denver game. The players look to Yao too much, and when teams start aggressively double-teaming Yao in 4th quarters, the rest of the team run around like chickens with their heads cut off, launching all kinds of bad shots. They either try to force the ball into Yao, resulting in either a turnover or a badly missed shot... or they miss wide open jumpers. Add to that, the amount of work Yao does in the first 3 quarters to carry the scoring leaves him tired by the 4th. This is what's happened the last few years in JVG's system, and why Adelman's motion offense is so important to the success of this team. When Yao posts, there need to be cutters and movement so when he's double-teamed the open man won't be predictably standing at the 3 point line, but instead could be cutting into the lane, or setting a screen for another cutter. When Yao is in the high post, it opens up the lane for all kinds of cuts and drives to the hoop, and he can take a few offensive possessions "off" to keep himself fresh.</p>
