Suns In-Game Observations

Kevin Willis seems to be holding us in there along with Mobley with the clutch 3s.

 

I think the reason Cato keeps gettin the ball thrown to him is because Francis, etc. don't have anyone left to pass it to (or not enuff time to see everyone else) when the defense collapses on them. If Cato could work on his catching abilities, and his finishing abilities, he could avg so many more points. A lot of times, I'll see Cato catch the pass, but he'll put up some weakass layup. He needs to go in there with AUTHORITY and draw a foul or something... also needs to work on his ft's if he's going to get fouled a lot. All he needs to do is catch it and go up strong... he'll surely get a foul called because there's no way to stop a 7 foot Cato with long arms going up for a dunk.


Great Shot by Mooch... I guess he's still clutch. I love how he went and shook the Phoenix commentators as well.

 

I was wondering whose hand he shook. I could tell he was saying "I told you so" or something along those lines. I'd like to know what the story was behind that..

 

LTF, I think he shook the hand of the Sun's scorekeeper who, I'm sure by mistake sounded the horn just as we started to inbound the ball for the final play. Just wanted to thank him for trying to screw us up

 

Personally, I am tired of seeing weak ass picks set by the Rockets on the perimeter. The leading perpetrator of this folly?

Kenny Thomas.

I hate to criticize the guy after he had a good game tonight, but he comes out to set picks for Steve often throughout games, and he seems more concerned with sliding out so he can get the ball than setting a solid pick that can't be easily fought through. I watch the opposing team set picks all game that force Steve to either fight over, giving up the lane, or go under, leaving a wide open jumper, and I see us setting picks where the defender is never in any real danger of losing his defensive position. It is frustrating to watch.

Now, with that having been said. Go Rockets! What a shot by Moochie! I feel like **** for leaving with 9 minutes left in the 4th, because I figured they would lose for sure (down by 15). But they proved me wrong!

 

I dont know, in the Chronicle Penny is even quoted as saying that our screen and rolls were unstoppable.

 

Hey Raven I can say the same exact thing. I was listening to the game on the radio when they were playing like crap and I said I think Ive had enough. That was literally the play right when the Suns were up 16. Then a couple minutes later I turned the radio back on again and they said it was 2 point game. I was thinking "Is this even the right game?" I can hardly believe that we were still able to pull it out. We are one of the most dangerously offensive teams in the league, next to LA.

 

This is true, now that I think back on it. The PnR's that Penny is referring to were with Moochie and Walt/Willis. Those two were setting decent picks. But I have noticed that Kenny Thomas sets weak picks more often than not out on the perimeter, and it pisses me off because it forces Steve/Cat to get penetration into the lane through their own quickness/dribbling skills. They should not have to do this when pick and roll plays are run.

 

Raven Lunatic,

Watch the picks again. When Kenny's man traps Francis immediately, then Kenny will roll. You cannot compare how defenses cover Francis to how we cover them on pnr's. As much as anything else, other teams will have the PF trap Francis and Cuttino, and leave their man. We do not use our PF to trap the guard, thus the picker stands his ground against us.

 

So you are saying that the reason Kenny doesn't set hard picks is because the other team opts to switch defenders while the Rockets don't? I suppose this makes sense, since Kenny doesn't need to pick off the PG if they perform a switch. If the PG doesn't switch and they double team Francis, then I guess that leaves Kenny open at the top of the key.

Does anyone else remember a time when the Rockets would defend the PnR just like opposing teams do this season? Hakeem would come out and trap the other PG a good 2 or 3 feet past the 3 point line, and then they would perform a quick switch back before a good pass could be made to the man Olajuwon was originally defending. I miss that. I hate the way we defend PnR's now.

 

That's not really what I am saying. They don't "switch;" they trap. A trap is when the both defenders go for the dribbler, leaving Kenny unguarded and able to roll. The PF blocks Francis path to the middle, and the PG goes over the pick to "trap" the dribbler from both sides. The way this is supposed to work is to aggressively get on Francis to force a lob (not a direct) pass to the roller by getting their hands up on defense. The trap is supposed to force the ball out of Francis's hands with an anemic pass.

Many defenses do this to Francis/Mobley. That is why you see our pickers sometimes roll quickly. Sometimes they stand their ground...it is a read. Kenny reads this well. And as importantly, the dribbler and Kenny must read each other and their tendencies.

 

Damn, I need to start staying up till 1:30 in the morning so I can stop repeating discussions that have already started!

What I noticed last night was that Kenny was setting picks on the wrong side of the defender, causing Steve to go to the sideline instead of to the middle of the floor where he can see the floor better. If Kenny sets a pick on Steve's left when Steve is at the top of the key, then the two guys trapping him can use the sideline as an extra defender. Because Steve has two defenders on him, he can't see Kenny roll to the basket. Kenny then has to stay at the top of the key so Steve can get the ball to him. This is when KT's indecisiveness catches up to him, standing at the top of the key with the ball...Last season, Taylor used to always set picks on the right side of the floor, allowing Steve to use his quickness to go around and pop the middle distance jumpers

 

I would much rather see the pick n roll with Rice and Mobley or a high low with Rice in the post to get him off early. If I'm a opposing defender I'd let Kenny shoot all day and cover the guard. Rice would make our pnr's much more effective.

 

A-Train,

What is the wrong side of the defender? Are you guys talking about when the picker has a choice, which side to pick, as opposed to the times when the dribbler leads his man into the pick (like Stockton)?

It is very common for the Rockets to pick Francis to the wing and pass back out top to Thomas or Bullard (last year) especially. We are also seeing this with Griffin. The disadvantage you state is that Francis then has to go baseline and the defense can use the sideline. The advantage is the roller is then not isolated on the wing if he gets the pass. With the picker in the middle, we are in better position to attack with the weakside now as we are only one pass away, and note how they better not leave Francis after his pass out front because he'll be headed to the rim.

This "picking on the wrong side" is by design. It is exactly what we did with Bullard last year...Griffin does it, and Mo' did it sometimes. Mo and Kenny also give Francis/Mobley picks to the middle. We see this A LOT! A lot more, in fact.

Now, I'm not saying picking Francis to the wing is better than picking him to the center. I'm just saying it is by design to mix it up, and it works because Francis can go baseline and can definitely draw a man or two threatening that, which opens up the middle. We want to mix this up, because if Francis always takes the pick to the middle, the defense often forces him to pass it to Kenny on the wing...we'll take that all day long with Mo', but with Kenny, we like to use him in the middle for his drives and dishes. We do it both ways with Kenny....wing or center.

What we also see Mo do a lot, and now I see Kenny doing it, is they help Francis weave back and forth re-using their picks. Thus, Francis takes his man from center to the wing with a pick, then he might turn around and take him back to the center.

I don't see how any of this is Kenny picking the wrong side. btw: I lot of times the defense drives Francis one way so we have no choice where to pick. Guys, picking is not merely Utah style Stockton-always-taking-a-Malone-pick-from-wing-to-the-middle. Just because Francis takes a pick from center to the wing doesn't mean Kenny/Bullard/Griffin f!cked up. We are more versatile than Utah...Francis likes to be on the wing sometimes, and we don't always like our pickers to roll for isolation on the wing like Malone. Francis to the wing on a pick, and pass to Thomas out top for a dribble through the lane or a continuation swing pass to Rice and Mobley's side of the court, is a designed play...not a mistake.

<b>New Play for Moochie Spotted</b>

What I really like is Moochie in the middle with Mobley and Francis in the corners. We won the game last night on this. Mobley and Francis draw soooo much attention...the game becomes 3 on 3 in the middle. We saw at least 4 sets using weave pick with Walt and Willis last night. They set up a triangle up high at the key. Moochie takes a pick one way from Willis to the wing, who then turns and steps over to pick for Walt. Walt takes that pick over to Moochie and picks for Moochie a second time...this time back to the center. Now that was 3 picks that set up 2 pnr opportunities...one to the wing, and one back to the center. Sometimes Moochie just took the first one to the hole. Once he gave Walt the pass after Willis picked for Walt...and Walt nailed a 3 out front. Another time, Moochie passed to Walt after Walt picked for him and Walt and Willis went straight down either side of the lane...Walt ended up with 2 sweet dishes for Willis slams.

Phoenix could not stop this. These were weave picks. We do a similar thing with Francis, mentioned above, where Francis reuses a pick from the same player. These are reads....these are not mistakes, imo.

 

I see what you're saying,Crispee. I guess it's the way I'm looking at it. One of Steve's weakness is that he favors the wing a little too much and gets caught on the sideline with his dribble picked up. If Rudy is designing picks to get Steve to the wing and the picker cutting down the middle, that's great. Just make sure he knows what to do with the ball. I would rather see Steve coming to the middle more often, because that's where he can get a better look at the floor.

Maybe we can experiement with Rice setting a few picks. If the defenders trap Steve and he dishes it back to Rice at the top, Rice will be raining threes all night long. Kenny always seems to wait a couple of seconds before deciding what to do with the ball, allowing the defense to get set up again

 

Pretty sweet that the key players of our 'unstoppable play' (Hardaway's words) are from the bench.