| New Style For The New Year Authored by Dennis Silva - January 8, 2007 - 2:13 pm
Yao Ming has only been out four games, but there is a distinct change to the Houston Rockets’ style of play. Houston stands at a respectable 20-12 on the young season, and yet another onslaught of injuries have forced Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy to start from scratch and re-think his technique.
Fortunately, Van Gundy has dismissed the stubbornness and has done something he has never accomplished during his ten years of coaching NBA basketball—establish a consistent running attack that puts pressure on opposing defenses.
Surely, Van Gundy surveyed his roster and saw that he had two necessary ingredients to employ a transition game: backcourt speed and shooting from every position except center.
The Rockets have averaged 101 points per game during their last four contests and almost certainly have scouts scribbling new notes and discarding previous knowledge. Houston is shooting for a high percentage, taking shots early within the shot clock and run at every opportunity. Basically, it’s become the type of team that Van Gundy generally abhorred. While ex-players and media types close to the team claim to no end that the tireless coach wants his club to push the ball, that has not been the case. Anyone with clear vision (as well as access to statistics of any sort) can attest that his teams have been ones whom grind it out and play inside-out. A typical Van Gundy-coached game ends up with a score of 82-79 than 112-106.
But with Yao sidelined, Van Gundy had no other choice but to try and score points on the break. As it is, scoring was hard to come by even when Yao and his 26 points-per-game output were a constant within the offense. Asking under-sized Chuck Hayes and Dikembe Mutombo (who has taken the term “veteran” to a new level) to provide interior scoring would be unrealistic. So Van Gundy went to plan B: run, run, run.
Houston has the athletes necessary to be aggressive in the open court. Point guard Rafer Alston is a former streetball legend who craves an open floor, and guards Luther Head and Kirk Snyder (once he returns from his hand injury) can penetrate and fill the lanes. Throw in the fact that Houston is the league’s fourth-best 3-point shooting club, and it becomes a no-brainer. With a faster style of play, the Rockets average nine more points per game.
If nothing else, this proves that Houston can in fact run the ball and score in transition if called upon. Odds are that this method will be put to sleep once Yao returns, but it’s nice to know that it’s a capable secondary option. More importantly, the offensive showcase has proven to have pleasant results. The Rockets have won four consecutive games without their stud big man and are no longer desperate for points and depending on winning games through defense.
The genius of Van Gundy’s coaching will be if he can insert a balance of halfcourt and transition sets that throw opponents off key. Houston has a lot of flexibility and versatility within its roster but it has not been taken advantage of. They can go small, big, fast or power. Those assets will prove vital once the playoffs roll around and the likes of Dallas, Phoenix and San Antonio stand in the way of progression.
But it’s a new year, Houston. And with that comes substantial resolutions that either result in disappointment or fulfillment.
Rockets fans can only hope that this new birth of play will be everlasting and not temporary. |
