The Jeff Van Gundy era is officially over.

[tha_rock220]

I didn't mention Alston because he's not the issue here.

You don't need to learn a defense. It's one of the things in basketball that is universalPlayers are drilled into reacting, making switches, funnelling, etc. Rick Adelman doesn't do that. Last season we got the residual effects of Jeff Van Gundy's philosophy, but they're losing that. I started this thread in reaction to the Celtics game. I don't expect to go 82-0, and I wasn't particularly angry about losing to the champs, but when Ray Allen is going crazy because T-Mac isn't interested in making an effort to chase him a switch has to be made. That switch not being made and our inability to play transition defense leads me to believe that we've forgotten JVG defense.

[jove9]

We lost because of that, and because Yao sucked on offense and defense.

There's no reason why Perkins should have outplayed him.

[Amel]

well

thank god its ova for yo hova

[tha_rock220]

Yeah that's true, but it's a different thread.

Look at tonight's game. Why the frick is Brent Barry in the game when it's obvious that McMillan is going to the guy Barry is guarding and it's working wonderfully??? Adelman reminds me of Avery Johnson without the defensive emphasis. Rather than stick with units that are successful he's more concerned with sticking to his set rotation. So now you've got a cold Brandon Roy getting some quick points and Rudy Fernandez destroying us. Why Rick is it so difficult for you to understand your squad needs to get stops rather than just have a better offense. Stop trying to teach them some dumbass offense that has never won a damn thing in the NBA and work harder on defense.

[TMU]

After tonight's game, I think you make a completely valid point. Defense is dead.

We should also consider getting another big man who can compete with other big men. I like Hayes and Landry but we've been giving up too many offensive boards in the past recent games.

[tha_rock220]

I don't think it's fair to make an assessment like this when we're missing our best defender (and arguably the best wing defender in the league). Yao looks a little slow/lost on defense, but he's still adjusting from the injury. We played poor defense late against Boston, but we've been stellar defensively in the other 3 games this season. We're fine.

I think it's completely fair. I can tell based on the way they players are reacting and by the defensive adjustments being made that the defense just isn't where it needs to be.

[King Roosk]

Yao has been piss poor on defense this season. He hasn't contested easy buckets, his rotations are waaay too late, and he's rebounidng like he's f*cking Rik Smits.

[Mike12345]

Yao has been piss poor on defense this season. He hasn't contested easy buckets, his rotations are waaay too late, and he's rebounidng like he's f*cking Rik Smits.

I think yao has slowed us down in every aspect of the game except free throw shooting. Yao has not been able to hold is own,,,,against the celtics in a huge game yao completely choked and all he had to do was guard freakin perkins. Artest had a rough night but atleast hes guarding pierce or allen.

Bottom line,,,,,yaos not cutting it and we looked very good without him last year. Hell we won on the road in utah in the playoffs almost twice,,,,when battier was playting hurt,,,,tmac was hurt,,,,,,alston barely played,,,,,and we didnt even have artest.

Our weaknesses that series were rebounding and shotblocking,,,,,and yao has brought neither to the table this year,,

[smapor]

Yao has been piss poor on defense this season. He hasn't contested easy buckets, his rotations are waaay too late, and he's rebounidng like he's f*cking Rik Smits.

I think yao has slowed us down in every aspect of the game except free throw shooting. Yao has not been able to hold is own,,,,against the celtics in a huge game yao completely choked and all he had to do was guard freakin perkins. Artest had a rough night but atleast hes guarding pierce or allen.

Bottom line,,,,,yaos not cutting it and we looked very good without him last year. Hell we won on the road in utah in the playoffs almost twice,,,,when battier was playting hurt,,,,tmac was hurt,,,,,,alston barely played,,,,,and we didnt even have artest.

Our weaknesses that series were rebounding and shotblocking,,,,,and yao has brought neither to the table this year,,

Are you kidding me, last year we were on a roll because our Bench was outstanding. Our Bench has shown flashes this season, but no were near last seasons energy. Luther Head was actually doing something decent in our 22 Win streak.

As for Yao, everybody bashes his rebouding and defense. Truth is he is our best rebounder on this team. The next best rebounder is Scola at 6 per game. I don't care if you are 7'6, 6'11 or whatever, but when you have team mates who can't box out other bigs from rebounding, you are going to have issues. Even replacing Yao with DH ain't going to help, when the rest of the team has lapse. Lets face it T-mac can't D up because of his injuries, Artest takes way too many risks (he needs to pick and choose), Rafer is getting older and nobody respects his offense (which means the opposing PG spends little energy on D), Scola is average at best but when facing long/Athletic PF, any PF is going to score on him and abuse him (portland was abusing him).

I love Artest defense but this guy takes so much risk, which allows his man to drive to the hoop, which forces Yao to cover and than guess what an easy pass inside for a layup or dunk.

Defense is a team concept, I don't care if you are the best defender in the world. If the team can't defend or do the little things like box out, run back down the court to defend. We are going to look bad.

Personally if JVG was coaching the blazer's wouldnt' have scored over 95 pts, thats one thing I like about JVG. As for Ric, his motion offense is not going to work, especially when people are not committed to move. T-mac as much as I love him scoring, he is not a slasher or mover. Typically when he gets the ball, the offense just watches him, nobody runs or cuts because they know the ball ain't leaving T-mac's hand unless you are wide open.

But I am going to hold my comments till mid season(from now on, because I was pissed at Yao and T-mac ineffective choices when the game was on the line), until our big 3 has more than 5 games played together and quite honestly this team goes only as far as Yao can go. The reason why i say this is because we know T-mac will get his. However if Yao does not perform, we can pretty much chulk up a loss or a very tight game. Now we have Artest, but offensively he is taking way too many jumpers on this team and in some ways he may be causing issues with Yao down in the post. Artest needs to find a way to fit in with T-mac and Yao.

one last thing as much as people hated Luther Head, he was the only player that i see constantly run around on the offense, too bad his ball handling skills are horrible and his defense is poor.

Also Yao's stats through 5 games is 17.6pts and 9.2 rebounds, it not like he isn't bring something to this team. He just plain sucked the last 2 games, something is wrong with him. I mean the 1st 3 games he was doing really well avg 24pts and 11rebounds. So something is wrong with him. Possible injury or maybe a mental issue at home (after all he got married) or something (early slump) who knows.

[King Roosk]

I've been harsh on Yao, but in his defense he is coming off of a major injury. On top of that, his first action post-injury was Olympic basketball, and we all know that the Olympics are not as grueling and demanding as the NBA.

[Guy986]

HIRE JVG!!!!

[Baller 24]

The defensive swagger is gone for good.