BaYBaller wrote:1) Refs weren't that bad (either way) last night. Stop kidding yourself.
2) Shooting big men isn't the issue with the Jazz. Our defense was actually better (and has been all season) with Yao because he guards the rim. Utah got the majority of their points in the paint when Yao was out and that's (part of) what killed us. You live with Boozer shooting 20-ft'ers the same way you live with guards shooting off the PnR with Yao's man.
3) Yao's got to demand the ball. It's not on the team, it's on Yao.
4) Ron and Wafer play with no system but the other players do try to play within Adelman's system. Brooks is still learning. Right now he doesn't have much of a passing game but he needs to at least be able to read game situations better and direct traffic. That's one thing Rafer does better than Brooks and what I'm hoping he improves on. I really think the issue here is we need a PG to rein in the team a bit (e.g. Ron/Wafer) and Brooks is young and doesn't seem to have that personality.
Yes, agree with this. Especially 3) and 4). Our offense wilted because we really had no one out there directing. And really, with out current roster, it has to be Yao directing it (whether calling for the ball in the post, calling the p'n'r or elbow or whatever). Multiple times in the 1st half he had Boozer on him in the post (a poor, undersized defender, even against other PF's) and Brooks swung the ball away before he could set up properly. Ball went to Artest at the top. End of offense. Some of it's on Brooks of course (quite frankly I have no idea what he was thinking out there, because feeding Yao when he has a mismatch seems pretty straightforward, and he barely waited a tic before abandoning it), but Yao, to repeat the recent catchphrase, has to demand the ball.
There's a difference between being a team player and being too passive to call for the ball to take advantage of a huge mismatch.