A Secret Weapon to Slowing Down Aldridge and Lilliard

If Robin Lopez beats us with Jones or anybody else on him so be it. If we put Dwight the majority of the time on LMA and we lose I can live with that as well.

What I can't live without is not putting your best big man on the opponents best big man.

It's matchups 101.

 

Dwight on LMA means wasting your best interior defender, because Portland will just constantly play Aldridge and Lillard on the pick&pop, forcing Dwight away from the basket and nullifying his elite paint protection. If he sticks with Aldridge, then Lillard will have an open path to the basket. If he closes out on Lillard, then Aldridge will have an open 20-footer. It's a tricky situation that is very tough to handle.
I'm all for seeing what Motiejunas has to offer.

 

Agreed. Dwight on LMA will only cause problems, he cannot give help defense of LMA.

I do not understand why Mchale didn't use D-mo in game 1. I expect he will try him in game 2.

 

He deserves a shot.

 

I think you are underestimating LMA's strength, sure he can play from the perimeter, but he was backing down Dwight and Omer. So with that said I think D-Mo will have the same problem Jones is having, he just isn't big and strong enough yet to be able to handle him down low.

I can live with Dwight and Omer on him, that will force him to take a good majority of his shots from outside of 15 feet and make him work hard for the rest... He won't score 46 every night so i would just let him keep shooting from the outside because he won't stay hot forever.

It took all of those 46 points for them to beat us, If Dwight and Harden can be more efficient than we will be just fine.

 

I don't know about this. I'm not convinced that twin towers is really that bad of a lineup. LMA was getting tons of iso sets against T.Jones which he dominated. Omer would certainly do better or at least put up a harder fight. T. Jones just doesn't have the size or strength. Neither does D.Mo for that matter. Sure he's taller but LMA would just push him aside

 

If DMo's defense is our key to victory, we'd be lucky to make it to game 5.

 

Dmo always hedges strong though, might help Beverley/Lin recover more and stop Lillard from getting that penetration, you see some plays where Dwight just clocks off and camps in the paint while Beverley has to chase Lillard around the screen, its just not feasible

 

um... our biggest problem is defensive rebounding and you want Dmo to get more minutes? he's 7 feet tall but rebounds like he's 6'2. that and he'll foul out in about 5 minutes trying to guard LMA.

 

I agree with Haymitch on this one. D-Mo as our key to victory is so problematic on so many levels.

 

We should be feeding LMA a steady diet of Dwight and Omer. Take away his game and force everyone else on that team to beat us. You'd be forcing Lillard to score 40 and everyone else to still step up their game. Wear his a$$ down.

 

Put Dwight on LMA and watch Harden's man & Lillard get to the rim at-will, while we get outrebounded even worse with Dwight pulled away from the paint. I'd rather take my chances with Asik/D-Mo on LMA.

 

put howard on LMA, he choked at the free throw line which costed us the game, everyone says hes not here to score all the points but to play Defense, well lets LEAN on him tonight at the toyota center EARN YA $22mill and slow down LMA... Jones should not be on him !!!

 

Problem is LMA drawing DH from the board for rebound and blocks. TJ doesn't have the height to stop side show Bob so we will lose the rebound war. I agree that we need to at least give DMo a chance at LMA or side show Bob and see how he does. His quickness and height will be favorable to our chance of winning if he can stay out of foul trouble.

 

Certain posters here are being really naive with this whole "Let Dwight guard LMA" thing.

Dwight is a superstar that doesn't get superstar treatment from the refs. He would almost assuredly be in foul trouble the entire game if his primary assignment was LMA. And unless size necessitates it (PG vs PG, slow center vs slow center, etc) , how often do you REALLY see star vs. star defending each other anymore?

Let TJ, D-Mo and Asik pick up the cheap fouls Aldridge can and will get.

 

give DMO a try, McFail.

 

I'm ok with this. Let's try this in spurts and see what happens. DMO better rebound hard, NOT take any 3s and NOT airball any hook shots when he's in.

As well, if D12 and Jones are in, let Jones take lopez and Dwight on LMA

 

LA is such a hard cover. he can play high post and shoot mid range Js or he can post you up and score inside. Dwight can guard him in the post and bother him a little but I don't think he can match up as well LA starts from the high post. Tjones just gets destroyed - it's as if he isn't there/. Let dmo try to bother him a bit - all I'm asking is to just be in his face. LA will still score but we can try to limit him.

 

I've never been a fan of D-Mo's. He's never seemed like anything more than a situational player or specialist at best. But I agree. It sucks he offers more than Jones in certain categories (because that's how weak we are at 4) but he might be less of a liability in specific areas of need. He's longer too, might be able to at least contest some shots.

 

Harden didn't do too bad on Aldridge either.