Observing last night's game, I noticed various things that were quite pleasing. Some of what I noticed came on the defensive end from players such as Scola and Hayes when it came to guarding Dirk. Usually, Scola is not known for his defense, however I was quite impressed with him. Scola stayed on the ground whenever Dirk threw up a jumper. Instead of leaving his feet, he put a hand in Dirk's face to block his vision. I think that Battier, who plays the face guard defense vs Kobe, Lebron and others, deserves credit for this. You don't have to be the strongest or quickest player to defend well. You just have to play smart and take things away from the offensive player. Tonight, Scola demonstrated that. I think that Battier offered some advice to Scola and Hayes about staying on the ground and forcing the player to shoot with a hand in his face. You really don't want Dirk to fake a jumpshot and then take it to the rim to put Yao in foul trouble. I am quite happy that Scola has improved defensively and I hope that Battier continues to help others defensively, such as Landry. I think Landry has great quickness for a big guy and the face guarding defense will suit him well because the opposing power forward would not be able to outquick him to the basket on face-ups. I prefer to give up well-contested jumpers vs layups.
Ron Artest is the best one-on-one defender on our team, inarguably, but battier does way better in help defense. ron always patch his muscles on his oppent aggressively and always provoke his opponent as a result, and even loses his own temper sometimes.
I wouldn't say inarguably. Artest gets a lot more steals because he gambles. When he is defending, many players have a hard time because he uses his wide body to rough up the offense players. I think Battier does a better job of sliding and staying with the defender and contesting the shot. I think that Battier should have been on Howard last night.
They shared duties. Howard got a lot of scores off pick and rolls, and they like to run it against our center. You can't put all the blame on one defender.
What can we realistically do to mitigate Yao's liability as a a pick and roll defender? I don't remember JVG's strategy, but I do remember him being exploited a lot less. well apart from the jazz series of course. Should we have him step out? i've seen him get crossed more than once when he has. I think in the playoffs, it's going to be a lot more worse. I remember when they used to have him show, and have the 4 man cover yao's guy, and just have everyone else rotate down to protect the paint.
Considering its been a tough issue for two very good coaches, it quite possible that there isn't any good solution.
Totally agree. And it isn't just Yao, Shaq has been terrible in defending the pick n roll also. Yao just has to punish them on the offensive end to somewhat even out the damage.
agree. I found this several months ago when in a game Scola put his hand in somebody's face. This Battier style defense is very popular in China because the host of CCTV talk about it a lot. And many young men try this approach. It's not as easy as we think, you may hurt your opponent's eyes. Battier set a very good example for our young Rocket fans, thanks.
What was funny about last night is that our defense was so good at times it was irritating the Mavs and thats when they started playing dirty. I really do like having Ron on this team because I like having that wild card on our team that can sway the end result of the game. Just like what he did against the Celtics at the Garden. If anyone watched the game the momentum took a decisive turn after Ron knocked down Ray Allen with a hard foul then when Pierce and Ron were at each others throats it was obvious that Ron gets better as the aggression turns up and Pierce got more timid. Ron won us that game even though he fouled out. If anyone wants to see what Ron can do for us in the playoffs you should really watch that game. As far Battier goes, I'm very happy he is still on this team and his hand in your face defense was in full effect last night. Ron and Battier will win us a playoff series this season on their defense alone. Getting really excited about our playoff chances this year as long as everyone stays healthy.
