I thought this might be worth posting. Charley has always been a Rocket hater since I can remember. He's even dogged Hakeem. But he brought up some stuff regarding how the Rockets could fare against the Lakers with Bynum out now. Here's the link http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/9166410/Lakers'-road-to-title-much-tougher-without-Bynum
I agree with that. Who is gonna guard Yao? Gasol? Mihm? But first of all, we gotta prove something. We have to stay healthly.
I think Odom would hurt us in a lot of ways. He has killed Scola and Landry on Offensive rebounding and his outside shooting. He's given the Rockets problems in that regard.
If Odom gets in a grove put Artest on him. Solves that. Heck, even McGrady can contain Odom if he is motivated.
I think Yao on Drew is better than Yao on Gasol. Gasol flops soo much that it would put Yao in Foul Trouble.
Yeah but Odom can out jump both of those guys for rebounds. I've watched a lot of Lakers games and Odom plays tall. Some guys have height but can't use it correctly. Odom, on the other hand, can bat balls to his players. Offensive rebounding will be very important in a series. I believe they can with stand Kobe going off, it's the other folks you have to watch out for.
That's actually a good question, as Yao historically has performed better against traditional low post centers than athletic shooting F-Cs like Gasol. Gasol's ability to shoot from the outside could be used to draw Yao out of the paint like the Jazz do with Okur; with Bynum playing, they don't have that luxury. Furthermore, the absence of Bynum means Odom starts at PF, which, as someone already pointed out, could be a bit of a matchup disadvantage for us at the 4.
One other good thing that will help the Rockets out in regard to getting homecourt advantage is the fact that the Lakers and Spurs both play more roadgames for the rest of the season.
gasol goes for more layups than yao; he's softer than cheese. yao should win that matchup pretty easily b/c phil never doubles anybody outside of lebron.
Phils doubled t-mac before. Not this year I might add because t-mac was beating himself on offense earlier in the year. Up until last year t-mac was doubled during stretches of games to keep him from getting himself going. I think it was like if he made 2 shots in a row or drove the basket on the next posession if he got the ball he was doubled.
have you seen the types of fouls bynum has given out this year? he's been extremely physical (and dirty). that might have intimidated yao a little bit if we had played them with bynum. yao should have little problems v. gasol, though he's a very good player.
It's like he got an assignment to write about Bynums injury and still found space to take some shots at the Rox.
One thing the lakers try to do nowadays is send gasol at Yao hard to get him in early foul trouble and get him out of the game early. They must double gasol if they try that.
