I looked at game 3 again and observed a couple of things: - our twin towers lineup destroyed them on the boards, and allowed us to push to a sizable lead. Granted, that was in part due to Aldridge being more Clark kent than superman. - as a result, down the stretch, Portland sat Lopez and went with Aldridge, Baum, Matthews, Lillard and Williams. We responded with Dwight, parsons/Daniels, harden, Lin and Beverly. This smallball matchup worries me a ton. - Their Aldridge/Lillard pick and roll is hard to stop. Howard does not do as good a job as Asik in sliding out and forcing Lillard wide, and Lillard winds up with a free run at the paint. I thought stotts made a critical mistake going away from that in a late OT possession, and went Aldridge v Howard. - we have to emphasize ball denial to Lilliard in that situation, and it has to be Beverly. It worked great on at least one possession down the stretch. On the other hand, they have two excellent wing defenders to throw at Harden, and can just put Howard on the FT line. - it will be a mistake to rely on Harden ISO against Batum or Matthews, and we need to get back to rocket ball, play fast, move the ball, attack the lane, kick out for threes, fire away and live with the results. - finally, home court feels like a disadvantage. The road team appears to play free, nothing to lose. Aldridge looked tighter, or maybe the shots just didn't fall. Harden just kept firing even thought he shot a crap percentage and had a bunch of terrible turnovers.
One thing I have noticed with the P&R defense, is that Dwight tends to wipe out his guard on the recovery as well...If Dwight could get skinny after the pick to allow his guard to close out on the roll man, the defense wouldnt be as bad...Keep an eye out for this, sure the Blazers would like to exploit this more...
When they go small I'd stick with TT and absolutely murder them on the boards. Maybe that's not feasible; but I'd hope we could force Portland to put Lopez back in.
We can't play TT when they go small. I would want to as well but whom would either Asik or Howard guard? Every person that Portland puts out can effectively penetrate from the perimeter.
I agree, this small ball match up is going to be interesting, and potentially important. Daniels should not be part of our small ball lineup; that's playing with fire. Instead: Lillard - Bev Mo Williams - Lin Mathews - Harden Batum - Parsons (or possibly DMo) LMA - Howard I am still interested in seeing DMo at some point. If only to force LMA to make adjustments, and keep him guessing.
Wouldn't mind trying our normal starting lineup against the blazers small ball lineup. Who wins the Batum vs Jones matchup? Jones could add some chemistry, rebounding, rim protection, and clean up buckets with Batum or Matthews on him. I might be overestimating his ability to guard out at the 3 point line but if the blazers are trying to take advantage of Batum or Matthews shooting over Jones wouldn't that be a win for us?
On the other hand, they have two excellent wing defenders to throw at Harden, and can just put Howard on the FT line. - it will be a mistake to rely on Harden ISO against Batum or Matthews, and we need to get back to rocket all, play fast, move the ball, attack the lane, kick out for threes, fire away and live with the results. [/QUOTE] First off, awesome posts - every one of them. This is probably one of the best threads up right now IMO. I've heard it quoted several times that good offense beats good defense. Therefore, should anybody be able to guard Harden? No matter how good they are?
in small ball lineup, either you let aldridge beast upon you, or you let slashers go for dunks or layups all day long, because aldridge spaces the floor using the left block only. Howard (or any human being) cannot contest aldridge's shot and continue to be a threat in paint at the same time. UNLEASH TT!!!
