They're gonna be forced to go small ball to matchup with us. Try to get to our shooters on the perimeter and I won't be surprised if Kawhi plays Harden one on one for a majority of the 2nd game. I expect big adjustments from Pop. Hopefully we can be ready to counter those and make our own as well.
1. Avoid switching bigs onto Harden as much as possible 2. Try to smother Capela/Nene as much as possible 3. Flop as much as possible to break even at the foul line 4. Use Simmons/Deadmon to muck up the game like the late 3rd quarter of game 1
They might just stick with their strategy and hope Anderson and Ariza miss those shots from the wing off Harden's passes. On offense, Kawhi will probably handle the ball less; that didn't look good at all. I think they'll double down on going big and try to pound the Rockets inside, again hoping that LMA can turn it around. We should be in a good position to win this game again. It's a favorable matchup.
Zach Lowe's podcast mentioned they may experiment with going under the screen to guard Harden. I think this could be their strategy as well. Switching is bad for LMA's stamina and Harden will burn him regardless. Fighting through the screen gives the roller easy shots. Might as well see if Harden will miss open 3s.
Why are we so Rox-centric on this topic. It's like we want to argue over how to stop our offense and see Pops prove narratives right or not vs just listening to popovich in post game. Remember this isn't NFL with a whole week off to adjust. He's got just one day. He's going to focus more on fixing his offense,,,he actually said that post game. Can't run, Take hurried bad shots, turn it over, and not play transition D With that offense, he can't beat us by scrapping one defensive scheme for another. The defense needs better transition d and more focus, intensity and execution. Coaches like him won't scrap their plan for another if they feel like the players just played lazily with bad execution. they can make things harder from 3 while guarding harden much the same, with just better execution...they've done it before this year. And did I say he needs to fix that offense in one day or no defense is going to work. Oh, and they couldn't stop our bench either. He'll need to address that.
Whatever adjustment they make it will be geared towards slowing the pace down. Their geriatrics cant run at that pace for 48 minutes. So expect the Spurs to foul plenty to kill the flow of the game when Rockets have the ball. The aim will be to disrupt the rhythm of our offense and rhythm and pace of the game. Also expect them to be very physical with us for the same reason, especially in the paint. Clint better get his armor ready. I felt Spurs got lulled into our pace and rushed their shots once they fell behind. They got nervous with the big hole and went away from their game plan. Expect them to use up plenty of time on the shot clock this time around and take good shots off of ball movement.
The Spurs are in trouble. 1. LMA nor Gasol are the athleticism it seems to stay with Capela. I think Nene is too strong for both 2. Strangely enough . . . Harden is probably one of our best low post defenders. Small ball may hurt more than help them. Capela/Nene - Harden - Gordon - Lou - Beverly could be lethal Capela/Nene - Ariza - Harden - Gordon/Lou - Beverly could be lethal Rocket River
If they do this to take Harden out of the game then we can just do what teams tend to when that happens. Move Harden to the corner, let someone else run the offense and beat everyone else. You essentially take their best defender out of the game. I know we probably won't do that because Harden is such a key, but the bulls did it with Jimmy Butler and a few other teams did as well. This was an interesting read about it. http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/k...at-at-defense-hes-actually-hurting-the-spurs/
I think that if we come out with energy and play aggressively from the start that we can beat them every game. I know they were 2nd best in the West but they are old. We need to use our speed on both ends. We can do this.
"Say your prayers" is one of their keys to the game, lol.... http://www.expressnews.com/sports/spurs/article/Game-2-Spurs-keys-to-victory-vs-Rockets-11115703.php
i think their aim will be to take the ball out of Harden's hands earlier - you might see some trapping going on in the back court. Their goal will be to make the Rockets burn shot clock and delay them getting into their offense and thus getting worse looks. To do this they may lay off the offensive glass as to prevent fast breaks and they will try to be more patient on offense in getting their shots. Expect a physical game as well. I wouldn't be surprised to see them Find ways to make Harden move more on defense to try to wear him out more.
Gonna sacrifice scoring output from Kawhi...by putting Kawhi exclusively on Harden...and letting others create and try to beat ya...Also force feed the paint and LMA/Gasol...
They will probably hound Harden in the backcourt, that really slows our game down imo when Harden gets stuck for like 10 seconds bringing the ball up. I wonder if LMA will randomly go off and hit a bunch of mid range shots, get his confidence up and start scoring in the post
Good take. Thing is that trapping can't be sustained for long stretches, it's exhausting. That said, I hope the Rockets will be disciplined enough not to cough up turnovers if trapped igniting the Spurs with free transition points. Those can become backbreakers in a hurry.
The main thing is he will slow the pace down and try to work the ball around to slow the tempo. He will put the trap on Harden intermittently to disrupt his rythmn. Should be fun. DD
