It's still on Harden. The POR coach must insist his way to attack Harden's defense. It works in the last 3 games.
Here are my 2 cents: 1. PnR. Lots of it. (Worked like a charm) Not just with DH12. Make some PnR action for TJ as well. 2. Tough, playoff style D and fouling. None of our guys (save Bev...) gets really scrappy in there. Parsons is our glue guy, but he can "rest" (play less than 30 minutes) when tough D is needed. 3. Sprees of extra-small-ball and 4-shooters lineups. (Worked very well with Daniels) 4. Don't limit rotation to 8-players! There is only 1 team in the NBA that sticks to an 8-men playoff rotation!!! The Rockets. 5. Start with TT (Asik plays sensational D on LMA), but use it only to cool LMA down - no more than 10-15 minutes a game. Afterwards use 5 minutes of each PF option to figure out what works best. DMo & Casspi should get some burn tonight.
Defensive rebounding Free throw shooting Attacking the rim Things that have been subpar of Rockets standards.
1. Go at Lillard - expose his weak defense and tire him out. 2. Run more PnRs and screens. 3. Use the Bev-Lin combo more. And use weak bench combos such as Lin-Asik-Parsons-Daniels-TJones less.
Keep feeding Dwight since he's been consistent. Utilize the pick-and-roll with him as well as finding him on the alley. Get the ball moving in the half court to create opportunities for offense. Hard-nosed defense so we can get some fast break points in transition. Aggressive guardplay by Lin and Harden always leads to good things. I know Harden going one on one bothers some but I still think we need to keep him shooting. It would be great if Parsons stepped it up and came in with some Scottie Pippen like moves and shows us that he is in fact the best SF on the floor. Get the perimeter game going early with Beverly and Daniels. Knock down some early 3s to get them in sync with their shot so we can go to them in crunch time situations. We rebounded the ball better last night so do it again tomorrow. Every possession counts. Last but not least, contain Aldridge. Last game's defense helped keep him from having a HOF performance, keep denying him easy looks and floor position. I don't know what answer we really have for Lillard. He's really confident and can slash down the middle. Beverly has his work cut out keeping him in front of him. Tough especially since you have to respect his perimeter game.
Someone should just write on McHale's clipboard in bold thick permanent markers: "PICK AND ROLL" from one end to the other.
Harden moves his massive ass faster in defense, shoots efficiently, shares the ball. Let PGs be PGs. DH nails down free throws and posts deeper.
Run a bunch of screens to force Lillard to defend Harden. Keep attacking Lillard and Aldridge ... make THEM work to contain US, not the other way around !
Alot of it tbh..the bulls game without Nene should give you an idea. Its hard to win 2 straight on the road.
Rebound and no pointless TO's. continue the pick and roll with DH. Harden needs to play like Ronaldinho in the 2002 World Cup. Harden needs to drive in much more, drive, drive, drive. Harden has to do his left right left right, continue creating plays and driving in. He can't be afraid to get knocked around, he just has to do it for us to finish this series
With both teams so evenly matched that couldn't hurt either. Neither team has dominated a game, and while franchise players have moments of brilliance and moments of sheer stupidity both teams still are neck and neck. A little bit of luck goes a long way in this series, look to game 1 as proof of that.
WTF???!!!!! When did you see this? If anything, they should keep Howard glued to Aldridge. Asik should guard Lopez. Why they have been doing the opposite, who knows.
Can't tell if you're being serious. That didn't work out in game 1 & 2 and almost killed us in game 3
