If we can't agree to a deal with Tonya Harding, I'm thinking maybe we should give them free tickets to a Sauce Twinz concert.
Outstanding post...too bad most fans will never understand it. While JVG and Mark were marveling at the adjustments the Rockets' coaches made during the game...and wondering if they would continue to work...the fans here were writing: It's actually sad...but you can't fix stupid.
If you ask McHale he might say "we put a stop sign ..."then laugh and everyone says how great coach's player this guy is
Why wait, let's try him now. Throw D-Mo, TJ, Smoove and Capela at him during post season and see who D's him up best.
You're asking the wrong question. How are we going to stop LBJ/Irving/Love or Horford/Millsap/Korver/Teague once we make it to the Finals?
Beverly is a proven Westbrook stopper. He took out his meniscus and averaged 0 pts the rest of the series..... I would rather have Dwight on Lopez to prevent the offensive rebounds because that is what kill us against Portland.
it's easier to stop Harden than Westbrook When you play tight defense on Harden, he becomes passive, "Westbrook says bring it on"
At a very simplistic level, you gotta play these guys tough and physical, just as we've seen teams play Harden and Dwight. Start early so they are worn down late in the game. Make every foul a hard foul. Make every possession a struggle. No easy shots. Oh, and bribe the refs.
Attack them and let them play some defense. This is nothing new and have been done by opposing teams: POR let Wesley post up Harden. LAC runs Reddick around screens and it takes energy away from Harden. On a related side note and I mentioned this last year: In limited plays last playoff, LMA surprisingly can't handle TJ's offense well. TJ more often than not scores or LMA has to foul him...
Rockets do a passable job against Westbrook. He might go on one of his unstoppable streaks, but then Rockets will get in his head enough where me might do a boneheaded play to kill his momentum. Chris Paul, everyone just has to keep steady on their defensive assignments and hope he doesnt exploit openings with demoralizing lobs and flops. Occassionally flash a different defensive player at him. Curry is just too crafty. Making him play defense is a way to get his legs from under him more, but then Curry has been a good defender this year and it obviously hasnt affected his offense as much. Aldridge is a problem. Have no idea what to do there. D-Mo drawing him into foul trouble was as good an approach as any other unsuccessful approaches at LMA .
LMA is really good. He kills everybody. The key is not how to stop him, it's about containing everybody else on the team.
The Clips especially. It's always Crawford, Reddick or Jordan that would erupts on us, I actually think we do a pretty good job on CP3. LMA is the only one we really have no answer. If he catches fire we have to answer offensively.
I think, honestly, you just clog the paint on any of these guys and prevent them from getting too close to the basket, where they can score or pass of to their bigs. Force them out to the arc. I'd rather have teams raining down three-attempts against us than letting them destroy us in the paint while we rack up fouls. The three-pointer is still a lower-percentage, riskier shot, and if you can get a hand in their face, even better. Surprise, surprise, it's the same defense they use against Harden. When we're scoring big in the paint, we're doing well. When we're pushed to winging the ball around the arc, we generally fail. Star players close to basket are nearly unstoppable. Star players attempting long shots is something I can deal with, even if they're making them.
For LMA, I prefer him hitting jumpers with a hand in his face for Qtrs 1 - 3 and then potentionally doubling in 4th Qtr. I think it's bad to start out doubling, allowing Batum, Lillard, and Affalo to get in a rhythm. Let LMA take all of the shots and then let the others try getting into the game after standing around watching him. Dmo, Josh, Joey and Tjones have 24 fouls use them strategically.
