Game 1 is done - nothing can be changed - did the Rockets get the short end of the stick from the refs? Sure but they still had their chances to win this game despite all that. Here is what I expect (and wish) to happen in game 2 - Dwight is going to be Superman-- He played timid in the first quarter and got out hustled for rebounds which led to multiple opportunities for the blazers. It clicked for him in the second quarter that it was the playoffs. He came out crashing the glass like he was Rodman - it was a noticeable change. He started to play the third in similar fashion until he got his fourth foul and was taken out. He played well in the fourth and OT despite the bogus 5th and 6th fouls. The intentional fouls worked in Portland's favor (but even with the misses the team didnt play good defense which hurt more by allowing Portland to get good shots). You could tell he was not going to let LA score when guarding him except LA hit some tough (and in the case of the 3 miraculous) shots. I believe we'll see him on LA next game and Jones is going to have to really body Lopez and keep him off the glass. - Harden will attack the rim a lot more and force the issue. I dont recall the last time I saw James missed so made wide open 3s like he did in the first quarter. With that now behind him - he took way too many jumpers overall. We'll see a lot more Beard in the paint Wednesday which will hopefully allow the Rockets to shoot some free throws in the first half. - The Rockets need to send footage to the league - Asik's screens were either flops or bad calls and it took him out of the game - to have both of our big men in quick and early foul trouble completely changed the complexion of this game. While Lopez was just flailing and falling all over the place with no consequences. The Rockets didnt even get a proper chance to play Dwight and Asik together because of the foul trouble - they played maybe 2-3 minutes of it? 4 at most? TT maybe some of their best options at times and we should probably see some more of it in game 2. - Someone other than Lin needs to have a positive impact off the bench - I dont care whom - Garcia, Casspi, Hamiliton, Daniels, D-Mo. The weakness for the Rockets and Portland is the benches if we can win that battle easily then it will make the game so much winnable for the Rockets. Clearly Garcia is a guy who excels against specific teams - I would rather have seen Hamilton or Daniels in there. Hell D-Mo should have been giving a chance to "stop" LA with the other big guys in foul trouble. His length would have been at least a different look for LA. - You cant expect Bev to play a lot of minutes on Lillard or in general Wednesday. Lin, Harden and Parsons have to collectively come together and take up the challenge of perimeter defense and rebounding. Portlands takes a lot of long shots which results in long rebounds - these guys need to get those rebounds and limit second chance opportunities.
-give DMO a shot at guarding LMA. -Harden needs to step up his D, his O will come once he sends Portland and Mathews; they will ease off of him and attack someone else. -the guy who Lillard is guarding needs to make him work on D, essentially what Mathews did to Harden. In this case, Lin needs to be attacking, be more agressive, and essentially look to get his more or get involved in the offense a lot more. -Someone else from the bench needs to score, and I think it should be DMO. Put Dmo in the post and make LMA work. You gotta make those 2 work the same way Harden "worked" on D. -Need more 1-2 Screen N Roll or maybe try a 1-2 Pick and Pop. Houston could have one of the best back courts in the league, yet the backcourt is hardly utilized in tandem. -Get the boards like in the second half, not the first. Dwight is gonna have to not go for so many shot blocks.
Just defensive rebound for christ sakes. I don't know..... Lillard/Aldridge won game 1 while our "stars" didn't do much. I know Howard got some pretty good numbers but I was not impressed at overall impact on the game.
I don't understand why we're not putting Dwight on LMA... if its to avoid foul trouble for DH, you're playing the game the wrong way.
I am afraid I'm expecting the Rockets to double team Aldridge and the Blazers to rain threes. This reminds me of the 1995 first round against the Utah Jazz. First game, Hakeem went OFF on single coverage for 40-some points (but I think the Jazz actually won it). Second game, Jazz doubled Hakeem, and we made a ton of threes to blow out the Jazz. I think we could be on the wrong end of that in the next game. I HOPE Dwight & Harden dominate next game, they use Asik & D-Mo more on Aldridge, and Jones attacks Aldridge much like Matthews attacked Harden.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Yahoo Sources: Patrick Beverley cleared to play Game 2 for the Rockets. <a href="http://t.co/tKqce3p2fQ">http://t.co/tKqce3p2fQ</a></p>— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/statuses/458285790351884289">April 21, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The other bonus to this is it would get Portland's bigs in foul trouble earlier and thus limit them, the way the Rockets got limited in game 1. For Portland to have to rely on their bench more. A big part of Harden's game is getting to the FT line. But in the playoffs that can be risky as fouls sometimes are let go. Still, I would rather see Harden create more havoc attacking the basket than taking crappy long contested jumpers.
I am happy to hear that, but he shouldn't be playing at all. He could suffer a career ending injury. Love the guy. He is the heart of the team.
The issues that Harden and Howard had in Game 1 should fix themselves, so I'm not going to address that. IMO, the only real change should be how LMA is covered. They've got to make him uncomfortable and force him to shoot long mid-range jumpers (even though he's still really good at sinking them). They also have to keep him off the offensive boards. Throw single coverage at him, deny him the ball, double team, triple team... Switch it up and keep him guessing, just don't let him find a comfort zone. He'll still likely score 25-30 and have a good game, but the Blazers won't be able to win with him having just a good game. They need him to be great, and I think the Rockets can prevent that.
LOL @ everyone saying "Put Dwight on LMA!" LMA's game is the midrange shot. If you consistently have Dwight on LMA, and assuming we're not going with the TT strategy...who exactly is going to be the rim protector? - Dwight can't do it if he's checking LMA 12-15 feet away from the basket. - Swirl can't do it because his man-to-man defense is suspect (though his weak side defense is spectacular) - DMo doesn't have that intimidation factor; plus, I don't think he's been in many situations where he's the only player in the paint between an opposing player and the basket. The only way you could get away with having Dwight on LMA is if Asik is in the game. And if Asik is in the game, why not just have Asik on LMA?
The Rockets (and Coach McHale) should show some decency and shut Beverley down for the remainder of the season. He has scratched and clawed his way into the NBA and could lose it all if he continues to damage a knee that is clearly not fully recovered. This is not the first time his knee has buckled since he returned.
It's a tough subject, for sure, but objectively, we need to play him in order to have a higher chance of winning. And if we do beat POR without Bev for the rest of the series / playoffs, and if the higher seeds all win out, we have to go against Parker in the next round, and then Westbrook or CP3.
Honestly, the defensive adjustments are needed, but the offensive lost us this game just as much. 1. Failure to adjust to hack-a-howard, ultimately cost us momentum and a lead. Either let Howard shoot through it or bring in Asik who hits slightly better. 2. Taking a hot Parsons out cost us dearly. Leave a player in when he is hot makes sense right? 3. Playing too much ISO ball with the same plays cost us a lot of points. IE just settling for jumpers (Harden). 4. Not using the shot clock and hoisting threes (Garcia and Co.). 5. Dwight Howard not eating his fair share of "BBQ chicken (what Shaq called Robin Lopez)." Shaq pointed this out, and I agree, that Howard should be abusing Lopez all game long in the post. -More specifically he needs to be using his baby hook to make him a threat. -He needs to be using a fake hook and creating off that (this is why Hakeem and all the greats did... establish a hook and create off a fear of the hook shot) - Less sky hooking which is NOT his shot. - The team needs more ball movement from inside to out.The offense isn't being run through Howard enough. And when it does, Howard isn't capitalizing like great big men do. Instead he is being too timid about attacking Lopez with hooks and fakes. Eat the Chicken!!!!! 6. A lack of clutch time plays are costing us points when it counts. Putting the ball in Hardin's hands every time is costing us, because he isn't always hot. It's also predictable. 7. Players are shooting bad threes and the "playbook" is not setting them up for good ones. They need to again RELY ON BIG MEN and generate from there. Dwight can get you open but you have to move the ball correctly. 8. Learn to rely on game play, rather than Hardin's fouls. We expected fouls in the first half? So what? We should win regardless of foul line shooting. No sound offensive strategy should ever rest itself upon the mercy of the crooked refs. This goes back to team strategy.
