Why overthink it. Howard on Aldridge. Beverley on Lillard. Asik in the middle.

1. LMA shot 5 for 14 with us guarding him one on one outside the paint. That's 35.7%.

2. LMA only averages 42-44% on shots outside the paint. That's about 4 years worth of data too. We'll gladly let him shoot it out there. Even though it looks good it doesn't go down enough and detracts from the team's offensive efficiency.

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The way to defend LaMarcus Aldridge is with a big man with quick feet and length (Asik). You faceguard him tight before he catches and force him to catch the ball an extra foot beyond where he wants to catch it at in the high post. Defender then uses length to step back a step and play him for the drive or the post-up. Make him shoot it over the top with a hand in his grill. Or let him attempt to work on the defender with fakes and drives. He won't be able to post up and back down Asik. Asik is too big and strong for that. He's either got to get Asik off his feet and drive past him or he's got to take that 18-20 footer. Give him that 18-20 footer all night with a hand contest.

If you are going to bring the double on LaMarcus, you bring it either:

a) when the ball is in the air before he catches it so he has to give it up or bring it down in traffic

or

b) you bring it from his backside as soon as he puts the ball on the floor.

Now if you want to mix up an occasional double along with Asik faceguarding him, fine. But just to bring a double from somewhere else on the court when he's working his way into the paint against a Jones or even smaller defenders in Parsons/Garcia.....no.

 

Now we are talking, exactly. That is what we call hard doubling. Im not talking about double teaming him outside the paint. You can also double him as soon as he puts the ball on the floor.

 

90% of Lamarcus' possession usage offensively starts outside the paint. He very seldom catches in the paint. So, if we're gonna double while the pass is in the air that is a double that takes place outside the paint. And if we double when he starts his move from the backside that is also outside the paint. If you wait until he creases the paint to double him...it's too late.

 

LMA hit two 3 pointers in G1 which is a massive BS.
Its one of those days. He aint gonna do it again. He's no Jordan.

 

Jones got torched, but there were some ticky-tack calls made against him. Also, LMA is LMA. He torches nearly everyone on a nightly basis, he's one of the three best power forwards in the league. Additionally, he helped to create some fouls against LMA, and his ball handling skills really help stretch out the portland defense and make them scramble. He should continue to get minutes, but Asik will easily start to get 20-25mpg in this series so long as he doesn't rack up 3 fouls in 5 minutes.

 

dwight would foul out by the mid point of the 4th quarter

 

The other night he caught the ball outside the paint and then backed his way all the way to the paint. While he is backing his man down we then could bring another player from the back side. You don't bring it all of the time but mix it in there to take him off his rhythm.

But hey enough of all that I am curious too see how Mchale makes his adjustments. I want to see how this team responds after a should have won game. Portland now thinks they have this series won after one game.

 

That's what some fans will have to realize, the refs are going to call those tic tac fouls on Asik or Dmo. This is nothing new people, Rockets always get f5c7ed by the league and its refs. We just have to overcome that nonsense. We do that by limiting turnovers, hit our free throws and get the necessary stops down the stretch.

 

Just don't let him take those layups. Keep him in a jumper mode. We can even live with an uncontested off a catch jumper by LMA. We cannot let him spin around inside like he is the second coming of Dream, he is not. LMA takes ton of ill-advised jumper even at a good percentage is good for us. That's how we beat them 3 out of 4 times in the regular season. Those guys are not that good.

 

Do you know why TT sucked? They were not properly utilized.

Proven? 9 games sample size! That was the most impatient coaching I'd ever encountered! McHale had two of the top 5 defenders in the league and he abandoned the TT after all but NINE freaking games. LOL@McHale's patient.

Watch the game we won at Portland this year. We won that game easily w/ TT lineup!

You give Pop our TT, you can bet he will make it work with a full season under his belt. I know Duncan can hit his 15 footers. Neither Splitter and Duncan is real floor spacer but they work well for Spurs. Watch how they are used.

Big men are great at setting picks against small guards and Splitter and Duncan, by design, sometimes set numerous picks for Parker and Manu on just one possession!

 

Hey when did Asik get hurt? Was it right around that time they made the change. And everybody was killing Asik because we thought he was faking an injury he sustained in practice.

 

He was hurt on Dec 4th. Rockets beat Blazers at Portland on Nov 5th.

Side note on the games we won against Portland. I have no idea why Rockets went away with what worked.

1. Jones had extremely short leash. He'd been awful against them all season, only one with - on court on the roster (-25).

2. Asik on LMA worked well.

3. Lin did well guarding Lilliard when he started on the game we won at Portland. If McHale had watched the film, he wouldn't had Parsons guarding Lilliard on the last possession.

4. Our offense begins with PnR on top of arc and Harden was having one of his most efficient games of the year, driving to the rim at will.

5. Dwight was having a field day in the paint. No one could guard him. Rockets completely dominated the paint.

 

Basketballholic like I said we need to somehow double LMA. Get the ball out his hand. We don't have anybody that can guard him. Dwight just had a dominant half and we are knotted up at 53. Why because LMA is having another monster game.

 

If they don't start doubling Aldridge, they will lose the series. The lack of respect they have for Aldridge is hilariously stupid.

 

Again Superstars have to step up and Harden didn't. Out there playing like he is scared.