This. Jones awerness on the court seems to be low. He often times losses dirk on the court. Jones has a tendancy to be aggresive on the help defense and leaves his man. You can't do that with Dirk. The only guys i want to see guard dirk are Ariza (when Monta is on the bench), JSmith, or Brewer.
Exactly. When Smith penetrates and tries to make things happen it's good for Houston, when he settles for jumpers it's bad (unless he makes them... the no...no...no...yes! shot is strong in that one).
-J Smoove needs to stop having tunnel vision; he's one of the main reasons we lost the lead -Double Dirk when he gets into the post; same with Amare. Dirk will either back down and shoot a fadeaway one footer, spin to the rim, or pump fake and then fadeaway after that. -Better guard play on Rondo; he's getting too many open shots and open lanes -Keep Dwight out of foul trouble; it wasn't even close when he was in the game -Offensive rebounds were killing us; need to change that -Play Brewer more; when he's on the fastbreak, he's unstoppable
Not just the jumpers. He also has a tendancy to try to crossover his man in traffic which often times results in a turnover. When he drives it to the basket without getting cute good things typically happen.
Be prepared for Cuban to bombard the league office with emails and phone calls trying to heavily influence the officating against Dwight and James. He'll be in the media too making outlandish comments about how Dwight fouls on every play and/or how Harden is an epic flopper and is killing the game. He'll do what he has to to make sure the refs get even more strict on Dwight and swallow their whistles when Harden goes to the rim. I can actually see Dallas stealing a game in this series based largely on horribly one-sided officating. It won't win them the series but it might make Dallas competitive for a game or two. We've seen this movie before in 2005 but this time the ending will be different.
I think your analysis is dead-on. The thought of Tyson Chandler and Stoudemire out there together is pretty terrifying, because we'd have no answer even with Dwight. Dwight needs to realize there's always potential for him getting called for ticky tack fouls or getting screwed by the Mavs flopping him out of the game. The first game was so black and white when it came to Dwight being on and off the court that I'd do everything to get Dwight into foul trouble early again if I was Carlisle. Dwight needs to play to stay on the court and not do questionable things like hooking someone when vying for position, because that's going to get called on him. He's GOT to be out there as much as possible. I'm not sure anyone can really truly defend Dirk, but as long as we keep him from flopping our guys out of the game on defense, we should be able to hold the others at bay. Gotta expect the Mavs to come out guns blazing, though, and we need to be ready for it.
1. Jones has to make the "extra pass"...Obviously they saw how many times we put Dirk in PnR situation....they will definitely have someone rotate inside to contest joneses layup, he often never sees the pass when his mind is set on shooting so we have to make him aware where those spots r for him to pass..corner 3 and wing 3 2.Dwight will be tested early with these floppers trying to get him in could trouble...if you help out on D DO NOT try to block your man if he gets the ball back , hands up-straight up , we don't need you to block every shot we need you stay in the game. 3. I have a feeling barea will be getting a lot of minutes, find a way to slow him down, these shifty pgs always cause us trouble
As predicted coming into the series, what Dallas lacks against us is Athleticism around rim. I thought if anyone they should be looking at to play, it should be the Spurs. Even the Griz would be a better matchup for them than us. They talked about the turnovers and 50/50 loose ball. Partly that's because HCA we have, and partly just because we rotate quicker and more athletic. The latter is very difficult for them to overcome. They may win a game or two because they shoot lights out and execute perfectly, but they will have to play their basketball to make it even competitive.
I disagree. Amare is not the same as he used to be. With TJones/Smith and Dwight, Amare and Tyson aren't going to be to much of a problem. OTOH, are they going to take Dirk out? I will take that.
Just like JVG did with Yao in the post, I'm sure JB will have us try to get the ball to Dwight in the post, as he's moving into the direction of the block or paint. We have difficulty getting him the ball in the post when he's stationary (with the exception of the passing from Prigs, Jet and Trevor), so it's plausible to look at getting D12 the ball before a standard setup. I'm also hoping for us to stop doubling, just because it's a defensive scheme in every playbook. You don't need to double Dirk until he's hurt you a few times in a row. Doubling for the sake of it is a relatively incompetent move. Essentially, it's playing four on five, and leaving guys like Monta (Rocket Killer) and an angry Chandler Parsons open on the floor. And, yes, I expect Chandler to have one or two great games against us, out of his determination to "show" us what we missed. The substitutions were not great from McHale. He left certain guys (not with Dwight's fouls) rotting on the bench for too long.If you rest James, you do it in short spurts. You don't allow your franchise player becoming cold and stiffening up for 6+ minutes, especially when the game is close. There was no reason Dallas should have tied in the second. That was a coaching/substitution disaster. But, hey, I've seen this from Kevin since he got here. He's been part of two season collapses near the end. One had a playoff consequence, the other for seeding purposes. The worst was with Luis, Camby, K-mart,Sam DalemBear and KLow. I hope McHale changes his scheme in Game 2. Finally,and this is from coaching philosophy, which is subjective, but McHale needs to show more intensity and investment with his body language. It's obvious that he is a player's coach and he likes to keep things loose. That's cool. However, not standing up until your team is in a small deficit or when the other team goes on a run, is too casual. It's important for players to see their coaches standing up, cheering, calling out certain plays/adjustments, so that they know there is healthy pressure and accountability in the culture. Every coach is different, but I firmly believe that body language plays a role in your team's intensity. There were points in the game that certain guys had to rely on the crowd to get in the game. Really, you should only need your teammates and coach to get things poppin.' Again, this is all opinion, but coming from my coaching experience. Let's go, Rockets!!! Game 2 is the biggest game in this series!!
Dwight has to stay off foul trouble, yes some were petty yet there was 1 or 2 Dwight knows he needs to do better. Also looking to see a more efficient Josh Smith in the offensive end, thought he played well enough on D to not get scapegoat treatment. DO NOT LET UP GAME 2. If you have a lead of 10 push it to 20. We saw how Rondo and Barea changed the game and made a great momentum swigning run
Lots of adjustments can be made, but I agree and think these are by far most important. Howard needs to find a way to stay out there for at least 30 minutes. He was so dominant that we can't afford to play such huge stretches without him. Josh Smith looked like he was pressing a little bit. He did a good job of moving without the ball and finishing easy shots, but when he had to do something more complicated or make a move he forced shots or turned the ball over. Hopefully he'll settle down a little bit and play his game. However, the most important thing is for Houston to not let up. The energy to start the 1st quarter was sky high. Sometimes after being so amped teams look a little deflated in Game 2. This is a more veteran team and Jason Terry said the right things after the game, so hopefully that isn't the case.
Joey Crawford is doing tonight's PELS@GSW game so that's one significant adjustment. Assignments for our game have not been released, so wait and see.
Their game plan is clearly to contain harden so that means Dwight has to stay out of foul trouble, dominate, and guys like Terry, Ariza and Brewer have to make their open shots. If they resort to hack-a-whoever, make your free throws. It's that simple.
Dallas will try different things but they will be minor. It's up to us to do our jobs. We are the better team you just know that watching the game. This Dwight Howard is a beast and Harden will explode game 2 watch.
