We will gladly settle for Aldridge taking a huge chunk of 20 footers and not getting to the rim. The way you deter him from going to the rim is by having two big men in there that he has to battle against. In other words you do the same thing defensively to Aldridge that the Blazers are doing to Howard.
There's only a few ways you slow down a guy like LMA. 1) Ball denial. Either 1 player denies the entry pass (only guys long and strong enough for that are Howard, Asik and possibly Dmo), or you keep a 2nd player close enough to deter the entry pass. 2) Double team/threaten to double team. Closest help defender can close to double, or they can jab step towards him to make him think a double is coming as soon as he puts it on the floor. 3) Play further off him when he's 20 feet out and let him take the shot and just contest. Of the 3 options, what did we see? Asik for 3 minutes. And...? That in a nutshell is why LMA lit us up.
Well that's the story with pretty much every player in the NBA since we all know the mid range is the 20 footer is the lowest percentage shot in the game. However it sounds like people here have never seen LMA play basketball before here. He's the exception to that rule. LMA is probably the best mid-range big man and maybe even player in general at shooting the mid-range shot. He's going to kill you from there if you give him that shot. Not saying you give him post ups within 5 feet from the basket, but he's not a player you just welcome with open arms to shoot open 20 footers. He will make those... especially against the Rockets.
Yeah, especially late in the game, the help defender (I think Harden) was coming over waaayyy too late. Portland did a great job of bringing the help over at the perfect time when Dwight turned his back. That's pretty much been the memo on defending Dwight this year. Bring help but bring it late. The Rockets probably need to bring the help early on LMA. However I worry that we haven't even seen the worst that the Portland backcourt can do to the Rockets shotty perimeter D. Id like the Rockets to be able to just deny the ball to LMA by bringing an early double team, but I worry about the repercussions of doing that. You might be forced to just gamble that LMA wont go in video game god mode and will cool down next game with Dwight/Asik going one-on-one with him. (side note: Man I miss Chuck Hayes)
Gotta double him early and often any time he touches the ball and then run box and one the rest of the time with Lilliard getting the man coverage. This team needs to stress defense more in any case, I haven't been able to watch much this year but last night, and I assume much of the year, the team defense was atrocious. You can't win in the playoffs if you don't play defense, Harden getting abused by Wesley Freaking Matthews was a joke, if that dude can't commit to defense we will always be pretenders to the throne.
Actually our defensive schemes were decent while Sampson was on the staff. Our last really good defensive scheme was against OKC. Since then, it's kind of been a mess and a half. How much of that is pre-planning/preparation, player discipline and how much is in game adjustments is of course up to debate. I just don't think you can lose your "defensive guru" and expect McHale and Co to come up with the same sorts of observations and creativity on the defensive end. If they could, there would be no reason for a "defensive assistant" in the first place.
Asik and destroy. You put the Turkish hammer on him for as long as possible. Throw DMo on him and Pittman for 6 hard fouls. Also come sooner with the dbl team.
Oh man, a Chuck Hayes reference. No one could back that man down. To return from my reminisces to the present, I say we give Twin Towers some burn and when not in TT-mode, I prefer sticking with TJones over DMo and mix in just enough double-teams to get into his head, about 40% of the time.
Aldridge had at least 10-12 points on offensive rebounds and putbacks alone. Dwight, Jones, and Asik just need to box him out, and he doesn't have nearly as big of a night.
I like to see twin towers more with Asik on LMA. Asik is a better PNR defender then Dwight and Dwight is good at altering shots at the rim. Moreover, Asik seems to be able to crash the boards better after penetrations due to his size and his defensive awareness, meaning he gets himself in a good position for rebounds.
LOL. We obviously have some folks joining the GARM conversation that aren't very current on the Rockets. Its ok. No biggie. -Also... they did throw Asik on him, and he picked up THREE quick fouls in the 1st quarter. Not sure if you were able to watch the game last night or not, but that was a huge blow, and threw the Rockets rotation out of whack. Asik and Howard will both play better man to man defense on LMA as the series progresses. They are both too good to let someone consistently get 40+ on them. LMA just went bonkers last night, and got lucky to get the calls early on Asik.
i would trade Dwight for LaMarcus. Asik LMA Parsons Harden Bev would be a better lineup than what we have now IMO
I remember people saying that LMA should be the next complimentary piece next to Harden and Howard, and lots of people saying they were nuts and LMA is fool's gold. Still, there is some element of the Rockets just letting him feast on us in a way that most other teams don't..
LMA is the best all around big man in the game in my opinion and really there is simply nothing that can be done about him. And with Beverley out _ now we have to worry about Lillard as well. Got to lock everyone else down and Harden has to bring it offensively. I only pay attention to his defense when he's not dominating on the offensive end. And Howard simply has to do more. He's the one who has been sold as the best big man in the league and he has to play like it.
Keep in mind that LMA posted up waaayyyyy more than normally does, last night. The onus is on him to be that aggressive for an entire playoff series.
Mix in some zone and have defensive help... Obviously guarding LMA is a team effort... but I'd rather have a guy like Parsons than Tjones who seems lost the entire time he's on court.
