1. Start TJones 2. Keep Parsons on Durant every minute Durant is on the floor. 3. Zone everybody else including Russell up top. Force Russell to shoot over the top or to try to climb through 4 defenders packing down the paint. 4. Put Harden on Russ and Lin on Thabo with Lin zoning inside to help against Russ. 5. Start game running pick and pop with Lin and Jones. Switch it up. As soon as OKC rests Thabo, give Lin a rest, bring in Beverley and start running Harden in Pick and Roll. 6. Extend D out of zone as soon as RB passes off to Thabo or Reggie or Ibaka. Turn those guys into ball handlers and drivers after the catch until they go back to RB and then collapse back in the zone.
Rockets should watch the bucks/heat game and see the offensive changes they made to match up to Miami. They are playing beautiful basketball to say in the game and only down by 2 at halftime.
I would have Dmo, G Smith, Trob use all their fouls and just hammer Durant all game long. Same thing with Westbrook - get Brooks, Bev and Anderson to use all their fouls up. Just keep hammering them.
That's fine for a half. Now Miami goes in and adjusts and ...........second half blowout? That's what separates great from good. Miami can make the adjustments in game.
I like the guy who said we should think a little like Don Nelson. To me, we should: - prioritize spacing on offense. Always have at least 4 three point shooters in the game - that means Delfino and D-Mo sharing PF duties. H*ll, in true Nellie style, I'd put 5 three point shooters out there sometimes. That would be D-Mo at the 5. I'd still give Asik the majority of the minutes at center though. - not let Lin handle the ball anymore when Harden is in. Have Beverley in there as PG. I'm sick of Lin's handful of unfathomably stupid plays a game, and I love Beverley. - feature Lin when Harden is resting. We need somebody to create a shot and draw double teams. - put Aaron Brooks in the rotation - either at PG or SG. The dude can shoot threes well, and that's what this strategy is all about. I don't know. I've been watching the Rockets a long time, but I'm still not as sophisticated an analyst as some of the posters in this thread. Nevertheless, this is what I'd like to see. I miss the team that could score 140 on you - the pre-trade Rockets. This is the next best IMO.
Starting Delfino also takes Ibaka out of the paint on defense opening up the driving lanes or Parsons is wide open for three. This is key because having Ibaka parked down low with Perkins clogs up the paint too much. My 9 man rotation is: Lin/Beverly Harden/Garcia Delfino Parsons/Jones Asik/Smith It can work, but who do you think is better off guarding Ibaka, Delfino or Parsons? I would try both and see which one gives me better results. Another thing, if Parsons is guarding Ibaka then that means Delfino is on Durant and they might like that matchup better down the line. I would put Delfino on Ibaka the majority of the time and deny him the ball.
I would permanently bench Greg Smith after his utterly useless performance in Game 1. I would give Jones and Motiejunas the majority of the playing time and see if Robinson can give us any defense/rebounding.
I would just keep zoning them. Keep sagging off Thabo to get the ball in his hands as much as possible. He exerts energy on offense and he has less defense to hold Harden.
