I think Beverly is going to really lock in on Lillard and get into his head as the series progresses. If Lillard plays poorly in the first two games, he is done. His confidence will be on vacation. The guy really showed his hand by calling tight, full court defense "extra stuff". Dude is a marshmallow. As far as this team as a whole, I feel pretty good. I would have liked the entire core to play together for 15 games or so at the end of the season but I feel like the different combos played enough where everyone is at least comfortable playing with the other players even if it wasn't all at the same time. The defense is going to be so sick with 48 minutes of well-rested, elite rim protection.
Really good posts by you and Spacemooth this morning. I think fans will be surprised by the Rockets defense in these playoffs, wrongfully expecting the off and on D that they saw in the regular season. This team can play suffocating defense when it wants you (dial back the latest Pacers and Heat at Toyota center). I think some of our own fans are under rating the Rockets, and I am glad the two of you are not.
Like hakeemtheking said, great post from both of you guys. With that said, my biggest concern when it comes to the defensive is regarding the PF spot. As much as I like Jones and D-MO, their defensive is lacking. I think this team can live with Aldridge going off. You have to keep Mathews and Mo Williams in check.
I know this is an old post...but wtf? Why should he express regret? S*** happens. Do you mean Ron Artest is now a psychiatrist or before he went nuts?
Are all your pieces healthy? To me, that's the big question. If Howard is limited by his ankle, it changes the way we defend you. If Beverley's right knee is sore or swollen, he won't be able to stay in front of Lillard they way he usually can which means he'll have to give him some space. At that point, Lillard has the range to shoot over him. It doesn't appear as if Parsons' wrist and hip bothers him much, and he's easily handled Batum. If I were the Rockets, I would focus on getting Lopez and Matthews out of the game with foul trouble as soon as I could, because both of their backups get destroyed by those two. Of course, Lopez is terrible against Howard in the first place, but Freeland is even worse.
All our pieces are healthy. Dwight had a "cyst" drained from his ankle, but throughout the duration he was held out the coaches and reporters maintained that he could have played if necessary. Harden and Parsons only sat the last game because of the minutes they had accrued up until then. You can argue that they may be worn down a bit, but who isn't at this point of the year. I mean, Portland hasn't had anybody except LMA sit out at all this year. Here are total minutes played for the starters on both teams: Batum 2956 Lillard 2937 Matthews 2785 Parsons 2783 Harden 2777 Lopez 2603 Aldridge 2498 Howard 2396 Jones 2078 Beverley 1751 So you tell me which team has the freshest legs. The only Rocket with a legit injury (and yes I've heard some rumblings about Lin's back, which might explain why he's playing so crappy this month, and last month, and the month before that...ok so we don't really need Lin to be great to win) has been Patrick Beverley. And from what I understand about his type of meniscus injury, it was likely so peripheral as to be a.) completely out of consideration for repair (only the central, adequately perfused areas of the meniscus are surgical candidates); and b.) so minor that it has not affected him much in the way of his lateral mobility, from what we can see in the past three games that he's played. He still looks like the old Bev to me, and his outside shot is still working to boot. Long story short, in my opinion we are healthy. I'm not connected with the team, and I'm no orthopedic surgeon, just a regular doctor, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.
