The Mavs shot 1-of-8 at the rim against Dwight Howard and just 32.3% from the field in general when he was on the floor. — Bobby Karalla (@bobbykaralla) April 19, 2015 With Howard off the floor, Dallas shot exactly 50%. — Bobby Karalla (@bobbykaralla) April 19, 2015 https://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-...houston-takes-game-1-over-mavs-064216390.html
I forgot how good Dwight can be. There was no going to the rim with Dwight within 10 feet of the basket. Dallas would do the midget dribble along the baseline and then run for dear life when they say a glimpse of him. 50/50 rebounds were 100% rebounds when he was in the game. The guy is a force of nature. I might have to revise my predictions on this team.
I almost made a thread for this. Dwight played his best stretch defensively as a Rocket. The Mavs have no shot when he is in the game.
It was a pleasure to see Howard play some fantastic defense. He just needs to stop making stupid mistakes when it comes to fouling. Yeah, he got one bad call that I could really question but the rest were on him. That last moving screen reminded me of the Yao fouls. I think in game two you'll see him get that fixed. Dallas had no shot when he was on the floor. Capela did well filling in.
Agreed 100% on the moving screen. But we're naive to think Dallas doesn't also realize what's going on here. They will (and did) use Dirk's ability to manufacture off-ball fouls to take Howard out as much as possible.
Dwight is the X Factor. Morey knew it all along. When Howard sat, the game changed complexity. The Mavs felt that had a chance. With Howard playing with purpose....we have at least a WCF showdown with the Warriors. But, its ONLY 1 game. So proud of this team
When I seen Dwight gather his steps, leaped and threw Chandlers shot into the concession stand and started screaming it gave me goosebumps. That's when I knew we had beast playoff Dwight back. Scary for the rest of the WC if so.
Throw all your regular season +/- and efficiency stats out the window. Dwight's back. I've been telling my layperson friends this, and no one believed me until last night: with healthy Dwight on the team we are easily a top 2 defensive team in the league, and we were ranked top 2 early in the year before he went down. If you take a team that was #11 in the league in offensive efficiency (without Dwight) and now top 2 in the league defensively, that's a team that can now start dreaming of contending for the championship. I'm not saying we're favorites, but all of a sudden the door has re-opened.
Dwight and the trainers have been holding back all season for the playoffs. It'll be the same next season--he won't play half the regular season games, waiting for the playoffs. Book it. And I'm fine with that.
Those moving screen calls are so frustrating but it's not all dwight either. The ball handler has to wait for him to set and when he does the ball handler has to run tight to leave little space for his defender otherwise dwight is left to try and close the gap himself (moving pick).
The best thing about having Dwight back is that, by chance, we've won our last 4 games and his minutes have been so easy. Barely played last two games after playing 5-6 games of decent minutes. He's just going to start hitting his stride now. Obviously we can't expect anything like last night's performance extrapolated over longer minutes (5 blocks in 17 minutes!!). But I know we have 20/10/2 from his the rest of the playoffs.
Clutchfans called D12 about every name imaginable during this season, screamed for him to be outright cut, and accused him of faking his injuries and trying to avoid a fantom prosecution. They even tried to rationalize that even when healthy D12 would be bad for our team. I have to put these idiots right up there with the McHale Haters for their ignorant emotional outbursts. In G1, when he was on the court, D12 was clearly the best player...and it wasn't even close. Mavs have no answer for him. If the big fell can stay healthy, and stay on the court longer, we are a very real threat to any NBA team in any situation.
I wish Dmo didn't go out. The foul trouble wouldn't have hurt us so bad. With Dmo, Clint and Howard in the rotation, we would never have to go small.
Orlando used to be a top 5 defense with the other 4 starters being Jameer Nelson, Jason Richardson, Turkoglu, and Rashard Lewis!!!! That enough should tell you what Dwight is capable of defensively when he is feeling right.
