If I was them I'd make Harden have to play D. I'd force rotations until I got a matchup of say Kawhi vs Harden and would make Harden defend. In theory, it should give him less stamina on offense and could lower his shooting %. I'd also look to try and draw Harden into foul trouble early if it's possible. I'd also slow down the tempo of the game to where the Spurs use most of the 24 second clock. I'm thinking old JVG style of basketball and force less possessions per game by slowing down the tempo so much. I'd also try and game plan to force more Rockets mid range jumpers instead of the 3s we rained on them or alternatively the easy finishes around the paint. No easy points. Hard fouls. Slow, ugly basketball.
Here comes the you have to play nasty battle cry from Pop. The Spurs will come out playing tougher but the Rockets will need to deal with it and play through the mess. Go Rockets!!
pop gonna wear sunglasses to mask his tears of the spurs dynasty slowly dying in front of his eyes. rip, duncan was a consummate professional and knew how to laugh. kawhi is good player and has decent laughing skills. heh.
David Lee said making shots gives teams energy. That is 100% true and I think Popovich will do his best to make sure his team gets it going early and disrupts our offense early. they will try to keep the home crowd in it and try to feed of I like how we threw random double teams at Kawai Leonard, playmaking is probably his biggest weakness in his game after ball handling which isn't much of a weakness for him. I will be interested to see how Greg Popovich adjust next game. i expect them to crash the offensive glass harder with their bigs so boxing them out and team rebounding will help.
They're going to take more time with their shots, they will get back in transition D such that we will barely get any transition points, they will close out on shooters much more urgently, and they will execute much quicker passing/attacking for their big men. It will work, but if we stay poised, we will be fine. I imagine the second game on the road is less nerves, but I am concerned about overconfidence and an incomplete understanding of how bad it will hurt to lose most of those 3pt shots and almost all the transition points. People talking about their age have a fundamental lack of understanding about the Spurs. They have been older than their opponents for a long long time. But athleticism doesn't play a role in their offense, because their core offense (which they abandoned in Game 1) revolves around the speed at which the ball moves and the speed at which players move before/after having the ball. These don't require individual speed/athleticism. The ball is MUCH faster than the fastest player in the NBA. That's how they locked 2nd seed and they didn't just forget how to do it. They had a lapse and our players need to be ready to think and move faster on defense, anticipate plays even better than they did. We can definitely do it. They might succeed early but if they find that it's not shaking our confidence at all and we are willing to play an ugly series, it will wear on them.
1. Call Morey and surrender the series in advance under one condition, no more nasty blowouts, so rockets get to advance healthy and spurs avoid national TV embarassments
What the Spurs absolutely HAVE to do is force Harden in TO's. If it doesn't happen in the first few minutes of the game then they should be ready for it when he comes back into the game during the 2nd quarter. The Spurs don't need to play harder, they have to play THEIR game. If the Rockets want to run and gun then they will have to hope that they miss their 3s at the beginning. Put pressure on the ball and cover the guys on the line. Force the Rockets inside and not allow any of the Rockets shooters to get a good look. The Spurs will be happy to play a 2 pt for 2 pt game in the first quarter and keep it even. Also, rest Kawhi the last few minutes of the first quarter then have him come out at the 9 minute mark of the second and just go nuts playing defense on anything that moves. They should hope to have the lead (at least by 5-10 pts) by the time Harden checks back in so they can pressure the ball and wait for his mistakes. Harden never seems to have his shot going in the 2nd quarter (especially just checking in) and always looks to pass first. They have to play the passing lanes and gamble. This technique will keep the score close by the 4th quarter and then they can have Kawhi go nuts again in the final 6 minutes of the game in hopes of keeping or taking the lead.
Ironically, this approach usually has the opposite effect and lights a fire under Harden. He becomes more focused and looks to score or make the great pass rather than try to lul the defense and depend on his step-back 3-pter that may or may not fall.
Less talented teams will always react by trying to be more physical. Popovich gonna do what Billy Donovan did and ugly it up. He knows they're not winning any game where teams are scoring 120+. They'll try their best to disrupt the timing of our bigs; the two guys you can take out of the game completely by messing with them early are Capela and Ryno. And without those options on the floor we turn into Mr. Hyde.
