Dwight to start. After he gets his 1st foul, sub D-Mo for Jones, and let D-Mo take Aldridge. That's the 1st qtr. 2nd qtr, Asik to start, Dwight to finish or D-Mo if he Dwight has 2 fouls. 3rd qtr; Dwight to start, Asik to finish. 4th qtr; Asik to start, Dwight to finish. T-Jones- 0 minutes.
If we are able to play Asik/Howard together without getting into foul trouble, do it as much as we can. Aldridge can't back down Asik like that. And we will still have a great rebounder boxing out Lopez.
I think we should throw Howard on Aldridge and either Jones or Asik on Lopez. Lopez is not that great of an offensive player so either Jones or Asik should be able to guard him. I think last night we just got outplayed and out coached. I don't think it happens again. We should win this series in 5 or 6 games. Harden was off and Aldridge going for 46 was just crazy. Everything he was throwing up was going in. We definitely have to change the defensive philosophy though. Jones on Aldridge just is not going to work. Here is to hoping McHale realizes that and we take games 2, 3, 4, and 5.
I could understand coaches' logic of not sending in Asik for Howard there. It would just turn into Hack-an-Asik. But yeah I like Doc Rivers' logic with Hack-a-Jordan (DeAndre). He may miss FTs but he better defend or else he sits down. Howard/Asik should get that same message. We may also need to get Josh Powell warmed up and testing his defense vs Lopez. He may have better FT shooting.
I don't care if we lose game 2. It will let me know the result much sooner which is less stressful than 4 hour ot games with 50 lead changes, terrible adjustments, poor defense, losing double digit leads, fouls and fts every possession, no strategy, etc. Portland gets offensive rebounds and they stop you in transition. That is crazy but they have the personnel to do it. You just cant let them have both. They get second, third and fourth chance easy buckets at the rim while taking away your easy buckets in transition? Watch the tape and make the adjustment. They are predictable, and so are we. That is the problem.
Also, making sure we get every defensive rebound keeps us out of foul trouble so our players don't play scared d...portland players know how many fouls every player has and so do each of our players.
DMo is no better than Jones on Defense and less on offense, how does this make sense ? We have to at least attempt a zone, to make them shoot from the outside as they are not that good. Get the ball out of LA hands by doubling, he is a willing passer, he is smart, but make other guys beat you, LA is too good not to make others beat you. DMo is not the answer.
Exactly. The Rockets didn't make LMA work at all. He got the ball right where he wanted it; right at his sweet spots near the rim. That's easy money.
Worst strat. The lat thing we nee dis aldridge getting it going early by posting up d mo and getting to the rim. We need him to miss early and keep him from getting easy buckets inside. Take your chances and force him to shoot outside jumpers and get a hand up. Asik, or dwight can keep him from backing them down and getting inside where portland does most of their damage.
LaMarcus Aldridge is soft and mentally weak if you put someone that can stay in front of him and doesn't have lead feet he will choke.
We've always had guys we couldn't guard. As a coach and team,you have to pick and choose your spots. Aldridge hurt the rockets, but lilliard getting 31 especially the late ones hurt more. Batum getting his silent 16 or so hurt also. You can't give up 46 to aldridge and 31 to damien and 16 to wes and batum. When the rockets used to get destroyed by kevin johnson,they shut out everyone not named barkley. You can give lma 30 and lilliard 20,but you have to shut everyone else down. All that being said,1 rebound and game is over.
Asik committed one foul on Aldridge. Asik has already proven he can defend Aldridge well in several previous games. Asik's combination of quickness and length is what causes Aldridge problems.
Oh yeah, what playoff did this happen? You can't say he can guard aldridge based on regualr season because of the circumstances. Portland could've been on a 4th game in 5 nights deal. This is the playoffs,not regular season. LMA drew a quick foul on ask with his quickness. If LMA is hitting his jumper like last night, it doesn't matter who is on him.
I wondered why he didn't throw Powell out there for a few minutes on LMA. Powell is 6'9", but he is a much bigger bodied 6'9" than TJ. Haven't seen enough ot Powell to know whether he would be much better, but if he absorbed a few of the fouls that Howard/Asik might have gotten is it worth trying in combo with Dmo to keep him on the perimeter as opposed to just literally backing TJ down into the key and making easy layups or 6 ft shots over his head. It's either a committee approach or they double, and if they double, the Blazers 3 point barrage might open up...
