Are Rockets on the plane to Oakland right now? I hope the coaches are watching Warriors game tape on the plane.
Oh yes definitely. This is the real championship finals because whoever comes out of the east will just be the sacrificial lamb for the west team's new banner.
Harden will be crowded and face guarded by Klay and co. They will throw Barnes and Iggy on him as well. They will wear him down by making him chase Klay around the court for threes, fight through screens, post up Klay, and attack him, especially in transition, with every player they throw at him and do their best to keep him off the line. Klay will smother him making it difficult to dribble, and have a hand up to make it difficult for Harden to shoot over. The best thing they can do is have Harden practice against this defensive stance, and try to find any flaws with it. Make Harden try it after watching clips of it and learn how it's weak. Klay is unique, as is Harden. Dwight will be played with dirty, physical play. They will swipe at the ball every time he gets close and make him beat them from the free throw line (40% in the playoffs and sub 40% last series). Bogut and co. will push his waist on every post up, and grab his arm on every rebound. They will be happy if he shoots most of the Rockets free throws. Harden and the grandpas still can't guard the MVP and Klay Thompson. How has he dominated Bogut? I am looking at their numbers and I don't see any dominant performances. He turns it over a lot more against Bogut for some reason. Ask yourself why and the answer is because they are so stacked it's unfair. So many guys have the triple threat ability to pass, shoot, or handle the ball and drive it in.
Taken from twitter Game 1 HOU v GSW: DNP or Not on roster: Dwight Howard Josh Smith Corey Brewer Pablo Prigioni Pat Beverly Terrance Jones Clint Capela Game 2 HOU v GSW: DNP / NOT on roster / INACTIVE: Dwight Howard Corey Brewer Josh Smith Pablo Prigioni Terrance Jones Canaan Papa Game 3 HOU v GSW: DNP / INACTIVE / Not on roster: Terrance Jones Pablo Prigioni Clint Capela Canaan Game 4 HOU v GSW: DNP / LIMITED / Not on roster: Dwight Howard (23 mins) Terrance Jones Clint Capela Pablo Prigioni Canaan
Right so pretty much the whole friggen line up that was so effective against the Clippers didn't even play GSW this year. So the 4-0 thing is a moot point.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/h2h_finder.cgi?request=1&p1=bogutan01&p2=howardw01 This season Howard on 1 leg put up 23/10 in a game that was close till the 3rd Qtr 2nd Game Howard had a terrible game, but this was just 2 days before he would go on to miss majority of the season.
Who's going to be on Curry and Thompson? Is Ariza gonna be defending either? Harden, Terry, Prig, Brew? Dwight should be able to score here. Bogut isn't nearly as good as Jordan on the defensive side right?
For Houston to have a real shot, Howard needs to be effective offensively in the post. Against Clippers, Howard didn't do anything in the post. Majority of his points came on alley-oops, putbacks, and FTs. Against the #1 defense, he won't get too many oops so he needs to do a much better job in the post.
Alright. Are you really just a Warrior fan? Real question, you know this forum doesn't mind opposing fans so if you are just come out now. I ask because Harden isn't going to be guarding Klay, just watch. Harden will be guarding the least effect offensive player the Warriors have on the court. That's pretty much how the Rockets defense operates and I'm pretty sure other Rocket fans expect this. Also, Posting up Klay on Harden is a TERRIBLE idea. If there is one thing Harden can do, it is play post defense. I know...I know it doesn't make sense...but he's guarded legit PFs low in the post before. So I seriously doubt Klay is going to get much out of posting him up but Harden will see little of Klay. They are not going to have him guard someone who runs around the court. They learned that lesson from the Clippers and Redick. They will put Ariza mostly on Klay. You are going to be very surprised, Harden won't be guarding Curry or Klay. They will stick him on anyone else and Ariza will be guarding Klay. Those guys you mention, those grandpas btw...will both have to be guarded from three. Unlike the grizzly series where they didn't have to worry about Allen on offense. You will have to worry about Terry and Prigs on offense. As for those guys stopping Harden. I mean I'll believe it when I see it. This is a guy that's crossed up Kevin Durant and Lebron James. Think you should give him a lot more respect than that. If he's attacking the paint he's going to be a big problem.
Yeah, he is going to be huge in the next series. If he can shut down the paint, keep Bogut out, so our wings can focus on defending the perimeters. GS in 5 is idiotic talk.
I think Ariza will be stuck guarding Barnes and Iggy. You could get way with putting anyone on Matt Barnes last series, but this won't be as easy. Harden is quicker than Ariza and better suited to fight around screens/chase him, but then he won't as much energy left for offense. Curry will be able to save all of his energy for offense with the grandpas guarding him . It's like he is being set up to silence the Harden for MVP advocates with the Warriors ability to throw the best defensive wings on Harden. Dwight should be able to beat Bogut with his footspeed, but Bogut does something that Deandre doesn't and that's flop. Credit to Deandre for battling Dwight and not flopping on him. He got away with pushes and grabs early on, but Bogut's game is totally different. He has the ability to block shots and when you think he is gonna block your shot he steps in and hits you with the flop. The problem is our best defensive player is guarding their last option on offense. Our frontcourt defense is so much better than our backcourt defense and that's where the Warriors are built to score.
I totally agree. That is an understatement. I think he needs to really dominate for the Rockets to win.
Simple, don't over analyze, we win the paint, they can shoot their fancy contested jumper, let's see.
The first two games agisnt GSW were actually competitve games. We just gassed out in the final minutes in both games. Those last two games however... were ugly.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't the Clippers the number one offense in the league or at least one of the best? Blake Griffin was the best scorer in the play-offs, and he/Paul got theirs as well. James Harden didn't shoot particularly well and played his worst against the Clippers (in the regular season at least). No one is saying Dwight is Hakeem, and he usually gets his points through lobs, putbacks, etc. No one is saying that the Clippers are better than the Warriors, but the Rockets are definitely ready if they continue to play the way they have these last few games.
I don't know why you say that, it's not like Ariza HAS to guard Barnes or Iggy. Ariza always guard the best wing player on the opposing team (sometimes although rarely the PG) he's going to be guarding Klay Thompson, and when Thompson sits and Ariza is still on the floor...he's going to take his self over to Barnes or Iggy and then guard them. Harden will guard the weakest offensive wing player and Ariza will guard the strongest. When Brewer comes in, Brew will take Ariza's assignment. Harden will always be guarding the weakest guy unless he finds himself switched onto Klay or whoever.
I know you are right, but why does Harden have to guard the weakest offensive player? I know he needs to focus on offense, but why can't he guard a decent player? He has definitely improved this year, but in this series, he still let Rivers and the other LA guards drive right by him. Is it effort, or is he just not as quick? It'd be nice if he could pick up Curry and leave grandpa on Barnes :grin:
