Our game coming up against Portland on Thursday 12/12 is going to be an interesting test. The last time we faced them the league perception about the Blazers was way different than what it is now. They were predicted to be in the middle of the pack in the West and now people are calling them possible contenders. After we defeated them (with seemingly little difficulty) they went from 2-2 to 17-4, including an 11 game winning streak. Yes, that winning streak was mostly against the E-League and they only faced two opponents with records above .500, but it's still a sign of a good team to take care of business consistently against sub par clubs. After the streak, they went on to beat two of the best teams in the league, OKC and Indy. So on Thursday, how do we match up? The PG-SG-SF defensive responsibilities are obvious, but what about the PF and C? With the Twin Towers lineup, Asik and Howard did well controlling Aldridge/Lopez early and eventually took Lopez totally out of the game (0pts, 6rbs, 17.5mins). If I remember correctly, Howard got Lopez in early foul trouble. I believe Howard then spent most of the time matched up with Aldridge, which was effective: LA went 3-8 from the field in the 3rd quarter and only 1-2 in the 4th. I predict we will start the game with the traditional match ups of PF going against PF and C against C. What worries me is I'm not entirely sure how well T Jones can guard Aldridge. Our best bet, I think, is to try to get Lopez out of the game again so Howard can guard Aldridge and Jones can go D up on Thomas Robinson or whomever else they throw out there. Asik will probably still be "injured" so I don't think we can count on him putting in any minutes. I think Beverley will need to be in the game whenever Lillard is. That's a key battle because Lillard is the other guy on the team that can beat you. Hopefully Parsons' back holds up... We'll need him against Batum and well... we all saw what happens to our offensive flow when he's out. Lin is suppose to be back but we can expect him to be a little rusty since it's been a two weeks since he last played. Our entire bench situation should be a huge advantage for us this game considering their best bench player is Mo Williams. If Brooks/Casspi/Garcia are on point with their shooting, that will likely swing the game in our favor. If Lin comes back in the same form he was before the injury it'll be icing on the cake. In conclusion, I think we've got a really good shot at winning this game (barring any injuries or a complete dud performance from one of our main guys). The biggest question mark is how our bigs will match up against theirs, mainly Aldridge. We haven't been great on the road and they've been nearly perfect at home but we were the ones who dealt them their first home loss... Hopefully we can deal them their third.
The biggest concern outside of Aldridge is their 3 pt shooting. Wes, Batum, Lillard are all cold-blooded shooters, especially in the clutch. Lillard's 2PT% isn't all that impressive so have to stay up on him in the perimeter. If I remember correctly Lin started that game and shut down Lillard for the most part. Both Batum and Matthews like to utilize screens so I hope Harden is up for the task.
Hopefully we can do whatever we did against the Warriors... Harden is definitely going to have to fight through screens and not lose his man while ball watching, as he is sometimes prone to doing. Yeah I think you're right, Lin held his own against Lillard. When I said Bev needed to be on D-Lil I was mainly referring to not wanting extended stretches of Brooks guarding him.
Here is the box score for our last game against Portland. Both Harden and Howard had excellent games. http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201311050POR.html
Bev did play. That was his first game back coming back from the injury. Where he gutted it out and produced 12 points off the bench.
The Rockets don't play for 3 days. That's a first, I think. The Rockets have played the most games in the league so far this season. 4 games more than the Kings and 3 games more than the Spurs who are lead our division.
Harden's been hustling these last 2 games. If he can keep it up (and I don't see why he couldn't with a 3 day break) then I think we'll be fine. Having Asik coming off the bench would help a lot against LMA, but I guess that ship has sailed. I'm afraid that even if we're winning easily, whenever Dwight steps off the court they'll make runs and keep it close. At least we know that for 35-40 minutes Dwight will be eating Robin's lunch. Other than that, we gotta hope Jones is on so he can wear LMA out. Their perimeter is awesome, but I think ours can match up to them just fine. Parsons and Batum are pretty much the same player on a good night. Lillard will get his touches, I trust Beverly to harass him enough to disrupt his rhythm. Harden vs Matthews is the big question mark. If Harden's D shows up, then we're fine, but Wes is definitely the type of guy that is gonna torch you and have a career night (a la James Anderson) if you give him space to operate. We'll see how it goes. Teams that run a lot of screens on the perimeter are our biggest weakness and that's pretty much all that Portland does.
I think Phoenix exposed Portland's weak point, and that is quick and penetrating guards like Dragič. we don't have Lin who is closest comparison, but if Harden shows up like he did in last two games, that won't matter. We need him especially to distribute like he did against Orlando. I think the key here is Parsons. Portland usually puts Batum on the most dangerous perimeter player at that moment, but if we have two (Harden+Parsons), the one who isn't guarded by Batum can light it up easily and the other one will struggle a bit. However if Harden is motivated, Batum will be able only to slow him down a bit, but not shut him down. So for me Harden and Parsons must be both be on fire, Beverly should do decent job on Lillard, Brooks should drive as much as possible and Aldridge must be held under 25/10.
<table width='100%' class='inner1'><tr><td colspan='30' class='inner'>Compare Players - Per Game</td></tr><tr bgcolor='#AADDFF'><td>#</td><td>Player</td><td>Team</td><td>Pos</td><td title='Games Played'><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,compare,compare,pg,gp,246_324' target='_blank'>G</a></td><td title='Minutes Per Game'><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,compare,compare,pg,mpg,246_324' target='_blank'>MPG</a></td><td title='Field Goal Percentage'><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,compare,compare,pg,fg,246_324' target='_blank'>FG%</a></td><td title='3 Points Field Goal Percentage'><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,compare,compare,pg,f3p,246_324' target='_blank'>3P%</a></td><td title='Free Throw Percentage'><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,compare,compare,pg,ft,246_324' target='_blank'>FT%</a></td><td title='Offensive Rebounds'><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,compare,compare,pg,off,246_324' target='_blank'>OFF</a></td><td title='Defensive Rebounds'><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,compare,compare,pg,def,246_324' target='_blank'>DEF</a></td><td title='Rebounds'><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,compare,compare,pg,rpg,246_324' target='_blank'>RPG</a></td><td title='Assists'><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,compare,compare,pg,apg,246_324' target='_blank'>APG</a></td><td title='Steals'><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,compare,compare,pg,spg,246_324' target='_blank'>SPG</a></td><td title='Blocks'><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,compare,compare,pg,bpg,246_324' target='_blank'>BPG</a></td><td title='Turnovers'><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,compare,compare,pg,turnover,246_324' target='_blank'>TO</a></td><td title='Personal Fouls'><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,compare,compare,pg,pf,246_324' target='_blank'>PF</a></td><td title='Points'><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,compare,compare,pg,ppg,246_324' target='_blank'>PPG</a></td></tr><tr onmouseover="this.style.backgroundColor='#CECECE';" onMouseOut="this.style.backgroundColor='#FFFFFF';"><td>1</td><td><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,player,324' target='_blank'>LaMarcus Aldridge</a></td><td><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,team,23' target='_blank'>POR</a></td><td>F</td><td>21</td><td>36.9</td><td>47.5</td><td>0.0</td><td><strong>79.3</strong></td><td>2.0</td><td>8.1</td><td>10.1</td><td>2.6</td><td>1.2</td><td>0.8</td><td>2.0</td><td>1.7</td><td><strong>23.1</strong></td></tr><tr onmouseover="this.style.backgroundColor='#CECECE';" onMouseOut="this.style.backgroundColor='#FFFFFF';"><td>2</td><td><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,player,246' target='_blank'>Dwight Howard</a></td><td><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,team,17' target='_blank'>HOU</a></td><td>F-C</td><td>22</td><td>33.4</td><td><strong>55.6</strong></td><td>0.0</td><td>55.4</td><td>3.8</td><td>9.5</td><td><strong>13.2</strong></td><td>1.8</td><td>0.8</td><td>1.8</td><td>3.2</td><td>3.6</td><td>17.0</td></tr></table> <table width='100%' class='inner1'><tr><td colspan='30' class='inner'>Compare Players - Per 36 Mins</td></tr><tr bgcolor='#AADDFF'><td>#</td><td>Player</td><td>Team</td><td>Pos</td><td title='Games Played'><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,compare,compare,per36,gp,246_324' target='_blank'>G</a></td><td title='Offensive Rebounds'><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,compare,compare,per36,p36off,246_324' target='_blank'>OFF</a></td><td title='Defensive Rebounds'><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,compare,compare,per36,p36def,246_324' target='_blank'>DEF</a></td><td title='Rebounds'><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,compare,compare,per36,p36reb,246_324' target='_blank'>REB</a></td><td title='Assists'><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,compare,compare,per36,p36ast,246_324' target='_blank'>AST</a></td><td title='Steals'><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,compare,compare,per36,p36stl,246_324' target='_blank'>STL</a></td><td title='Blocks'><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,compare,compare,per36,p36blk,246_324' target='_blank'>BLK</a></td><td title='Turnovers'><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,compare,compare,per36,p36to,246_324' target='_blank'>TO</a></td><td title='Personal Fouls'><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,compare,compare,per36,p36pf,246_324' target='_blank'>PF</a></td><td title='Efficiency Rating: (PTS + REB + AST + STL + BLK − ((FGA − FGM) + (FTA − FTM) + TO))'><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,compare,compare,per36,p36eff,246_324' target='_blank'>EFF</a></td><td title='Points'><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,compare,compare,per36,p36pts,246_324' target='_blank'>PTS</a></td></tr><tr onmouseover="this.style.backgroundColor='#CECECE';" onMouseOut="this.style.backgroundColor='#FFFFFF';"><td>1</td><td><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,player,324' target='_blank'>LaMarcus Aldridge</a></td><td><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,team,23' target='_blank'>POR</a></td><td>F</td><td>21</td><td>2.0</td><td>7.9</td><td>9.9</td><td>2.6</td><td>1.2</td><td>0.8</td><td>1.9</td><td>1.7</td><td>23.86</td><td>22.6</td></tr><tr onmouseover="this.style.backgroundColor='#CECECE';" onMouseOut="this.style.backgroundColor='#FFFFFF';"><td>2</td><td><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,player,246' target='_blank'>Dwight Howard</a></td><td><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,team,17' target='_blank'>HOU</a></td><td>F-C</td><td>22</td><td>4.1</td><td>10.2</td><td><strong>14.3</strong></td><td>1.9</td><td>0.8</td><td>1.9</td><td>3.4</td><td>3.9</td><td>24.03</td><td>18.3</td></tr></table> <table width='100%' class='inner1'><tr><td colspan='30' class='inner'>Compare Players - Advance</td></tr><tr bgcolor='#AADDFF'><td>#</td><td>Player</td><td>Team</td><td>Pos</td><td title='Games Played'><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,compare,compare,advance,gp,246_324' target='_blank'>G</a></td><td title='Efficiency Rating: (PTS + REB + AST + STL + BLK − ((FGA − FGM) + (FTA − FTM) + TO))'><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,compare,compare,advance,eff,246_324' target='_blank'>EFF</a></td><td title='Field Goals Attempted Per Game'><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,compare,compare,advance,fgapg,246_324' target='_blank'>FGApg</a></td><td title='True Shooting Percentage'><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,compare,compare,advance,ts,246_324' target='_blank'>TS%</a></td><td title='Assist Ratio'><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,compare,compare,advance,ast,246_324' target='_blank'>AST</a></td><td title='Turnover Ratio'><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,compare,compare,advance,toratio,246_324' target='_blank'>TO</a></td></tr><tr onmouseover="this.style.backgroundColor='#CECECE';" onMouseOut="this.style.backgroundColor='#FFFFFF';"><td>1</td><td><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,player,324' target='_blank'>LaMarcus Aldridge</a></td><td><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,team,23' target='_blank'>POR</a></td><td>F</td><td>21</td><td>24.43</td><td><strong>20.0</strong></td><td>0.519</td><td>9.8</td><td><strong>7.3</strong></td></tr><tr onmouseover="this.style.backgroundColor='#CECECE';" onMouseOut="this.style.backgroundColor='#FFFFFF';"><td>2</td><td><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,player,246' target='_blank'>Dwight Howard</a></td><td><a href='http://ns.twhappy.com/?select=14,team,17' target='_blank'>HOU</a></td><td>F-C</td><td>22</td><td>22.27</td><td>10.2</td><td><strong>0.578</strong></td><td>9.0</td><td>16.2</td></tr></table>
I think Harden will guard Batum and leave Chandler to give Matthews troubles with his length. Batum doesn't post up well and plays off the ball as a 3rd shooter.
Can't win when you're focused on match ups. You have to play team ball to beat anyone. If we play Rockets basketball, if we're hitting threes, driving to the bucket and getting back on defense, I can't see Portland stopping us.
Why isn't this in the game thread? Why do people assume their opinion is so important it deserves its own thread?
Going to be a good matchup, even though they wont be guarding each other that much. Howard 21pts, 14reb, 3ast, 1stl, & 2blk LMa 22pts, 9reb, 2ast, 1stl, & 1 blk
Aldridge hasn't really improved, he's just taking more shots.The reason for their hot start is that Portland as a team is shooting 42% from 3, last year with basically the same unit, they only shot 35%. Now its perfectly reasonable that they improved their shooting, but they didn't improve that much. They will come back to the pack.
