I think that a big reason why we lost game 4 and 5 was that T-Mac has been spending too much time guarding Dirk Nowitzki. Nowitzki is a very good player who is tall and quick. Obviously, guard the Dallas big man is tough. However, we have been doing a good job on Dirk. Unfortunately, our defense on Dirk has come at HIGH COSTS : 1. When Scott Padgett guards Dirk, Dirk runs all over him. 2. When Ryan Bowen guards Dirk we have a quick, long energetic guy to combat the damage that Dirk provides (but on the other side of the court we have a big hole.) 3. T-Mac does an exactly job on Dirk, however it tires out T-Mac and or could get him in foul trouble 4. When Yao Ming guards Dirk, the refs just blow the whistle.
we won game one and two because bowen guarded dirk. tmac could play offense the whole game. now tmac has to guard dirk and carry us on offense...just too much for one man.
The important thing is to just mix it up. Put a rotation of bowen, padgett and mcgrady on him. Should start off with Padgett to see if he can get a few quick shots to make Nowitzi play some honest D. If Dirk strikes early then put bowen on him to irritate him. The thing about hustle D is it's very tiring and bowen can't last out there forever. You just have to keep dirk guessing and a 3 headed monster isn't such a bad idea.
OH NOO! I meant to put Ryan Bowen instead of "YAO MING." You can vote for Bowen in others. By the way, there have been times when Ryan Bowen has checked into the game and I thought it was Yao.
