there may be some truth to that. the only way to make him put it on the floor is to close out on him when he catches the ball. spoon is too slow for this. padgett s too weak of a defender. the only one who can save us is BOWEN! a combo of bowen for defense and tmac for offense (to tire dirk out) should be played at the 4. mix in a little padgett to spread the floor for a few minutes and we will do well. spoon will have a rough series.
I think Grizz can beat Suns. But Dallas... They can have Dirk... But the most important factor is that they are DEEP. Scary deep. I think they can win it all.
This is NOT the same Dallas team we've faced this year. Now they actually have a Coach. Avery Johnson presses them on Defense much harder than Nelly ever did. They're much better than they were three months ago, & the last time we played them, they were without Dirk. They scare me. Plus...all you guys are lucky...if we lose to the Mavs in the playoffs, you can all just go about your normal daily lives... HOWEVER, I'll have to endure an enormous amount of taunting & humiliation for months at the hand of everyone around me (especially at the office). I'll never hear the end of it. People up here in DFW hate everything & anything to do with Houston. God I hope we win the series.
One thing that's crappy about playing the Mavs this year is that Yao has to go another playoff series playing against another good big man. It would have been nice to play Phoenix or Seattle, if only so that Yao could play well in a playoff series and build some confidence for the future. We know Tmac is not going to have any problems regardless of the opponent. This is a series where Yao could potentially disappear and be a non-factor.
Who knows how we'll match up with them-- The first three games we played against them was still during the first half of the season (w/ Nelson as coach) and the Rox were erratic as hell.... The last game we played with them was March 6th but Dirk and Finley didn't play... I guess we'll really find out during the first game of the series...
We can't contain Dirk. There's not a player on this team that matches up with him. Most teams actually. I think the key will be as someone mentioned, physicality. Guys like Spoon, Mutombo, Sura, Barry, Bowen are more physical, and that will be the key to victory because there our advantage lies. As for Dirk...double teaming won't work because he's a good passer, and other denying him the ball and pressuring the point, not sure what other strategies could be used.
Dampier / Bradley Dirk / KVH / Henderson Howard / Daniels Finley / Stackhouse Terry / Harris / Armstrong This is a Great Dallas team here, a lot better than the last few years even without Nash. They have more depth and play better D as stated earlier by another post. Yao / Deke Spoon / Padgett / Bowen T-Mac / Bowen Wesley / Barry Sura / James / Moochie This is a Griddy Rox team, we are tough mentally, and this team is built upon JVG players and I love this team like no other team, but I must admit that our depth might hurt us. I mean those guys are 10 deep. I think this will be one of those 6-7 game serious and a few games coming down to the last shot.
Actually, I love this matchup because for we who live overseas, get to see more of the Rox playoff games on TV
I actually disagree. Yao's generally been fine playing against big men who play him straight up. It's the quick, agile big men who front him that have given him problems. I'm not worried about Yao versus Dampier. I'm just not convinced that Yao winning his matchup will be the difference maker in us beating Dallas.
The good thing is that Since Avery Johnson took over, he's been playing Bradley a lot more then Nelly used to. Bradley has seen his minutes increase dramatically & Yao usually schools him because he is much quicker and agile than Bradley.. I remember Barkley once referring to Bradley as the "White Manute Bole". Still.... Dirk & McGrady will be the X-Factors.
T-Mac and Dirk might cancell each other out so then the other guys need to turn it up especially YAO. Dampier and Bradley seem to give Yao trouble at times.
People still talking about Dampier and Bradley will give trouble to Yao. But NO WAY. First those muscle guy like J James is not bothering Yao anymore. And now the hustle guy like Najera doesnt work anymore. I think Yao already found a way to kill the defenders with more confidence from Yao-Shaq fights. And what makes me happy is that Tracy finally learn to do P&R with Yao. You guys maybe saw it in recent games. Tracy began to pass back the ball when Yao run to board after pick. That will kill almost all the centers. So don't worry about Yao. And I don't worry about PFs. A good team defense will compensate the weakness in 4. So let's wait to see Suns. Oh sorry. Maybe Girzzles
First off, Bradley wont be on Yao much unless Damp is in foul trouble. Damp can not guard Yao no matter what. Yao dropped 32 on Shaq, and what makes Damp better than Shaq. Guys like Finley,Stack,Terry can work to our advantage coz they will ignore Dirk at times. Bait them to shoot to forget about Dirk.
