you are missed dearly. I have forgotten all about Juwan for some reason, maybe cause of Bowen's hustle and Rockets winning games 1 and 2. But after tough losses in games 3 and 4 I realized the Rockets don't have much depth at all and I also realized I forgot all about Howard even though they interview him sometimes during games. His mid range jumper and rebounds sound so good right now I'm almost salivating granted they're not the best. Had we had Howard we wouldn't have a ghost (Bowen left wide open by Dirk) for a 4 on the offensive end. Bowen hits about 1 or 2 jumpers a game and Doug Collins calls it "gravy." Which is exactly what Howard should be doing..... pouring gravy. Most importantly if Howard was playing it would be an extra defender on Dirk. Howard would start and defend Dirk..... when Howard goes out with foul trouble or for a break, Bowen could come in for hustle and bother Dirk, and in the 4th quarter when Dallas goes to Dirk for a key bucket thats when T-mac should be on Dirk not from the start of the game.
Having Howard certainly would help. If for no other reason, it would give us someone else at least to put on Dirk to allow Tmac to not waste so much energy on defense. On this team we NEED Tmac's energy on offense. If we had a stronger supporting cast then we could allow Tmac to use more of his energy on defense, but we dont. Pretty much only Bowen or Tmac are guarding Dirk. We arent even allowing Padgett to guard him. And I am sure Howard isnt as good guarding Dirk as Tmac and even Bowen are, but at least Howard would be able to hang with Dirk better than Padgett. I think clearly this team needs to add another "athletic" 4. Imagine if this team had someone like Donyell Marshall. Someone that could hang with Dirk and at the same time be another scoring threat on the offense to keep Dallas honest.
Honestly, the only way Juwon could contribute is with his 15 footer. Dirk feeds on bigger slower players. He'd go right by Juwon every possession and probably get an and 1 every trip down. Howard would have 3 fouls in the first period. Dirk struggles when players that are tall, quick , and long are on him, he will not try to take T-Mac off the dribble because he know he can't, and Rybo is just a pest on him that gets in his way, even though he gets the calls against Rybo. True, we miss Howard, but I'm not sure how much of a difference defensively it would make, save for more fouls to use on Dirk, but Baker and Witherspoon can use up fouls, or if we got to the next round against Phoenix with the Matrix, that's an even worse matchup.
When you've lost 2 home playoff games by a combined 8 points, that 15 footer could be the difference between 2-2 and 3-1. Don't be so quick to dismiss it. Also, Juwan's presence totally nullifies Dallas' "small ball" since he can take Nowitski and McGrady can double off of his defensive assignment. An nice option we don't have. BTW, it's Juwan.
Well, he did exceptionally well against them in the reg season game in Dallas, because he was open on top of the key that whole game, but I don't think he'd be that open this series, and still Dirk would put that boy in foul trouble. I mean, the way the refs are blowing thier whistles, how much PT would he see?
Howard was the #4 player in the NBA in second-chance points. This is something that is very much missed at this point. Also while he didn't shoot a lot, at least he would have kept Dirk from cheating over to double Tracy everytime Tracy tries to drive.
I beg to differ in terms of how much of a difference Howard would make. If we had Howard it would save T-macs energy which was a key point that many have pointed out in terms of Tmac looking winded towards the end. In yesterdays game McGrady was obviously trying very hard to stop Dirk from the beginning jumping as high as he could and trying to swat every shot Dirk put up. This also works both ways if Howard was playing it would force Dirk to dispense some more energy in defending Howard instead of leaving Ryan Bowen WIDE OPEN and helping on Yao or jumping out at our 3 pointers. Bottom line is Ryan Bowen is a huge liability on offense and it has shown in the last 2 games. The injury of Howard has transpired to many Rocket weaknesses the Mav's have figured out and are using to their advantage now. Dallas has many 2nd chance buckets I've noticed. Howard's 7 boards are missed. A couple being offensive boards as well where Howard can easily go right up for an easy 2. How many times have we seen Bowen get an offensive board and go up for an easy bucket? Me? I don't recall any really. Dirk leaves Bowen to double Yao. Yao in turn doesnt get good position and or doesn't get a touch or is forced to kick it out again. Juwan's 15ft presence is missed. T-mac is forced to become not only a star scorer but a defensive stopper. => Tmac is tired at the end. We need to do something and do something fast. JVG I have faith that you will come up with something good.
I don't think Juwan could have defensed Nowitzki all that well. From what I remember, Juwan's weakness on D was checking those mobile perimeter guys with range on their shots. Offensively and on the boards, Juwan could have helped big-time. Besides a reliable 15 footer, he hit around 60% in the low post, and you could dump it in to him to bail us out if another play broke down. Anyway, Bowen had a bad game... bobbled a few passes on offense that should have been easy layups. Hopefully he'll rebound from it.
Juwan was rebounding the ball really well before he got injured -all those silly Alan Henderson Tip ins wouldn't have occured. Also, those 15 footers got him 28 points against the Mavs earlier this year. He's a former Mav, and he loves playing against them. He would have been our 2nd option in this series (in front of Yao Ming). But we just gotta play on - we won nine games ina row without him against tough teams - we can win without him, obviously.
I don't think Juwan Howard would make that much of a defensive difference this series. When we lost to Dallas in overtime and Dirk scored 53 points, we had Juwan then and he got schooled by Dirk whenever he was in. This is JVG's time to show if he really is a defensive genius. He has to be able to get his team to keep shutting down Dirk and be able to rotate effectively to shut down whoever their hot role player is. Last game is was Terry, whatever. We have to be adaptable to put pressure on whoever the role player is for that time in the game. Case in point: On one of the last plays when the loose ball ended up bouncing around and ended up with Terry scorching us with a 3, Ryan Bowen didn't rotate around the perimeter to defend Terry. When terry took that shot, Ryan Bowen was guarding NOBODY. He was the closest one to Terry and actually moved away from Terry before he hit the 3. Juwan would make a small difference on offense--all those Ryan Bowen dropped passes and missed 17 footers wouldn't have to happen. But there is NO EXCUSE for us sucking it up on D. This is the playoffs. Watch the tapes and adapt, JVG + Rockets, or you deserve to lose.
If we had Howard this series might be over, certainly Rockets would be up atleast 3-1. Aside for being a much better all around player than any 4 we have, JH would get a little more respect than Bowen/Pagdet. Him missing is HUGE on both ends.
Bowen can play D but can't shoot. Juwan can shoot 15 footers and board but can't play any D. Padget can't play D, but can hit 3 pointers.
Howard may never return - things like heart issues have a way of ending just not careers, but lives as well. Forget about Howard, got to play with what you have.
Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's first bionic power forward. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster."
Considering when we play small ball, mcgrady and freakin sura are our best rebounders, yes, indeed howard is missed. Even tho, he aint the best off players to hit the boards, hes one of our best. and we sorely needed him on those Offensive boards. ex: all the points henderson got off of those easy put backs.
