When they switch Dirk to the 5 it is impossible to stop them. There is no way in hell we can beat them w/o Yao. Even w/Yao when they go small - it will be extremely hard to beat them. They have badazz coaching and really good depth. Most importantly they have a full & healthy squad.
Ye they are defianantly the yardstick of the league and tongihts game shows that we have a long ways to go to be considered even close to the mavs.
We don't have 2 of our top 3 players. You can't make any evaluations. If they stay small, Yao can score every time down the court. Nowitzki can't even pretend to guard him
I want to play the Mavs in the playoffs. Bring it on. They can stick Avery Johnson, Mark Cuban AND Dirk at the 5 and we'd still win the battle at C. If anything, I'd like them to come into a playoff series thinking they can handle us easily.
Well, they are arguably the best team in the league...as much as it pains me to say it. Remember, they have problems matching up with Yao as well.
But you forget that with Yao in the game we have an advantage on the other end that we can definitely use. They have to keep their bigs in to match up with Yao otherwise he will go off for 50.
dude, everytime Yao plays dallas, he drops 30 in the first half. They have no answer for him. Those shots dampier blocked today, not a chance
I'm not too sure about the "impossible to stop" part. I'll admit that Dallas has the personnel to mix things up thoroughly and attack with a variety of mismatches, but most of them are speed related. And there's a reason Bill Russell won 11 championships - size advantage. How many times must it be proven that - talent and chemistry aside - the bigger team will prevail in the playoffs? And now that it's 7 games all the way through, the cream will rise more readily. Mismatches will catch teams off guard, but playoff games are scrutinized by coaches and scouts to the Nth degree. Eventually, the players will be forced play their game at face value as the coaches will have nullified one another. At that point, talent, size and cohesiveness are the only factors. To round out my point...When healthy, I'm a firm believer in the Rockets' talent being of the elite class. And Jeff Van Gundy has this team playing together like none we've seen since the championship days. Oh, and Yao Ming is BIG.
We are missing Yao Ming! Everything is different with Yao in because they cannot go small, they would give up to much on the offenseive end and Dirk doesn't play good enough defense to stop Yao.
man if yao is playing, and if they dare go small yao will crush dirk at C down every possession until they get diop and dampier + menhga all back on the court to play big
Sure. Right after I tell it to Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Willis Reed, Bill Walton, Moses Malone, Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Shaquille O'neal, Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, and Hakeem O-freakin-lajuwon.
