It's OK we're missing one of the best players in todays game. With Yao...there's not a chance they can guard him, that means they can't double T-Mac which frees him up which frees the rest of the team up. Although we are not close to them now, just wait until we have Yao back. Of course, unless we meet in the playoffs, we'll not face the Mavs w/Yao again this season.
i have one question: what happened in the 04-05 series against dallas when yao somehow ended up guarding josh howard? did that mean dirk was guarding yao? if i recall, josh howard ended up burning us on one end, while yao was unable to capitalize on the other. someone refresh me if im wrong, but that is a serious problem, and troubling considering that we were never really able to exploit that mismatch in our favor. i do hope we run into dallas in the playoffs, (1) because if we don't, people will be putting asterisks next to our championship saying we didn't have to go through the best team and (2) get some sweet revenge/vindication from what has become a real rivalry. i havent seen any team celebrate beating us as much as the mavs.
I agree completely. One only need to see what we did with a healthy Yao in our first meeting with the mavs
yao guarding howard? really don't remember that. I watched all of the games, as well as being there in person for the last one in houston. howard burns the rox consistently, and it sure as hell wasn't because yao was guarding him.
nowitzki doesn't guard Yao even if nowitzki were to guard yao, yao putting 50 on him isn't that special, nowitzki is hardly known for his defensive smack down bonzi played last time against mavs, wasn't pretty... more like 1...
would playing zone defense work out? cause all they are really doing are setting picks w/ mid range jumpers.. unless we arent guarding them on the perimeter theyll just pull out and shoot the 3? i dont know just curious
it is nowitzki's assignment to guard yao during the game? because last time i checked they have diop and wnba
This game is more proof that we badly need an athletic 6 ft 8 or taller guy. I'm not sure who is available, but we need one. Bonzi can help, but he's not particularly athletic against someone like Josh Howard. Every time we play Dal, Howard kills us. Against Phx or Dal, we'll need an athletic 6 ft 10 guy. Someone like Jared Jefferies.
It wouldn't hurt, when the Mavs go small. The problem is that Josh Howard would get 20 offensive boards against our zone.
I don't know guys, I really feel like with a healthy Yao and Bonzi and Snyder back in playing shape that we could take Dallas. They did beat up on us tonight, but I don't know if they'd have an answer for Yao, Bonzi, and T-mac with our roleplayers being constantly open because of the double teaming of our stars. Now I'm not saying with a healthy team we'd destroy the Mavs, but with a healthy team we'd be MUCH more likely to win and at the very least we'd keep it close. A healthy Rockets team meeting a healthy Mavs team in the 2nd round of the playoffs this year could very well be an instant 7 game classic. With the chemistry we've developed this year, I'd love to see how they handle the Yao, Tracy, Bonzi, Battier dynamic. We'll have an answer for Dallas come playoff time, but without the best center in the league and Bonzi/Snyder we'd be lucky to get a win against the best team in the league.
Actually Defense wasn't the problem. We could have held the Dallas under 90 points. Its just the fact that the 3rd best defensive team shut us down on offense. We couldn't hit the rim if our ass was on the line. Luther and everyone sucked. Maybe they just had a off shooting night. Also, I hate stackhouse and Howard. I would love to see them leave the Dallas squad anyday. We just can't stop these guys, and thats why we dearly need a player like Bonzi in the game. And surely If Yao was in the game, our offense wouldn't be the worst thing to watch. That is the reason why Yao is so important to this Team. We have been winning because we have been hitting most of our outside shots at a nice FG%. If we are missing shots than we get the results that we saw today and in NO. That is why it is important to have a player like Yao who can produce points very effeciently.
I agree! We held Dallas to 52 points with 17 mins to go. We did a good job defensively. Don't forget Dallas is the 3rd best team defensively and we were with out Yao. Ofcourse you will run into problems if your top scorer is out and you face a good defensive team. All we can do right now is to keep winning the games that we are suppose to, like today against the bobcats. Don't worry about these top dogs as of now because once Yao, Tmac, and hopefully Bonzi comes back in shape, NO ONE and I MEAN no one will dare to blow us out of the gym. I remember thinking that the 04-05 Rocket team was dam good and that no one could stop that team. That team almost pulled it off and could have gone to win it all. But this 06-07 team is even better. Yao has improve, better bench, and Tmac looks to be back in Orlando. Good times are coming to Houston, thats for sure!
OH HOW WRONG YOU ARE. We can't guard them, but we can slow down the offense and they have NO CHANCE to stop Yao. They will be embarassed if they go small vs. Yao.
I do remember Yao guarding Howard when the Mavs went small. They probably had him guarding Howard because he's not as good a shooter as Dirk so Yao (and Deke) could stay in the paint. Wouldn't a zone slow down the small line up for the Mavs? It seemed to work for Miami in the Finals.
When Yao and Tmac are in they can not double both, so it is a pick your poison type of scenario. We can play with Dallas......and win.....we just need the big guy back. DD
I see things differently, beside Yao and Tmac, we need a solid 3rd scorer. We need a Bonzi (last playoff-like). And we need JVG to be more flexible and creative with his offense.
Weren't you asking what happens when they stay small? When they go small Nowitzki plays Center. IN that case Nowitzki guards Yao which is what happened in the 05 playoffs.Also, Yao was guarding Howard. JVG will have to play a semizone, or double Howard and force Harris to make jumpshots. ON the other end we get whatever we want. It's a mismatch on both ends, but we should be able to outrebound them with that lineup.
