We all have been quietly thinking it all year (and the past year) that he deserved all defensive first team. With his performance on Kobe today and constant props by announcers (let's face it a lot of these teams are the guys most talked about and not necessarily the most deserving) he will probably make the team. Add in our streak and rise up the West standings he's very likely to make it.
Something just hit me. Battier does something different when contesting jumpshots that is really smart. Rather tan put his hand up trying to block he puts his hand right in front of the shooters face. He blocks the guys vision. Very effective obviously.
He may finally. If you hear tomorrow that the team D focused on kobe, then you know that person didn't watch the game. Shane's played him straight up all night.
Good national attention now for Shane. Rockets need to start lobbying for him for Defensive Player of the Year.
battier has been putting his hand in the players face since i can remember since he joined the team. he was the first person i'd really seen do that and he still is. i don't know if it works any better than just challenging, but it does reduce the chance of hitting an elbow i think. and hey, can't argue with the results. hopefully he gets his due this year on the all-defensive team and really he should have a chance at DPOY. who else should get it? bowen has slipped, artest is crazy, ak47 i haven't really noticed, ben wallace forget about it. camby could get it i guess with his blocks and rebounds, but shane has just been locking people up during this streak. seemingly even better than the rest of his time here. he's just taken it to an amazing level.
Seriously, hell with All-Defensive Team. He deserves Defensive Player of the Year. Just look at 90% of our games and how the player Battier matched up against played. They may get their points like Kobe, but 11-33 shooting and ZERO clutch plays down the stretch sounds like some supreme defense to me.
He really played great D on Kobe. Just a great role player. Battier is the type of player that championship teams have.
If the Rockets finish in the top four in the West and remains among the top in defense, not having Battier in the All-Defense Team won't make sense. You gotta thank JVG for propping you up though. Maybe after this game Battier will have finally received enough recognition to be launched into the top echelon of defenders.
He ought to be defensive player of the year. If you're the best defensive player on the best defensive team - it should be a no brainer. But if we hold on to the top seed and he doesn't get it (or at least 1st team All-D)? I'm killing somebody.
Camby is playing for one of the worst defensive team in the entire NBA, there is no way he should win it this year. I think Battier actually has a pretty good shot at winning it!
If you played basketball you know how hard it is to shoot when a hand is coming down on your face. It's human tendency to protect our eyes. So when Shane does that, the offensive player always have a hard time to concentrate.
That was one of the best defensive efforts I have ever seen by an individual. ABC's camera angles and JVG's commentary were great at showing just how special that was. You got to see the mental aspect of what goes in to stopping a guy like Bryant. I never noticed that he contests the face rather than the shot until today.
