It was brought up on 610 today by Matt Jackson I think, and I thought it was interesting. Obviously Hayes is the best guy we have to guard him, but being an offensive liability would make a coach reluctant to play him more than 25 minutes or so. Since Artest is also a big, strong guy and a bruising defender, could he use his strength to bother LMA the way Hayes can? If Artest could disrupt Aldridge, it would help us tremendously on the offensive side of the ball as well, as we could put a lineup out there of Yao, Artest, Battier, Wafer, and Lowry. The ability to have two great defenders on the court WITH Wafer and Lowry out there to attack Portland's anti-Yao defense could become a devastating rotation to use for Adelman.
A great complement to my thread on Wafer guarding Roy. Take Ron's time away from guarding Roy and apply it to guarding LMA. I see LMA like Dirk in a way. If you put a quicker guy on him, it will bother his jump shot. You also have the added advantage that Ron is quicker and heavier than LMA, allowing him to push him away from the basket.
If Aldridge can't just post, face-up, and shoot right over Artest then I am all for that. As long as we don't give up too many offensive rebounds.
I'm sure he could, Artest's problem is with speed, in this matchup it shouldn't matter about speed (he has the faster speed anyways), but I think he can match up with Aldridge. I think he can, but I would still put him on Roy, Roy just had a great game. Roy was determined not to let his team fall in that game as he knew what the ramifications of losing that game would be. Roy won't be doing anything like that in the Toyota Center when they come to Houston.
i dont think scola did a bad job against aldridge at all. dude was just hitting tough shots, with scola in his face most of the time. tho i have to laugh at scolas attempt to front aldridge.
Artest can't guard Aldridge and Wafer couldn't dream of guarding Roy. LA isn't like Dirk. He actually plays like a PF, but with a good jumpshot. Dirk can be guarded by smaller guys because he's really a SF who happens to be 7'0.
I think Artest could guard LMA. If you watch closely, all his scores came from jump shots. I cant even remember a time when he actually posted up Scola for a score. He NEVER post up Hayes because Hayes pushes him too far. He is most effective against Scola because he can fake a drive to get some separation from Scola then he goes up for a jump shot. Putting someone like Artest on him neutralizes him completely; he cant drive or get separation for his jumpshot.
LMA doesn't post that much so I doubt you need someone with Artest's strength to guard him. LMA will shoot over Artest; he has good length.
Ron is taller than Chuck. I think Aldridge didn't shoot well in the 1st game partly because he wasn't ready, partly because Yao did a good job in helping out on Scola.
i like this idea. this should be a very effective lineup. although brooks could be in instead of lowry if he doesnt commit stupid turnovers like in game 2
I said this in the game chat, yesterday. I think it's a good idea, but we still have a problem at backup center.
deke is done and landry isn't anything near "gi'mme dat" status. so yao might as well have to play 40 minutes if not in foul trouble, throughout the playoffs.
the whole blazers team wasn't ready indeed, that's why they were blown out by us in game one. I'm sure they will play as great as they did in the regular season and make the rest games very tough for us, but we are gonna win this series anyway.
NO way Ron can guard LA. Scola did an admirable job against LA but he was hitting some tough shots that nobody would have been able to stop. It could be an option but id rather Ron not. And please RA have Battier on Roy in game 3, he was doing a terrific job!! Ron just cant stick with the quicker Roy.
If you put Ron on Aldridge look for him to have a 40 point game. Aldridge is too quick and he can get his shot off at anytime the only think Ron will be able to do is put a hand up and by Aldridge being around 6'10 I don't think that will bother his shot at all.
