It happens to all big guys, and it happens just like this. Suddenly they aren't quite quick enough to get off the same shots or navigate double teams. Suddenly their elevation isn't quite high enough. Look at Shaq this year, for the most part. Recall, if you can stand it, the Dream's last two seasons, especially the nightmare of watching him for a few games in Toronto. Deke, and somewhat Robert Parrish, are exceptions. Their games were never built on agility, offense or quickness, but just defense, rebounding via great positioning, length, and stern facial expressions.
I'm not so sure how predictable either Hornets-Lakers or Pistons-Celtics would be. Gasol will not match well with the Hornets, since he's basically a softer less-intense version of Duncan.
I am really surprised by the Spurs getting beat this badly I hope they regroup when they get home. I don't like Chris Paul
has duncan declined by this much? not sure. but i think he's not declined as much as shaq has. that much is safe to say. his 1st rd stats prove this. based on my observation, i think it comes down to how duncan and pop want to handle the double teams. the hornets are doubling him as soon as he catches the ball. and i think td waited too long (kinda like yao did sometimes) to pass the ball as if he was waiting for the double teams. if duncan cannot step up and avg. say 25/12, the spurs' chance of advancing is not too bright, especially since the bees have the home court. and if that happens PLUS the rest of the spurs cannot hit their jumpers, this series may surprisingly not last 6 games. gonna be interesting to see what happens. (btw, if yao scores 5pts in a playoff game, can you imagine how this board is gonna explode? )
He has i think it was in one of the games vs the mavs where he had like 6 points, but i think the rockets may have actually won that game so the board wasnt too upset
Good memory. He sucked really bad in 2 games in that series. He had 11 pts in game 1, and 8 pts in game 6. http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200504230DAL.html http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200505050HOU.html
didn't know td had the fever. if that's the case, then the spurs may have some additional hope. (but still, td's obviously not as mentally strong as mj. ) and i remember these 2 low-scoring playoff games by yao, too. he was in constant foul trouble because the refs were calling these "moving screens" which eventually resulted a 100k fine to jvg. yao wasn't ready to be a superstar or a team leader at that time anyway...
Pop was too stubborn and stucked his mind in the Suns series, so he continued to put Bowen on Paul for 2 games. wtf. that automatically gave the Hornets 3 mismatches. This game, Pop is going to put Parker on Paul and starts Manu. Pop should have done this in 2nd game. Bowen was ineffective, he should be on Peja. Finley played like crap. Probabaly, it's Finley's final season. Let's see what happen to the new adjustments.
hornets are scary good. if they shoot like this, i'm not sure even a healthy rockets team can beat them. the spurs aren't that bad defensively themselves. but i think we would be better b/c we have 2 better offensive players in yao and tmac. let's be real, duncan's offense isn't as good anymore and parker/manu aren't tmac.
As good as the Hornets look, we still match up extremely well w/ them w/ Yao. Us and the Jazz give them fits.
the jazz give them fits b/c deron can slow paul down. we can't stop chris paul. but tmac and yao are unstoppable v. that team though.
