Do not leave Hedo or Lewis to double team someone else for ANY reason in the last couple of min if the score is close! I say let Howard get the ball in the low post with Yao on him. DH has ZERO low post moves. Yao should school him in a one-on-one situation. C'mon Yao! Give DH another 30 tonight, and get the country to remember who the best center in the NBA is!
I think you are very positive if you think Slow Yao will be able to handle Howard so easily as he is faster and stronger than Yao. I will be happy if Howard ends with 17/10 and Yao ends in the mark of 20/12
Howard might be a bit faster than Yao (lol understatement of the year), but I really doubt that he is that much stronger than Yao i.e. he wont be able to get really deep position on Yao in the post. I also think that Yao can handle Howard one on one even if Howard uses his quickness because Yao takes up so much room in the paint. However, what Yao has to do is to box him out so he doesn't get layups and dunks off missed shots since Dwight has ZERO post skills other than the putback and maybe a lucky hook here and there. If the guards play aggressively and we dont brick every shot, I think Yao will be able to play one on one w/ Howard on O and pretty much dominate him. 27 pts/14 rbs/3 blks for Yao, 20/12/2 for Howard.
Howard is definitely not stronger than Yao ... the only one advantage he has against him is quickness and rebounding ability (and even the latter somehow always appears to be neutralized whenever he goes up against Yao). It'll be a good matchup again ... but frankly I'm much more concerned about our role players keeping up the stretch of good play, particularly Rafer, Bonzi, Scola and Head. That said, if we're lucky, Yao will get hot early and we'll feed him plenty.
Yao just needs to keep DH off boards as best he can. Offensively DH is no match for Yao. DH's only offense is on putbacks and dunks. That's why Yao can D him up so well (won't have to come out and guard any mid-range jumpers). It's 2 dinosaurs down on the blocks. Very few true centers are in the NBA these days, so these games almost feel like a throwback.
Yao has certainly put up some monster numbers against DH in the past. This game doesn't present the matchup nightmares that GS or Utah do. Yao can stay in the paint and play DH one on one.
The Rockets are getting ready for lift off baby...I really believe this game is going to kick off a mini-streak...when Tmac comes back we will lose 1-2 games and then go on a Monster streak
There's a thread Clutch started with that info. Please don't clutter this one with requests for links. Thanks.
our guys have 500 record look all over their faces during the pregame hug around. they look really sad and bored.
