Need to play Steve at point - to attack Steve Nash's defense. Also need to get Amare or Marion in foul trouble early to slow the Suns' attack.
Unless we pick and roll Nash to death by running him into Yao on every single possession, we're not beating them. Take Nash out, and that team looks like the payground team that they really are. AGain, give Nash some hard fouls, let him know the lane is closed. Have Yao or Chuck or Scola set a pick on him EVERY SINGLE POSSESSION.
This strategy looks good on paper, but the reality is that Nash is an even better free throw shooter than Yao. Also, Nash has a deadly mid-range game (not bad from the 3-point line as well). The key is to deny him the ball as much as possible. Rafer certainly can't do this. I am hoping James or Francis can. It's our only chance.
This would be a huge win if we could pull it off but it's gonna be tough My keys to winning 1.Transition Defense 2. No bad fouls 3. Good bench play If we do those things, I like our chances Expect a big game out of T-Mac as usual and good bench production from Scola and Francis ...
I know he's going to make his free throws, but the hard fouls are to make him think about penetrating the next time. I'll take the hit if it will make him less effective in the 2nd half. Once he stops penetrating or is tentative about it, you can dictate the tempo better.
Brooks and Landry are leading the NBA in Fieldgoal percentage, possibly they deserve more playing time instead of Head, James and Bonzi who are having great difficulty at putting the ball in the basket!!
TRANSITION DEFENSE. That's the key. There was none of it last time we played them. The Rockets would work so hard to get a basket and it only took the Suns like 5 seconds to score.
Pray that the Suns don't hit all of their shots like last time. Keep Nash out of the paint. Perimeter D. Oh yeah: And score more points than them.
SEND NASH to the HOSPITAL!!! Foul him hard and injured him, that's teh only way we can win... ok, going back to be serious and stuff, we have 30% chance to win this game.
Steve needs to play in this game a lot , Bonzi as well , these 2 with T-Mac must attack attack attack. Go all the way to the rim they have no inside presence on defense , we can murder them like that.
That should be the general idea. Attack the basket as much as possible, dunks, lay-ups, lay-ins, draw fouls, 5 to 8 foot shots, crashing the boards, and drawing hard contact. Phoenix is incredibly soft on defense, and the pretty much just want teams to get into shooting contest with them. But the really good teams and defenses do something else, like the Spurs and Pistons. Even the Lakers, sometimes. That put alot of pressure on Nash, in the backcourt and through run & jump defenses at him, when he gets on the baseline. Other teams who have been successful agaisnt the Suns continuously attack their weakest defenders. Yao needs to get Amare in foul trouble and constantly get him in low post.
I`d really like to see Brooks on Nash at some time in the game... he should be quick enough to stay in front of him, and Nash doesn`t really post up that much. But that won`t happen until we or they are way up in the 4th. Until then I really think we need an attacking PG today. So I think and hope Rafer will only see limited minutes today. Nash needs to be attacked on every posession to slow him down a little and expose his bad defense. SF would be perfect for that, I hope he ain`t too slow on the defensive end. Anyways, really tough game today. I`d be surprised if we can win this...
You guys are dreaming if you think the Rockets are gonna win this game! They are confused and hapless out there on the court. Sometimes the other team gives them the win like the Clippers! Any team that keeps playing Rafer "Rainbow" Alston is not gonna make it far in the playoffs.
Sure would be nice to see what a speedy Brooks can do against Nash. Will we ever get to see Brooks???
I think we will win this game tonight. All we have to do is play better D than last game. If we can do that the game will be tight all the way till the end where Mcgrady can take over from there.
If we manage to merge TMac and play a similar game as the last one we should win, the last meeting Scola exploited the suns defense from the FT line and Yao played average inside. If TMac can find a way to increase the scoring without taking too shots away from our bigs we will be fine, remember that the Suns have NO inside defense, both Diaw and Stoudemire are gifted on offensive but average defenders, i will let Yao and Scola post everytime they are defended by Stoudemire, the same way the Spurs post up almost any player to Stoudemire to make him foul out of his mind.
