I said it many time on this board that Howard is the biggest factor for the Rockets' success in the playoff, not Harden. The guys can single handily change the game with his defense & rebounding. I predicted Rockets in 6, but will take it in 7
Thanks for sharing this. This is exactly the type of leadership I've been wanting the Rockets to have. We lose our composure too easily and having this rock to settle the group and instill belief and fight in them is so critical to playoff success when the going gets tough. I'm glad Dwight is stepping up. He's been to the finals. He's been the most consistent player and piece in our playoffs. As one of our best and most veteran players, he is the real leader of this team.
I love what everyone on the court did yesterday in the 4th - cant say enough about J Smoove, Brewer, DH, etc. But for me, Terry takes the cake yesterday. He single handedly shut down CP3 at a crucial time in the game, without relying on double teams. Prigs was getting owned by CP3, as was Terry earlier in the game. 4th quarter, Terry clamped down. That to me was the game changer.
Reminds me of . . . . <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KlWlhyX6rb0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Rocket River In such a Good Mode
I think the flagrant on Howard was huge. Blake had two or three dunks where Blake dunked right on him and Dwight couldn't contest due to foul trouble. Dwight went up hard to let Blake know that there will be no more of that. After that, Blake played super scared. I don't know how much that played into it, but I haven't seen it talked about as much as Harden sitting out, Smith and Brewer's play, etc.
I've watched about 5 hours of replays and game video in slow motion since then. I disagree that the flagrant changed Blake. Hopefully the flagrant changed Dwight. Dwight's biggest flaws this post-season has been his free throw shooting and his lack of emotional control. In the post-game interview, he said that in the 4th quarter he stopped looking at the score and just focused, and he played great (other than the missed free throws). He exerted so much energy on defense during that run, that when the game was tied at 102-102, and the Rockets had their first chance to take the lead, he called timeout out of exhaustion. This also means that Dwight shouldn't spend the whole game guarding Blake or he'll just wear himself out. Anyhow, Dwight and Josh was a great combo on both ends during that run. They stretched their PnR higher than normal, which took both Blake and DeAndre from the paint to the top of the key. When Blake hedged the roller, Josh blew by for the layup. When they switched, Josh iso'd DeAndre up top, leaving Howard vs Blake down low for any offensive boards. On defense, Dwight would hedge on CP3 on any Blake screens, leaving Josh Smith to cover Blake on hard dives. Brewer would then cheat towards DeAndre down low off the corner to I assume foul any lob attempt. The results were: -Blake making the right touch pass to open 3's by Barnes or Crawford. Brewer contesting hard on those shots on his recovery and thankfully they didn't fall. -Blake attacking the hoop vs Josh Smith's rotating D and missing contested layups twice, and getting blocked once Next game, they might lob to Jordan more and see if Brewer can stop him. Anyhow, Blake was making good basketball plays down the stretch off the PnR, but the Rockets great defense was able to stop the Clippers. As for 1-on-1 iso's vs Dwight in the 4th, Dwight was just awesome with his pure athleticism. When Dwight just focuses on the game and forgets about all that tit-for-tat emotional fouling, he becomes a dominant MVP level player.
I think this next game largely decides his legacy. 23 year old Dwight lead a Magic team to the Finals. There was no debate who the second best player was. 6 years later and he hasn't accomplished much. Injuries haven't helped, but he's still been disappointing. This year we were able to shut him down for 2 months specifically so he could be playoff ready. He's gotta bring it all Sunday. I know he will. But he's gotta lead to. I don't know what happened to Harden, still flu ridden maybe, but his past collapses in the Finals for OKC and last year worries me. It's gotta be Dwight
