I'm sick of the NBA trying to cover up this huge disparity between the East and the West. There is no way the Cavaliers are what their record indicates them to be. The Rockets face the Cavs on the end of a back to back with the earliest start they've had all season. Cavs Schedule next 10 games: Tue vs Houston 7:00pm Thu 25 vs Washington 8:00pm Sun 28 vs Miami 7:00pm Tue 30 @ Miami 7:30pm Fri 02 vs Chicago 7:30pm Sun @ Washington 1:00 PM Wed 07 vs Charlotte 7:00PM Fri 09 vs Boston 8:00pm Tue 13 @ Memphis 8:00pm Thu 15 @ Chicago 8 Even with the terrible officiating tomorrow, the Rockets will prevail. Battier and Artest will stomp Bron Bron.
Defense Double LeBron with both Battier and Artest. Leave Ben Wallace wide open his offensive skill = that of Chuck Hayes. That's what teams do when Chuck Hayes is on the court. This should be the Rockets starting lineup to matchup against the Cavs. Brooks vs Mo Williams McGrady vs Delonte West Battier vs Lebron Artest vs Ben Wallace Yao vs Big Z Offense Post McGrady early and often and let him him go to work on the smaller Cavs back court. If they double hopefully Battier, Artest and Brooks are on from long range. Also putting Artest on Ben Wallace forces Ben to guard Artest so all Artest has to do is stay out of the paint and let Yao go to work without having the paint clogged.
Just watch. If the Rockets aren't hitting from the outside and don't take good care of the ball, it could be a very long game. Artest's ability to stop LeBron is long gone. I remember one Pacers/Cavs game near Christmastime 3-4 years ago where Artest basically beat up LeBron on both ends of the floor and made him look weak. Those days are over. If the Cavs bring their "A" game, the Rockets will have a tough time. Edit: Htown57 you have some good ideas, but this year's Cavs are much different than the team that lost to the Spurs. LeBron was out of gas and never recovered after pummeling the Pistons in Game 5 that year. Right now, he is fresh and a much better player on both ends. His supporting cast is also on another level. If you commit too much to stopping LeBron, the Cavs will kill you. The confidence their other players have will shock you. If the Rockets throw a hard double-team at LeBron on a consistent basis, the Cavs will slice them to pieces because he is a great passer. For the first time since Mike Brown became coach, the Cavs actually have offensive sets that work and hold up under pressure. The other players are very good at cutting to the basket and getting in scoring position when LeBron has the ball. Tracy is going to be the key. If his outside shot is off, uh oh. If he tries to attack the basket, he will find the Cavs one of the hardest teams in the NBA to finish on or draw a foul from. They are good at flustering teams that like to attack the basket, forcing them into missing long or contested jumpers and scoring off the break.
let him shoot and guard his pass, there's no way we can defend him, but there're many ways we can put his teammate out.
I am so afraid that LeBron will score 40-50 points and the Cav fans will laugh at us And then other fans will say we don't have defense, or that it's severely overrated. Also, that T-Mac is a poor man's Kobe... I'm insecure about the Rockets =( In any case, hopefully I am proven wrong. If we are the first to give the Cavaliers their FIRST home loss, that'd be something...but my insecurity senses tell me that it's unlikely to happen, especially on a back to back.
This is going to be interesting. Aaron Brooks is going to be my projected Cavaliers killer, at least at the beginning of the game.
Obviously it is gonna be tough. It is great that we have Shane and Ron, because I am sure it will make the life tougher for leBron. But it will have to be team effort for sure. We will have to play great team defense. From what I have seen this season you HAVE TO give him space to shoot. He is still not a good shooter so if you can make him take tough jumpers you will be fine. What I noticed was also the fact, that this year around 60% of his points are comming from dunks and layups. Most of those hoops are on fast breaks. You have to take care of the ball, you can't give him easy dunks. But as I said, force him to shoot, let him beat you from the outside.
Let's say Shane and Ron find a way to hold LeBron to 20 points. Are the other Cavaliers capable of putting up 80 points - totalling 100? The correct answer is no. That means, assuming we shoot a decent percentage (42+), we win
I'd have to disagree. This years Cavs team can easily putup 80 points. Thats the huge difference between them now and a few years ago.
On previous matchups between artest and lebron. 6-2 in favour of artest. With lebron scoring 24.8 points on .457 shooting. On previous games between lebron and the rox. 7-2 in favour of rox. With lebron scoring 21.9 points on .384 shooting. I think, we could expect a 20 point on 8-20 night from lebron and a rox win.
As the cliche goes, you can't stop him, you can only hope to contain him (or hope he has an off day). The focus is not only making LBJ work hard, but also making sure Mo, Delonte, and Z don't get into a rhythm. Those 3 guys can balance the load for the team. And we really need to play some transition D, which has been a lack of focus for us. We will also need very good ball movement against a swarming Cavs defense. Yao, Landry, Scola, etc will need to work hard on the boards. Conversely, facing defenders like Artest and Shane should give the Cavs' offense fits. And if Brooks, Tmac, Shane, etc can get the outside shots falling it will be a long night for them. Yao could cause some trouble against Z. This is a good matchup as Yao prefers playing against slower, traditional centers. If he's aggressive he can get Ben and Varejao into foul trouble which will send a monkey wrench into their defense.
1. back off, let him shoot long jumpers because he's not a good shooter 2. box-and-one defense /thread
LeBron is an animal. You can't stop him. Just like Kobe. But you can try to contain him and that is going to take a lot of hard work. We are playing on a back to back and they aren't. This is going to be a great game.
i don't see we have any trouble to defend lebron. we have two of best wing defenders in NBA. they will take turn to slow down him. lebron will get his points but his % will not look good for sure in 2nite game. well other rox players will have a huge test ahead of them to control cavs other players. actually this is my concern for 2nite game.
Try to keep in between him and the basket, and let him take jumpshots. Deny the ball to the other players. LeBron is a great passer, and is an unstoppable force if he makes his jumpshots.
+1. The east is a joke. Celtics is good, everything else is a joke. A bunch of crap.. don't know sh** about how they just gain extra advantage of the schedule by raping tragic teams like thunders, kings, clippers...the cavs would be #9 by now if they are in the west. Good job Stern you just made a huge joke...
Cavs are for real. Lebron is playing at a Jordan type level now. That's the difference. His role players are better than the past and know their role. Great team chemistry, and the right pieces. A very dangerous team. They have the balance - a superstar who can get it done and a team full of guys who can support him. You look at the great teams, they all need that one guy who is money. Boston has Paul Pierce, the Lakers have Kobe, and the Cavs have LeBron.
It's not too hard to figure out the game plan against James: Play soft and force him to shoot, neutralizing his drives and passes. Too bad he's so strong he'll just drive anyway. Let's hope a combination of Battier, Artest, and doubling will throw him off his game. I think we try and utilize Hayes as a help defender when Wallace is in the game, and of course put Battier and Artest both in at the end if its close. The secondary game plan should be to get McGrady going against West. West and Williams are the Cavs two best secondary options. If West can't hold McGrady, he'll get yanked for Pavlovic who can't score nearly as well. That leaves Williams. With defensive resources focused elsewhere, I think he can really burn us with his drives and outside shot. It'll be up to Rafer to try and contain him, and Brooks to at least try and outscore him. Another potential problem is when Z steps out for his mid-range J. He can be deadly, and Yao hates to get out so far from the basket. I think Yao just needs to bite the bullet and come out on him. Let him try and go around Yao, if he does he's so slow someone is bound to be able to help by the time he gets to the basket.
