Simple: pound it to Yao, make the shots, reduce TO. Slow it down, dont let them have opportunities to run. We can beat the Warriors.
Chuck Hayes will have a career high in points. He will get 3-4 layups in the 1st quarter. I admit to not having seen the Warriors much, but what I saw was awful on defense. Unless they are very good at playing zone, even our offense should have an easy time. On defense, it's all about effort. It may take us a few minutes to figure them out, but we will and they will shoot a very % from the floor. Nellie is getting too much love this season. He is way better than their old coach but that isn't saying much. Nellie cannot take a team to a championship level because he doesn't coach defense. If Tracy plays in the game and plays decent, this is an easy win for the Rockets. If we come out sluggish and take the game for granted, the Warriors could steal one.
That is not happening- at best I will be happy if he contains him. Too often penetrating guard end up banging into Yao and getting him out of actiona early. We have to be ready for Match Up wizard Nellie! And shoot high percentage 3 pointers. V Span will see more playing time
lol. what makes the warriors so speacial? i cant believe you even created a topic for this. theyre not even conference final contenders
We can beat to death ways of trying to slow down Baron Davis and J-Rich, but i'm willing to bet the difference in the game will be our ability to shut down or at least contain Monta Ellis and the rest of their strong bench. The Warriors have seven players averaging double figures in a quick, explosive and dangerous offense. Generally, this means the downside will be the team plays little defense and gives up a ton of points. Here's some fun numbers comparing what Phoenix and GS both score and give up per game: Phoenix 107.6 PPG (2nd best) 104.3 PPG (3rd worst) Golden State 106.9 PPG (3rd best) 104.2 PPG (4th worst) compared to...... Houston 92.1 PPG (2nd worst) 87.6 PPG (League Best) Now, calling GS a clone of Phoenix isn't entirely accurate as both teams have different strengths at different positions, however GS does love to "run and gun" just like Phoenix and it seems as if line ups like that have given us trouble. If we are to win we MUST slow the pace down. More or less to compensate for Yao's lack of quickness running the court. The last thing we need is the big fella out there winded and committing stupid frustration fouls. If we slow them down and exploit their lack of an inside scorer that means they will settle for more jump shots. Limiting their transition opportunities is key as well. The way I see it, I expect them to shoot and shoot a lot. Davis is a notorious chucker, Ellis is playing great but is kind of a ball hog and J-Rich has gotten T-Mac Syndrome and is absolutely in love with the long-range jump shot. They have little interior presence as Murphy prefers the mid-range game and at times camping out on the three-point line. Biedrins is having a monster year but he lacks the post skills to become a go-to-guy inside, especially being matched up with a 7'6" monster. Another noteworthy statistic worth pointing out: team 3's attempted per game. 1. Phoenix 24.4 2. Houston 23.9 3. Golden State 21.9 We would do well to get those attempts per game down and start attacking the basket more especially against a soft defensive team like GS.
I would think Van Gundy should try and play zone a little more this game. You WANT the Warriors shooting 3s. The first key to stopping them is forcing Davis out of the lane. They've got a few nice athletes who can penetrate and score attacking the basket (Davis, Richardson, Pietrus, Ellis) but they seem 3-point happy, so we should be willing to oblige.
Per YowYao: "lol. what makes the warriors so speacial? i cant believe you even created a topic for this. theyre not even conference final contenders" The Warriors can run us to death. Nellie is a cypher- he is very innovative with offensive strategy and should get more credit when they work. Baron Davis is very hot right now and is healthy-he can play on the highest level til he gets hurt again. This is a hard team to play. With their bench we need to carefully manage our star's minutes so Yao, Battier, and our starters tounges are not dragging the floor. Do not under estimate this Warriors team . __________________
Currently, the Spurs are beating the Warriors 72-48. There is 7 minutes left in the THIRD. It looks like the Warriors should worry about stopping us.
The Rockets have lost 5 games almost all to the top 10 3pt shooting teams. They have given us alot of problems. They are the teams we are losing too. Golden State is our 2nd best opponent at 3s. Van Gundy's defense is set up to defend the paint at all costs and to allow the opposing teams to shoot the 3. It didn't work against the Spurs(6th in 3s), Pistons(7th), Phoenix(1st). We narrowly beat a weak Bulls team by a point. I wonder if this will be another game like Phoenix, Pistons, Spurs, and Bulls, where will end up losing or winning by one shot.
The Warriors haven't beaten the Lakers.Yao should have a nice game and the Rockets should win.I think we are the better team.
