I'm in the camp that says running a lot of minutes with Harden at point with Brewer and Ariza at the 2/3 switching off Parsons and Monta is a really interesting strategy. I also think you need to put in Capela as Dwight's backup. Shot blocking at the rim to keep the easy layups that Monta and Parsons feed off. The only problem with the Brewer/Ariza tandem with Harden at the point is you don't really have to work on defense in the halfcourt on either of those two guys. Man I wish we had another creators on this team.
The Dirk/Ellis P&R is what is scary if Dirk has it going. -Monta is going to get his, and he's great at getting to the rim in late game situations if you let him. I think Ariza can give him fits, but in the P&R, it presents a problem again... if Dirk is going off, and you have to make a choice about who to play closer. -Hot shooting from Parsons can also hurt the Rockets. There will be situations where he's really the guy you have to help off of. I assume Harden will spend most of the time on him. Make him a bystander in their offense if you can. He's a good P&R player too, but I see them putting him off the ball more. If he's making his shots its going to hurt the Rockets. -Contain the boards & Chandler. Pretty simple. -Rondo has shown up before many times in the playoffs. I expect we will see a better version of Rondo then we've seen in years, but not sure if Carlisle is prepared to let him be Rondo and take the ball out of Monta's hands. If we see more of Devin Harris then that means they are putting more faith in spreading the floor for Monta to break down the defense. However Rondo on defense is pretty good. The guy is going to step it up on that end, and could give Harden a hard time. -Make your damn free throws. Don't allow Carlisle to force you to go small. This probably isn't the team you want to sacrifice defense by going small. Carlisle has no shame, and I fully expect this series to really push the issue in the league office to change the free throw rules.
I disagree with Brewers man...he runs around too much. Pretty annoying. He continues to move hince back door cuts and flashes in the paint.
Basically Ariza is going to have to single coverage Ellis and force him into long jumpers, while the rest of the team works on denying Dirk and Parsons the ball. If they start running PnR and Dirk gets hot, we are going to get in trouble quick. Rondo we just have to deny him penetration as he is useless from long range.
Jones and Smith have to abuse Dirk on defense every single possession. McFail should recognize that mismatch and the fact that Dirk cannot guard anybody anymore.
The key to beating them is to let Rondo and Monta shoot as many shots as possible, while boxing out Tyson and not letting Dirk touch the ball. I would double off Monta and Rondo, but not leave Dirk and Parsons open. The more Monta shoots, the more every one else just stands around. 1 vs. 1 is just not how you win games. However, if he drives and dishes out to the open player for a 3, that is detrimental to us.
