I'm not too worried about this. The thing about Vujacic is that his defense is really unique, in terms of the constant ball pressure and physical play, and it's effective on an individual game basis because you don't see that every night and you can get flustered. But there's a reason more defenders don't play that way, and over the course of a series, I don't see why Von can't figure it out and adapt. The reason defenders don't play that close is that it leaves them vulnerable to a quick first step, which Wafer has. It'll just take more decisiveness off the dribble and movement without the ball, and less excessive dribbling (you know what I'm getting at here). It's doable. My only concerns are whether Wafer's back can hold up to driving inside, and whether he has the court vision to kick it out to the open man when Sasha funnels him into the trees. He's gotten a little better lately (re: his vision), and if that keeps up, I think he'll have a good series. Keep in mind, there's a reason why Wafer scored 17/game on LA this season on 58% shooting. They're not a bad matchup for him, Sasha included. Von should figure it out.
As much as I despise that Sasha guy, he absolutely owned Von Wafer--totally made him a non-factor in the game. I also thought Carl Landry was very ineffective. Hopefully that only means that our chances for more victories will improve if only Carl and Von play the way we know they can. Speaking of ineffective, I don't think I've ever seen Brent Barry look so lost out there as he did last night.
Precisely! This is the reason they had Sasha harrassing him. Wafer has pretty much burned the Lakers all season. They saw how effective he was in the Portland series, so they figured they would put Sasha on him to frustrate him. And guess what.....it worked. I saw Von at the end of the game going down the tunnell and he was visibly pissed. Hopefully this will fire him up instead of frustrate him more. This is it....Make or break time. If Von wants to be a Rocket next season it's time to put up or shut up.
The fact that Vujacic is in the rotation for the Lakers lets you know how pathetically thin they are at the guard positions (outside of Kobe, of course). Sasha is a compete douche bag with borderline NBA talent. Expect Von to go back to being Von starting in game 2. Sorry Sasha. Fisher, Vujacic, Farmar and a guy named Shannon are the other Laker guards. I'm starting to believe the Rockets really do have a chance at beating this team.
Great post, Cat. Wafer should be able to school Vujacic. He just had an off game last night. Hopefully, his back is a non-issue.
I was very disappointed with Wafer last night. I expect him to do better but I'm worried about the matchup problem that he had. He has to adjust and become a consistent player in order to survive in the league.
i want you guys to be right, but until i see this happen in the playoffs (not the regular season)....i'm hoping to avoid this match-up. we will just have to wait and see. btw, as for the back...i doubt it's an issue.
I admit I didn't see Landry quite in the same light as you did, but I totally agree that unless Carl and Von play like the way we need them to we won't have much of a chance at winning more games.
Wafer got frustrated because the Vag was hanging on him. Don't expect it to continue, Wafer is quicker than Vag, and will torch him before its over.
It seemed like every time Wafer put the ball on the floor he'd dribble it into the crowd and lose the ball.
I agree this was just Sasha's rather unusual pressure and pesky defense that got into Von's head and never allowed him to get into his rhythm. Hopefully it's just one a time thing. If he keeps pressuring Von like this we should at the very least send a screen his way. With Von's dynamite first step he'll easily get by him that way.
Von did well vs Vuja in the regular season, he was getting handchecked on every play. Von didn't do well in the first game versus the Blazers, but I think he will do much better. Vuja coming off 3 screens will be difficult for Von, but thats when someone has to come over and help
Von played for the Lakers, Im sure Phil knows he has no handles. Probably told Sasha to get in his grill and it worked. Id like to see him get the ball coming off a pick or cutting to the lane. Theres no way Sasha can hold him.
So true, excellent counter to put Lowry in the game with AB to shut down Vujachick. Von must run off screens and curl to keep Vu off of him and forget about the tackyness of Vu and take the rock right at him. Don't hesistate once you catch it. We could also switch him to Brown or Farmer and let Lowry check Vujachick. This doesn't allow him to check Von on the other end.
Sasha is a decent defender, he's so annoying though. He's just as bad as Lambieer and Karl Malone. Wafer needs to own him though, I hate Sasha.
Vujacic did get into Wafer's head last night and forced him out of his game, but if Von calms down he can blow by Sasha the same way he blew by Rudy Fernandez in round 1. Despite what some of you may think, Vujacic doesn't have the speed or quickness to keep up with Von. I agree with The Cat, Von should just adjust to Vujacic's style and then he'll be able to do his thing. He'll either blow by Sasha or force the refs to call a foul on him since Vujacic is borderline fouling to begin with anyway. To be fair, we should also mention that Sasha didn't do much last night either.
Bill Simmons is jealous that Sasha Vujacic gets so much hot tail in LA, but that doesn't make his jabs any less funny. From his diary: 11:31: Sasha Vujacic flops for a pushoff call on Von Wafer. Let's continue to reward foreign players who leap backward every time someone bumps them. No, really. This is what the fans want. 10:28: Yao pulls a Parish-like drop step on Gasol, then gets fouled on the attempted dunk and hits both freebies. Meanwhile, Doug Collins reports that the constant chatter between Wafer and Vujacic is escalating. Don't get my hopes up that someone might punch Sasha in the face, Doug. That's just not fair. Wow. I thought I was the only one who wanted to see Sasha getting punched in the face.
