Dallas game is going to be huge. So many mismatches on the court. Yao will be unstoppable inside, Toine and Dirk will light it up from 3-pt land, Francis gets to the lane all night long. The game will be intense but Dallas doe has home advantage as well as better bench over Houston. The only way Rockets win this one is to do something unorthodox and beat Dallas at their own game. Yao's inside game and Stevie's "Franchise" shakes are not good enough to consistently punish Dallas Zone defense. Houston has to open up their playbook and create a more balanced offense to keep up with Dallas high powered offense. After watching Miami game, Padget is the perfect 3pt bomber to compliment Yao on the weakside. He won't shut Dirk down(Although I do think he will be better at keeping up with Dirk from the 3pt land) but he's outside shooting will take Dirk away from the paint and allow guard penetration. If he gets hot and hit a few, Houston offense will have much better flow. I am not suggesting Padgett starting every game, just this one against Dallas.
If we're going to beat Dallas, we won't do it by playing their game. We'll do it by shutting down their game. Defense is never so important as when you play a great offensive team. Let's get our 3's from Mobley and Jackson and maybe Steve. Dallas is about the last team against whom I'm gonna bench a defensive presence (Cato) for a marginal offensive one (Padgett). Besides which, we've got four scoring threats already in the starting five and virtually none off the bench. If Padgett's hitting, we need him to do that more with the second unit than with our comparably loaded first one.
We've gotta hope that some of the Big time Mavs get into early foul trouble. Also, we do have to feed the ball into Yao tonight. He has to be tough in this game. We can't allow Nash to run all over us sproadically. We must contain the easy shots, no wide open looks tonight. Nash, Dirk and Finely will get their numbers. Let's hope Walker and Jameson don't take over also.
Batman, Kato's will be lost in the 3pt land if he's guarding toine or Dirk. He's defensive presence will be totally neglected and he will be abused all night long. Dallas is a tough match up for the Rockets because they have so many good shooter. Rocket defense is good, but not that good. Also hoping for Dallas to have a poor shooting game at home is like prying the Shaq gets injured when Rockets play them. Dallas always shoot well at home since their long bombers are in their comfort zone. If we had a motivated Eddie, maybe we can shut Dallas down. The only way Rocket can be Mavs is to score at century.
Well, yes, and if Matt Bullard had been Michael Jordan we'd have a couple more banners. No such thing as a motivated Eddie. No such thing as an Eddie who can shoot or do anything special on defense aside from block shots. But I digress... While Dallas has one of the best scoring squads in the league, our standout strength is our defense. I'd rather rely on that (and Yao, for whom they have no answer) than trying to out-shoot a team full of great shooters. Cato will be there to board and team with Yao in denying Dallas easy buckets. If we leave Yao (the only offensive force Dallas has no answer for and the one who will give our shooters open looks) alone to defend the lane, we'll leave our number one weapon against Dallas open to foul trouble. And when Cato and Yao are in there together, we'll out rebound the undersized Mavs easily. And Padgett offers... what? A fourth possible three point shooter who's on an uncharacteristic streak? Let's use him off the bench and hope for another good night, but if we win this game it'll be first and foremost because our defense was better than their offense. And, as far as defense goes, I'm going to war with Cato over Padgett ten times out of ten.
I think one of the players get Dirk to lose his focus complimenting his new shaved head--and then call him the tallest Nazi ever.
We have to hold them to 90. Steve Francis and Yao Ming MUST have big games. Mobley, JJ, and Padgett have to come up with some points. The problem is, they will play Dirk at C on offense to force Yao out of the paint. I say let's play man-to-man, and let Yao defend the PF and attack the C, whoever that may be, on offense. No way Bradley and Fortson can contain Yao. Fortson is too short, and Bradley could BARELY limit Yao last season. Yao and Steve BOTH must score close to 30 for us to win this game.
