in Game 1, Portland deliberately targetted Harden on defense, making him work, I believe making him tired and ineffective. The problem is that Houston has no one that can make Portland's stars "work". Lillard who is Portland's worse defender by far(almost k-mart level bad) can essentially rest on defense by getting Beverly. Aldridge, at the same time can rest on Jones. So Portland's superstars can comfortably defend the 4th and 5th options on the Rockets. For the Rockets to win, they have to target Lillard and Aldridge and make them at least work on the defensive end. If they continue to just let them rest on the defensive end, expect these offensive explosions to happen regularly throughout the series.
This is why we could use Lowry and why we should pursue him this summer, 2-way player that would wear down Lillard or any other western guard on both sides of the floor. Aldridge on the other hand was just on fire last night.
Umm...I disagree? 1 game in the playoffs vs 4 in the regular season. You say potato. I say HARDEN AND HOWARD KNOW BETTER THAN THAT AND WILL TAKE A GIANT DUMP ON PORTLAND THE REST OF THE SERIES! GO ROCKETS
LOL so dumb. Harden and Dwight dominated Portland in all 4 games, but they have 1 night and this thread pops up. I love Clutchfans.
Congratulations.... This is probably the worst thread on here since the "fire Morey" thread or the "Lin sux" thread.
Stop over reacting. My god, Harden when effing 8/28 last night. That's just a horrible shooting night from here. Believe me, when Harden gets back into that zone of shooting. Portland will have no answers. Just remember, LMA when for 46 points. He ain't doing that all game. Lillard has 31 which he not going to do every game. Their bench is HORRIBLE! Just HORRIBLE. They had only 6 points at the start of the 4th. No free throws at the start was a killer too. Stop worrying. Houston knows what to do, not sure if Mchale knows though.
I admit, Portland was lucky to pull out that win. I say lucky because there were some ridiculous shots at crucial time that they HAD to make to make a comeback. The shot by Batum and Adridge for 3 back to back to tied the game up...that was uncalled for. Plus the whole game Harden failed to attack and didn't shoot well. And what about those Asiks illegal picks and yet despite all of that, Portland only won by 2 POINTS!! Give them credit for making those important shots and Lilliard attacking the hoops and making the basket while drawing foul, but we still have a chance to win it with a 3 or tied with a 2. I just think there is just so many stupid things the Rockets did that hurt the team....right down to the coaches.
I think the whole idea of making Harden work harder on defense to limit him on offense thing gets overblown. It's not like Harden went off early and wore down as the game went on, he was off the whole night. Correlation is not causation, and if Portland really wants to give their offensive possessions to Wesley Matthews instead of Lillard or Aldrige, they're welcome to it. I'll take a Wesley Matthews post-up over an Aldridge 18 footer or Lillard 3 any day, no matter who's guarding Matthews. Harden had a bad game. It happens. He's played well against Portland all season and I don't think they did anything special defensively to stop him last night, so I don't expect him to play poorly all series.
Excuses. We're the better team with the better record. We should've won game 1. Harden has not shown up in the playoffs since being a Rockets. His legacy will be defined this series. So will Daryl Morey's and coach Mchales
I don't think Harden/Howard can play any worse than last night. Look forward to us winning 4 in a row.
what are you talking about. harden missed a buncha same looks he takes in every game, including some wide open mid rangers and some floater sort shots. this is an ideal matchup for both of them....that's why it was so irritating we lost game 1 when we had it...
Howard or Asik has to play Aldridge and help the team get more defensive rebounds. If they do that, they'll be fine. Lillard is a low 40s FG% volume shooter and McHale should use Lin more on him to make him work. Lin has the size that can reduce Lillard's shooting efficiency.
The differences you see in a playoff series vs regular season matchups are due to the coaching chess match. Stotts has passed his tests so far.
Wes Matthews is 6'5 220lbs. He'd either run Bev/Lin right over(risking injury) or muscle them into Harden (risking turnover). Harden needs to set the pick and then pop, forcing Lillard to stay with him.
Just because Charles Barkley says so, it doesn't make it true They posted Mathews up a couple times at the beginning of the game. He scored a couple and got stopped a few times. Outside of a couple plays, they weren't making harden work particularly hard on defense
I agree with everything except the bolded. How many games does it take to make a trend? Aldridge owns the Rockets almost as much as Les Alexander.
