Have B̶o̶s̶h̶, C̶a̶r̶m̶e̶l̶o̶, L̶a̶M̶a̶r̶c̶u̶s̶, D̶u̶r̶a̶n̶t̶, H̶o̶r̶f̶o̶r̶d̶, G̶a̶s̶o̶l̶, L̶l̶u̶l̶l̶ changed their mind about coming here? Superstar summer here we come! Were getting Blake, Millsap and Gordon!!!1 Who doesn't want to play in Houston?!? I bet there's a really long line of stars outside of Toyota Center this summer!
They are tough just like every year. They are very well balanced defensively and the system is great. You have to exploit what they are giving you in game. You run PnR and have harden switch onto dedmon and try and attack that. But pop is great so you won't be able to continue for long it depends whether he switches lineups or puts Kawhi in harden. If Kawhi goes onto Harden Harden has to look to facilitate and hope our shots are falling. Also, to your credit, this is where secondary playmaking will come in huge. Gordon is going to be important in that potential series. I think the key to beating Sas is whether we shoot a decent % or not. 33% and we won't win. 38% and we win. The fouls won't be there for Harden against them, so he will have to attack and finish strong relentlessly. I don't think there is a blueprint to beat Sas besides countering pops adjustments throughout the game. IMO, You just have to have quality efficiency, which is very difficult against them, but why I believe gsw beats them.
This. While the cap went up this offseason and isn't expected to jump significantly this coming season, we essentially got him for the rest of his prime. He's a non athletic PF whose game will be spreading the floor with the Rockets. Like Capela, he is probably more valuable to us based on Harden's game but I don't see him being impossible to move.
I dont see us even wanting to move him unless a superstar becomes available. Even then if a dude like paul george becomes available then you move ariza and williams 1st
So that last statement says the Spurs beat us inn round 2, is that what you're saying? Here's what's going to happen. They're going to deny our shooters....period. Kawhi is going to be on Harden down the stretch. They're going to force Harden and Capela to attempt to beat them while they attack Capela on the other end.
No I am optimistic we will beat them but it will require our team and not just Harden. They will play tough defense on the perimeter, which is why I said secondary playmaking will be a big factor. Once they close out, on Gordon for instance, he's got to be efficient creating off the dribble. Also why I said efficiency will be important. We will get open looks, maybe not as much as normal, and when we do we have to be hitting them at a high clip. But this is hypothetical. We need to focus on and beat okc first.
Yeah. I don't think Gordon is good enough off the dribble to beat the Spurs. That's the best defense in the Association.
In December I would have argued with you about it, but sadly your right. He never had the handles but he was really good and good enough at the beginning of the year. I'm hoping this end of season rest and minutes restrictions he's gotten has refreshed him. If he's plays like that we eat Sas. If we play like our absolute peak of December right after bev came back? We could have an outside shot of making the finals. That's what I hope for. 19-2 level basketball in the playoffs. I fear we peaked early and all our injury prone players are gassed by not being hurt lol. And by no means do I believe if we lost in the 2nd rd to Sas that the season would be a failure. They are the second best team in the league.
I think Gordon's back issues are at play here. When he's fresh and healthy he looks so much better. But when he gets dinged his game sinks, shooting percentages go in the toilet and he's not nearly as good going to the rim.
Absolutely. We will need a surprise to get past the second round this year. Harden is insane, but one man can only do so much in the playoffs. That's part of the reason I was bummed about losing dekker. Not that I expect him to be good, but he was one more candidate who could have surprised given that he did play well earlier this year. To your point about Ryan being key to beating GS , I absolutely agree, the game we beat them he played great ... and so did dekker and Harrell. THe last game we played GS , we played them very well and Dekker played well too ( I think they didn't have KD and we didn't have Ryan + harden was dealing with wrist ) I think we have some decent matchups against them.
This dude stepped it up with his rebounding. He had 12 last night: 9 Def, 3 Off. On the other hand, he only had 4 points. 1-6 from the field and 0-4 from 3. That has to change. He stretches defenses with his range but if hes not knocking down shots, then defenses wont respect him as much. Did yall know this dude makes 18.74 million dollars?
He had 2 impressive rebounds, lost 1 or 2 rebounds he should have hung onto. The rest were pure luck of the draw. He did help create that open space for Harden to go to work early. But if Bev & our posts don't step up there would be 5+ threads about him sucking right now.
He creates open space, get's hot every 10 games or so, rebounds and plays D sometimes. I'm re-watching the game and he shoots so fast as if he's scared it's going to be blocked. Slow down and get off a good 3.
I thought of this thread every time I saw Anderson on the floor last night. And I thought of this thread again when he pulled a couple nice rebounds. And I thought of this thread again when he was playing the garbage minutes at the end.
D'antoni probably used that time to get him in shape since he had been out for awhile, then on a minutes restriction.
