what he does against us is he tries to get everyone involved in the first half, saving his energy for crunch time. We can't let him do that. Let him beat us, not the role players. If we make him try and do all the work, he'll tire out. he won't have the legs to rise up for three pointers 5 feet beyond the arc, which he has done on multiple occasions against us late in the 4th. If we let him use energy and score in the first three quarters, he won't be able carry them in the 4th. then in the 4th, we can double him and make him pass. ONe thing shane needs to do is make him work. I don't know if shane has the strength, but he should post up on kobe and make him expend energy on the defensive end. that's why he's got all that energy in the 4th against us. He guarding a stationary three point shooter all night long. If he guards ron, post ron up. he can't take him down on the box. Honestly I don't expect us to win the series, but I think we have a chance
As much as most of you guys like to bash him, we have to let Aaron Brooks be aggressive if we have any chance to win....
Lakers have an advantage in length, so EVERYONE including the guards must help with defensive rebounds.
First off, you don't need to double Kobe. He's turning into more of a perimeter and mid-range oriented player that noticeably does not drive or take shots inside 10-feet of the basket as much as he used to. Play him one-on-one and do your best to match his minutes with Artest and Battier's in order to negate any advantages the Lakers will try to get on a screen-and-switch. The Lakers like to run their high screens so having a second quality defender like Artest capable of checking Kobe is absolutely essential in case Battier is forced to switch. Second, I like our chances better with more Bynum and less Odom. When Odom is "on" the Lakers are nearly unbeatable with his scoring/rebounding punch off the bench. With Bynum back and starting Odom's minutes have decreased somewhat. Nothing against Bynum either. He's a decent player but he's simply no match for Yao. In addition to decreasing Odom's minutes, having Bynum back means Gasol, who either has outplayed or canceled Yao out this season, slides back to the four and thereby becomes Scola/Landry/Hayes' problem. Having Deke would be crucial in this series given their tremendous size advantage but that obviously was not meant to be. Third, Artest has a tendency to try to do too much whenever challenged by a trash talker or premier defender. We've seen it happen plenty of times and he's definitely been in one or two trash talking matches with Kobe, who essentially dared him to take over the game. A "dare" that usually results in plenty of bad shots, turnovers and head-scratching plays. We need Artest playing exactly like he played in game one against Portland: letting the PG's handle the rock, moving without the ball and flashing to the 3-pt line for spot-up's. Artest playing with his head screwed on for 48 minutes is absolutely essential. Fourth, [and this goes along with what I was saying earlier about NOT doubling Kobe] you can't let their role players kill you. The best way to present an opportunity for them to do so is not respect their shooting. Fisher, Vujacic, Walton, Brown, Farmar and all those guys are absolutely lethal if you leave them open. We have enough problems with Kobe/Gasol/Odom to factor in a Trevor Ariza-type killing us. Easier said than done, I realize that, just saying don't double or play with your head down thus enabling one of those guys to cut, move or find an open spot. We've has issues in the past with athletic wings like the Ronnie Brewer types killing us on cuts and going backdoor. That's precisely the way Ariza plays. Fifth, use the JVG "feed the big man til he can't eat anymore" philosophy with Yao. Yao [obviously] needs to be the guy to carry us and the one player the Lakers SHOULD have no answer for. I really think things might be a little different now with Yao no longer having to guard Gasol. That's a huge plus for us. Feed Yao and get the Lakers to start thinking. They'll start doubling, in which case we absolutely HAVE to have our shooters punish them. This is the type of series the stars all have to essentially align if we're going to seriously contend with this team. We can't afford any Luther-Head-esque performances from the field. We won't even come close to beating this team, if that's the case. We can hang with this team. Don't be fooled by the 0-4 record. The Lakers are not "4-0" better than us.
The key is to play physical. The only way they can win is if they play like the Celtics did against them in Finals. That is why i think we have somewhat of a chance. I think the Rockets are one of the more physical teams in league. They were desperate for Bynum to have some force down low but he cannot push Yao around. Scola has to play tough and not flop around.
I don't see why the Lakers wouldn't front Yao like the Blazers did. The only difference might be that Phil picks and chooses when he does it in key spots of the game to throw off the rhythm of the offense. The difference between the Lakers team that beat everyone this year and the one that was destroyed by the Celtics last year was that last year LA tried to "flip the switch" of when they would bring defensive intensity while Boston was focused all series. ...I think the Rockets best chance to the series is to disrupt Odom and Gasol by limiting their easy buckets(specifically off of offensive boards). Both players have histories of folding in big moments and Odom specifically is prone to long slumps. If Houston can put a body on Odom consistently and make him work hard for every shot, I think they can frustrate him and he's one of those guys who's effort correlates directly to how involved he feels. When he has bad shooting nights, his effort tends to wane and LA NEEDS him on the offensive glass. When he is cleaning up boards, that's when the Lakers are at their best. If Houston limits the easy buckets, I think you'll see his long range shooting will also dip too. He's just one of those streaky type of guys. Gasol is more of a gamer, but he seems to be more aggressive offensively when he has a few easy ones to put him in the flow of the game. His length and mobility at the 4 is a huge issue for us. Scola & Landry will need to play some of the best basketball of their lives to try and stick with Gasol but I don't think it's impossible - it's just going to take even more effort. I think we have a shot given how Scola upped his game against Aldridge. ...Brooks is also going to have to up his game - specifically on the defensive end where Fisher's veteran smarts have allowed him to kill Brooks in the 4th quarters of our games with them. I would also like to see Brooks and Wafer to be smarter with the ball and not turn it over as much going to the paint as we will need to play near flawless ball to beat the Lakers. ....one other key to the series is Houston needs to attack early and often to get the Lakers in foul trouble. Everyone is going to have to take it upon themselves to get in the paint at least a few times each quarter - even if they kick out when they get there. If the Rockets can get some of their players in foul trouble, it will mess with the Lakers' rotation which is one of their strengths. Don't give Jackson the luxury of dictating the style of play through his deep bench. Force the issue although I realize that's a tall order since the Lakers will get ALL the calls at home. I don't think the Rockets will do it, but I do think they have a chance and I'm just hoping if they don't win the series, they at least make it very tough on the Lakers.
If we play the greatest D that we have ever played before, while executing our inside out game efficiently, we just may beat the Lakers in 7.
Aaron Brooks is absolutely a key. So is Von Wafer. The reason is because the Lakers averaged 108 ppg in the regular season. Blazers averaged 95. We're going from the lowest scoring playoff team in the west to the highest. We're not going to win games against the Lakers unless our defense plays great and holds them to around 100 and our offense steps up and scores around 100 points and to do that, we have to get extra points in addition to Yao, Arest, and Scola scoring. Brooks and Wafer are the two other people that are really capable of going off offensively. That being said, we have to do our best to try and slow down the game and control the tempo. The chances of us winning a game where the Lakers score 105+ points are really slim. The only game Utah won in the first round against the Lakers was when they held them to 86 points and beat them by two. In the four Laker wins, they scored 113, 119, 108, and 107.
With Pau being a caveman and all maybe someone should throw up some Geico posters in Toyota Center "So easy a caveman can do it".
one word: HOMER! ______________________ Seriously, we have to proceed with caution. If a coach was as optomistic as that, we would get swept. We will need to work hard to beat the Lakers. There are only 2 western teams that CAN beat the lakers in a 7 game series, Us and the Blazers. So we should be happy to know we CAN do it. But it's not that easy. Neutralizing their big three is a big ask. We match up bad against the Lakers, but we have defensive guns. That's what gives us the chance.
ok guys hear me out here.i like to think outside the box(former airforce tech)i I have 8 bothers not counting girls.we are some of the biggest rockets fans ever.Not only that we are not too bad on the court.Sorry now that you know my rep back to my point.I SUGGEST WE PUT VON ON KOBE. i say this after doing alot of research,now i know surely you guy have noticed that vons defense has been pretty good in the playoff.no he this not a better defender thatn shane nor ron for that matter.kobe has reached the point where shanes hand trick has be solved by kobe now that is something a good player will figure out after facing it enough.VON has speed,hops,intensity,a chip on his shoulder and this is a mind game for both players.First VON will digg deep because he gets to guard the nba best player,big confident boost.AND if worst come to worst say oh you put a so called srube on me and drops 60 we win.What do you guys think?
this post is ridiculous... knowledgeable basketball fans can see the lakers are CLEARLY a better team and more talented and consistent than we are. the only way we win any game is if the lakers don't play hard. if the lakers are focused we lose in 4. if they get lazy MAYBE we can luck up and make it to a 6th game. we will lose barring an injury to kobe or pau.
Your so far outside the box you don't even see the box anymore. Your suggesting we put an ailing 2nd string slasher with a bulged disc in his back and a tendency to get tunnel vision on offense and get lost on screens on defense against arguable the best two way guy in the NBA and one of the top players of all time? Is that seriously what your suggesting? I agree about the overconfidence thing being the Lakers downfall but I'm not sure Houston is the team who can capitalize on it. Denver might be able to and I think Cleveland has an even better chance. Phil does a good job of building up his player's confidence but they sometimes get too confident - especially with their young role players like Ariza, Vujacic, Walton, etc. They can loose focus and make mental errors which will cost them the game. Remember Sasha allowing a slowed Ray Allen to get an uncontested layup in last year's Finals? Even without Sasha's abysmal defense, the Laker's bigs gave no effort to stop the wide open layup in a clutch game. That was the problem with them last year and you better believe Phil is worried about that this year. They can play good team defense, but are players not named Kobe willing to put the effort in every game? So far this year, they have been pretty good at being more consistent but I don't know if we see that the whole playoffs. The Jazz series was practically a bye since Utah had clearly given up on the season by the time they played the Lakers.
