Somebody step on Dirk Nowitzki's ankle. Hope Avery Johnson is incompetant. Hope Dampier stays injured.
I don't know why you all are so scared. The Rockets are a very good ball club right now and you've got to give credit to JVG for making the adjustments over the season to make it work. The only reason the ROCKETS are NOT hailed as favorites (I prefer the underdog status anyways) is because they didn't come out of the gates Blazing at the beginning of the season like sonics and suns did. Aside from the Spurs right now, I OBJECTIVELY think the ROCKETS are the second best team in the league (yes, even ahead of the HEAT if you factor in what the rockets can do on DEFENSE).
Strategy: Yao dribbling hehind his back, blowing by Dirk and throwing down a nasty tomahawk on Dampiers. JVG needs to run this play over and over and over and over again...
since Jan 1st. The result of the better team in the league are: Team Pre-Jan 1 Record Now Post-Jan 1 ROX 15-15 44-28 29-13 MIA 24-7 54-18 30-11 SAS 25-6 53-18 28-12 PHX 25-4 54-17 29-13 DAL 19-10 48-23 29-13 DET 15-13 44-27 29-14 CHI 9-17 39-31 30-14 SEA 22-6 49-22 27-16 So I'd say we are playing as a top 5 team and remember we had the tougest schedule since the all star break.
Yes we can. Believe it and achieve it. If we think we are gonna lose before we play them, then we WILL lose. Remember, other than Miami and Detroit and maybe Pheonix, we are the only team that have the horses to beat the Spurs.
We won't probably bea the Mavs in teh first round, they are a hell of an offensive team AND a good defensive team if Dampier is healthy, and Josh Howard ain't too bad defensively either. Then, you got the mismatch with Dirk, who will blaze us since we have no one to defend him. Short of Yao dominating for like 30 ppg, we won't bear the Mavs. That is why it is all the more crucial that we play the Sonics, for although they are a difficult team as well, we have a better shot as underdogs against that team.
i always taught rox have problem beating SA and Mavs. i would rather play seattle or suns than mavs. Simply because mavs got tons of talent. I am not saying that we can't beat mavs in 7 game series. I am just saying that it will be much tougher against mavs. The only way i see we beat mavs is if our guards can shoot better ( remember the game that we won against mavs, we shot better) and the defensive intensity should be there every single play(especially 4th qtr since that qtr is a rocket killer)
i see your point.. the guards are relying a lot on T-Mac right now.. if it comes down to a battle b/w Dirk and T-Mac.. I don't want to see Dirk beat us and go for 50 something pts. again.. other Rox must step up.. Sura is barely shooting at all right now.. What's his problem??
Theoretically, the way to beat the Mavs is as follows. Run a smart offense focusing on keeping turnovers low. Good shooting and hitting the offensive boards are important, but for a team that CAN score at will sometimes, low turnovers are key. Focus both offensively and defensively on the interior. On offense, drive to the basket consistently, and keep Yao actively involved in the gameplan. This doesn't mean pound the ball into him endlessly, but a lot of PNR with Tmac going to the basket, Yao rolling to the basket, and post-ups. Defensively, guard the three point line and perimeter. The Mavs can shoot lights out at times, but I can't remember them EVER being an effective interior team. Overplay the exterior and force them to drive and hit a lot of running shots. Of course, this strategy leads to foul trouble, so this is also key, but if you're going to foul Dirk, and according to the refs, if you are a couple of inches just standing by him, he gets fouled, go ahead and foul him hard. Howard should be back, so that's another body to pickup fouls. If people ever complained about Yao not playing physically, watch Dirk. He's so good because he shoots lights out from the perimter. Extend the d, play physically, etc. That would be my strategy initially.
I'm not scared of them, it's just me being a little pesimistic. But for real, Dirk is going to have his way against our depleted PF rotation. He's too quick and athletic for anyone to defend well plus he gets the superstar treatment and will easily get to the line 10+ times a game in the playoffs. We need to front him well, try to confuse him with some double teams and try to make him settle for jump shots. If we foul him, foul him good---no ticky tacks. Try to force turnovers. Unless Avery goes with Darrell Armstrong to run the offense, they don't really have a pure playmaker/distributer. It's almost automatic that the team that turns the ball over less wins the game. We need to try to exploit Jason Terry's and Devin Harris' weaknesses in that aspect. Get Dampier in foul trouble. That falls on the shoulders of our 7'6" friend wearing #11. Dampier always gives Yao fits when defending him so that leaves Yao with two options: either raise your game a notch or two and just flat out dominate the guy or play like he does normally and just get the guy in foul trouble. Bradley can't defend Yao, KVH couldn't guard me, Henderson is too short and Dirk is too valuable to risk the foul trouble. You take away their options on defense, that presents a huge liability for them. Somebody make T-Mac realize there is nobody on that team that even has a prayer of guarding him. The only player that may give T-Mac some problems is Howard, but other than that he should flat out dominate and essentially cancel out anything Dirk does. He needs to not settle for jump shots and drive to the basket. By attacking the basket, he could help Yao in getting their big men in foul trouble. Hopefully he will play with a chip on his shoulder also, now that he is actually in a winning situation since the pundits biggest gripe with him seems to be his lack of postseason glory. The Mavs are solid in terms of backcourt depth. Their downfall is they are primarily a jump shooting team. Granted, when they're on fire they can light the scoreboard up but its also playoff time, those shots are harder to hit and harder to come by. If it comes down to dominating the interior and forcing a team to beat us shooting lights out in a 7 game series, I like our chances. Bottom line though, is just to play smart and defend well. If we can find ways to control the game they will be playing right into our hands.
Sura needs to step up offensively IMO. I don't think he is playing as well as he was before this last back problem. There's a slight difference.
Stop Dirk! never leave him alone to double someone else. put someone in dirks hip pocket and make everone else beat you.
Outscore them. Hope Avery Johnson sucks. Dirk owns the Rockets unless Van Gundy decides to sick T-Mac on him, not a bad idea during crunch time. Sura will have to slow Terry down, hasn't done a good job at that. Yao MUST outplay Dampier. A lot of things have to go right to beat a healthy Mavs team, maybe too many things.
In the game where we blew them out of the water, the key defensive move was JVG putting T-Mac on Dirk.... which I thought was a very smart move. First of all, the refs aren't going to foul out T-mac, but they were willing to call just the slightest contact on Juwon, Padgett, etc., giving Dirk about 25 free throws. T-Mac also gets just about as much elevation on defending jump shots (or taking jump shots) as anyone in the league. Obviously, your biggest fear of this is that Dirk will just start posting T-Mac up... but I think our defense is far better suited to guard (and double-team) against the opposing team's post-up game, than they are with the pick and roll. (that's why Duncan and Shaq normally have just OK games against us... whereas guys like Dirk and Kobe normally light us up).
Matchups: Center: Dampier/Bradley vs. Yao/Mutombo Winner: Rockets Dampier is injured and Bradley sucks. Yao/Mutombo either way should really kill this matchup but must be weary because they have to help on whoever is guarding Dirk PForward: Howard/Padgett vs. Dirk/ Van Horn Winner:Mavs These are both 4's that are mobile and can shoot. That means first guy off the bench will probably be Padgett as he is a bit quicker and longer than Clarence. Our job here would be to just limit the bleeding and have them stay in front of them as to limit Yao/Mutombo's foul trouble. SForward: T-Mac/Barry vs. Finley/ Van Horn Winner: Rockets T-Mac vs. anyon is a loss and they'll probably try to send Howard after T-mac but no one can stop T-mac, especially in the playoffs SGuard: David Wesley/ T-Mac/ James vs. Josh Howard/ Stackhouse Winner: Toss-up This is really a toss up with each player doing different things. I'm sure Wesley will guard Jason Terry so Whoever is at the point will guard Howard (James or Sura) I honestly think Wesley fits our system better though. PGuard: Sura/James vs. Terry/Harris Winner: Toss-Up I think this game will come down to one guy: Yao Ming. The reason is that T-mac will explode and go crazy with his matchup as will Dirk Nowitzki. But if Yao steps it up and has a great series its over as they cannot double both of them. If he lets Dampier manhandle him and push him around then its just a toss up to see which role players play better: Terry/Finley/Stackhouse/Dampier vs. Barry/Howard/Sura/Yao
F. D. Khan-----like the post and the thinking but you forgot one..... Coaching Staff: JVG vs The Cricket Winner: Rockets
