I just cant say enough how impressed ive been with the play of Dwight the beast Howard in this entire series. Sure he should find a way to stay on the court a little more and out of foul trouble but oh man. How great is it to have Monster in the middle, the lockdown defense , the great rebounding when he isn't at the 3pt line cuz of the pick and rolls, the IMPROVED post game inside, just the sheer will to WIN. He has also been a great leader imo at this hard time of year. i just want to say thank you and keep it up big man. My game 6 notes 1.Stotts has been running PnR on dwight almost 60% of the time, we need to find the adjustment to be made here to limit that play 2. Attack! Attack! Attack! If we get the bigs in trouble Jones becomes an important piece, we neeed to take asik out of the game, and the way to do that is to get lopez or aldridge in foul trouble 3. Stay level headed ...through thick and thin just stay together , Portland are a very good home team but we are the better overall team and we have to believe that. 4. I want James to bring this back to game 7, meaning he is the star of the game. I think he needs it for his confidence, for our confidence in him, and for the teams confidence in him. He is still the best player on this team but he has to go play like it tomorrow
I was very happy with the Dwight signing because I thought it was the best use of our $20M 'expiring' cap asset at the time. I thought he'd be better and for most of the season, he did great, slowly getting back to form. Now the playoffs dang! His post moves are looking prettier (though sometimes still downright ugly) and he is ABUSING Lopez in the post. Jeez. VERY happy with Dwight in the playoffs and on our team in general. He seems to have really matured into a good leader who really brings the effort.
Dwight has played really well this series to compensate for Harden's poor showing. However, Howard's P/R defense has much to be desired. It seems he hedges too much allowing for his role man to get too much distance forcing the switch. Asik on the other had does the quick show and then scramble and rarely gets caught in the perimeter guarding a perimeter player. The Rockets P&R defense has been below average in this series.
He played good except when guarding Lopez. That was terrible defense on Lopez. How can you let Lopez pumped fake you and then drive to the basket. Lopez can't shoot!! Who care if he pump fake?
I think a keystone factor to why we won last game was LMA early foul trouble. We wreck havoc. And then I thought about it. Their bench is the most garbage bench in the game. You get their starters in foul trouble and those inefficient bench unit will have to play big minutes... I can see why going to Howard to bang with them and create foul a strategy
You could see it in his eyes during the TNT postgame interview, dude will NOT go down without a fight!
I'd argue Dwight has been the best player this series thus far. Thought it's tight with LMA, but Dwight's been super super consistent, you actually can go to him in clutch time (same with LMA, but didn't think that was the case before the series), and he's been more efficient. LMA has a slightly higher PER... but that's because he's scored more, though less efficiently (though still efficient enough). PER favors scoring, even if not done as efficiently. Both guys have been solid defensively, though I think Dwight has been asked to do a whole lot more in that department. LMA has been guarding Omer Asik for much of the series. The points per possession on him when he's been forced to guard either Dwight or TJones has to be crazy high. The Blazers are up because of the supporting cast. I'd rate the players this series thus far as: 1a. Dwight 1b. LMA 3. Lillard 4. Batum 5. Parsons 6a. Matthews 6b. Lopez 7. Asik 8. Harden Amazing they didn't get swept, really. In any case, yes, Dwight has been beastly. Imagine if Harden actually played like Harden? That's where championship hopes come in. For sure. So you'd think, why not run some baseline picks between Howard and Asik? To get LMA on Howard? Either LMA gets in foul trouble, or Dwight has an easy time posting up.
Dwight has been as good as Orlando Dwight this series. He has been incredible. Did anyone see those rotations last night? What was up with the Rockets, because I saw some elite defense in the 4th last night.
When you can muscle out everyone, your brain muscles get lazy. I would not call DH dumb though, just not very smart. If Asik could do that he would still be in Chicago, and not very affordable for us.
He's one of the most immature guys in the league and he caught a lot of heat for it. And none of it means ****. Hell, his attitude is a positive in my eyes. On the court, he's brought it every single night. He's tried to adapt his play every night to accommodate the team and find a way to win. He's the only player on the team that's escalated his level of play and found another gear. He's goofy. But he's also a vocal leader, leads by example, competes, and brings it on both ends of the court. I can tell how badly he wants to win. I've been wanting Dwight since we lost to OKC but I wasn't expecting this much. He's the cornerstone. He cant do it all himself, but he's our ticket.
Rockets actually give a damn on def last night. For the first time in the series, I was seeing everyone running full speed to close out regardless of how far away they were. Seeing someone coming will pressure the shooter even if he doesn't get there in time.
Dwights PnR defensive IS NOT bad......it's just that he has to hedge so hard that inevitably someone is open. Our perimeter D is really, REALLY bad, and if Asik isn't on the floor, so is our PF D. Dwight is playing defense for EVERYONE right now. Will he make mental mistakes??....sure, but that happens when you are trying to save the defense by yourself. He has been extrodinary this series. It's obvious to me that he was saving himself for the playoffs all year.
I've been hard on him all year, but yeah...he's brought it all 5 games this series. I am probably too hard on him because I'm a 30+ year Rocket fan and I can't help but compare him to Hakeem (and Yao, Ralph, Moses, etc). I have to remind myself that NO ONE compares to Hakeem and it's really not a fair standard to hold him to. And for all the (justified) complaining about defense, Dwight has been a monster on the boards all series. Rebounding = defense.
After watching this series it clear to me who the leader of the rockets is, and hint hint, it isn't James Harden
followed him since orlando. when he came to L.A. i was extremely happy, but was pissed by his performance and drama with both kobe AND nash, NASH. but his performance here makes me damn happy
I think you have to put Lin over Harden and maybe Asik over Parsons for the Rockets. And Lilliard over both Howard and LMA is debatable.
Exactly. I tell my wife (who came over from Brazil four years ago and is a Rockets fan now [although she hates Harden]) that it's a shame she didn't get to see Olajuwon in action. Hakeem was a god among mortals. But Dwight has played well. He made a couple boneheaded mistakes here and there (coming out to get his 2nd foul on---was it Batum? can't remember---at the 3pt line), but no one's perfect. Glad we got Dwight, and I'm glad we have a situation (there haven't been many) where we've been able to utilize the TT lineup. Harden, on the other hand....jeeeeeeeeez.
