I know the seedings are not set yet but look at the remaining schedule: SAC has utah and phx remaining. they should beat the jazz and lose to the suns. final record 50-32. DEN has phx and port remaining. they should lose to the suns and beat the blazers. final record 49-33. WE have lac and seattle remaining. we should win them both. final record 51-31. we hold tie breakers over them both so it seems that even if we lose an extra game or one of them wins an extra game we will still be 5th. so, how do we beat Dallas? keys to our success - slow down dirk! IMO play bowen on dirk as much as possible. bowen is one of our best defenders and is hands down our best cover for dirk. spoon giving up minutes to bowen is key. keep yao involved! dampier has a nack for keeping yao off his game. yao isn't stronger than him so trying to get good position will be hard. we should use the P&R to death. keep yao rolling to the paint! if dampier sticks with yao then whoever yao set the screen for will be open. win-win situation. defensive rebound! one and done! we are second in the league in opponent fg%. it is important to rebound those missed shots and turn it into fast break points. dallas can fill it up so we will need some easy points to stay with them.
Why is everybody sweating? What makes you think that we can't beat Dallas? We beat them twice and we'll beat them again.
Pretty sure Dirk was out one of those games. I think it's doable, but I'm definitely sweating. The only teams I fear more than Dallas are SA and Miami.
That is just great question. The last time we embarrassed them without Michael Finley and Dirk Norwitzky. If the Mavs are healthy, they're really tough to beat because they're so deep. I think the key is to slow it down and established our inside post game, and run when we get a steal or a good stop. Shut down the paint at all cost and make them take tough 3 point shots outside.
lol..I am sweating. jk but yeah I"m worried. I think most people would rather play Sonics. I believe in the Rockets. But seriously..Dirk is really hard to guard. He's soft though..and well we can possibly defeat them in a series. It will be hard, but we can definitely do it. Bowen on Dirk? That would work sometimes. But eventually they'll find ways to get Dirk to help them score. Bowen could annoy Dirk and maybe alter his shots. But what about posting up? Bowen could still do good..especially with our good help defense. We can't let the Mavs get open shots. They aren't great shooters..but Dirk, Terry, and Finley can shoot. So can Stackhouse. The other guys can knock open shots down too. They are more athletic than us..but our defense can stop them. Just don't let them get easy buckets or drive to the basket. I think JVG will prepare us to stop them. It would be great if we could win the first game. Offensively, Yao. Tmac. Our guards are crucial. Everyone is..our perimeter shots have to be made..lol..which applies for everyone..and it will be nice if we can get offensive rebounds. I feel like Yao and Tmac can both dominate. We've beaten the Mavs twice..we can beat them again. It'll be sad if Shawn Bradley comes in and makes some open shots. I hate it when he does that. Ugly lucky shots. I want to see Yao dunk on Bradley. I feel like we can beat them. We just have to prepare and execute!..along with some luck
I'm thinking hold them to less points than us. Dallas won't be able to stop TMac. McGrady averaged over 30-7-6 on 50%+ shooting against them this year. Dallas simply can't contain big swingmen. Kobe put up 30+ in all 4 games against them including a 40 and a 46. Exploit this. We must also establish Yao - Dallas is the #1 3P% defense in the league. Make them abandon their rotations for Yao, and then it'll be bombs away. Dallas is an inverted team- their perimeter players, save Finley and Terry, are pretty horrible outside shooters- Stackhouse, Harris, Daniels, and Howard. Their big men - Dirk, KVH, and even Bradley are all pretty lethal on the perimeter. The thing to watch for imo, is the coaching matchup...I think in playoff action, Van Gundy just might be able to make Avery look really bad.
has anyone else ever noticed how Bradley always has big games every time he steps up to Yao? I think as long as T-Mac is hot we are going to win.
that goes without saying lol. isn't it something like 80% of all teams that win the first game win the series?
lol it'd be great if we could watch videos of Rockets and Mavs games this season..and analyze them! A CF.net gameplan Tmac and Yao must lead the attack on offense. Barry and James have to continue to help initiate..and everyone else will join in. On defense..everybody has to help one another to stop the Mavs offense. Dirk mainly..they have 3 good scorers in Terry, Finley, and Stackhouse..and KVH is decent..but I don't think KVH does good against the Rockets. We have to play terrific man to man defense. I can't wait!!! I agree that I just feel JVG can outcoach Avery Johnson.
I think that might work too. I wonder which theory has a better success rate? Score more or hold them to less? I would also impliment the theory of dribbling the ball, passing the ball, and shooting the ball. Then rebound the darn ball if it doesn't go in!
I'll add some more 1. Get off to a good start- If your behind early its gonna be tough to come back against a team like Dallas. Because they can just bury any team in a hurry. 2. Make them double Yao. The offense flows alot better when teams double Yao it creates open shots for all the long distance shooters. I'm not sure if Dallas will since they have 2 big bodies but if Yao goes off they will have to. 3. Get something out of bowen/weatherspoon. Else they will just colllapse on T-Mac the whole game. These guys will get wide open shots they have to keep the defense honest. Dirk is gonna be a mosnter in this series b/c he can focus solely on offense, but they gotta keep him some what interested on the defensive side on the ball or he could easily average 40+ for the Dallas. I'd much rather face Seattle but its okay they can take them. And if they do it will just make the rest of the series they play seem a little easier.
i think a key matchup in our favor is JVG vs. AJ. playoffs are about game to game adjustments. JVG has proven himself in this arena whilst for AJ, this will be his first taste of the playoffs as a head coach. experience counts!
It's not just Dirk Nirwitzky we got to worry about. They got a team of scorers: Jason Terry, Maquis Daniel, Stackhouse abused whoever we put on him last time, Finley...
??? I thought it's the other way round. Yao always played well against Dallas. Remember when he got his first 30 pt game in the rookie year? I really hope Dallas let Bradley cover Yao. Yao will destroy him.
When the series is all done and over with, everyone in the country and the media will be saying the next Shaq-Kobe duo has arrived, and no, it wont be Dirk and Dampier they will be alluding to. You heard it here first...before everyone jumps on the bandwagon.
