Dirk will get his, regardless, he may even average 35ppg with who we've got to throw at him. Howard at least would be able to offset some of his points. Maybe 35 to 12, for a net of 23 for Dirk, and we can live with that, but with spoon getting 0, Bowen getting 0, and Padge only getting a couple of buckets, thats a pretty decisive edge. 35-6 or 7 won't be pretty. Limit Finley, J Terry, and Stackhouse, and they're beatable. Howard, Daniels, Dampier, and Van Horn dont worry me in the least bit. Pretty much duplicate the shooting in the 124 point game we killed them in and we'll be okay.
The key to beating the Mavs in a 7 game series is to go in with the attitude of sweeping them in 4 games. T-mac needs to attack the basket and not settle for jumpers as much. (unless he gets hot, then he can shoot them from the parking lot) Yao needs to be aggressive on the offensive end and avoid silly fouls on defense. Wesley, James, and Barry need to hit their open shots. Sura needs to stop fainting a play like he did during the 8 game winning streak.
Well our guards can't go cold as they have been prone to do. Yao really needs to come up big offensively, we are not going to get a lot of points from our front line except for Yao. Starting out I expect a lot of doubles on Yao and if the shooters can knock down their shots on the kickout then Dallas will be forced to play him one on one and he will have to exploit any single coverage opportunities he gets I am not worried about the defense, we have been doing a sensational job holding teams that have a lot of firepower to less than a 100. What worries me is Dallas's D, since Nellie quit these guys have actually been playing D and holding teams to less than 90. If they shut down our perimeter game then they can double Yao all game and shut him down and it will get ugly.
Combine all of these great posts and ideas and you get the mind of JVG. I am never worried about not being competitive with JVG running the show, as he always is prepaired and I'm sure he has sleepless nights. The only thing that worries me is shooting slumps. When we have a shooting slump everything else lacks. Our passing goes down, defense is slower in transition due to being frustrated after missing shots, long rebounds, we tend to try to shoot ourselves out of a slump which then takes Yao out of the picture. If we miss our first few wide open shots of game 1, my heart rate will increase. Please don't put me through last year again! I nearly passed out! MrRolo faints.
Usually when coaches make big adjustments, the players have a hard time breaking habits and following suit. I feel that we should stick to doing what we do best. 1) Limit them opponents to one bad shot per possession. 2) Make them work hard on defense. Additionally, we need to get Yao involved in the paint early. Hopefully the following will result. 1) More likely to draw fouls on their center(s). 2) Yao will command a double team. 3) Hopefully jump off to a sizeable lead early -- having an early lead will help Houston set the tone and pace of the game.
Let's assume that Yao and McGrady will show up and play like they have in the regular season and that the defense will continue to be solid. What the Rockets need to win each game is not only defensive rebounding, but also for two out of the quartet of Sura, Barry, James, or Wesley to shoot well from the outside. If we get two out of those four guys hitting then the Rockets will win. I am not predicting this- this is just a scientific fact. When the Rockets have the outside shooters working the opposition may as well go home. What I'm saying is this- the Dallas Mavericks are doomed.
I agree. As long as a couple of the oustide shooters are consistently hitting shots, we should be fine.
The poster you are responding to said "series", and there have surely been playoff series in which the loser has scored more points than the winner. This thread incurs the wrath of the jinx gods. If the point of this thread was to play the Sonics, then well done, carry on!
What's the best way to keep best offensive players in check? Keep them busy at the defensive end. That's one of the reason why Ron Attest was so successful to contain opposition's top guns. So is it possible for Tmac and Yao to go to Dirk? I don't know.
just put a double team on Dirk whenever he touches the ball and ask JVG to tell Yao to defend the paint really well(or no CS fo life) and we'll be in the 2nd round in no time.. MARK MY WORDS!!1111....
Maybe JVG should ask Yao to stay in the paint longer with his arms up and feet planted, am glad that they don't have a jump shooting big man to lure Yao out.
Over the years, I always thought that Michael Finley's the Rocket killer, with the exception of this yr (mostly b/c of his injury), he has alway play well against us... And another thing is, believe it or not, Yao does have problem playing against Bradley. Most of you might not agree, but Yao simply is not use to playing against someone who's the same height or a little taller than him. So hopefully Yao will offset that by moving around a little more...
Baqui-- i'm not even about to worry about 14 pts and 6 assists... I'll take Sura's 5 boards to boot.. .. tear us up... oooookaaay..
The other day when I was listening Bulls-Mavericks game, the bulls' commentator said to defend Dirk you have to force him to put the ball on the floor and said he would shoot a much lower percentage if he dribbles. I don't how true is that, but Dirk did shoot poorly against bulls for a combined 12-42 (28.6%). Anyway, to beat Mav in a 7 game series, Yao needs to play big, and also it will be interesting to see what adjustments the coaches would make.
