I'm sorry but that's just not a good lineup. If the Rox want to beat the SUns, they have to play teir game, NOT put in a last minute replacement that hasn't played togerther on a consistent basis before.
we can beat them. i think it's harder to beat the mavs b/c they're more complete (esp. they can play defense). but we can beat them w/ yao. w/ the suns, we just need to change our defensive philosophy of packing the paint b/c they're one of the few great 3pt shooting teams. JVG needs to know that. that defensive philosophy works for teams that suck at 3s. don't pack the paint. play man as much as possible. put battier on nash so his size will disrupt nash's shot and penetration. put alston on their 2-guard whoever it might be. tmac can guard marion pretty good. just play man. on the offensive end, run the pick and roll WITH NASH (ala tmac). make nash play defense. that guy is getting tired fast. make him tired. if u make him play defense for 7 games in a series, he'll tire out by the 4th game. if teams try to run to tire yao out, why won't we do that w/ nash? he's not that effective b/c he gets tired fast. and yes lastly, tmac needs to be on fire. when tmac is on fire, suns have no one to guard him. that opens for yao, who just dominates amare. so don't worry. we'll find a way to beat them when we face them.
In the playoffs when you gameplan for one team only in a series. You see game tape for several days before the series and then an extra 7-11 days during the series to devise a gameplan to shut down an opponent. Phoenix can be stopped. In the playoffs everyone becomes more predictable, and there's no offense more predictable than the Suns offense. Our offense is also predictable but when guys like T-Mac and Yao go off there is nothing you can do about it. T-Mac can also takeover the series with little resistance. Suns may have improved a bit defensively, but they still can't make the critical stop. What we have to do is force Steve Nash to become a scorer like Dallas did the past 2 years. And we have a far, far better defender in Alston over Jason Terry. Look at how Lakers and Clippers were dominating them inside last year. Both teams went away from that in all their losses. Yao is 3x better than either teams' big men(except Brand, but Yao's nearly a foot bigger) and Amare isn't gonna make up the difference from being hurt last year. They can't crowd on Yao all day cause we will shoot their lights out (believe it or not). Not to say we'll have a 3pt contest with them but we'll definitely keep them honest. We just need to refrain from forcing 3's late in the shot clock and giving them long rebounds that start fast breaks.
The blunder was Ginobili's stupid foul in Game 7. Otherwise, the "blunder of trying to match the Mavs small ball" would have gotten the Spurs to the WCF.
yes spurs could have EASILY won last yr. that's how they're haven't "fallen off" like most of you say. mavs and suns may be great reg. season teams, but in the playoffs, teams like the spurs AND rockets w/ their D and superstars can win. and yes, i was always wondering why teams don't pound the suns inside.? but the answer is most teams don't have a legit big man. we not only have a legit, we have the BEST
I think the key is not launching alot of thress which they will give you and take it to the hoop and after a miss or make, pick up nash full court like the spurs do to prevent the long pass upcourt.
I think you stop the Suns offense by turning Shawn Marion into a spot-up shooter. He isn't very good at that, and will get lulled into taking way too many threes as oppossed to slashing, which he is best at. You can't stop Nash's game. He is too good a shooter, penetrator, and dribbler, and trying to stop him would mean adjusting your defensive scheme, which you don't want to do for one team, especially in the regular season. Amare is as good offensively as he wants to be. Try to box him out best you can, but once he starts hitting that 15 foot jumepr, he is tough to stop as well. But Marion can't create for himself. And he is not a great outside shooter. Of the Big 3 they have offensively, he is their weakest link. Of course, not playing at their tempo is extremely important.
...We could beat the suns, yeah, we have the talent and if healthy we have a shot. I just still like we really dont have a good shot. They are one of those rare teams that are just a match up nightmare for whatever reason. I don't fear the Mavericks or the Spurs... but going into the playoffs I absolutely don't wanna run into PHX on their homecourt. Seriously though, if the suns arent the one team that scares you this year then you're LIEING to yourself.
Well, the Suns are not the ONE team that scares me and I'm not lying to myself. They didn't scare me two years ago when we won twice in Phoenix. Last year we had too many injuries. This year we probably would have beaten them in Phoenix without Tracy if Yao hadn't got into early foul trouble. Seriously.
Agree with A_3PO. The Suns are somewhat overrated by Houston fans. At full strength we *can* beat them. Heck, we took them down to the final minutes without BOTH T-Mac and Yao this season. And as for the Mavericks, we still know they have no answer for Yao. All that matchup nonsense Avery has been playing with during the regular season putting George on Deke and what not ... with Dirk at Center, he can't try that crap when Yao's playing. I certainly would relish watching Dirk trying to play center against Yao. That's why *we* are the team nobody wants to face in the playoffs.
Believe it or not, if you don't count the game which Yao was just back from injury and practically hopping on one leg all game long last season, Yao actually played well against the Suns and punished them down low most of the time.
Well, that didn't happen earlier this year. And Amare is even more effective now than he was then, while Yao will probably be less effective.
I don't by that Yao should not be on the floor. That is crazy. That is the one person they have no match-up for at all, and he can get their 2nd best player in foul trouble. Also, against the Suns interior points are at a premium, because you will not beat them in a jump shot contest. For sure against the Suns Tmac, Yao and Battier will be out there. No question, end of story. Now the Suns are the worst team to pair Juwan with Yao, so he might not be in our best line-up. Will will want perimeter speed and the ability to switch as effortlessly as possible--I think we can get away with Yao, but not two among Yao, Howard, Deke, etc. I'll go with Yao at the 5 (Amare), Battier at the 4 (Diaw), Tmac at the 3 (Marion), Head at the 2 (Bell), and Alston at the 1 (Nash). But you can mix and match Bonzi, Hayes and Snyder in there and still get great court coverage. Now one x-factor is if they put Barbosa in at SG. I don't know how well Head can handle him and we might have to turn to Tmac or Snyder on him--who are also giving up quickness but at least not length. Head probably can cover Bell, who is pretty much just an off the ball jumpshooter on offense.
I somewhat agree with you here although I say you play off Marion, let him catch the ball high and then close defensively on him, forcing him to take a contested shot, or attempt to dribble drive. Defensively, you do not let him slash to the basket without the bball. You have to cover the basket cuts and make him receive the basketball at the 3 point line. You also deny the entry pass to Amare with weakside doubles and force the cross court pass to the man in the corner. And you don't help off Amare. That way Nash is forced to either shoot, drive and finish, or pass cross court. Don't give him the opportunity to drive and dish. And make it very difficult to get Amare the ball. Then on the other end, you get Yao the ball and get Amare to hacking Yao.
I don't agree here. Yao is key versus the Suns. They have no interior defense and you want your easy baskets. However the Mavs are tough on bigs with Damp/Diop plus really quick doubles and overrotations. They can easily get a lot of TOs out of Yao, and they killed Shaq last year too. But here is where Tracy come in. That is who the Mavs don't have a answer for, who can make tough shots and find weaknesses in the defense, and must initiate the offense outside-in. So Yao is the key to beating Phx, Tmac is the key to beating Dallas. And we don't want to force it into Yao if it isn't working (confusing to Yao, too many TOs or uncomfortable shot zones) versus Dallas. Mia barely learned this lesson last year (game 3 second half when they almost went down 3-0). But against Phx I think we really have to guard against Tmac getting hot and thinking he has to take over. Because eventually Phx will beat you in a perimeter shooting contest. Slow it way down and play inside out--the only way for us against the Suns. But either team is a huge challenge, don't be fooled.
I disagree. Without Yao, the Rockets are reduced to a perimeter jumpshooting team, which are lower percentage shots and lead to long rebounds a.k.a fastbreak opportunities which plays right into the Suns' hands. Plus it is easier to get caught up in the Suns' running game when Yao is not playing, which also plays right into their hands, because they play the run & gun better than everyone else. Sure, Yao may have some trouble with Amare, but this is not always the case and in the past he has in general dominated Amare in their individual matchups. If Yao is having trouble with Amare then switch him to Diaw, who is not a real offensive force and has a shaky jumper. But the Suns have no answer for Yao other than to double him, many times they resort to doubling him off the ball, which if played properly creates open shots for others.
Do you mean the one game this year that Amare had to stay on the bench for the whole 3rd quarter because he couldn't stop Yao in the first half? It was also the 3rd quarter that the Suns broke the game open and pocketed the win. Amare did come back in the 4th quarter during garbage time to score like 12 pts and get 6 rebounds to make his stat lines look good though. By the way, I was saying Yao has in general played well against the Suns in the last 5 years.
Desert Scar, you give Barbosa a little too much credit. More than anyone on their team he declines in halfcourt vs. the fast break. He cannot be allowed breakaway layups and wide open 3 pointers. Take that away and he's nothing special at all. When Head puts up a 3, he needs to run the other way instinctively. Barbosa personifies how the Suns offense takes advantage of napping. Neither Tracy nor Snyder have the slightest hope of keeping up with Barbosa. jopatmc, I 100% agree with your comments on guarding Marion. It isn't that hard, especially when he decides to pull one of his disappearing acts. Desert Scar, it doesn't matter who scores for the Rockets. One of the two games we won in Phoenix 2 years ago (not the blowout. It was when Steven Hunter missed the putback) Tracy basically carried the team. Every other perimeter player was a complete no-show. We need Tracy to get hot and shred them by hitting his open shots and feeding Yao when's he double-teamed. Tracy getting hot is the kind of thing that can take the heart out of the Suns because they have no chance of stopping him. One reason we fell short in Phoenix this season was when we made the big comeback, Tracy missed so many shots it wasn't funny. The T-Mac that exists now would have taken that lead to 15 before the Suns got their act back together. Of course, Yao is also a key because he must destroy single coverage and make good decisions when double/tripled teamed. But the Suns are athletic enough to take Yao out of the offense if they choose.
I don't remember the details that well, so I looked at it at popcornmachine.net. Amare had 13 points and 9 rebounds in the first half , compared to Yao's 5 points and 2 rebounds. Suns led 57 to 40 at half time. Yao did dominate in the third quarter ... we closed the deficit to 3 points for the start of the fourth. In the fourth, Amare had 9 pts and 6 reb (played the entire quarter), Yao had 0 points and 0 reb. In particular, Yao played just over 5 minutes in the fourth, and we were outscored by 9 points in that span. You could say that's where the game was lost, since the margin went from -3 to -12 in that span.
