What adjustments can we expect from Portland for game 2?

If Portland front Yao, we need move the ball more quickly and pass the ball to Yao in time when he hets possesion. We also need our shooter hit arc, too.
Please let Barry on the court.

 

the blazers will come out with more fire and be more aggressive. they'll hit more shots and defend better. they will definitely be a better team. i expect outlaw and rudy to produce more off the bench and aldridge to play better.

we should stick to the game plan we had from tonight, sufficating defense, feed the ball to yao and get it going inside to open up the outside. i expect shane to hit more shots and also expect landry to play better.

i don't expect AB to play as well as he did tonight, but he'll get his 15

the man who is going to win us the next game will be up to artest, if he shoots well, we win, if he doesn't then we come back to houston even.

 

the best way to contain Yao is to front him...
i think this is the most plausible way
the 2nd game will be tough~ hope someone besides Yao, Ron, Scola or Brooks could remain effective~

 

Fronting Yao from the beginning. I'm expecting that. And maybe they will be successful on this. It'll be a tough game. If we beat them anyway, they will be in real panic. It's not only because we take the lead. They'll panic because they are out of solutions. If fronting Yao doesn't work, they have no way to beat the Rcokets. So this game will be very important for both teams.

 

It's interesting that although a team like Portland has a lot of young, athletic players, they are actually one of the slowest teams in the NBA in terms of pace (the number of possessions per game). Ultimately this is why I think we match up well with them. Although our defense is not "league-best" overall, we are a more effective defensive team against these types of teams, where our flaws are not as obvious (ie. slowness/lack of athletism/etc.). Plus they are a jump-shooting team.

NO is also right up there as one of the slowest teams, and we have played well against them recently as well.

But expect Portland to come back on Tuesday and be more efficient. Too much 1- and 2-man games from Portland on Gm 1. I think you'll see way better ball movement and more 3's fall down for them. And we need to stay decisive as a team, which I thought was the key.

 

This isn't really an adjustment, but I predict Oden will be over the sinus infection and play a much better game. He'll start in place of Pryzbilla and the Blazers will try for more pick and rolls with Oden and Roy. They'll run at Yao early and try to get him into foul trouble.

Mutombo will have to play another stellar game to keep pressure off Yao.

 

Yeah, one on one, without fronting, no one can stop YAO.

 

We should start fronting Oden. Hey if you can't beat em, join em.

We played with great intensity and toughness. Really enjoyable game. It's funny how with intensity everyone's weaknesses magically disappear- Brooks, Scola, and Landry start playing good defense, Yao dominates on both ends of the floor and rebounds like a madman, and we make all our free throws.

 

The thing about fronting Yao for the Blazers is that it takes Pryzbilla away from the basket. He's really their only good shot blocker and defensive rebounder. Then you conscider the fact that Brooks is way too quick for Blake and it's just a tough strategy for the blazers to employ.

That said. They have to do something different against Yao. They cant just allow him to catch it and shoot over the defense.

 

If they front Yao, then quicky pass out to Aaron Brooks so he can attack the basket. Since they're fronting Yao, no one is guarding the basket. But they have to pass to Brooks quick and Brooks has to attack quickly before their Center go behind Yao again.

 

If they front Yao and if one of their other man is not guarding Yao at the basket, then lob Yao the pass, he's shown that he can catch it before.

 

The nice thing about Yao is that he can step out and hit jumpers. If Pryz comes over to stop penetration Yao can just pop outside and hit a 18 footer. That was something he never did during the JVG era, but clearly he can make that shot atleast 50 percent of the time....Its better than trying to force the ball inside and committing a turnover.

 

They are going to front the hell out of Yao. I hope they are game planning for it.

 

1. I think we may be seeing a lot of Jerryd Bayless in game 2. Blake doesn't have the quickness to match Brooks, nor the offensive game to make Brooks defend. A younger and quicker Bayless might make Brooks uncomfortable.

2. I think the Blazer might got small (Aldridge at 5, Outlaw and 4) some more and try to run. Not sure if it would work since, for 82 games, they had the lowest pace in the leauge. Running might make Rockets uncomfortable, but it may also make themselves uncomfortable.

 

They have the perfect personnel for it. Have Aldridge front Yao with Pryzbilla manning the paint. Why they didn't do this last night is beyond me. Sure this might give Scola more open shots but you can't let Yao start a playoff series with a perfect shooting percentage.

 

Blazers may front Yao early. In recent games, I notice the Rockets switch to some pick and roll play that frees up a 15 foot perimeter shot for Yao or an easy layup. That may be a bad defensive move for the blazers since Yao will have his legs still fresh for those jump shots.

I see Pryzbilla doing some utah jazz flops to get Yao in foul trouble. I would suspect what troubles the blazers the most is their inability to defend the Rockets when Yao was out. It seemed like they had a defensive game plan when Yao was playing but none when he was out. They'll make an adjustment on that department as well.

We'll see more of what Oden was doing in the 2nd half. He really bullied his way in there and looked unstoppable so hopefully we can pull a few flops of our own and get him in trouble.

 

Defensively - Needs more cowbell...and fronting.

Offensively - More dribble penetration, attacking the paint, and team passing.

 

I think Portland was trying to pull a Dallas this game; how Dallas played Yao is how a lot of teams should think it through; give Yao whatever he wants in the first then front him/help on him like mad in the second, because by then the Rockets will be so used to Yao in the post that denying them Yao in the second will be like drenching the entire team in cold water. The only problem for the Blazers is that the Rockets got off such an immense lead that it didn't really even matter, even though we were beginning to see more focus on Yao.

If I'm the Blazers, I stick with that plan and chalk this game up to bad luck. I think Pryzbilla is actually an elite defender at the center position, it was just that Yao was making ridiculous shots (contested baseline fadeaways, a hook shot while Pryz was falling, something Yao always seems to come short on and even Yao's face-up game was on)...however, if Yao pulls up once again and drops 6-8 points in the first 5 minutes, then you just front him the whole game.

The only thing is, the way Brooks played makes this scenario even more likely. The Blazers know we have three great penetrating guards in Brooks/Lowry/Wafer so they'll be reluctant to front from the start, unless Yao goes apes**t like he did last game.

 

i can see them sliding aldridge to the 5, outlaw to the 4, benching blake, and playing bayless and rudy heavy minutes alongside roy.

we choked when the mavs went small in 2005. let's hope we can handle the adjustment this year.

 

I know what you are saying here, but even with their successful fronting of Yao, we outscored them in the 3rd 23 - 14 and really took over the game during that time.

My thoughts are that they may try to front for a while, but it will wear their inside guys out so much that it won't be a useful long term tactic in the game or series. Watch how much energy people have to use to get in front of Yao and deny him the ball - its alot more active effort than trying to stay behind him or come on a double after he has it.