Paul is a reluctant shooter. And plays relatively horizontal. Even more so with a bum hamstring. So tall and fast defender who doesn't gamble and can switch onto Blake and Jordan reasonably well. Both Ariza and Brewer tend to gamble, but both meet 3 out of my 4 criteria. Terry and Prig will be obliterated, but as pointed out earlier bother can be hidden on Red. We match up well. I am not worried about Paul. I think he will do less in this series than he was able to do against the Spurs. On the switch Tjones and Dwight both are good switches as they are fast. Tjones plays a little too low if Paul is a shooter, but should be ok. Dwight should be able to disrupt him a bit if he follows Paul. Capela will be good here as well. I like.
And Honestly, I think Blake Griffin and Jordan are the bigger problems. Blake is off the charts. But like Karl Malone, we need to keep him on the perimeter and if there is a big shot, Blake will likely mess it up. But he's much improved. Flirting now with triple doubles and TJones is likely to get obliterated. Don't think Capela helps much either here. We need to keep him on the perimeter. Rebounding when we have Jones and Josh in at the same time will be scary. Team must all rebound together when we go small. But prefer Capela than the Smith - Jones lineup if both Jordan and Blake in the game. This is where we will likely lose those 10 point leads.
CP3 has actually been shooting more this year. CP3 attempted 1170 two-pointers this season. Previous years 4 seasons: 928, 890, 856, 870. He also attempted 100 more 3 pointers this season than in any other season.
CP3 willed his team on offense, but looked TERRIBLE on defense after the hammy. Couldn't move laterally at all. Parker and Mills were just not playing that well. Try to make CP3 help defend Harden as much as possible and you'll wear him down quick.
I'm actually scared Barnes is going to hurt harden with a really hard foul or something during this series.
Exactly. The rebounding battle is the #1 reason why I didn't want the Clippers. And Harden is going to struggle with Barnes hacking and Griffin/Jordan blocking at the rim.
Why??? Harden is a strong and intelligent player...Harden is going to play his game, and if a foul happens, the Rockets will find ways to address it as it comes up. In regards to Chris Paul...the only way to stress the hamstring and make him a liability...force him to guard the post. Chris Paul is still an elite defender, but with a weak hamstring...a stronger player on the post could really hurt him. Finally last point to make...You have to make Paul and Griffin beat you by scoring(and nothing else)...but everyone else needs to be irrelevant. Cant have DeAndre outplaying Dwight. Cant have Crawford or Reddick scoring 30 etc. etc. etc. The Rockets must elevate their game, bc the Clippers were playing some elite level basketball vs the Spurs... Defend your home court and try stealing a game at LA. That has been the secret to success...And the Rockets can do it.
Griffin isn't a great rim protector. Jordan is basically their only rim protecting big man on the team. We are far superior in that category with Dwight, Tjones, Josh Smith, and Capela. We should be fine in rebounding as well.
Better Reddick, who is mainly just a threat to shoot a perimeter shot, than Paul or Crawford who are much faster and looking to penetrate. I'd rather give up a contested three by Reddick than allow Paul or Crawford to get into the lane over and over against one of the grandpas.
Both Griffin and Jordan average 13+ RPG. Houston only have Superman averaging double digit at 13.8 RPG.
ok so we depend on a rookie against Blake Griffin, and probably throw in Nick Johnson too against CP3. Awesome.
You're right. Let's just call the NBA right now and forfeit the series... They have no depth, run em into the ground.... game, set, match
