in my opinion, there's no way you can even "contain" elite players like Dirk or T-Mac, they're in their own league whenever they wanted to; but you sure can have a game plan that can put yourself in a better situation. I think we either put T-Mac on Dirk or double team everytime he touchs the ball will work. 1.) play small ball in the 1st round. T-Mac at the 4 and Barry at 3. Dirk is actually a nature small forward who rely on perimeter skills not physical power moves, so I really don't see any problems with T-Mac guarding him. if you worry about T-Mac on Dirk, ask Dirk how he likes grarding T-Mac. I really believe we'd have the advantage from a Dirk/T-Mac matchup, because of T-Mac's passing skills/court vision, and with Sura being a super rebounding point guard he'd make up the rebounding disadvantage from the matchup. even Dirk/T-Mac cancel each other out in the matchup would put us in a better situation because Yao is the 3rd best player on the court. don't worry about wasting T-Mac's energy on guarding Dirk, he'd give all his enengy guarding his man no matter who he got. and don't forget Dirk has to chase T-Mac around too. 2.) start any power forward at the 4 (prefer Padgett) double team Dirk everytime he touches the ball and force him pass the ball. yeah, they have good shooters in Finley/Stackhouse/KVH to make the open shot, but ours are even better with James/Wesley/Barry/Padgett on our side. they'd probably double T-Mac too (or maybe even Yao) so if we can make it a 3pt shoot out contest (with Dirk/T-Mac/Yao all being double-teamed) we have a better chance.
It doesn't matter who the Rockets put on the floor. Josh Howard will guard TMac. Defensive assignments aren't dictated by height...sheesh.
Yao can only guard Bradley or Dampier. If Dallas strays from that (which would be questionable since they would get destroyed inside), then Houston would need to play some sort of zone on defense as Yao nor Mutombo can not defend anyone on the perimeter.
you guys have it all wrong - you don't stop Dirk by doubling him, or mixing up the defender the best person (or people) to stop Dirk will be on the court with him wearing Dallas jerseys. See, Stack and Terry, do not know their roles (they don't have roles) - so let them have a mis-match that they will want to expolit That is how JVG beat them in that 125-115 game. I believe he put the Howard on Stack. He made the matchup favor Stackhouse and the Mavs were so focused on exploiting that mis-match (Stack's speed), that his own teammates took Dirk out of the game. Since he is such a rhythm shooter - we wsa not able to get back into the flow. I say put Wesley on Stack or Howard and make that be the matchup Dallas wants to go after. those guys can't carry the team and they will take Dirk out trying to do it anyway
Maybe just play Dirk straight up for till half way to the 4th quarter and then try shut everyone down. Dirk is going to get his so it's no use trying to shut him down all throughout the game. then try to clamp him down for the last 6 mins. Just my 2cents.
Willis25, you're absolutely right. I remember the announcers astutely pointing this out as well. The obvious drawback is they still scored 115 points! Can the Rockets offense score enough points to offset the easy baskets given up baiting Dirk's teammates to score. The cool thing about this is if JVG could substitute somebody that would be an equal mismatch on the other side of the ball. For example, if you put Mike James on a big, you'll give up some easy post points but not only might you freeze out Dirk but there might be a quickness advantage on the offensive end gained as you go small ball. Avery might be too smart to fall for that, and instead adjust the lineup on the floor to keep Dirk the focus of the offense.
I'm in the "the Rockets really can't stop Dirk" camp. I think you need to do llittle things to put him off his rhythm, like fouling, physical play, etc. But mostly, you need to shut down the other guys on the team. None of the other players are really all that great, offensively. Don't get me wrong - they've got guys who are good scorers who can get buckets in bunches. But they're not going to beat you, and without Dirk, that team is ordinary. I agree with those who think you try to shut down Finley, Stackhouse, and Terry. If we can do that - we'll win - even if Dirk gets 50.
I agree with haven, the Mavs have too many weapons that can feed off of each other. Letting them play as a team will turn them out to be a multiple headed monster. Whatever the Rockets do, plz don't let the scorers feed off of Dirk.
Good suggestion Willis. I like it. But the best way to force them to exploit the mismatch is to lay off that player and use that defender to help on Dirk.
shut everyone else down and let dirk score as many points as he wants. he can't do it all by himself. dare i say, remember tmac's 62 against the wiz?
or look at detroit last year w/ shaq. let dirk shoot all he wants chances are he isnt going to score 100 points. if he drives into the lane fould him HARD. i cant emphasize this enough foul him HARD HARD HARD. he'll keep driving and create fouls yes, but come game 2,3,4,5 he'll start thinking about it, it'll get into his head and he will start settling for jumpers. i am thinking this is what van gundy will do. dirk may be going crazy in the first half or first game but i dont think he can beat this team by himself. just play solid d on all their other players. dirk isnt as good of a passer or willing passer than mcgrady so this strategy may work. but lay this man to the ground (no flagrants but a hard smack across the arms or somethng) when he comes in the lane. the rockets need to get into dirks head to stop him
I am afraid Yao will be in foul trouble very quickly since none of our 4 guys is able to guard Dirk, forcing Yao to do a lot of help defense (on almost every Dirk poession). Hopefully, JVG figures out a way to slow Dirk down.
Towards the last part of the season, it seemed that Yao was figuring out how to play it soft at the beginning of the game and stay on the floor by avoiding the reaching and avoiding the contact in the paint in the 1st quarter. I think that's what he has to continue to do. If they drive in the paint, he should let Dirk go if he has to in the 1st quarter. And then as the game wears on in the 2nd half, he can pick up the tempo. The most important thing that we need from Yao though, is offensive production early to match Dirk's production. We can bring in Deke late in the 1st quarter, early 2nd quarter to start the process of shutting down the interior. Then bring Yao back in in the last part of the 2nd quarter to once again bring the O and continue what defensive intimidation Deke has established in the paint. If Yao can get to the half with 2 or less fouls, we have a decent chance to win. If Yao gets to the half with only one foul or no fouls, we have an excellent chance to win. If Yao gets to half with 3 or more fouls, our odds of winning go down significantly.
