How can you say the Suns are a paper tiger? The Suns have the 7th ranked D in the league when you look at efficiency, and there is nothing wrong with being dependent on Nash. Care to look at our record without T-mac?
Its because the Rockets have done a TERRIBLE job controlling tempo vs. the suns. They are trying to play Suns game and score all the time, but the Rockets MUST make it a 95-90 kind of game. If they are trying to outscore the Suns, like they have been doing, they have 0 chance to win versus them. Slow down Suns, make the game less possession, make the game a 1/2 court game, and EAT UP CLOCK with Yao. Thats how you beat the Suns plain and simple. Or someone kidnap Nash and let him free once Rockets beat Suns .
well i think the rockets can control the tempo with the suns in the game the rockets played with yao they kept up with the suns and got back into the game when yao was playing. his early and continuous foul trouble let the game slip away (that and horrid wide open shooting) given the way the role players have stepped up and tmac re-emergence i think the rockets have a good shot at the suns over a 7 game series if and only if a)yao stays out of foul trouble and b)they control the temp for the majority of the game
The lakers and clippers showed us the blueprint to attack the Suns' defense. Run pick and roll with your big guys and roll them into the post. This neutralizes their fronting and switching defensive schemes. And it opens things up in the post or in the corner for 3's.
in fairness, tmac wasn't quite tmac earlier in the season when rox played suns. come playoff time, assuming both are playing at their highest level, which I am sure that will happen, it would be hard to see the suns trying to contain both at the same time. the depth of the mavs scare me, and I hope the game earlier in the season against mavs was not that the mavs were on a slump but really how good the rockets can play the mavs.
agree, mavs' roster is very well built, much better than the rest teams in the league. Suns, they are good, not as good as mavs, but they always cause us a matchup problem. Chances are likely we lose to them in the second round, but i hope we don't. Go rockets.
Mavs are damn good, Suns are too if you play their way. The Mavs can't guard Yao or McGrady, but you're forgetting McGrady can shut down Dirk. All we need is for the role players to step up big time. We need Battier to shut down/contain Howard and for Rafer to (sigh) guard Jason Terry well, and if you watch Stack off the bench, we're pretty much good. Yao and McGrady are good enough to carry us, but the role players need to step up A LITTLE. Actually I don't know how far Yao and McGrady can carry us, so far it's only been first round. Don't judge this team without Yao and McGrady though. The only problem with Dallas is everyone they bring off the bench is a solid/above average player in some capacity, plus they have a great coach on top of it.
If you can slow down Josh Howard and Jason Terry-and Stack - and our role players over achieve and we do not turn the ball over - we can beat the Mavericks- a 7 game series will be tough. Mavs have so much depth and their role players will win it for them. In a 7 game series I think and hope we can adjust and beat the Suns. Seattle always had our number with that fine outside long shooting negating Hakeem. No slight on Hakeem, as he dominated the inside, but long shooting is tough to defend.
i relate playing the suns now like playing the sonics when we won the 2 rings. we just dont much up very well with them and we have never controlled the tempo. as far as dallas for the most part they actually play into our style. 2 years ago i thought we had a better team but they had better indvidual players that at times took control of the games and put us out of reach. yao ming really is the answer to handling dallas. and as far as the suns lets hope the luck of the draw comes around again or a team like the nuggets back then who ousted the sonics in the first round.
Suns are a great regular season team. They run in gun. Playoffs are half-court ugly basketball. When have the last time a team with a run and gun one a championship. Lets see the best big man usually wins or the best defensive teams, Miami, Lakers, San Anotonio, Detroit. The last time a team one with some what small ball, Michael Jordan the best player ever. When Yao comes back, considering we have the best big man and the best defensive team we will win the championship this season. So for all you Phoenix and Dallas lovers who love regular season records and 120 points a night you will not get any hardware enjoy now not later.
The bulls were one of the best defensive teams in the league...they weren't that much uptempo either...triangle offense, remember?
I also think that we can beat the Mavs, however, we're going to need Yao to dominate the paint and we're going to need a 100% Tmac. However, I think Phoenix is a different story. I personally believe we can only beat the Suns if Yao is OUT. Yeah, I said it. Watching us play recently makes me feel like we can actually run and gun, but I also feel that Yao will slow us down too much, but either way, with a few adjustments, I think we can beat both of them.
Can the Rockets beat the Suns in the playoffs? Sure...would I count on it? No way. I'm all about supporting the Rockets and being enthusiastic and optimistic, but anyone who thinks the Suns won't be able to beat the Rockets once Yao is back just hasn't been paying attention. Yao is great - I'm a big Yao fan so no one should take this as Yao bashing, but when we play the Suns its hard for us to get back on defense with Yao out on the floor. Yao is fast for a center, especially one his size, but when you play the Suns who don't really have a true center - its tough to match up. In a 7 game series, we might be able to grind it out with defense, but my preference is still to avoid the Suns if possible - let SA take em out. I think we can take the Mavs in 7, but I wouldn't want to deal with the Suns. Someone said the Suns lean on Nash a lot...yeah, they do, but what's your point? Assuming Nash is healthy in the playoffs, the Suns will be the Suns. If he's injured...I don't even know if they advance past the first round, but I think he'll be there. To all those who said no one on the Suns can stop Yao and to those who assume we'll clobber them once Yao is back - I refer you to November 29. Yao played, McGrady played and we LOST 102-91. They stopped Yao pretty well, by getting him into foul trouble - he was limited to 28 minutes and 18 points (which is great for an average player, but not so great for a superstar like Yao). So I HOPE we can beat the Suns, I THINK we can...but no one here should consider it a cake walk.
Good point Bulls weren't run in gun. Phoenix has had the same team in place and good records for years and they have only bought tickets to the finals. Playoffs isn't about cute basketball. Playoffs the refs slow the game down this isn't the courtyard its' a mans' game. Yao will kill the Suns and playoff hopes if we face them. Dallas on the other hand has better defense and better suited to win a championship, but they won't either. Look for San Antonio and Houston to change once the real games begin. Yao will only help us, how many times has Shaq hurt the lakers or the heat other than his free throw shooting sucks.
I also think were a better team than the Suns but they are just a terrible matchup for us. I think the reason I would rather play the Spurs or the Mavs is because we matchup better with them than the Suns. I would rather hope some other team knocks off the Suns before we have to face them in the playoffs. A team that matches up well with them. J
