My comment on Yao and the offense shifting to Artest and Brooks is due to the fact that Houston now outside of Yao has no inside presence! Yao will have to play super smart on the defensive end to not pick up fouls. When he sits we can attack the paint aggresively! If Roy, LA and hopefully Bayless can get to the rim early and strap Yao with a couple fouls, than GO and Pryz can rule the paint, which inturn will open up our outside shooting. Losing Mutombo takes away the rest and the luxury Yao has had especially against the height our team possesses.
This win means we are still in the series, imo. If we would have lost game 2, I think our season was all but over, possibly in a sweep. We gotta work our asses off and take one of the next two. Man, I love the playoffs. Go Blazers! Way to bounce back after a demoralizing loss.
mutumbo only played in 9 regular season games for the rockets. he was basically on the team in case yao got hurt and to provide another big body against teams with multiple big centers(like the blazers). the rockets will be fine without him though they'll have to give a lot more attention to oden on offense if yao is out of the game. i really doubt it is a significant change in the series though.
I have a very simple solution to Wafer. It is that you quite playing them like they are a friend from the teams past, and when they come down the lane, you make sure when they hit the court on their back that they know the past, is the past, and now the Blazers are going to put you on your back every time you come down the lane.
along those lines.. I was way up in row R.. but after the open court dunk did Wafer kind of stare down Mr Allen?
Yea I was kind of pissed because after some physical play Roy came over to Rafer and they bumped fist like "it's cool". Quit being his friend on the court. Put some doubt in his mind as to what will happen if he comes down the lane.
