Mo had ZBo as his silver bullet back in 03 when we were getting killed by this same P&R and shooting by Nash and Dirk. Zach forced Dirk or Bradley to defend him at all times. Is there anyone on the bench we can go to more in these remaining games, or should it just be a change in strategy. Last night's game was just disheartening, because of our lack of effort, and seemingly defeated attitude. But, in theory, the series is not yet over.
Start Roy over Matthews and see what happens. Or, go big and start Batum, and go with a small bench with Rudy, Matthews, Roy.
The biggest change for the next game isn't going to be a basketball one, it's a geographical one. Playing at home always seems to get the guys more confident in their outside shots so we hit a few more from the perimeter and Dallas, historically this season, seems to get pretty tight playing in Portland. Let's hope that trend continues Thursday and Saturday or else we can start talking about the draft next week.
I think we should just start Roy, go to him extensively, and see what he can give us in game 3. It's not as if Wes is killing it out there on either end of the floor. Maybe we can sick Armon on Kidd/Barea on defense and freeze him out on offense before he commits a turnover.
I think one method might be to go away from LMA on offense a bit (let Andre, Crash, Batum and Matthews pick up the slack a bit) and just let LMA hound the heck out of Dirk on D. Dirk'll probably get less benefit-of-the-doubt calls if there's another star guarding him, and I have confidence that Miller and Crash can approximate what LMA gives. Yes, I know that this is antithetical to almost everything I usually post (feed LMA inside, don't let Miller shoot jumpers, have Nic and Wes focus on D) but this series will go based on how many times Dirk goes to the line. Pure and simple. Kidd and Peja and Barea are nuisances, but probably won't keep up this clip unless you keep leaving them wide open. Which means no double-teams on Dirk. Which means that you need an elite, long defender like LMA or Camby to bother him. But you can't tire LMA out and still expect him to carry the load on offense. Anyway, that's one option.
Also, I liked how Andre basically bodied up Kidd from halfcourt and Kidd had no way to get around him, burning about 10 sec off the shot clock at the start of each possession of the first quarter. We went away from that a bit, but it was working.
Would the positive effect of starting Roy and getting him untracked a bit (if it happens that way) overcome the "panic" feeling that will happen if you start Roy and he performs like the last couple of games? I don't know.
That's a pretty good call. I always thought Nic on Dirk was a decent matchup for us, but Nowitzki is just burning our guy. I've noticed that whenever LA switches to C, he's guarding Chandler/Haywood. Maybe we can put Nic on their C. About Dre shooting, it was just weird to see him hit 2 threes last night, and us still losing.
As already posted, Matthews hasn't done much as a starter, short of a 1 minute burst last night in the 2nd quarter. Roy can't be any worse than Matthews, and Matthews could perhaps find his place offensively off of the bench. The 4th quarter meltdown lost the game last night; not Brandon Roy.
1 good minute out of 35 didn't overcome 12 minutes of suck in the 4th quarter. At least Roy helped the team go up by 6 with under 6 minutes in Game One.
Our major problem is that we're not stopping anybody. And if we had to pick the most important person we're not stopping - it's Jason Kidd. He's killing us. I dunno what his PER is, but by a version of that he's outpointing Derek Rose. I think I saw Batum on him for a while in game 1 - can we do that and stick with it, a la Pippen on Mark Jackson or Stockton back when the Bulls played the Pacers or Jazz? Failing that, why not give Armon Johnson a few minutes? I like coaches who are prepared to lengthen their rotations in the playoffs, like Doc Rivers letting loose Donkey in the finals, or Monty giving big minutes to Aaron Gray (and ANY minutes to MBenga). Just point Johnson at Kidd and say "sic 'im." What the hell, nothing to lose at this point.
Venue. A little home cooking and the best fans in basketball is what we need. Fuck trying to suddenly put Roy in the starting lineup. Lets get this series tied up! Then lets rip the Mavs heart out on their own court! Blazers in 6!
If we aren't going to start Roy, I do at least want him to play SG with Armon at his side. Johnson would somewhat compensate for Roy's defensive deficiencies.
More ISO's. The Blazers have gone away from them, and it is killing them. Roy commands double teams, and is awesome at getting guys easy baskets at the hoop.
That's the perfect reason why. Gives Roy or anyone else any excuses. If Roy thinks he needs more playing time to get back into his rhythm, then let it happen. Personally I think that won't happen because Nate doesn't like changing things to fast. He's all about the organic.
This is sorta my take. The ideal would be for Roy to step it up and contribute 15+ points. You guys are playing two senior citizens, which plays to Dallas' strengths. Go small and athletic to make dirk and Kidd have to chase someone around at the defensive end.
Make a concerted effort to attack Peja on offense. That dude can't a phone booth. More minutes for Batum and stretches of time with a line-up of Miller/Batum/Wallace/LMA/Camby. It's a very long team that is pretty quick, outside of Miller. Also, during these periods of time sick Batum on Kidd. If Dirk starts getting to the line, throw in Earl Barron or Chris Johnson to knock him down a few times. They have 12 total fouls to use and those calls are going against Portland no matter what happens. Single coverage on Dirk. He can score 50 but he can't score 100. If Batum is going to guard Dirk, front him. Batum can't handle him otherwise. The last two games may very well be outliers from the standpoint of Kidd and Peja's shooting this year. Make sure every shot they take is contested. When Barrea is on the floor, no matter who he is guarding that dude needs to take JJ into the post. He may flop a couple of times for offensive fouls but it will probably end up a net positive. And someone, anyone please set a decent screen. Portland is making it pretty fucking easy for Dallas to guard them on the perimeter. Play Roy zero minutes. It fucking sad but that dude is killing Portland's momentum whenever he steps on the court. I saw one play where he just stood around dribbling then passed the ball to LMA with 8 seconds left on the clock. That just kills everything Portland is trying to do otherwise. A couple of pick and pop plays with Rudy and LMA would be nice. They haven't done that all series I don't think. On screens, the off man needs to show WAY harder to give the other guy a chance to get around the screen. Also, they need to lead with their shoulder when they hit the screener. Make Chandler and that other dude think about how much the screen is going to hurt.
