This is what got us HCA; [video=youtube;StBk0f8u3v8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StBk0f8u3v8&feature=related[/video] Who woulda thought that shot would cost Houston HCA in the first round?
Houston struggles when teams front Yao. They are strangely unable to adapt to that. They aren't able to lob over the top and Yao's hands aren't good, he fumbles passes that aren't right on his hands. True to form, Dallas turned the game in the second half by aggressively fronting Yao. Artest didn't help matters by playing a pretty bad game, something he's well capable of doing. If Przybilla and Oden work hard and front Yao effectively all series, Portland may actually win the series easily. It really mitigates Yao. And Houston is not a good team when Yao isn't an effective focal point on offense.
Well, we're about to become the most hated team for 1.33 billion people, and 1/5 of everyone on Earth. Thanks, Yao. Hey China..
Artest will sit at home on Roy. Scola/Landry also matchup well with LaMarcus. Travis and Rudy are going to be key, they need to attack and create offense for us.
Bring on Houston! The way we're playing, and having home court, they're going to have come in here and play their best to steal one. GO BLAZERS!!
we're coming into the playoffs very hot, the rockets just choked home court advantage and the third seed away. hope we play saturday
Where's rocketeer at? How nervous are you of Ron Artest continuing his recent chuckings in to the playoffs?
Actually, in our last matchup it was Aldridge who did a fantastic job of fronting Yao. Really, Yao was never the problem. It was all the holes in our offense that were created when our centers were forced to cover the midrange and farther because Aldridge had to be out of position. In some ways I really wonder if two 7 foot, beefy centers like we have are really the best way to handle Houston. It's the one team where an Aldridge/Outlaw C/PF combination might make the most sense. With small ball you can front Yao and still recover when they swing it around. Anyway, our strategy should revolve around getting the ball in Artest's hands at the three point line with 7 seconds or less. The guy is such a crappy perimeter shooter in those situations, and he never looks to pass. It's a missed shot or a turnover 80% of the time.
i think this is a bad matchup for both teams. rockets have artest/battier to throw at roy. blazers have oden/joel to throw at yao. i'm pissed my favorite two teams are meeting in the first round. i think the blazers probably take the series in 7. it should be a great series, i just wish the rockets had beaten the mavs and we could be talking about this series as the western conference finals.
that's the biggest question about the rockets going into the playoffs. what the fuck is ron artest going to do? i guarantee he costs the rockets at least one game in the series. the blazers trouble defending the pg position is something that i think is going to work in the blazers favor this series(if that makes any sense). brooks(and lowry too but he generally has been a smarter player) is going to be able to attack, but i'm worried about him getting away from going to yao if he's having success offensively. that's something that plays right into the blazers hands.
