Houston REALLY screwed up last night...................and most (if not all) of your fans know it. It boils down to the fact that, once teams begin to aggressively front Yao, the Rockets tend to shy away from him. Simple as that. Bottom Line: Houston will go as far as Yao's teammates allow him take them.
Familiarity breeds contempt. Their fans don't see what a problem the Rockets are for us. This is going to be a very tough series for us from which to emerge victorious. By my count there are two teams that could go into a series feeling at all confident against us: Dallas and Houston.
I see kind of a 1-2 punch coming against Yao. In other words, front him. When Houston goes for the lob (and they will), have player x come over and stand directly behind Yao....effectively "pinching" him. Yao would then be forced to pass or foul. I know it's not as easy as this, but I still think Nate will come up with some fronting and rotating strategies. Of course, Rick's no dummy, so I'm sure he's anticipating this and will have a counter plan in place. Gonna be a fun, fun series! Blazers in 7.
Yup. They'll be up to the challenge. It will be interesting how Nate adjusts during the series to free up Roy and shut down Yao.
The Rockets are really a tough match. I will go on record saying that in my mind - Portland has two options this playoffs - get out on the 1st round or go to the finals. In my opinion - if this team wins the first round - they are going on a mad mad romp.
This is going to be a battle. Both teams have the defenders necessary to stop the other team's best offensive weapon. With Joel, Oden, Lamarcus and Frye, the Blazer have the length at center and power forward to front Yao and send a 6'11" power forward to double from behind. Between Joel and Oden, they also have 12 fouls to give - but Yao is an excellent FT shooter. So, they don't really want to make a habit of sending him to the line. With Artest and Battier, the Rockets have two big, tough defenders to put on Roy. They will always have one or the other in the game when Roy is on the floor. Unlike other teams, this means the Rockets won't have to double Roy when he has the ball - which means fewer wide open 3s for Rudy and Blake. It's going to be a tough, grind it out, low scoring series. Welcome to playoff basketball. BNM
Portland's bigs front Yao really well; his games against you guys show that. The Rockets will need to attack the basket if they can't get Yao the ball and try to get Przybilla in foul trouble. Oden in his first game against Yao wasn't nearly as effective. Main key for Houston would be for Artest to move the ball and not take so many stupid shots. There are times when he comes down the court with shot already ingrained in his mind. Once that happens you can't even get the ball out of his hands.
Just contain Brooks and Scola and we will be fine. Give Yao his 20, let Ron-Ron jack up shots..we need to slow down those role players. Limit their 3's and attack, attack, attack. Aldridge will have to carry us for us to win, since Brandon will be the focal point of the defense.
yup... Yao vs the 12 fouls of Joel and Greg will be a key to the series. Oden seems to be making strides of late so maybe he can get Ming in some foul trouble too. Artest has been a matchup nightmare for Portland for a few years now and he seems to know it and play with supreme confidence. But Roy is equally a matchup problem for Houston where both Artest and Battier struggle with his speed/shiftiness. LA's length allows him clear looks vs Scola, but Luis always seems to have nice games scrapping and hitting open looks when left alone. Should be fun STOMP
I think Aldridge is the key to this series. His length creates match-up problems for the Rockets power forwards. He has also been playing extremely well since the all-star break. The Blazers should pound the ball into him early to try to get a couple quick fouls on Scola. He can then simply shoot over any of their back-up 4s. BNM
I actually think Landry would do a better job defensively on Aldridge. He's quicker and more athletic. Of course, the Rockets' best option for defending Aldridge would be Chuck Hayes. He gives away no position and has utilized Battier's "eye-coverage" defense. On offense though Scola's much more effective. His knack for always being in the right place will come in handy with Portland looking at Yao.
Yes, but as an 0.866 FT shooter, you don't want to send Yao to the line too often. Play Hack-a-Yoa and you're playing to his strength. Better to double him front and rear than resort to fouling him. I do like the idea of using Greg to get Yao in foul trouble, but I have a feeling Rick will play Mutombo when Greg is in the game to avoid that happening. Deke won't give them anything on offense, but he can still match up effectively against Greg on the defensive end. BNM
It is impreative for Greg to stay out of foul trouble. If he does - the Rockets will not be able to play Deke for long - since their offense will really suffer with Yao out. Greg needs to bang his way to the post against Yao. He is strong enough and quick enough to do that.
Actually, neither Landry nor Hayes has been able to guard Aldridge in the past. They do a decent job of keeping him from establishing position deep, but Aldridge has a great mid-range jumper with a high release and simply shoots over the shorter Landry and MUCH shorter Hayes. BNM
I've got all three games this season saved on my computer so I'll take a look later. IIRC, Hayes has always been the one to give Aldridge the most trouble on his turnarounds. Once Aldridge gets in the air Hayes bulls right up to him and sticks a hand in his eyes. Maybe it's just one isolated play etched into my memory, but if so the impression that gave me was pretty strong.
I'm not advocating a Hack-a-Ming stategy of trying to send him to the line. Dude will get there though because he's such a threat on the block. He's probably the easiest guy to make an entry pass to I've ever seen and Adelman absolutely will be running things through him. Joel and Greg have the best shot on the roster of slowing him down so them not fouling out is the key to the game I'm referring to. STOMP
Let Yao get his points, I'm fine with that and even Artest ,but we can't let guys like Wafer shred our defense and go to the hoop uncontested. I know that this is a series that Ptown must go into thinking it's a street fight. Houston has pushed us around all year, that can't happen or this will be done in a hurry! I don't like this matchup for our young young team, but if we can get past the Rockets the rest of playoffs could be really interesting.
