I know Greg still can't be counted on to stay on the floor because of foul trouble, but after watching the way he absolutely shut Yao down at times last night and the fact that he was showing some serious flashes of being able to pick and roll for a vicious dunk (which opens up the floor for Brandon, LMA, etc.) I think he's finally earned that starter's spot. I know there are advantages to maybe bringing him to dominate Houston's smaller second line center(s) but for my money this sure does seem like a golden opportunity to maybe put the Rockets on their heels early and hopefully open up the floor for Brandon and LMA as they are forced to commit more help to defend Greg. Thoughts?
No. We can't be shuffling the starting lineup too much. We just need to play the same ball we played the last part of the season. They just are playing very poorly offensively. I don't see that much that indicates that Joel should lose his starting spot. If they do go to Yao early, the Center guarding him is going to get those fouls.
I def want him on the floor more, but I'm worried he will have to sit 2 minutes into the game. I did enjoy those dunks in the 3rd though!
Instead of starting him, we need to feed Greg more shots offensively. Sure, the pick and roll is great but we do that every freakin' time down the court.
Nah, the game plan on Yao is working as is. I say start Rudy in place of Batum, have Batum guard Wafer off the bench, sit Frye, play Sergio to give Blake some rest, and let Batum relieve Roy and alternately Rudy.
3. Maybe we need that spark off the bench, but he needs much more burn and to be involved IMO. I love Nic's defense and sporadic offense but its just so weird for a starter ONLY to start games and then not play again.
This isn't really the team for Nic to shine against; Artest overpowers him, and Battier isn't worth defending all night long. Nic would be invaluable if the Rockets still had McGrady.
I posted this info on Bedge regarding our insistance on playing our current starting lineup at the beginning of each half. Houston is a great defensive team with two outstanding perimeter defenders. By only starting the halves with 2 scoring threats Brandon and LaMarcus, we are playing into their hands. I love Joel but he is not a threat to score. Likewise this matchup is horrible for Batum ( I love his defense and hustle) but he is a no show in this series on that offensive end. Against Houston without any spacing this causes Blake to be very ineffective as well. He cannot create without spacing. Against a defensive team like Houston he performs better with lineups with more scoring threats that open up the floor. Unfortunately, our starting lineup enables Houston to focus on only stopping two elements, which they are doing quite effectively. Sometimes just the threat of a defense having to respect/fear that Outlaw may go off, Rudy may go back door or shoot deep or that Greg may posterize someone can make things infinitely easier on Brandon, Lamarcus and to a great extent make Blake more effective. Just like Nate made the adjustment toward the end of the year to always have Brandon or LaMarcus in at all times to avoid scoring droughts, I feel we need to have a quick hook if we fall behind early and play the remainder of the game (foul trouble permitting) with at least 3 perceived scoring threats at all times on the floor from a combination of Brandon, LaMarcus, Rudy, Greg and Travis. Play Batum in the 2nd half within one of these combinations. This was my gut feeling that I mentioned in the game thread repeatedly. Wanting to confirm my beliefs I went to the tape and the play by play summaries of games 1-3 bear this out. Game 1 1st Half Starting Lineup -10 Nate finally subs in Oden, Rudy, and Outlaw at the 2:02 mark with the score 30-20 Houston. we finish the quarter down a total of 11 points. 2nd Half Starting Lineup -7 Nate subs in Outlaw at the 7:35 mark, we are down 74-49. Houston started the half on a 12-5 run. After the substitution we basically stay even and finish the quarter down an addtional 2 points. Game 2 1st Half Starting Lineup -2 Nate subs in Outlaw at the 5:39 mark with the score 17-15 Houston. We finish the quarter 2 up 28-26 2nd Half Starting Lineup -3 We start the half up 2 53-51. With the starters in Houston goes on a quick 12-3 run to start the half. ( Brandon saves the day by hitting tough contested shots as with this lineup we were quickly down 7) Oden enters the game when we are down 1 63-62 at the 5:24 mark. We finish the quarter tied at 72. Game 3 1st Half Starting Lineup -5 Nate subs in Outlaw with 5:11 left, we find ourselves in the all too familiar position down early 11-6. We stabilize but the damage is done we end the quarter down 6. 2nd Half Starting Lineup -6 We start the half down 48-37. Houston goes on an immediate 6-0 run to be up 54-37. White flag time we sub Travis at the 9:10 mark and we immediately go on a 7-0 run and finish the quarter down only 7 cutting 10 points off of the lead That lineup with only two scoring threats on the floor aginst Houston is a combined -33 in only 36 and half minutes of play. (they are a minus 1 per minute) They have lost all 6 starts to the half of the first 3 games. We are digging ourselves a hole aginst a great defensive team that is taking tremendous energy to overcome. You know what they say about when your in hole, stop digging.
This series reminds me of when we lost to the Mavs in '03. Cheeks refused to change the lineup, and it wasn't until we were down 0-3 that he finally went with the big lineup that nearly brought us back to win the series. Sometimes you have to make adjustments in the playoffs.
I do not think there is a big need to change the line-up - but it is clear that penetrating hard to the rim and throwing the ball to Greg when Yao (or whoever else) rotates works. We just need to see it happen more and not just 2-3 times by Blake. Would be nice if Roy and Rudy did it as well.
If anyone needs to go the bench it would be Batum. Unless they have him guard Brooks, Batum is a liability on the floor. Starting Oden would be great except we all know he wouldn't make it to the 4 minute mark in the game. Feeding the ball to Oden in the post would be ok, except Portland didn't give him the on-the-job training he needed during the regular season to make this a viable option in the playoffs. This is on the coaching staff and they should feel really, really fucking stupid that they didn't see this coming. If Portland needs a third scoring threat in the starting line-up, they may want to substitute Outlaw or Rudy for Batum. Perhaps if they can get Outlaw to hit a couple of shots early he may get hot. I know they need him to score to win this series.
The only reason to start Oden is if you want to see him foul out in the 1st half. This is one of Canzano's dumber ideas (and that's saying something). If the Blazers started Oden, the Rockets would go right at him and he'd have two fouls in the first two minutes of the game. Does he not remember that Oden fouled out in less than 12 minutes in Game 2? Canzano talks about Zach Randolph creating mismatches in the Dallas series. The mismatch in this series is Oden against the Rockets second unit. Starting Oden against Yao doesn't create a mismatch in Portland's favor - it does the opposite. The Bald Faced Idiot needs to stick to writing his gossip column and leave the basketball decisions to someone who knows something about the sport. BNM
Excellent post. I totally agree with your assessment of our starters. I like the idea of starting Travis at the 3. He's in a bit of a funk, a change could snap him back to his normal play. Give some of his previous backup minutes to Rudy. Batum is not cutting it as a starter, it is a joke having him in there. His play is so poor he can't get minutes at any other meaningful time, so why is he starting?
