Idk, you good for it? Also need to see how serious this apparent Splitter injury is; although he's been huge for the Spurs the past few years, he's also one of the softest players in the league and can miss weeks at a time for minor injuries. If its his calf then it could be months.
For the record, nobody stops true top players, but you can slow them. Splitter won't shut down LA, but he'll make him work for his buckets more than Howard or Asik did away from the basket.
So what would be the specifics for the bet? Splitter holding LA to worse shooting numbers than Howard/Asik?
Asik and Howard both played Aldridge extremely tough. After Asik took over for Jones in game 3 Aldridge really only had 1 really good game after that. I don't anticipate Splitter being any tougher than those two
Asik is a big fucker too. A true center. Really tough. I don't think Splitter tougher than Asik. I think Asik is the tougher player.
Asik and Splitter are actually pretty similar, but Splitter is more mobile while Asik is a better rim protector/rebounder. Splitter is much better offensively though; he's an elite PnR player on both ends of the ball tbh.
Splitter is softer than toilet paper unfortunately. Doesn't make him any worse of a defender though, and his ability to ignore/read through pump fakes is ridiculous.
What gets Aldridge is playing against tough bigs that can push him out near the 3pt line. Asik was good at this because he's a big strong fucker that is hard to move. I think Aldridge will have an easier time setting up against Splitter compared to Asik.
Weird didn't you say this So are you saying Lillard isn't a "true top player"? That's funny he's been the best PG in the entire playoffs so far.
Splitter doesn't give up position tho, so LA won't be able to back him down easily or at all. He's also pretty solid at bodying up jumpshooters and making them try to shoot over him.
I don't think you watched the Houston series at all then. Asik was all over Aldridge, same with Howarf, yet Aldridge shot over them with ease. I don't get you man, you go back and forth with your takes and none of it makes sense.
Patrick Beverly was giving him trouble in the first round, and Lin was later on as well. Green is a much better defender than either. Also, I don't consider him a true top player. Yes, he's very clutch and doesn't shy away from the big moments, but a 4/16 shooting night for him isn't rare. For the record, I consider top players to be Lebron/KD/Griffin/Anthony Davis/LA/Kevin Love (sometimes). These are generally bigmen/wings. I don't consider any PGs/smallish SGs to be unstoppable. A reputable Suns poster on ST has a theory that has yet to be disproven, which is that PG-led teams will never win a championship (without a historic defense to back them up); I agree with him. Luckily for you guys LA is your best player.
If LA plays like he did in the first two games, no one will be able to slow him down; he was making tough shot after tough shot in what was arguably the greatest offensive performance of the modern era. By the time the series shifted to Portland, he cooled off a bit and Asik/Howard were able to make him work. I'm thinking Splitter will be better than either not only due to forcing him to take tough shots as well, but to cut off the LA/lillard PnR Portland loves to use, forcing his drives to be directed towards Duncan (while nowhere near as mobile, he's still an elite post player and rim protector), and by causing LA to turn it over at a decent enough rate. Asik and Howard are good defenders one-on-one and even in the PnR (Asik is meh), but neither are all that smart or skilled with their body positioning/footwork/hands as Splitter.
Sooo he'll give Aldridge fits like in that Saturday afternoon loss y'all took when Splitter scored 0 points on 0-2 shooting, 4 rebs, had a turnover and 2 fouls while playing a measly 18 minutes? All the while LMA's line was 24 pts on 11-17 shooting , 7 Rebs, 4 Ast, 1 steal and 2 blocks?? http://espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400488912
Third game of the regular season? Really? Home opener for the Blazers as well. Anyway, at that time Splitter was playing soft and just wasn't being a factor. A good number of Spurs were still bitching at how much the Spurs' FO gave him after how bad he was in the Finals. Since he came back from his injury in January though, he's played much much better on both sides of the ball. Still soft as hell at times, but its hard to deny how much better the Spurs are defensively with him on the court (best defensive on/off metrics out of any Spur on the team by a good amount, including Duncan). He's also one of the best defenders statistically in the NBA this year.
