It's generally accepted that playoff ball is a lot different than the regular season - a lot more physical, more halfcourt, team able to prepare better and so forth. So, despite the fact that I like our guards, I'm seeing this as being our big problem in the playoffs. I have problems seeing Luke matching up very well with any of his potential counterparts in the playoffs, with the exception of maybe Houston depending on Sura's condition, and even then Mike James ain't no joke. At the risk repeating myself ad nauseum, he's been looking overmatched defensively as teams are going right at him, and offensively it just doesn't look like his confidence is there in the halfcourt, especially since he can't finish very well at the rim. I think both will only get worse in the playoffs. AD being hurt doesn't help, and even when healthy he's still too inconsistent with his 15 footer and tends to pound the ball too much when he tries to break down his guy. Flip I think is mentally gone, he can't play point especially when he's on the court with Ray. That's too bad because his game provides what we need as a counterpart to Ray being double-teamed and forced to give up the ball: ability to knock down the shot, penetrate and finish, a show and go pullup J. All halfcourt stuff. Lastly none of these guys have shown the ability to knock down the 3 when the ball gets swung around after a doubleteam. If we exit early from the playoffs I see this as being the main reason.
If you play Houston, I would say that Ridnour and Daniels would be enough to compete against the duo of Sura and James. Houston has the edge defensively on the Seattle point guards, but Ridnour has a much better outside shot than Sura and Daniels is a better penetrator than James. The big problem against the Rockets will be Yao. The Sonics have no one who can efficiently guard Yao for a whole game. James and Fortson would be riddled with foul trouble and it would in turn take away Seattle's edge on the boards.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Trip:</div><div class="quote_post">If you play Houston, I would say that Ridnour and Daniels would be enough to compete against the duo of Sura and James. Houston has the edge defensively on the Seattle point guards, but Ridnour has a much better outside shot than Sura and Daniels is a better penetrator than James. The big problem against the Rockets will be Yao. The Sonics have no one who can efficiently guard Yao for a whole game. James and Fortson would be riddled with foul trouble and it would in turn take away Seattle's edge on the boards.</div> Actually JJ usually plays better against Yao than anyone else. Danny and Reggie tend to get Yao riled up and into foul trouble. McGrady is, however, exactly the kind of guard Seattle can't handle.
I think that Luke and Daniels can get the job done in playoffs. Daniels has a lot of play-off experience and Luke can outhustle every guard in the NBA when he is feeling well. I think that our biggest concerne is lack of dominance down low especcially considering the fact that Sonics haven't played that uptempo game for a long time (the game that got them that hot start).
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Trip:</div><div class="quote_post">If you play Houston, I would say that Ridnour and Daniels would be enough to compete against the duo of Sura and James. Houston has the edge defensively on the Seattle point guards, but Ridnour has a much better outside shot than Sura and Daniels is a better penetrator than James. The big problem against the Rockets will be Yao. The Sonics have no one who can efficiently guard Yao for a whole game. James and Fortson would be riddled with foul trouble and it would in turn take away Seattle's edge on the boards.</div> For starters..James doesnt rebound the basketball so that wouldnt hurt us at all. Secondally niether of those guys even average 20 mpg so I really dont think that would effect us much...those guys play with the expectations of getting into foul trouble every game.
Luke didn't have too many problems staying in front of point guards earlier in the season, in fact it was one of the surprises for us that he could be an effective first line of perimeter defense (with Reggie and Fort blocking the lanes). Right now he's visibly sore with his plantar fascisis (sp?), yet we just can't afford to have him miss any gametime.
