Dwight Howard says he'll guard Aldridge for "most of the game" tomorrow.

If they still play Jones, Robin is gonna beast. like 20/15 type numbers.

 

Nah. He doesn't need to go that far out to pull Howard from the paint. LA has that automatic elbow J. From 14-16 feet out, his turnaround is money. Put Howard out in that much open space, LA can reverse spin and step to the hoop, and D12 will have to reach and foul.

 

If Dwight is on LA, will we do some pick and rolls with Batum and Lopez? I'd like to see Terrance Jones defend those.

 

If they put Howard on Aldridge, expect to see Asik on Lopez. But, that's OK. Howard and Asik don't play their best together. They get in each other's way on offense, and since they both want the ball on the low blocks, when they are both in together, it clogs the lane with big bodies and makes it harder for Harden, Chandler and Lin to get to the rim.

BNM

 

I am completely unconvinced of McHale's ability to adjust, especially in game. We all knew that coaching was going to be to y'alls advantage but damn I hoped it wasn't going to be this obvious.

 

And that LMFAO 3 LMA made over Howard at the end of the game is going to be in my nightmares for a long time.

 

I'll be shocked if Houston plays Asik and Howard together for more than a few brief minutes. Their offense spacing is terrible with those two on the court. This is a team that greatly utilizes analytics and the team was ineffective with that pair on the court. They haven't given those lineups court time since December. If they were going to play the pair together when it matters most in the playoffs don't you think they would've experimented with it at least briefly the last 4 months of the regular season?

If McHale goes down losing the series he won't want to be known for making panic moves like that.

 

I can't figure out how to show a non-mobile version of this story.

 

Dwight is a jackass. His solution is for him to get the ball and for him to get more shots.

He deferred all blame in his post game press conference and said his 0-4 stretch at the line had no impact on them losing the game. He blamed his teammates for taking quick shots early in the shot clock.

When the team wins its because of him and when they lose its because of his teammates. I'd hate to be a teammate with that prick.

 

Ahh Dwight is starting to succumb. We want Dwight to start taking it upon himself to win, because that's when Houston starts to Unravel. I saw it early in the season when the Rockets were adjusting and Dwight was blaming teammates for his failures.

 

They tried it in the first quarter of game 1. Asik came in for Jones, but picked up two quick fouls. In the second quarter, Asik came in for Howard, but he didn't play at all in the second half and didn't re-enter the game until Howard fouled out with 10.8 seconds left in overtime. The problem is, if you put Howard on Aldridge, who guards Lopez? Granted Lopez isn't the all around offensive threat Aldridge is, but he's pretty good on the low blocks, pretty good running the pick and roll with Batum and holds the franchise record for offensive rebounds in a season. If they put Terrence Jones on him and Aldridge draws Howard out of the paint, look for Lopez to have a great game, with highly efficient scoring and lots of put back off of offensive rebounds. He will be the one "shooting over a chair" this time.

I agree with you 100% about Howard/Asik totally screwing up the Rockets spacing on offense (I made the same comment in my previous post). Aldridge is such a mismatch for them. He just absolutely abused Terrence Jones (like he also did in the regular season). So, that forces their hand. They either put their best defender and rim protector on Aldridge, which hurts the rest of their defense (Jones on Lopez, Lillard, Matthews and Batum driving/cutting down the lane when Aldridge draws Howard out of the paint), or they play Asik in place of Jones to improve their defense, but kill their own offensive flow.

I like the fact that we are the ones dictating the match-ups for once. We never saw that when Nate was the coach. Well, that kind of goes without saying. We never saw ANY kind of adjustment when Nate was coaching. They are the ones that need to adjust to try to find an answer to stopping Aldridge, and doing so hurts them elsewhere. That's the nice thing about having other guys who can score in multiple ways, and having a true center playing next to Aldridge. Lopez has a huge size advantage over Jones, unlike Hickson, who was an undersized PF playing out of position. So, McHale has to pick his poison. Try to slow down Aldridge by putting Howard on him and make it easier for everyone else to score. Or, go big with Asik and screw up his own offense.

BTW, one reason Asik and Howard didn't play a lot together during the last four months of the season was Asik's "injury" that caused him to 34 games while he was being shopped, err... rehabbing. And then, when Asik did come back, Howard missed 11 games late in the season. Hard to play them together when one, or the other, was out for almost the entire second half of the season.

BNM

 

Payback time for Rick out coaching Nate. Damn, it's nice to be able to actually win the coaching match up for once.

BNM

 

god I hope so. Work Howard make him chase Aldridge around. Howard has the foot speed to outquick Lopez. But not Aldridge. Would love to see down screens set. on Howard with Aldridge popping out to the free throw line off of it. Then once hes hit a couple of those pump fake and attack the rim with no shot blocker. Not to mention How exactly is terrance jones going to defend lopez? Down screen for Aldridge, come up get the ball at the elbow. Toss it into a lopez who is right at the rim with jones sealed behind him. similar to the out of bounds play the blazers run with low time on the clock. When Lopez doesn't have to rush his shot he shoots so much better. How is jones supposed to effect it? If Howard goes to help, ha kick it to Aldridge for the 15footer.

PLEASE ROCKETS. PUT HOWARD ON ALDRIDGE.

 

I like it!

Leaves the hoop open for Lillard, Matthews and Batum to penetrate.

 

Conversely, anyone notice how Aldridge's quick hands give Howard fits?

 

Personally, I'd be pretty surprised if the Rockets made many adjustments. They were as close to winning that game as you come without winning. Harden missed some easy shots, and they had a much harder time than usual drawing fouls in the first half. It's not like they lost by 20.

They may be forced to adjust to a gimpy Beverley and flu-ridden Lin, though.

 

Agreed. Outside of putting Harden on Nic, I don't see em making many other changes. Nic HAS TO be aggressive today. No loafing around.

 

Agreed. We know Harden is going to go off and Howard will get his. We can't have Parsons putting up another 20+ game on us.

 

Bet he gets called for two slaps at the ball tonight. Puts him on the bench, no muss, no fuss.

 

What I think we'll see let slide tonight is Asik sticking out his ass on screens. I think he was called for it three times in Game One. It's subtle enough that the refs can not call it and most replays will miss it.