Anthony Davis Discussion: Sore Tummy

gotta be careful trying to beat houston at their own game. they desperately want you to match them small--they constructed their entire team/philosophy around playing that way and do so 100% of the time. they will beat you that way. land war in asia. you have to find ways to capitalize on the fact that they're short.

phil jackson almost beat dantoni's suns as a 7 seed by finding ways to exploit the fact that amare/marion/diaw(?) were their pf/c rotation. well, now dantoni is using pj tucker and robert covington. you need to be able to score. as the thunder's 80 points on 7-45 from three the other night demonstrates, you don't let them off the hook. make those two guys use their legs on dwight to keep him off the boards on every trip down--do so by having lebron getting up shots in the painted area. if they pack the paint, green should have open corner threes. anything but open corner threes? keep driving. crash glass. defend the three and the hoop (with a center) and concede any midrange shot by any player on their roster ever.

 

Hou wins in a blowout. I'd rather play OKC but this way, Mike might keep his job for longer, making sure Harden never wins anything LOL.

 

Well at least Houston has home court advantage, so there’s that.

 

I don't think they'll need it against Houston: Lebron going downhill w/o a rim protector or AD in the triple thread midrange area is more then enough to score against Houston.

If I was Vogel, I'd be doing it a lot in practice but not using it ingame to keep the amount of film available low. Then you spam it against the Clippers

 

so hard to prep for houston because of their gimmicky style. they're going to pack the paint, so the key is not to just settle for the kickout to the guys they want shooting (which, on our team, appears to be freaking everyone). get into the crowded paint, don't charge/TO, get up a reasonable shot, crash the glass with guys 6 inches taller. have perimeter guys ready to slow breaks.

it takes discipline, but dantoni teams can be beaten, even by teams with less talent. which is why i find his success extra frustrating. again: a team starting kwame brown and smush parker almost took a prime dantoni team down. he's doubled down on those strategies since.

his teams depend on your team to do dumb stuff. if you do, they will beat you by 30. if you don't, you should take 3/4 games against them (dropping the ones when they go nova from deep).

 

Soft

 

Not a great showing, but I’m putting more of the blame on the coaching staff than AD. There was no offensive gameplan whatsoever. You have to put your best players in position to succeed, especially against such an unorthodox team like the Rockets. Don’t just throw them out there and expect their greatness to carry the team to a victory.

 

Wake up.

 

I agree LJ on the p&r, especially how they are playing AD, where the hell is that counter?

AD in my opinion is the best big man in the game and it's not even close... when he wants to be. He's in his physical prime years. Force your will on the 7 dwarfs and EAT! I hate this MIA for one half, then aggressive in the other. or worse... quiet for a game and then big time in the next. This is the playoffs and probably your best shot at a ring while you have Bron with you. Put your big boy pants on and start putting the league on notice and start working towards that legacy. Can't do that in LA as a big without hardware.

Fewer post ups. Get into the action much earlier. Face up at the top of the key and drive right at them. P&R with Bron. Get to the damn FT line (only 4?!). Then incorporate the J. And give Tucker the business, didn't score on him in a single half court possession in game 1