I agree with: 1. Put Dirk in PnR defense at the top of the key all day everyday. He's done on D. 2. Let Monta have all the 3's he wants, force him into the shot blockers 3. Don't leave ur feet for Chandler pump fakes, make him hit contested shots 4. Post up Tjones on Dirk, Dirk's vertical is non existent. 5. Let Ronda have all the jumpers he wants, we want the ball in his hands late in the shot clock.
Curious who will be guarding who. Rondo - Terry Ellis - Ariza(?) Parsons - Harden(?) Nowitzki - Jones Chandler - Howard
a lot of the important stuff has already been touched on but i think one of the biggest keys is going to be McHale not getting outcoached by Carlisle. McHale is a good players coach. He's good at getting effort and buy-in. Xs and Os are not his forte. Carlisle is a tactician. he's at his best when he can zero in on your team's weaknesses and design situations to exploit them. I fear his ability to make adjustments that put the Mavs in advantageous situations over the course of a long series.
I don't think anyone has mentioned this, but dealing with the Mavs zone D will be critical. Carlisle likes to go to the zone in the playoffs, and it was very effective during their title run, especially in the Finals against the Heat. If (and when) they play zone, our typical Harden iso or Harden PnR will be way less successful. McHale's response to this adjustment will be extremely important. If we can get into the teeth of the zone, the key to this series will be knocking down our three point chances and getting offensive rebounds. It is very tough to guard shooters and rebound when playing zone, and we're going to need to take advantage of these weaknesses when the Mavs play zone D.
We'll win the series but what I don't like is that there's no Chuck Hayes available to stop Stoudemire. Also...who knows if Jason Terry is not a double agent.
So true - McHale has to make adjustments based on what the Mavs are doing, but he also needs to leave the hot players in and not yank them at inopportune times.
Typical James Harden numbers + 20/12 games from Dwight while owning the defensive paint for starters. The biggest key will be for a 3rd role player (Jones, Smith, Ariza, Brewer, JET) to take turns and step up each game and drop another 20+ and be that 3rd star for the game while the others contribute like they normally do. This series will likely go 7 so take 1 game at a time and don't get too up or down after a win or loss. We got this!
Except for Tyson Chandler! And you can bet they'd try the exact same strategy on us when Dwight's not in the game
That is when we need to see what the baby giraffe can do. I am excited he has gotten some playing time and looked so much better than early in the season.
Old man Tyson is about to be eaten alive having to deal with Harden, Howard, TJ, Smith, Corey all at the same time. Who else do they have. We wore them down last game and Howard didn't even play that much.
He is going to be the new Troy Daniels gimmick MaHale will pull on the Mavs this year. Just watch. With Clint in the middle, air space will become so much tighter for the Mavs to operate with.
This will sound weird, but Charlie V 3 point shooting scares me. He seems to have found his shooting touch and Rox have a tendency to leave shooters wide open. Especially if we play two PFs to go against Chandler. Every offensive rebound normally means a three pointer to Charlie V
