02-01-2020, 12:39 PM
(02-01-2020, 09:28 AM)hakeemfan Wrote: Hou may have still lost if the Mavs guarded Westbrook and allowed him to shoot 3s. They may have still lost if the Mavs took advantage of WCS being open many times. They may still lost if we went with more size with Maxi from the start.hakeemfan, you make some good points. Just a couple of additional thoughts.
If they are hit unconsciously from 3 I can understand. In our rush to match up with them and thoughtless defensive rotations we were giving up 3s and 2s
I note for the record that Westbrook not taking threes is a thing in general, not just against us. Supposedly, no one on Houston's coaching staff told him he had to stop taking threes, he just came to that decision on his own, and has been a better player for it.
Also for the record, Rick was asked about the super-small approach after the game. He said that he put some big lineups out there, but Houston's ridiculous three-point shooting ultimately did them in, and the bigs weren't able to stop that. His response addressed the defense, but not your question of using bigs as an offensive tool, and going with a different offensive game plan. Said this game plan worked in the last match against the Rockets, but this time, their shooters performed much better. (Realize you may not buy this answer, but I report it as a matter of interest.)