How to counter Houston's small ball lineup

[Blazer4ever]

I think they're going to use it a lot, it keeps Lopez on the bench, makes our rim-protection much weaker and allows for Aldridge-Howard match up on the boards which is good for them.

Our first adjustment should be with the guards. They have to switch on every screen. These should be good, hard, switches. Don't be afraid of mis-match or leaving your man open, switch like you're guarding another play now and stay with him, even if it means having Lillard box out Howard. Don't be afraid of trapping either, if you feel you should come to double team, come to double team, but do it strongly and efficiently.
The 2nd adjustment should be Aldridge's. He has got to make it his personal mission to come for help defense. If one of their guards is able to get past his defender Aldridge can't just stay on Howard, he needs to challenge the shot with vengeance. Yes, it would leave Howard open to get a pass or the offensive rebound, this is true, but it doesn't matter. Aldridge Has to challenge every drive without any hesitation, go for the block like there's nothing more important.

I thought we did a good job even with the loss, these are just the areas we need to focus on next game to improve.

 

[blazedanugz]

I think Dorell would be a good alternative. hes been playing good,smart basketball.. hes been playing good defense as well

 

[blazedanugz]

or maybe give joel a look....played well in short minutes tonight

 

[Blazer4ever]

Dorrel played well, he's our 5th small, in the 4 small lineup he should get minutes.
Using Freeland in a one-big lineup could be a good idea, he does a good job defensively: one-on-one, help defense and also boxing out and getting rebounds.

 

[BBert]

Dorell shoots more bricks than beauties, but his defense is solid. Just don't let him dribble.

 

[Eastoff]

All I know, is that without Robin in the game, we were horrible on rebounds. LMA is not looking to rebound. If he is shooting we literally have no Blazers in the key, possibly under the three point line. It just looked so fucking stupid. Just put Lopez back in, and make LMA get burned guarding a SF.

 

[BBert]

They are supposed to adjust to us, not us to their small ball. We need to rebound. Period. Robin seals off the key so our guys can get the ball. No Robin = No Rebound.

 

[Blazer4ever]

I think putting Wright in instead of Robin when Wesley fouled out may have been a mistake.

 

[DHawes22]

I said this in the chat over on Forward/Center last night, but if we don't figure out a way to defend the pick and roll, it's going to be a long series. Small ball/Go big .. it doesn't matter if we can't solve the pick and roll equation. Felt like every time Houston needed a bucket, they went to the P & R and either go to the line, a lay-up, or a lob to Dwight.

 

[Prue]

Counter small balls with bigger ones!

 

[blazerboy30]

I said this in the chat over on Forward/Center last night, but if we don't figure out a way to defend the pick and roll, it's going to be a long series. Small ball/Go big .. it doesn't matter if we can't solve the pick and roll equation. Felt like every time Houston needed a bucket, they went to the P & R and either go to the line, a lay-up, or a lob to Dwight.

This is correct.

It isn't then going small, it's our inability to guard the PnR.

In particular... When they post up Harden and feed it to him with Dwight. Then Dwight sets the down screen to run the low PnR. It killed us last night. Dwight got at least 4 dunks off that same play.

 

[Prue]

Part of it wouldn't be so bad if Dwight didn't make it look like it was the most monster dunk of his career >.>

I think we need to throw the double out there every time and zone up ROTATE to the open guys where we then switch everything. We should also add some full court press to try and eat 4-5 seconds there. By the time they get set and feed Dwight the time would have to be down low...bring the double and he has to panic to find an open guy. By the time that guy gets it if we dont steal or intercept the clock should be a couple seconds left. Force bad shots with little time and a hand in the face THEN REBOUND. Sure they will hit some, but that favors us i think vs any other defensive approach.

 

[BigGameDamian]

I wouli would like to see around 10 minutes from Freeland or Robinson maybe.

 

[maxiep]

This is correct.

It isn't then going small, it's our inability to guard the PnR.

In particular... When they post up Harden and feed it to him with Dwight. Then Dwight sets the down screen to run the low PnR. It killed us last night. Dwight got at least 4 dunks off that same play.

The issue for me on their P&R is that Howard sticks his ass out on the pick or flat out moves on it, which is what frees up Harden. It happened multiple times last night, with no call.

 

[blazerboy30]

The issue for me on their P&R is that Howard sticks his ass out on the pick or flat out moves on it, which is what frees up Harden. It happened multiple times last night, with no call.

Yep. They certainly set "better" screens than we do.

 

[magnifier661]

Personally I think you go even bigger and zone

 

[maxiep]

What was sad is when they went small ball, they continued to rebound well. In other words, we didn't make them pay for going small.