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     Saarang Pilla Bewarse Username: Saarang Post Number: 109 Registered: 04-2015 Posted From: 206.29.176.76 Rating: N/A |
Ryan Anderson contd... He offers no rim protection. He can't stay in front of any wing players, so there is no other place to hide him -- though I thought the Rockets might try slotting him on Kyle Anderson, with Sam Dekker taking David Lee, during the horrendous early second-quarter run in which San Antonio snatched Game 6. Anderson was playing center during that stretch. Those lineups look amazing on offense -- and they are -- but the Spurs rendered them unplayable on defense. Nene's injury changed this series. It is not the reason Houston lost, but it swung the odds. A thin team could not afford to lose even a single rotation player. Anderson is a good player, and a great person. He shot 40 percent from 3 this season, and made huge shots in that pivotal Game 5. He even started cooking a bit from 2-point range, and rooting out smaller guys for offensive rebounds. But it's hard to work around his defensive limitations. The Rockets have no choice but to try. They are paying Anderson $20 million per year over the next three seasons. • It's fair to criticize D'Antoni for using only seven players in Game 5 with Nene injured. Houston gassed out in a game that was there to take. It's fitting the Spurs humiliated Houston, in Houston, with Dejounte Murray, Jonathon Simmons, and Kyle Anderson getting huge minutes -- even if Popovich played them that much only out of necessity. All three guys played significant minutes in the regular season, even while spending chunks of it outside Popovich's rotation. Murray started a high-profile game in Cleveland, and played quite well. Thursday night is why you do that in January and February. Your rotation will not be intact for the full playoffs. You will need guys to step up. It will be helpful if they have already played a bit in the regular season. |