Smash mouth football...

[ScoobyDoo]

I know Detroit rotated much better last night on D and I know they were knocking down shots and I know we were slow on our rotations and I know they were "doing everything in motion", etc...

But to me, the real reason we lost last night was because we should have know that to win this game we needed to come out and play some smash mouth football on the basketball court.

You can't just try and trade with Detroit and "be nice and polite". I am quite sure that Hamilton's elbow to Garnett's head is all the evidence I need to see to understand this.

Last night the key reason we didn't win the game was because we didn't come out with the following intentions:

1. To crush these guys in game two. You know they were comign out big last night. I actually liked one of Doc's wired segments where he said we had to keep punching them, he was 100% correct.

2. However, behind closed doors, the words should have been "I want it physical and I want it bloody ( not literally but figuratively).

Here's why:

1. Detroit is just as talented as us. Maybe moreso overall because of their experience.

Their starters are light years ahead of ours in terms of experience. Perkins vs Rasheed and Billups vs Rondo as the most obvious.

Their bench is even a bit more experienced than ours. Maxiell more than Powe and Baby, Hunter just as experienced as Cassell and Ratliff just as much as Brown.

2. However, there is one key area where Detorit cannot hang with us. That is in brute force and strength around the hoop.

In the bump and grind game:

Sheed cannot hang with Perkins and Brown
McDyess cannot hang with Garnett
Maxiell cannot hang with Big Baby and Powe
Price cannot hang with Pierce

Therefore, we need to play some major smash mouth basketball against this team from here on out.

We need to counter their advantage in experience and their advantage in the back court, with domination of the boards and the paint and in a smash mouth way.

When I say smash mouth I don't mean dirty.

I mean very clean and very, very physical

and we need to absolutely go after every board like our life depended on it because we will dominate them on the glass if we do.

On offense we also need to drive it down their throats. I'd rather see 5 straight offensive fouls trying to get to the hole than I would more fade away jump shots.

We need to pound these guys inside, relentlessly.

smash mouth for 48 minutes. We play that way, we could take two in Detroit. We don't, we'll be lucky to come out with one win.

I'd like to see the key guys off the bench be:

PJ Brown
Big baby and Powe ( and they need to throw it around )
TAllen: Nice on Stuckey and Billups, not Hamilton
Posey:
House or Cassell ( this is important, but less so)
 
smash mouth, smash mouth, smash mouth

Detroit CANNOT play with us aroudn the hoop if we are really bringing it. That's our advantage, use it.

It's what Miami did to Dallas a few years back.

we need it rough and tumble. 

smash mouth