Best way to guard LaMarcus Aldridge?

[Inferno]

During the regular season he often just settled for the contested fadeaways at 20 feet out, but I'm watching highlights of his 46 yesterday and he's putting some slick moves on Rockets players down low too, and also nailing 3's :eek:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWoTuAS2uxg

Looks like he's getting himself more efficient looks in the playoffs. How would you guard him?

[Eric Cartman]

Let Aldridge get his points, shut down the 3 point line and make lilliard a non-factor.

[Genaro]

Normally he doesn't get a mismatch like yesterday. I think that Rockets best way to do it is to put Asik and Howard together and put one of them to guard LMA.

[Smook A.]

It was impossible. He wouldn't miss. It's like the 1997 Michael Jordan just went into his body

Asik was the only who did pretty good on him

[Inferno]

Let Aldridge get his points, shut down the 3 point line and make lilliard a non-factor.

Lillard scored 9 of his 31 from the 3 point line last night :coleman:

[SpecialQue]

Remind him that Blake gets more all star votes.

[Milbuck]

Hurt him, or put Asik on him.

Only two ways. Otherwise he's going to consistently shit on the Rockets.

[SilkkTheShocker]

LeBron James.

[TMT]

LeBron James.

:whatever: Lebron doesn't guard bigs.

[Inferno]

Hurt him, or put Asik on him.

Only two ways. Otherwise he's going to consistently shit on the Rockets.

The problem for Houston with putting Asik on him, I think, as that Asik weakens their offense a lot, and then Portland gets another player to hack

[Levity]

with length. but i dont know what player on HOU has pretty good length, besides d-mo, who would seemingly be a bad choice.

[Mass Debator]

Make him work on defense and get physical on box outs.

[Fudge]

:whatever: Lebron doesn't guard bigs.
LeBron CAN'T guard bigs, either.

[uber]

:whatever: Lebron doesn't guard bigs.

but but but Lebron can guard every position. isn't this what all those lebron tards are sayin?

[RoseCity07]

Rockets fans are desperate for an answer:oldlol: There is no stopping Aldridge. Your only hope is he has an off game.

He owned every single defender they tried. He owned Asik, Dwight, Parsons, Jones, and I thin Garcia too.

They tried every defender they could and none of it worked. Stop trying to act like there is some new strategy that will work.:oldlol:

[Jameerthefear]

Let him get his and guard the shooters. It almost worked yesterday if the Rockets defense didn't break down. He had the best game of his life yesterday. It won't happen again.

[Random_Guy]

put in a line up of dwight and asik.

[Jameerthefear]

He won't play this efficiently again in this series btw.

[Inferno]

He won't play this efficiently again in this series btw.

Probably not, but he was bringing the ball down low a lot more than he did in the regular season. He'll definitely be more efficient than his regular season averages.

[oarabbus]

Step 1: Don't put Terrence Jones on him


... I don't know what the Rockets should do besides that :oldlol:

[Jameerthefear]

Probably not, but he was bringing the ball down low a lot more than he did in the regular season. He'll definitely be more efficient than his regular season averages.
Who cares? Stop Lillard and the 3 point shooters and you win the game last night. Let Aldridge get his.

[DMAVS41]

Hope he doesn't play the best game of his career maybe? I don't know...

Aldridge was pretty inefficient this year and didn't get to the line much.

I'd force him into making shots and try to keep him off the line as best you can.

[TMT]

put in a line up of dwight and asik.

This would probably be their best bet as long as it's only when Lopez and Aldridge are in the game together. It would really kill lanes to the basket offensively though.

[Inferno]

Who cares? Stop Lillard and the 3 point shooters and you win the game last night. Let Aldridge get his.

Who's stopping Lillard doe? And they shot 33% from the 3 last night.

[Jameerthefear]

Who's stopping Lillard doe? And they shot 33% from the 3 last night.
That's the issue. Hopefully Bev doesn't foul out on a bullshit call and Lin can defend him also. Houston gave up some 3s at the end of the 4th and OT because they weren't getting around screens fast enough and focusing too much on LMA. Overall Harden should shoot better and Dwight should definitely shoot better from the field. Houston in 5.

[jzek]

Play Asik more and Howard less.

Or play both at the same time (only when the Rockets are not behind by like 10 or more points).

[Myth]

Let Aldridge get his points, shut down the 3 point line and make lilliard a non-factor.

Did you watch the game? That is essentially what happened and it didn't work. Blazers sucked from 3 point line (Lillard got 9 points there, but still had 22 points excluding the 3 ball) and Aldridge got his points, and Blazers won.

[Myth]

Let him get his and guard the shooters. It almost worked yesterday if the Rockets defense didn't break down. He had the best game of his life yesterday. It won't happen again.

If the Rockets use the same defensive strategy on Aldridge it will happen again. Jones isn't suddenly going to be able to stop Aldridge on his own and he was left by himself on Aldridge right under the basket.

[Jameerthefear]

If the Rockets use the same defensive strategy on Aldridge it will happen again. Jones isn't suddenly going to be able to stop Aldridge on his own and he was left by himself on Aldridge right under the basket.
Doubt it. Aldridge was hitting some stupid shit last night too. He won't make those fades every game. He won't have the game of his life again.

[RoseCity07]

Doubt it. Aldridge was hitting some stupid shit last night too. He won't make those fades every game. He won't have the game of his life again.

Dwight won't make clutch free throws again. Batum and Matthews won't brick 3's like that again. Lillard will attack the basket more now that he sees how easy it is. Aldridge doesn't need to score 46 a night. All that mattes is Portland does what it needs to do.

The only hope Rockets have is that Lopez and Aldridge foul out of the game.

[Jameerthefear]

Dwight won't make clutch free throws again. Batum and Matthews won't brick 3's like that again. Lillard will attack the basket more now that he sees how easy it is. Aldridge doesn't need to score 46 a night. All that mattes is Portland does what it needs to do.

The only hope Rockets have is that Lopez and Aldridge foul out of the game.
Your acting like HOU didn't give this game away lol. Hou in 5. Next.

[Rubio2Gasol]

Most important thing is size on the block imo.

[qrich]

Just keep putting a hand in his face and don't let him get as close to the bucket as Houston did during game one. Dude isn't very efficient and will come down to earth

[HomieWeMajor]

LMA's about to go on a run like 2011 Dirk
I've always said he's the black Dirk with better defense

[oarabbus]

Just keep putting a hand in his face and don't let him get as close to the bucket as Houston did during game one. Dude isn't very efficient and will come down to earth

He's not efficient since all of his shots are jumpers.

He's actually playing on the block/at the rim right now, which could mean much higher FG%.

[TheReal Kendall]

You put Asik on him then he blow by him. I say put Howard on him since he's quicker or send some double teams.

Just try to mix it up. I seriously don't see him scoring 46 again though.

I also want the Blazers to win the series.

[Djsonny]

Who cares? Stop Lillard and the 3 point shooters and you win the game last night. Let Aldridge get his.

If Beverly is out, what can you do to stop Lillard? Lin and others cannot stay in front of Lillard, thats when the game broke out. To get LA to slow down, you have to get physical, which will only mean Howard or Asik, this will put them in foul trouble. If you double, it opens up portlands 3 point game. If playing LA 1on1 isnt going to work and now Lillard has an open court with no defense, you have only an option to double LA and hope portland misses 3s. LA steps up his game when he plays in TX, this is a known fact, he has family that comes to the games.

[Jameerthefear]

If Beverly is out, what can you do to stop Lillard? Lin and others cannot stay in front of Lillard, thats when the game broke out. To get LA to slow down, you have to get physical, which will only mean Howard or Asik, this will put them in foul trouble. If you double, it opens up portlands 3 point game. If playing LA 1on1 isnt going to work and now Lillard has an open court with no defense, you have only an option to double LA and hope portland misses 3s. LA steps up his game when he plays in TX, this is a known fact, he has family that comes to the games.
Dwight has to stay committed to stopping Lillard at the rim. Let LMA get his. Let him ISO, but stay home on shooters. He isn't efficient enough to take advantage of the matchup enough to beat HOU as long as you limit Damian. Doubling LMA isn't happening.

[TheReal Kendall]

Dwight has to stay committed to stopping Lillard at the rim. Let LMA get his. Let him ISO, but stay home on shooters. He isn't efficient enough to take advantage of the matchup enough to beat HOU as long as you limit Damian. Doubling LMA isn't happening.

If they don't double they need to let Howard guard LMA straight up and put Jones on Lopez since he's not an offense threat.

IMO starting Asik and Howard will clog lanes up for them on the offensive end and Asik won't be able to stay in front of LMA.

[qrich]

He's not efficient since all of his shots are jumpers.

He's actually playing on the block/at the rim right now, which could mean much higher FG%.

Which is why I also said can't let him get that close to the low block.

Bully him off the post, put a hand up, and it'll average out

[Jameerthefear]

If they don't double they need to let Howard guard LMA straight up and put Jones on Lopez since he's not an offense threat.

IMO starting Asik and Howard will clog lanes up for them on the offensive end and Asik won't be able to stay in front of LMA.
No. You can't put Jones on Lopez because of the rebounding and defense at the rim. You want Dwight as close to the basket as possible, bottomline. Just single cover LMA and show him Asik and Jones. He hit a lot of really tough shots last night. Those shots aren't going down the whole series.

[Rubio2Gasol]

You put Asik on him then he blow by him. I say put Howard on him since he's quicker or send some double teams.

Just try to mix it up. I seriously don't see him scoring 46 again though.

I also want the Blazers to win the series.

Doesn't matter, Howard should be able to protect the rim. Asik likely won't let him get great position, and will bother him on length alone. Also won't let him kill you on the boards.

It's not a solution, because Asik is going to be slow on the outward rotation and also, as you say, get blown by, but I like it more than the alternative.

[TheReal Kendall]

Rockets gonna have to sacrifice something. I just don't see Asik really bothering LMA.

[Smoke117]

Hope he doesn't play the best game of his career maybe? I don't know...

Aldridge was pretty inefficient this year and didn't get to the line much.

I'd force him into making shots and try to keep him off the line as best you can.

Exactly. Why is everyone acting like this is normal for him and why are even more people acting as if he was so great as a scorer this season? When did scoring 23.2ppg on 20.6 shots make you a good scorer? You know how many guys could do that playing in the league right now? He takes a lot of jump shots, but barely gets to the line. Twenty fga's to 5fta's is pretty bad...

Aldridge is not even the player you need to be worried about on the Blazers. It's the perimeter you really should have your attention on, but this is the Rockets...besides Howard no one else besides Asik gives much of a contribution. It's frankly just a really good match up for the Blazers and Aldridge because all of their best offensive players are matching up with all of the black holes on the Rockets. It would be best for the Rockets to get swept so they can fire Mchale right away. He is a terrible coach and the Rockets need to move on already.

Either way, people need to calm down about a guy who averaged 23pts on 20 and a half shots. You can only shoot your team out of a game with that kind of inefficiency.

[Legends66NBA7]

You have to force Aldridge to shoot jump shots more often than posting up. If you have a strong post up defender, utilize him in spells to guard him. That way, Aldridge will try to use jumpers to bail out his team and the Blazers become vulnerable without an inside attack.

[Im so nba'd out]

Who cares? Stop Lillard and the 3 point shooters and you win the game last night. Let Aldridge get his.
why are you not a head coach?


sarcasm

[oarabbus]

Rockets gonna have to sacrifice something. I just don't see Asik really bothering LMA.

Very laterally quick, legit 7' tall, good defender. What about that isn't going to bother him? LMA doesn't have the quickness of a KD.

[TheReal Kendall]

Very laterally quick, legit 7' tall, good defender. What about that isn't going to bother him? LMA doesn't have the quickness of a KD.

Didn't say he was KD quick. I'm sure he's quicker than Asik though. I would rather have Howard guard him.

[HomieWeMajor]

LMA's about to go on a run like 2011 Dirk
I've always said he's the black Dirk with better defense
Boy didn't tell no lie

[iBandwagon]

Doubt it. Aldridge was hitting some stupid shit last night too. He won't make those fades every game. He won't have the game of his life again.

:oldlol:

[retaxis]

Simple really

you do what they do to james harden

make aldridge play defence over and over again and get him tired. Whoever he is defending make that player work on him just like mathews has been on Harden. Harden becomes tired and plays like sh1t. Do the same thing on LMA its not that hard to figure out.

[Phantom_Blue]

Simple really

you do what they do to james harden

make aldridge play defence over and over again and get him tired. Whoever he is defending make that player work on him just like mathews has been on Harden. Harden becomes tired and plays like sh1t. Do the same thing on LMA its not that hard to figure out.

Which one of Asik, D-Mo, Jones, Parsons is going to accomplish this task of wearing out Aldridge.

[GimmeThat]

Rotation and help defense. which means spacing on the floor to be managed carefully by a team.

You can either rely on gamble-ish defensive scheme where your help defenders go for the block or steal right before he shoots, or you make shots difficult for him right around when passing becomes difficult for him.

Which means you still end up leaving him with face up jump shots, pull ups, and iso's. Which will probably lower his scoring out burst closer to his season average.

[Im Still Ballin]

Call Lebron.

but seriously, i think stick with dwight on him + get him in foul trouble.

[Marlo_Stanfield]

He won't play this efficiently again in this series btw.
:lol :lol :oldlol: :oldlol: :roll: :roll: :facepalm

[Marlo_Stanfield]

LeBron James is the only player in the NBA that could contain Aldridge somehow right now:bowdown: :bowdown:

[Zodiak]

Right now, I'd say praying is the best way to guard Aldridge... playing defense against him is not working...

[JohnMax]

Right now, I'd say praying is the best way to guard Aldridge... playing defense against him is not working...


http://l.yimg.com/os/en/blogs/sptusnbaexperts/MJax51413.jpg

[dude77]

punch him in the face .. do something .. shock him .. double team the fk out of him .. I never understand how teams just let players go ham on them like that without doing some kind of adjustment

[Wally450]

Let Aldridge get his points, shut down the 3 point line and make lilliard a non-factor.

This post is what I was going to say before entering the thread. Let the hot guy get his points and limit everyone else.

[kaiteng]

Simple really

you do what they do to james harden

Then sign Metta World Peace to guard LMA.

http://cdn.rsvlts.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Metta-World-Peace-elbow2.gif

[dude77]

http://cdn.rsvlts.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Metta-World-Peace-elbow2.gif

this is what I'm talkin' about :applause:

[Jailblazers7]

This post is what I was going to say before entering the thread. Let the hot guy get his points and limit everyone else.

It's kind of hard to shut down the other teams guards when all of them are well-rounded players and one of your defenders is James Harden. The Blazers offensive sets and ball movement is too good for a strategy like that to really work. The difference has to come from Houston's bench if they want to win.

[JohnStarks]

Stab him in the eye with an icepick :oldlol:

[secund2nun]

He will cool off. He won't keep playing at this level.

[Ballin095]

He will cool off. He won't keep playing at this level.

Inb4 he scores 50 in Portland.

[VengefulAngel]

:whatever: Lebron doesn't guard bigs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AV3O94yv4vc

[RoseCity07]

It's not just Aldridge. Lot's of players coast during the regular season. There is a reason we beat the Spurs, Spurs, Rockets, OKC early in the year, then fans got pissed as we lost to scrub teams. Portland players thought they could coast to wins. Aldridge is dialed in now. They won 9 of their last 10 games.

[Paul George 24]

LeBron James is the only player in the NBA that could contain Aldridge somehow right now:bowdown: :bowdown:
his defence is overrated :no:

[r0drig0lac]

Right now, I'd say praying is the best way to guard Aldridge... playing defense against him is not working...
I agree, it is in "Legend level" in this series

[KungFuJoe]

Asik actually played him better than Jones or Howard. "Held" him to below 50% shooting whereas LMA was above 80% against Jones/Howard.

And yet, ****ing McHale only played Asik 24 minutes and he still had 3 fouls to give.

The fact that McHale isn't playing Asik every second LMA is on the floor is a travesty.

[robert_shaww]

I think Portland will probably beat Spurs or Mavs in the semis, but Aldrige will be in trouble vs Ibaka in the WCF. That matchup is the Key of the series.

[finchyyy]

I think Portland will probably beat Spurs or Mavs in the semis, but Aldrige will be in trouble vs Ibaka in the WCF. That matchup is the Key of the series.

Yeah but if Ibaka is getting dragged away from the rim, it gives guys like Lillard a much easier time penetrating.

[Rocketswin2013]

Asik actually played him better than Jones or Howard. "Held" him to below 50% shooting whereas LMA was above 80% against Jones/Howard.

And yet, ****ing McHale only played Asik 24 minutes and he still had 3 fouls to give.

The fact that McHale isn't playing Asik every second LMA is on the floor is a travesty.
How do you know this? Was it on TNT or something?

[La Frescobaldi]

I think Portland will probably beat Spurs or Mavs in the semis, but Aldrige will be in trouble vs Ibaka in the WCF. That matchup is the Key of the series.
Timmi Dunkin won't be letting that happen.

[KungFuJoe]

How do you know this? Was it on TNT or something?

http://stats.nba.com/featured/sportvu_matchup_data_aldridge_2014_04_24.html

Have to scroll down a bit.

[Rocketswin2013]

http://stats.nba.com/featured/sportvu_matchup_data_aldridge_2014_04_24.html

Have to scroll down a bit.
Ok, thanks. Yeah McHale is a serious dipshit.

[JUDGE WITNESS]

with houstons frontcourt guarding him? you pray

[BlkMambaGOAT]

Best way to guard LMA? Recruit him.

Wait out the storm that is LMA in the playoffs (assuming you're facing Portland). During off-season ask him if he wants to team up with other superstars. Conjure up a whack trade enforced by Adam "Asterisk" Silver involving him going to your team. Hype up team, make him or another star player promise several rings and bam you've turned your problem into a solution.

[Meticode]

The way he's playing it would be hard. He's one of the best mid-range jump shooters in the game at his spot if not the best. The best thing is try to make him drive to the basket where you should have more success than giving him space to shoot a jumper. So put the tallest/fastest guy on him. Maybe at times try Dwight Howard on him? The only issue with that is getting into foul trouble possibly.

[KungFuJoe]

The way he's playing it would be hard. He's one of the best mid-range jump shooters in the game at his spot if not the best. The best thing is try to make him drive to the basket where you should have more success than giving him space to shoot a jumper. So put the tallest/fastest guy on him. Maybe at times try Dwight Howard on him? The only issue with that is getting into foul trouble possibly.

They already tried Howard on him. LMA went 6/7 on him.

Telling you...put Asik on him. He defended him well in the regular season and has done so in the playoffs. He got some RIDICULOUS fouls called against him in Game 1 and that limited his playing time. But LMA went 6-14 against him in Game 2.

But it boils down to McHale being the worst coach in NBA history. He sat Asik during crunch time while Jones was getting abused in Game 1.

And he only played Asik 24 minutes in Game 2 even though he only had 3 fouls.

[secund2nun]

He will cool off. He won't keep playing at this level.

bump

[imnew09]

bump

why not give credit to Spurs defense? :facepalm

[secund2nun]

why not give credit to Spurs defense? :facepalm

The Spurs defense made LMA shoot 39.8% fg over the final 4 games of the Portland-Houston series?