Thursday, May 05, 2005

Rockets: Blueprint For Winning Game 6

This is it. Win or go home.

Down 3-2, the Rox on the edge of life after shocking the world with a 2-0 start in the series. Can we put the officiating snafus on the backburner until a NBA Championship trophy is in our clutches? Let your nutz hang or it's back to the drawing board for another year. Can my Rockets come through and emerge victorious tonight?

Yes.

And here's how:

1) Double the dosage of TMac. The man has flat-out done it all this series, scoring, dishing, picking pockets. We wouldn't be here without him. But we need more. We need a Jordanesque performance. We know TMac can hit the jumper as well as the best of them but we cannot rely on it any more. He must take it to the rim. They can't stop him when he does and drives will result in uncontested layups or trips to the line. See how Josh Howard is taking it to the rim every other play? TMac needs to do the same.

2) Pick and Roll them.. to death. It's our bread and butter play. And it is nearly impossible to defend. No duo since Stockton and Malone can do it better than TMac and Yao.

3) Back off Josh Howard. The dood will not shoot unless its a short range turnaround or point blank layup. Quit falling for those pump fakes.

4) Quit flashing that damn "3" signal after you knock one down. This goes for Barry, Sura and sometimes TMac. I was enraged when I saw this. For chrissakes, we were down 6 and they were throwing it up. It's just not something seasoned veterans do. Stay humble, stay hungry, keep attacking.