Rip vs. Ray

prophet_of_rage · Post #1 » by **prophet_of_rage** » Mon Jan 7, 2008 5:43 pm

One thing I'm really loving about this Boston-Detroit matchup is that it seems Rip really seems to take the UConn matchup personally. It isn't like the Ewing-Mourning Georgetown matchup where they were clearly friends.

This one seems very personal and more than a little one-sided. I don't know if Ray wants any part of Rip, but Rip wants to punk Ray as much as possible.

Why I like this is because if they meet up in the playoffs this would be a big pyshcological advantage for the Pistons. Ray looks like the weaklink of the Big Three. He looks like he'll wear out quick and then to constantly be attacked offensively and defensively by a Rip who traditionally plays his best in the playoffs and I like that spot.

It's a good matchup because I don't know if Boston can hide a small guard on Rip while playing Ray on Chauncey as they did in the fourth quarter.

legacyinthemakin89c · Post #2 » by **legacyinthemakin89c** » Mon Jan 7, 2008 6:09 pm

The only problem is when Rip has a small guard on him, the smaller guard is just as fast and can keep up with Rip when he runs around screens, so that creates a big problem for us.

prophet_of_rage · Post #3 » by **prophet_of_rage** » Mon Jan 7, 2008 6:14 pm

But I think it's easier for Rip just to shoot over a small guard like he does with Ben Gordon.

ADM · Post #4 » by **ADM** » Mon Jan 7, 2008 6:38 pm

I like the Rip/Ray matchup too, but don't underestimate Ray's ability to be clutch as hell. I don't think he'll carry the team early in games, but he has the ability to drop daggers like few others in the league. That makes him dangerous at the end of games regardless if he has 5 points or 50 at the time.

legacyinthemakin89c · Post #5 » by **legacyinthemakin89c** » Mon Jan 7, 2008 7:03 pm

prophet_of_rage wrote:But I think it's easier for Rip just to shoot over a small guard like he does with Ben Gordon.

Yeah but Rip shoots over everybody. They way he runs around the screen, catches and shoots right away, he gets up way to fast for the defender to react, therefore he shoots over everyone. I think the Spurs have the perfect keys to beating us. They put Bowen on Billups and that completly takes Billups out of the game, Parker on Rip and Parker can keep up with Rip and cause him trouble and Manu isn't a bad defender and can hold Prince in check.

jab · Post #6 » by **jab** » Mon Jan 7, 2008 8:25 pm

legacyinthemakin89c wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

Yeah but Rip shoots over everybody. They way he runs around the screen, catches and shoots right away, he gets up way to fast for the defender to react, therefore he shoots over everyone. I think the Spurs have the perfect keys to beating us. They put Bowen on Billups and that completly takes Billups out of the game, Parker on Rip and Parker can keep up with Rip and cause him trouble and Manu isn't a bad defender and can hold Prince in check.

So you think Rip won't post up parker and so far this year Tay has not had a problem posting up every guard in the league if he has that matchup for more that 4 seconds.

The Bowen on Billups flashback only worked because LB did not have Tay handle the ball during game 7.

triplet1984 · Post #7 » by **triplet1984** » Mon Jan 7, 2008 8:51 pm

Its worth noting Bowen was only switched onto Billups during critical moments and if i recall didnt play him regularly. Popovich is smart.

If Flip was the Spurs coach he would have put Bowen on Billups for the first 2 quarters of Game 1, and the Pistons woulda adjusted at halftime or after Game 1 and had that strategy beat in Game 2.

jab · Post #8 » by **jab** » Mon Jan 7, 2008 9:48 pm

Da-Met wrote:Its worth noting Bowen was only switched onto Billups during critical moments and if i recall didnt play him regularly. Popovich is smart.

If Flip was the Spurs coach he would have put Bowen on Billups for the first 2 quarters of Game 1, and the Pistons woulda adjusted at halftime or after Game 1 and had that strategy beat in Game 2.

I think you are giving Flip too much credit and not giving Pop enough credit.

Pop IMO is beyond smart, he is the greatest coach not named Red that the NBA has ever seen.

The Zen Master was surpassed in my book when he allowed the Lakers to wear short shorts last week and didn't insist that the Celtics wear them also. :wink:

nasty daddy · Post #9 » by **nasty daddy** » Mon Jan 7, 2008 11:24 pm

I loved Rip's defense on Ray in this game, it was like he stepped up his defense to a different level.

srt4b · Post #10 » by **srt4b** » Tue Jan 8, 2008 12:07 am

ADM wrote:I like the Rip/Ray matchup too, but don't underestimate Ray's ability to be clutch as hell. I don't think he'll carry the team early in games, but he has the ability to drop daggers like few others in the league. That makes him dangerous at the end of games regardless if he has 5 points or 50 at the time.

Same could be said about RIP. He has bailed us out of some big games vs. Indy, NJ, Mia before.