Several defenders for LeBron
Though many teams assign their best defensive player to match up with star scorers, a role Trevor Ariza had played for years for the Rockets and James Harden faces often, the Rockets’ newfound depth of defenders will change their approach to defending LeBron James on Thursday night at Toyota Center.
Rather than have Ariza play whenever James is on the floor, Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni can stick with his usual rotation, having Luc Mbah a Moute or P.J. Tucker defend James if the starters are not on the floor.
“We have a lot of guys to run at him,” D’Antoni said. “Overall, I think our defense is going to be better because of those two guys. LeBron is going to be LeBron and do his thing. You can’t get caught up too much on how great he is. We have about four guys you can throw at him.
“We’ll stick with our rotation. Whether Trevor starts with him, or Luc goes to him or P.J.’s on him, I’m comfortable. Any time we can stick with our game plan and not adjust to other people, it’s an advantage. We have that luxury.”
That does not make defending James any easier. But the Rockets consider themselves better equipped for the task than before.
“He does so much,” Mbah a Moute said. “At his size, he sees the floor, handles strong, quick, explosive, can shoot. You have your hands full with him. When he’s on, it’s a problem. Our team, we have a lot of different guys we can throw at him. Trevor, P.J., me, James (Harden) and Eric (Gordon) are good defenders. It’s not going to take any one of us. It’s going to be all of us together, including Clint (Capela), including the rotation, including the schemes to stop not just him, but the whole team. They have really good players.”