We're going to miss his offense and his ability to spread the floor. Remember, Dallas is an excellent defensive team.
The problem is that they ARE a good defensive team. Shutting down Martin over the past couple of weeks has consisted of putting a man on him that won't leave.
The majority of Martin's points come off of defensive lapses. Transition baskets and wide open shots.
While we will certainly miss those easy baskets, I'm not sure how many he'll get on a team that will devote energy to him.
We are a better team with Martin than we are without, as he is actually a pretty good perimeter defender.
Not sure I agree there about the defense. He's better than Bibby, but who isn't? Salmons is a far better defender than Martin.
Though, like it was said before by someone else, even with Martin I don't like our chances.
Nor do I. We don't match up well.
* JT is a better, quicker Mike Bibby with the ability to penetrate and get good looks. He'll be able to get to the rim at will on Bibby.
* We've got no answer for Dirk out of the post. None of our interior players play great man-defense outside and KT is just too short.
* Josh Howard might be a nightmare for Artest. Perimeter defense is not Ron's best asset and Josh is a great penetrator. He's not the matchup I'd choose for a larger, slower Artest.
* Two legit big guys (7') in Dampier and Diop. They're big and bulky and should pose real issues on the offensive boards.(Especially Dampier)
Only chance we have in this game is to play mistake-free team ball and get high percentage shots. On defense, we will need to try to at least play the best man defense we've played all year, because if we're forced to rotate on this team, we won't be able to get position back for rebounds or defense.
