The San Antonio Spurs just finished going toe-to-toe with a transformational power forward whose mid-range game stretched their defense to the max, needing seven games to oust Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks.
Tiago Splitter and the Spurs made life difficult for Nowitzki in the opening round. And now they get Nowitzki 2.0 in the Western Conference semifinals when Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge comes to town.
“I think LaMarcus is a younger Dirk who can shoot and drive, play in the post (and do) a lot of things, so it’s not going to be easy,” Splitter said Monday. “We know that. I think all the team is aware of that; everybody is going to help a little bit.”
Like Nowitzki, Aldridge relies heavily on the mid-range game, using every inch of his 6-foot-11 frame to get his jumper off against smaller defenders. When faced with someone his size, Aldridge has the strength and nimble feet to get past them, as he did time and time again in the Trail Blazers’ defeat of the Houston Rockets in six games.
The Rockets rarely had an answer for Aldridge, who beat up the smaller Terrence Jones on the block and took Omer Asik and Dwight Howard away from the basket to stretch the floor. He scored 89 points in the first two games of the series. He averaged 29.8 points, 11.7 rebounds and 2.7 blocks in the opening round.
“Guys are going to be confident, but still have to think about the way that we got here, working hard and grinding it out,” Aldridge said. “I think guys are definitely going to be more confident but this is new territory for most of us.”
The Blazers haven’t been out of the first round since 2000 while the Spurs are looking for a return trip to the NBA Finals.