Daily Dime ESPN - Houston to make playoffs to play Jazz

[bbjai]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dime-080305

Personally Im amazed that Legler said anything like this:

No. 4 Utah Jazz vs No. 5 Houston Rockets

This would be very competitive series, despite Yao Ming's absence. The Jazz are 26-3 at home and that will mean a lot in this series. Deron Williams took it to another level in the postseason last spring and is poised for another run.

Houston defends (fourth in points allowed), takes care of the ball (fourth fewest turnovers), and rebounds (second overall), but Tracy McGrady will need more scoring help than this team can provide. (Jazz in 7)

Discuss at will

[T-mac&Yao=RING]

Look man don't get mad becasue other people don't believe in our team. All that will come to an end this June.

[ico4498]

Look man don't get mad becasue other people don't believe in our team. All that will come to an end this June.

ditto

[Jeffrey]

Projecting that Houston will take Utah to seven games is actually pretty generous, considering that most experts had written us out of the playoffs.

As it is, I can't find much fault with Legler's analysis. The Luis/Landry combo is only going to take us so far without Yao in the middle to draw all the attention. Jerry Sloan is bound to come up with a way to nullify them. The Jazz also fouls a lot and our free throw shooting has been pretty shaky, especially with Yao out.

I really wish we'd end up with Phoenix instead. I reckon we match up very well with them, especially with Marion out of the picture.

[ico4498]

I can't find much fault with Legler's analysis.

its pretty much the national media consensus. ho-hum, some will be 'persuaded', others will continue to believe.

forgive me if i'm not particularly impressed with the naysayers. i'll forge my own opinion & i'm cool with that ...

[bbjai]

Legler usually doesn't give us a good rap. This is the best rap i've seen him give us for a while

[battousai]

we may end up playing NO as of today, that article is old. The way west are playing and changing everyday. legler needs to write a playoff senario for everyone at the top 7 seeds.

[ClutchCityReturns]

The Jazz also fouls a lot and our free throw shooting has been pretty shaky, especially with Yao out.

Season average: 72.7%
Since losing Yao: 78.3%

http://buffalopundit.wnymedia.net/blogs/files/2007/10/fail.jpg

[baller4life315]

(Jazz in 7)

I don't think I could stomach another first round, game seven loss.

On the bright side, it's nice to see an analyst out there actually giving us some love. It's nice to not be written off by everybody.

[Alvin Choo]

i like the match up. Althought rox will miss 20 points from yao, but at least, boozer will not kill our match ups, and deron williams will not have that much space with his pick and roll.

I say Rox in 6.

[jump shooter]

I actually think the rockets could beat the Jazz with this current team. Defensively they would be much more mobile on there rotations this go around and they didn't have Scola, Landry and Jackson last post season. Throw Hayes on Boozer or Harpring for special defensive situations and you have a very tough playoff team. Also Yao did not play very well during that series mainly due to recently coming off a broken leg.

[finalsbound]

Legler is hilarious. He was just as reactionary as all the rest of 'em after Yao went out, saying there was no way the Rockets compete for a playoff spot without Yao. Now he's saying we'll be fifth seed, above two "title contenders" (two of NO, DAL, PHX)? Wow, way to hop on the bandwagon there. Most of these analysts don't know what the hell they're talking about, they just go with the flow. Rockets play well, and suddenly people pop up and say we'll make the playoffs, then guys who said we have NO chance (Barry, Legler) act like they've known it all along.

Whatever. The Rockets just need to keep taking care of business and ignore the talking heads.

[DaDakota]

The funny thing is he talks about Utah's home court, but Houston would have home court advantage in a matchup with the Jazz...

DD

[rofflesaurus]

our offense isnt good enough with or without yao.

[yobod]

Believe it or not, the one guy that has been on our bandwagon all along, ever since Yao went down, is Skip Bayless. Although, I guess it's not that big of a surprise, considering he thinks Yao is a big stiff, and Raef LaFrentz has a more complete game. He said Rockets should easily make the playoffs, and maybe even get into the second round.

[WNBA]

Scola will beat Boozer.

[dividend]

Legler really went out on a limb there, picking all the favorites... :p

[slcrocket]

Utah's one of the few matchups with the "premiere" teams in the West that I think actually favors us. Granted, they have had some kind of edge against us in previous years, but our biggest problem come playoff time will be dealing with teams with big frontcourts (Phoenix, LA, SA). I think we can match up better with Utah than in previous years, but it's important that we have a better record so as to gain the homecourt--not because we're so great at home, but Utah is a completely different team on the road.

[Fullcourt]

He's posting this as if the season ended to today. He's not saying that he thinks we will be the number five seed, that just were we are right now, read the note at the top of the article talking about phx passing us.

[finalsbound]

He's posting this as if the season ended to today. He's not saying that he thinks we will be the number five seed, that just were we are right now, read the note at the top of the article talking about phx passing us.

Thanks for the clarification...didn't read that part. :o

[nolimitnp]

our offense isnt good enough with or without yao.

I'll never understand, if anyone wants to be pessimistic, fine, good, great. But why in the hell would you waste your time continuing to read these forums making ridiculous, unsupported comments during the midst of a 15 game winning streak?

[Seth]

This will be the series that mark two things.

A- The end of the First-Round exits for the Rockets

B- The end of the Perfect Movements by San Antonio front office.

[Northside Storm]

It should be noted that of the 3 losses Utah suffered at home, one was to Houston, in a game where Yao really underpreformed/was not a significant factor.

[across110thstreet]

I like our current matchup as the 6th seed against New Orleans.

I could easily see us flipping positions, taking the third seed and homecourt, the Hornets drop to sixth seed and the Rockets advancing in 6 games...

[durvasa]

Legler cited that same turnover stat on television. The Rockets are not fourth in limiting turnovers. They are actually one of the worse turnover teams in the league.

[Hayesfan]

Legler cited that same turnover stat on television. The Rockets are not fourth in limiting turnovers. They are actually one of the worse turnover teams in the league.

Maybe its forcing the other team to turn the ball over? I wondered about that as well.

[solid]

This discussion is really premature, the next ten days or so are brutal. After the March through a very rough part of the schedule, we may be happy to still be in the playoff picture against anybody. Positioning for opponents (if that ever was possible) is not going to be possible this year. We get who we get, if we get anybody.

[RocketsPimp]

The funny thing is he talks about Utah's home court, but Houston would have home court advantage in a matchup with the Jazz...

DD

Don't spots 1-4 get home court advantage?

[Hayesfan]

Don't spots 1-4 get home court advantage?

don't you remember last year when we had a better record but they got the number four spot because they were a division winning team?

And game seven was played in Houston.

[Sweet Lou 4 2]

when a series goes to 7 games, which i think a utah-houston series would - you really can't predict the winner. it's that close. it's a toss-up.

meaning if we had 100 series against the jazz, it might go in favor of the jazz 55-45.

But for just one series....it's really a toss-up. No one knows until it's over.

[YallMean]

Legler should play the swing position. All these national analysts, Jon Barry included, so busy whoring Kobe, Garnett, that they dont watch Rox play that much. If you hear their analysis about Rox, apperantly they dont have any idea of the new Rockets. Still sterotyping the Rox of JVG's era.

And all of sudden, we caught on fire, they start to paying attention.

[finalsbound]

Legler cited that same turnover stat on television. The Rockets are not fourth in limiting turnovers. They are actually one of the worse turnover teams in the league.

According to NBA.com we're 18th in turnovers. As in, there are 17 teams ahead of us that average more turnovers. Also, we're 23rd in most opponents TPG, if I'm reading it right. So I'm not really understanding the turnover talk... :confused:

[WNBA]

Maybe TO stat in this 15-win streak?

[BrownBeast99]

It should be noted that of the 3 losses Utah suffered at home, one was to Houston, in a game where Yao really underpreformed/was not a significant factor.
True but that was also the game in which Tmac overperformed. lol.

[avb]

Rockets match up better against the Jazz without Yao. Yao simply cannot guard either Boozer or Okur, and also struggles against Okur on the offensive end.

[chaosad]

lmao legler said that?? he was so sure rox wont make the playoffs last week :rolleyes:

[Bandwagoner]

Season average: 72.7%
Since losing Yao: 78.3%

buffalopundit.wnymedia.net/blogs/files/2007/10/fail.jpg


To small of a sample to make those numbers worth anything. With Yao out we barely get any fouls so that % is probably based on 20 free throws or less.

Chuck hit all 3 (thats not gonna happen) and Landry has been shooting very well in these last few games (he is usually 60-65%)

[rocks_fan]

Tracy needs more offensive help than the Rockets can provide now that Yao's out? I guess he's right. After all, they've only scored 94, 116, 103, and 117 in the 4 games since then. Yes I know it hasn't been against playoff calibur defenses, but Legler needs to maybe watch a game or two sometime between now and the end of the season.