#2 seed is the most important thing for the Rockets

I know it's fun to hate on the Mavs, but don't overlook them. They have the pieces in place to pull off an upset in the playoffs.

Beat down by the Lakers? Are you sure you watched the same series that I did?

We came into that series as underdogs. T-Mac was already out. Dikembe was already out. Nobody gave us a chance to win.

We came out in game 1 and did just that and beat them on their home court.

Then, in Game 3, Yao Ming got injured. This led to what was a great moment of Yao's career IMO. He hurt his foot and the trainers and coaches were trying to get him back to the locker room for testing. After going through multiple seasons of foot injuries, you just knew that it was bad. But Yao fought it. You could see him grimacing in pain but he wouldn't let the trainers take him back to the locker room and he fought until they let him come back out to play. And he did. It gave me goosebumps to watch.

But, unfortunately, it was a stress fracture and he was going to have to miss the rest of the season.

Everyone dismissed the Rockets chances. Everyone thought that the Lakers were going to steamroll us for two more wins and that the series was already over.

But the Rockets didn't. The Rockets were undermanned and out-talented, but they fought and scrapped and made that a hell of a competitive series. Right after being dismissed, they came out for the very next game and won in game 4, highlighted by Aaron Brooks' halfcourt, at the buzzer alley-oop at halftime (still remember that play). They fought and took that series to 7 games. I remember someone in the media asked Kobe what he thought about it before game 7 and he said something like "we just need to get the hell out of this series"

Sure, I wish the Rockets won that series. I wish that they were healthy and we could have seen how far they would have gone. But they were definitely not beat down. That team, in the midst of their adversity, was one to still be proud of, even if they didn't get as far in the playoffs as we all hope that our team this year will.

 

as long as he doesn't for some odd reason completely struggle these last stretch of games and still maintains #3 seed, he still wins it imo.

 

Man I sure hope so.. I guess all we can do now is just sit back and enjoy the ride..

 

1) Not our best, but we can take them. I'd prefer Dallas or Portland though. Something about facing an underestimated world champion in Round 1 scares the crap out of me(just ask the 60-22 Utah Jazz circa 1995).

2) I agree that the Thunder are probably not moving into 7th place. The Spurs just finished their Rodeo Road Trip and are back home for a soft schedule. Even if they play like crap, they'll win enough to stay ahead of OKC. Hell, right now the Thunder have more to worry about with the Pelicans who are right behind them for that 8th playoff spot.

3) Yes, the Rockets can get the 2nd seed. I thought it was a pipe dream a week ago. But they swept the home stand which I didn't expect and the Grizzlies have hit a major skid which I really didn't expect. Had they not made those miracle back-to-back comebacks against the Blazers and Clippers on the road, we'd be ahead of them right now. But obviously the Rockets need to win tonight to give themselves the best shot at finishing ahead of Memphis.

4) I don't think the 2nd seed is necessary for Harden to secure the MVP. I do think 3rd place may be however. I will say though that if the Rockets get the 2nd seed, I don't see how the media can justify not voting for Harden. Even with Dwight, nobody thought they could finish that high. Imagine doing it with him missing nearly half the season.

 

No. The Championship is the ONLY important thing.

 

I don't think seeding should matter in the long run. A tough first round opponent gives you a good start to face a potentially weaker opponent in the second round. Too soft of a first rounder doesn't prepare you well enough for the 2nd round...seeding matters if the goal is to simply advance a single round or two, but I think a championship team should be ready to face all-comers at a moment's notice.

TLDR: give us the Clippers or Thunder first round. I'd rather get beat early on if we can't win it all anyway. Championship or bust

 

I want the Rockets to match-up against the Mavs b**** asses.

 

I dont care who we match up with as long as we can get out of the first round

 

Would be so awesome to get revenge even if it's a decade later. Still makes me mad thinking about that playoff series

 

Yeah, this is how I feel. Harden's and Curry's teams right next to each other at the end makes you look more at the player and less at the team. Harden wins that matchup easily.

As far as who we play in the first round, I don't really think it make a difference. We got our "best matchup" last year, and we saw how that went. Getting the Mavs or Spurs at playoff level is not necessarily better than getting anyone else. I'd prefer if it wasn't The Clippers, though, just so they either get knocked out or their bigs get tired out by the time they face us.

The real question is not who do we face, it's can we rise to playoff level and keep it up? No team in the playoffs is more of an unknown than the Rockets when it comes to this question. It comes down to psychology being even more important than skill.

 

Would rather be the #3 seed and play the Mavs. Let the Spurs beat the Grizzlies and we're looking good

 

The #2 seed is worth pursuing. We haven't had a division title in 20 years. That alone is an achievement that we would be proud of.

Aside from that, DAL SAS and even to a certain extent LAC are opponents that I would be optimistic going against, just so long as we had Dwight healthy. We should avoid OKC come hell or high water.

 

That's right, I could care less about the seeding.

Go Rockets!

 

Theirs deffently a correlation to supporters who have 1 bar of rep to continually wanting harden to be MVP. Funny thing is these people bit&$@ed and moaned about LOF's.

Your either a Rocketa fan or your not, the things we can't control will happen if they happen.

Let's get some Playoff success....

I felt like Tinman writing that

 

Yes JYDog, if we win tonight, we win the season series with MEM 3-1 and would only be a half-game behind MEM for the #2 spot.

 

Wanting to play SA in the first round actually makes sense because...

 

We got our preferred match up last season, with HCA and it didn't make a difference in the end.

Any team in the West (apart from Dallas) is capable of winning this thing so like it or not we're going to play someone we don't match up well with.

If we can avoid the Clippers or Warriors, I'll be happy. Otherwise we're good against anyone. OKC has two unstoppable players, but their offense doesn't have the creativity that others do and the less Harden has to move on defense, the better.

 

Best opponent we meet is the one with better point guard match up.
Choose:
Rondo
Conley
Lilard
Westbrook
Parker
Chrish Paul

Hmm I forgot someone ... Oh yes Steve Curry