I want that #1 seed, it greatly increases our chances of beating GS in a 7 game series. GS has never had to open up a series on the road since they became contenders. GS looks vulnerable this year.
the perfect situation would be we get the 1 seed and OKC gets the 3 seed. If we can beat spurs in round 2, Harden would shut up all media about his poor show last year. Plus Skip Bayless would be on suicide watch
Seriously? If we're good enough to finish ahead of the Warriors in the standings, we should be good enough to beat the Thunder in the playoffs.
It's not a foregone conclusion, imo. Thunder were a hot mess, before the calendar turned to 2018. To possibly end up with the 3rd or 4th seed in the WC, means they did really well since 1/1. Which also means they got their **** together, and are gelling well. This isn't to say that we're not good enough to beat the Thunder - we should be good enough to beat anyone, to be honest. But with the way OKC is playing, they're "that team" that no one wants to see in the playoffs, even though they may not statistically be the best.
The Thunder would be a tough matchup, but I'm not sweating them without Roberson. And we have to maintain some perspective. OKC had lost 4 in a row prior to their win over the Warriors. And the competition wasn't exactly tough in that losing streak. Right now, they're closer to the 9th seed than the 3rd. They're not gonna miss the playoffs, but we need to stop ignoring how inconsistent they've been all season.
Westbrook set the tone for the rest of the game and the rest of his teammates followed suit. LEADERSHIP PASSION HEART FIRE KILLER INSTINCT
true, no triple double = no mention of the thunder beating the warriors AT ALL on the front page of ESPN. "bu bu BUT the media only hates the rockets!!"
I don't care who we face in the playoffs as long as we have the No. 1 seed. As Chuck said on TNT, you can't play scared of facing this team or that team. At one point or another, you'll have to face off against the best or one of the best teams in the league. I really hope we have the toughest schedule in the playoffs like the Astros (Boston, NY, LA)... there was no doubt that they Earned the title of World Champions. THAT is what I want the Rockets to accomplish. (NO, OKC, GSW, Boston) World Champs!
We lost by 5 in OKC without Paul, Green, Luc, and the Thunder had the best perimeter defender in the NBA at the time. Now if we lose to them when healthy....
GSW have been the top seed in the league for 3 years now (right?), often leading from Game 1 to Game 82. Would be interesting to see what dropping to #2 would do to their psyche. Could we see even more techs, meltdowns, ejections? Lol... Could they decide they need Another superstar?
hard to say, I think they are a bad matchup for us, but not the worst. Adams really bothers Capela due to his strength and athleticism, PG 13 is good at guarding Harden. But we have a lot of fire power from Gordon and Paul, and now with Roberson out, Paul George can't defend all three at the same time. I think they can chase around screens really well and disrupt the passing of GSW. We kinda play a different game with PnR and spacing.
let’s put last night in perspective...Russ had 21 points on 6-7 shooting after the 1st quarter PG dropped 38 OKC played extremely well, but that level of offense is more of an outlier a series against OKC would be tough, no doubt, but I really like our chances against them
