If the Rockets can go 10-3 to finish the season, they are guaranteed the 4th seed and HC in the first round. But if they don't, HC seems to be a reasonable lock due to us owning the tie-breakers. A 8-5 record would mean the Blazers need to 11-1 to beat us in the standings. Even a paltry 6-7 record would require the Blazers to go 9-3 or the Warriors to go 10-1 to overtake us. I hope the Rockets don't try to push for the 3rd or 2nd seed and just start resting Harden and Parsons towards the end. 2nd seed is way too difficult having to overtake both OKC and Clippers. 3rd seed and 4th seed are of no difference until possibly the WCFs anyway. Quite content with the 4th seed myself.
the blazers aren't a threat. They will probably be passed up by GS. We need to w.e is possible to get the 3rd and draw Portland in the 1st.
@Brooklyn, @Toronto back to back. I see one loss there...probably Raptors since we always lose there. Also another loss @ Denver on the 2nd night of a back to back. 1 or 2 losses between the Spurs, Thunder, Clippers at home.
Yeah, the remaining schedule is actually pretty tough. The only guaranteed layup the rest of the way is the Sixers game at home. Although even that could be a trap since they'll be looking to avoid tying the worst losing streak in NBA history(unless they somehow pull off the upset of the century and win in San Antonio tonight).
Wow really. We have 3 difficult games left. 2 games we should win, but could loose, and 8 against bad teams (maybe minesota is not bad, but they are not good). If we loose more than 5 games I will be very surprised (unless we rest everybody at the end since we already got our position) the games are: Difficult: vs L.A. Clippers 49-21 vs Oklahoma City 51-18 vs San Antonio 53-16 Teams >0.500 but in east and not IND or Miami) @ Brooklyn 37-31 in east @ Toronto 39-30 in east Team under 0.500: @ Charlotte 34-36 in east vs Philadelphia 15-55 in east vs Denver 32-38 @ L.A. Lakers 23-46 @ Denver 32-38 @ Minnesota 34-34 vs New Orleans 29-40 @ New Orleans 29-40 Portland has 5 difficult games left and GS 4.
I think we'll finish ahead of Portland, but I completely disagree about having only 3 difficult games left. Tonight in Charlotte is no cakewalk. They just demolished the Blazers by 30 the other night. The B2B at Brooklyn and Toronto will be tough. The game at the Lakers should be easy, but they did beat OKC recently. The next night is a B2B at Denver which is never an easy place to play and the Nuggets are the only team to beat the Clippers in the last month. And at New Orleans to close the season is no guarantee considering they just defeated the Heat. Ironically, that last home game against the Spurs may be one of the easier matchups left on the schedule. They'll likely have home court secured by then and Pop might wind up resting all of his key starters.
Every bad team in the NBA can beat a good team (it happens more often tha you think, that is why it was so annoying when people complained when ithappened to us in the beginning of the year). If you do not count the lakers as an easy game there are indeed no easy games. So if that is the way you look at it there are no easy games ever (ok maybe Philly and the Bucks). But the same goes for all the other teams. I see you also think the blazers will not catch us, so I think we just disagree what you can call an easy game. I agree that we will probaply loose atleast 1 game against the last games on top of the games against the top teams in the west, maybe more. But I do not see us loosing more than 6 games.
Yes, this is the bottom line. Regardless of easy or difficult games, we should finish with a good enough record for HCA
I think the Lakers game will be easy. My concern is that the next night we have to go into Denver. The altitude and recent improved play by the Nuggets could result in a loss. And I absolutely think that B2B with the Nets and Raptors will be tough. The rest of the Rockets road games are ones they should win if they show up and play well.
The Blazers will likely lose three games by 3/28 when they play the fifth game of this 5-game road stretch to MIA, ATL and CHI. If not, the next game on 3/30 against the Grizzlies might do it. They already lost the first to the Bobcats last Saturday. They lost four games in their last 5-game road trip. We may see Warriors passing Blazers by end of March, as they are now separated by only 1.5 games. The Rockets can't get to the 3rd seed no matter how hard they try, let alone the 2nd, because they have no control but have to rely on at least one of the top 3 teams slipping hard. You probably meant the 4th and the 5th when you said "3rd seed and 4th seed are of no difference until possibly the WCFs anyway" in your last paragraph, since the 3rd and the 4th will be a huge difference for us to get to the finals this year.
The 4 seed matched up with Portland and then San Antonio in the second round is clearly the ideal spot. The farther the Rockets can get away from OKC/LAC, the better.
Ain't gonna happen. Ainge seems to be determined to get to the bottom, but despite 24 consecutives losses, the Sixers are still two games above the Bucks. You think they'll quit tanking now?
I'm not a big fan of this way of thinking. First, it assumes OKC won't catch the Spurs and regain #1. I prefer to root for us to win as many games as possible and not get cute with seeding. If the Rockets overtake LAC, if nothing else, that means we're hot and playing a weaker 1st round opponent.
watch out for memphis. if they take care of minny like they're doing now...and they also can beat utah on wednesday...then we're talking FRIDAY'S GAME v. warriors being for the 6th seed... portland if they continue this could very well end up 7. which blows cuz that's who we'd ideally have liked to face.
I agree with this. A 4-5 match up with GS should not be the ideal situation. As far as everyone saying facing San Antonio in the second round is great, I'm not sure about that. The Spurs are going to turn it up another level in the playoffs and they are peaking at the perfect time just like us. I don't think there is actually an ideal match up in the second round. Every team that we could possibly face will be tough. I don't think we're the favorites against any of them. The west is crazy.
This is the simply amazing. At this time of the previous year, the discussions were about what we need to do to keep our playoff spot. Now we are talking 4th being almost a lock and can still possibly grab the 2 or 3. This has been a successful regular season. GOOOO ROCKETS!!!
The one thing about playing San Antonio is the matchups player for player. For instance T Jones plays great against the spurs but against Clippers and OKC he doesn't. All our players naturally play good against the spurs...
