What happened to Suns?

The Suns are losing ball club if you don't count that 10 streak where they only lost 1 game. Offensively, they are comparable to us but we have a better defense.

 

the suns are choking while we've finally comfortably beaten 2 teams we should (for a change)

bring on the playoffs

 

Obviously we don't have the playoffs locked up. But it would be nice (and even beneficial for the team) to look forward rather than back and try and catch the Lakers. Not that they aren't trying to already .

 

sure are some optimistic people in here for a one game lead (2 w/ tiebreaker) with 12 games left and 2 teams who have been remarkably inconsistent in their performance where either could go on a losing or winning streak at any point. i'll believe we're in the playoffs when i see it.

 

The playoffs aren't a lock and I sure hope we dont catch the Lakers. Give me Mavs in the playoffs anyday over Sacramento.

 

I totally agree

well actually we beat the Kings once....almost twice, while we got slaughtered by the Mavs this season.....but o well, I would still play Mavs over Sacs any day.

 

I'm surprise they lost tonights game considering how important it was to them and they even wore their old 70's uniforms( which looked weak). I guess maybe amare does make a differnece - 9pts, 6rbs.

 

I would rather not play the Mavs, especially early in the playoffs.

Kings are no fun either, but Rocks seem to play really well against them.

I would rather the Lakes eliminate the Mavs tho.

 

It's all about match-ups and we match up better against Sacramento. We don't have an answer to Nowitzki and the Mavs running game because our transition D is poor (although the aquisition of Posey has helped in this area).

 

I still think we have more chance of upsetting Mavs than Kings although both chances are slim. Playoffs basketball is all about half court game so Mavs' transition offense/our poor transition defense wouldn't be exposed as they're in regular season. And Mavs still have a huge hole inside (which we may be able to expose) but I can't find any major weakness at any position/part for Kings except clutchness (which I think we're even weaker than them due to our inexperience).

 

I used to feel like that, but I really think we're playing pretty well against Sacremento this year. Sure, the regular season is a completely different story, but we still had some impressive games against them. We may have tied the series, but if you look at the average point differential, we won.

By the way... isn't it about time you changed your signature? Or do you still feel that way...

 

Actually, if the Rockets catch the Lakers, they'll probably end up playing the Spurs first, which is probably the worst matchup they could face, even worse than the Mavs(although they seem to truly own the Rockets this year), since the Mavs' style of ball is supposedly ineffective in the playoffs. But San Antonio is much more consistent in the half-court set and also much better defensively and therefore more likely to grind out wins in the playoffs.

i actually like the Rockets chances against the Lakers or Kings. Against the Kings, only the play of CWebb(not a big-time playoff player) can save his team as Divac and Bibby are going to be greatly outplayed. Peja might outplay Posey/Rice, but Cat will probably outplay Christie. So it's really two advantages (Yao and Stevie) against one (Webber). Actually Kings have a better bench (it's finally healthy now), but depth is overrated in the playoffs. You put your best players on the floor as long as you can (foul trouble/fatigue whichever comes first). Coaching is about even.

Against the Lakers, Yao plays Shaq about as well as anyone. Also in the playoffs, the refs tend to let teams play more instead of calling ticky-tack fouls which plays to Shaq's advantage and to some extent Yao, but is adverse to Kobe as he makes so many of his points from the line. If the Rockets just play smart (big if), i.e. run the offense through Yao, I think they can win a seven game series against the Lakers. Rockets also have a much better bench. With all due respect to Horry, the Lakers have nothing, absolutely nothing offensively beyond Shaq and Kobe. Rox must exploit this. I say Yao/Cato and Mobley/Posey play Shaq and Kobe straigth up as well as they can, and the rest of the team absolutely dedicate themselves to shutting down the other players(Horry/Madsen, Fox and Fisher). You have to go with that. Kobe and Shaq aren't going to score 80+ points against Yao/Cato and Mobley/Posey, right? As for coaching, Phil Jackson has the best playoff record (winning percentage) by far of any coach. Of course a lot of that has to do with coaching the best players, but his teams haven't always had the most collective talent in the league. So it's pretty even like the Kings, but if the Rox can just play smart and hard (as in defense), they have the edge.

i like the Rockets' chances against the Blazers and Twolves even more. The Blazers are truly talented and if they play with their heads on straight, they are harder to beat than any other team. But Rasheed Wallace and Bonzi Wells (the two best players on the team) are probably going to choke/tech away at least one game. Also, Pippen (the starting PG, the most important position on that team) is out for the season with knee surgery and is likely to be somewhat ineffective in the playoffs. When healthy, they don't have any glaring weaknesses (just like Spurs and Kings), but if Damon Stoudamire is the starting PG, all that talent will not be utilized properly, and the Blazers' fate will be sealed. As in another first round exit.

The Twolves, no matter how hard they play, will be unable to overcome their lack of talent in key positions. Troy Hudson has been surprising this season, but he isn't better than a healthy Terell Brandon or even Chauncy Billups. The Twolves are like a weaker version of the Kings without the depth. Homecourt advantage or not, expect a first round exit to the Blazers.

Jazz or Suns (whichever team makes it) is a complete joke. Jazz are so overachieving right now, and the Suns were truly lucky to win even one game against the Rockets.

All in all, i like the Rockets' chances of going deep in the playoffs. That is, of course, if they make the playoffs!

 

Wise comments by Francis 4 prez and ROckets 03.I'm really happy with the gain we made on the Suns tonight but our inconsistency and tough schedule is a challenge to overcome.

 

this whole "the mavs need d to win" theory is fine and dandy once they start facing the true powers of the west. but against a team like us, it's not really gonna mean much. we don't have the personnel/firepower to match up with them or keep them from running all over us. we're not just gonna magically make it a halfcourt game against them in the playoffs just b/c it's the playoffs when we failed horribly at it for 4 games this season. the kings/lakers/spurs have this capability b/c of their talent/cohesiveness/experience and thus can hurt the mavs at their weakest spot. we do not have this ability as of yet and thus will be killed if we face the mavs. while i still think the kings would beat us soundly, i think we would hang around longer and give them a run for their money in some games, possible winning one. the mavs i just can't see us beating except on some unbelievably hot shooting game. the "it's the playoffs" thing ain't working for us.

 

Ugh, so Kings' depth is overrated in playoffs but we're better than Lakers because our bench is better than them?

 

You are my favorite new poster (after windandsea , but I don't consider her windandsea new anymore).

Keep up the good work and help raise this BBS hoops IQ back to where it should be.

 

he just a horny guy try to hook up with the girls