How seriously do you take each potential Western Conf. playoff opponent for Houston?

Avoid:

Thunder and Clippers

Both teams have a lot of offensive firepower that our D can't seem to handle consistently, probably because their perimeter players are all tough to stay in front of. Dwight is also defended well by the Thunder.

I would like to avoid Portland too but I'd give us the edge in 6 games.

Memphis I feel we would win easily.

San Antonio is always tough, but I would rather play them than the Thunder and Clippers because the San Antonio perimeter isn't as athletic.

 

OKC and LAC- Rockets underdogs against either of these teams.
Memphis and San Antonio- Rockets 50/50 vs either of these teams.
GSW, PHX, POR, DAL, MIN- Rockets favored against these teams.

 

I take all of them seriously. It's the Western Conference. I think OKC (assuming WB remains healthy), Clips would be like 70/30 against us in a series, Spurs would be more even money. Pop is such a better coach than McHale but we just seem to do very well against them for whatever reason.

 

I think you want to avoid OKC, LAC, DAL, Mem

 

OKC We wouldn't have a prayer.

LAC We wouldn't have a prayer.

SAS Never underestimate these dudes in the playoffs.

MEM Clowned us good. Twice. In a row.

GSW Backcourt gets hot, and Tjones goes milk-carton "Have you seen me?" on Lee...

POR Aldridge clowns TJones.

DAL Dirk clowns Tjones.

PHO Might move them up if Bledsoe's return is a positive (no messed-up chemistry).

MIN They're pretty much "Love-to-LA" out of it anyway.

 

All of them are more than capable of beating and matching up well with Houston in the playoffs except maybe Min & Phoenix.

The Clippers and Thunder represent probably the worst case scenario as far as match-ups go, but there will be no easy path to making the finals, and its highly unlikely the Rockets can go through 3 rounds without fielding a match-up where they are out-matched in some realm.

Its just the nature of who the Rockets are in terms of having an incomplete or under-developed lineup in its first year of conception.

In order to beat not just one but two or three of these top Western teams, the Rockets supporting cast will have to really take a huge step forward in a small amount of time, or Harden & Howard have to play otherworldly for the months of April, May, and into June hopefully if they make it that far.

 

Rockets can deal with Dallas.

Even in the losses against Dallas, the Rockets have built big leads. I highly doubt this current team would still lose to Dallas after building up a big lead.

Memphis is intriguing. Rockets never had the opportunity to employ twin towers against them, so I would like to see what happens over the course of 7 games. Dwight and Asik could effectively neutralize Gasol and Randolph over 7 games, although the problem would be scoring on the other end. It would be a slow-paced, low scoring grind the whole way.

Not too worried about SAS. They step up in the playoffs, but Harden has been killing the Spurs since 2012 WCF. I don't think they have an answer for Harden.

 

Assuming the playoffs started today:

I think Clips/Thunder would be favored, even if we had home court.

Against the Spurs, I think the home court team would be favored.

I like our chances against anyone else, including Miami/Indiana.

Good news is, we probably have more room for growth than any of those teams. If we go on another crazy tear to finish the season, things could change.

 

OKC
LAC
GSW
SAS
POR
MEM
DAL
PHX

 

I feel like a lot of us are underestimating the Spurs. No matter how much success we've had against them, I wouldn't feel very confident heading into a 7-game series.

I'm not trying to come off as pessimistic, but I still don't trust this team in a 7-game series against ANY team we would face. We are still very streaky and despite our recent success we are still prone to offensive lapses and our bench simply cannot be trusted.

We can make it to the WCF, but 2014 isn't our year imo.

 

Not that I disagree with your assessment that Jones will likely get "clowned" in the playoffs by some of the all-time great PF's to ever play the game(He is an under-sized 2nd year prospect), but I have to ask the question-

If the Rockets were to have made a trade or signed an upgrade at PF that might or might not have been available(Lets say a Josh Smith level PF), would these match-ups really look that much more favorable for the Rockets right now??

Maybe you have a Ryan Anderson and Channing Frye that can space the floor better, but you still have issues on the defensive end stopping these stars. If you go defense over offense with someone like Josh Smith are the Rockets any better at the offensive end, and does a player like that really help them that much when they are going against a dominant force every night?

Its give or take at everything. You can't have superstars at every position.

Yes the Rockets are almost always going to have a mismatch at the PF position because.... well almost every playoff team has an all-star to superstar level PF on their team.

However the Rockets have the mismatch most nights at the SG and Center position most nights where most teams have the equivalent of a Terrence Jones type if they are lucky at SG or Center.

So I get what you are hinting at here, Jones is going to get "Clowned", but that's not tell the whole story of the series as some people here would lead you to believe. The PF position isn't the only position that matters in basketball.

 

Confident against anybody outside of LAC and OKC. Those two teams though...it's been ugly.

 

OKC
Mem
LAC
SAS
POR
GSW
DAl
Pho
Min

 

OKC and LAC are the biiiig problems right now. We can beat anyone else but can't seem to come close to beating those guys this year.

The Rockets best chance in the Playoffs is for OKC and LAC to get upset by teams that somehow match up with them better. But it would be wonderful to get one win against either of them as the season winds down - it would really count for a lot, mentally.

As it stands, we know we can beat the Heat and Pacers and match up fairly well with them. They seem like an easy task compared to OKC AND LAC.

 

We know they're still contenders - but the Rockets don't have problems playing against them. OKC and LAC are wiping the court with us right now.

 

LAC - Don't want anything to do with them in a 7 game series
OKC - Not much better, but I think we could hang to a game 6 or 7
MEM - I think we'd eventually win out due to talent, but it's a toss-up
SAS - We'd take this in 7, but they're very scary, and have a system that just works
GSW - Contain Curry to an extent and we win no problem. They don't have the defense to stop us
DAL - Let Dirk get his, and force Monta to actually show up. We'd win this in 5 or 6.
POR - Mentally weak team that also doesn't have the defense to stop us. I want them badly in the playoffs.
PHX - Barely in the conversation. They have first round sweep or 4-1 series win written all over them. Young and inexperienced.

 

On a scale of one-to-ten threat factor:

OKC - 10
LAC - 10
GSW - 6
MEM - 5
SAS - 10
PHX - 4
POR - 7
DAL - 2
MIN - 1

 

Honestly, I don't trust the Rockets in a seven game series with any of the current play off teams.

 

Honestly no team scares me if the Rockets who've won most of their games since January 1 show up. As far as who would be the most difficult matchups:

OKC - Kevin Durant and the probable lack of homecourt(last night's loss definitely hurt) will be the main obstacles. I don't worry so much about any sort of intimidation factor. Most of the guys from last year's playoff run are still around and they know they can not only beat the Thunder, but do it on their home floor. Still, I would favor OKC in a playoff series right now over the Rockets.

LAC - A lot of people on here fear them, but for some reason I just don't have much faith in Chris Paul and Blake Griffin come playoff time. Maybe they've matured and maybe Doc Rivers can be the difference this season, but it's not like the Rockets don't have a pretty good one-two punch themselves with Harden and Howard. Ultimately this may come down to home court and having Game 7 at Toyota Center. The Rockets do still control their own destiny with regard to finishing ahead of L.A.

SAS - The Spurs are an unpredictable bunch. A few years ago, they flamed out against the Grizzlies in Round 1. Then last year, they swept a Memphis team that was arguably better than the one that beat them before. I do take comfort in the fact that out of their 16 losses this season, 3 of them came at the hands of the Rockets. We've managed to contain Parker somewhat and Duncan is not what he once was, so he's unlikely to destroy T-Jones or D-Mo in the post. This one's a tossup.

POR - The Blazers would be a tougher matchup than some might think. They have the size to frustrate the Rockets inside. Their 3-point shooting ability would test our mediocre perimeter D. And they can match our depth and youth, so we can't just expect to outscore them as with other opponents. The difference in this series would likely be Game 7 at Toyota Center(it would require a major collapse by the Rockets to finish behind the Blazers) and James Harden being better than anyone on that Portland team.

GSW - The Warriors are the Rockets' b-tch and they know it. They're similar in that they love to run and gun and shoot the outside jumper. But the Rockets have Dwight which will be the difference in this series. And again, the Rockets would have home court which would be huge.

MEM - Could be a tough matchup because of the size of Randolph and Gasol. But I have a feeling over a 7 game series(if it even went that far) that the Rockets would find a way to run the Grizzlies out of the building. Memphis simply can't score well enough to pose a serious threat to a team that averages nearly 107 points a game.

DAL - The Rockets have a miserable time in the Mavs' arena for some odd reason, although they did finally break that jinx this season. It could be a touch matchup, but there's no way Dallas beats Houston in a 7 game series. They're not as good as us offensively and they're a weak defensive team. Unless the Rockets' 3-point shooting abandons them completely to counter the Dallas zone, they win this series in 5 or 6.

PHX - If the Suns manage to make it to the postseason, they'd be by far the easiest matchup for the Rockets. Dragic is their only star player and Harden and Howard will light them up. They're an explosive offensive team and they'll leave it all out there on the floor, but they just don't have enough to counter the Rockets over a 7 game series.