Even with LeBron James on a bad ankle? Dwayne Wade finally prohibited from taking HGH injections since the league now tests for it oops I mean "struggling with the flu?" On the tail end of a back to back? I dunno man. I think the Rockets defend home court.
The heat are a small team that has issues with traditional big defenders. We have one in Asik. Too bad we don't have two. Maybe Greg Smith can step up. If no one blows their defensive assignment we have a shot of holding them on D. They're going to apply a lot of pressure, so if can keep the turnovers low we have a shot of containing their offense. On offense we're dealing with the team that is very good at defending the paint. The only shot we have is if our 3 ball shooting shows up. Then all sorts of space will open up for Harden and Lin to bust into the paint. The two losses the Heat had this season were against teams had traditional bigs and that shot (unsustainably) well from the 3. I think it will be a close game. We have a shot at winning if we execute well on D and shoot well from the 3. And if we hang with them til the end (like with the Grizzlies) and eventually lose that is still a very positive sign for our team.
Cause we aren't as good as Memphis, lol. I'm hoping for a close game, and hopefully we'll get some breaks at the end and squeak out a 'W.' Not getting my hopes up though, Miami will be looking to bounce back after their ****ty game against Memphis.
Heat win. Nobody to defend LeBron, Wade, Allen, Bosh, and so on. Unless they overlook the Rockets and are at a club right now drinking it up.
Grizz beating the Heat may also be a matchup thing, so I'm not optimistic about beating the Heat, even off a b2b. Heat by 10 comfortably is my guess. Would be glad to be wrong though obviously.
I think all anyone can realistically ask of the Rockets in this game is a) don't embarrass yourselves, and b) don't get injured. Anything more than that is a bonus. I can't stand the Heat. I make it a point not to watch any games they play. Unless it's the 2011 Finals, in which case I can watch them play over and over and over.... It's more interesting to look ahead to the following two games, vs NOH and @ POR, since those are actually winnable.
In a way, it almost feels like because Memphis pulled it off our chances are much lower. If Memphis won, the Heat might have relaxed a bit. But now they're on edge. I'm hopeful but want to be realistic...
So glad we play today. I am camping out at work right now, going to leave early, go home, go back to sleep, wake up in perfect time for the game! MY worthless opinion about our team: In our 3 wins the backcourt has attacked constantly. If we want to make any noise -- this year or any other -- we must have a steady dose of Harden and Lin. If we can average 35-40 10 10 between the two of them, we should be good. We have to do something about our backup, Douglas can't hit the broad side of a barn, and Machado can't either. Behind Harden we are pretty weak too. I am not too concerned about our bench, this year it may be painful to watch, but we all know DM's true skill is packing a bench with players who can produce under the radar. We have 3 7 footers in Aldridge, Motiejunas, and Ashik, we need to play bigger. I would prefer to see us develop Motie over Patrick. Patrick would be much better suited on an established team that needs a shooting 4. We need his shooting, but we also need better rebounding and defense, and I am not satisfied with either part of his game. Coaching, I am not crazy about McHale, I would much prefer JVG, but offensively I am not sure Harden could handle it like McGrady did. That is to say that McGrady is a player who you can give him the ball and say "make it happen." Harden can make it happen, but he can't demand the double and triple teams that Mac did in his early years with us. All in all, I think we will win most of our gimme games, the Detroits, Sacramentos, Charlottes, etc., and I figure we will struggle against good teams. All I want to see against good teams is smart decisions and rebounding. If we give up too many second chance points against teams like the Heat we are going to get ran out of the Toyota Center. Like every year, I would really like to see us finish stronger. Ashik especially, he doesn't have good enough touch to warrant the use of layups and jumpshots. Yao I could deal with, while it was frustrating to watch a guy who's head is literally 2.5' below the rim lay up the ball, Yao had the touch to at least make it feasible. Don't expect anyone to read this, but I am sitting in a hallway with one person, at 4 am, not much to do.
