Is this the easiest playoffs in recent rockets history?

All we did was what we were supposed to do. Win our home games. We could come back from Dallas tied 2-2. I don't expect that to happen but people need to lay off this it's over stuff.

 

We're the #2 seed. The Mavs are the #7 seed. It is supposed to be easy. If anything, it's not going to be as easy as it's supposed to be. The Rockets haven't been seeded this high since 1994, so it might be easy to forget.

 

Mavs win, series 2-1
Rockets win, series 3-1
Mavs win, series 3-2
With 0.9sec left Harden hits game winning buzzer-beater, series 4-2

huh?

 

This. I understood the first couple of these threads because every team has those fans but damn this crap is getting old. WE STILL NEED 2 MORE WINS.

 

I think these type of threads are silly but I don't think its anything wrong with confidence. As Houston sports fans, we have been disappointed sooooo many times its understandable to be apprehensive and cautious. I know I entered into this years playoffs expecting little and hoping for the best. After the first two games, injuries to the Mavs aside, the Rox just look like the clearly better team. They still have to go out and prove it two more times. The Rox have not really played a great game yet and have still won by double digits in the first 2 games so I'm feeling good about the series at this point but not counting chickens before they hatch yet.

 

Let's not forget too that the Rockets could've very easily finished with the #6 seed. It just happened that the Spurs uncharacteristically lost a critical game on the last night of the season.

As an object lesson about getting over confident my NHL team the Minnesota Wild were up 2-1 last night and a lot of people here in MN were doing the same thing, talking about the next round and even envisioning the Stanley cup being paraded down Nicollet Ave. Sure enough the Wild get crushed 6-1 last night.

 

Hockey is a bit different, no?

 

Yeah, but we wouldn't have been the 7 seed. The WC essentially had 9 playoff-worthy teams this year (maybe 10) and 5 teams worthy of the second round. It's a very competitive conference. The Rockets are in latter group and Dallas only in the first. Yeah, we could still lose this series, but there is a talent divide between Rockets/Spurs/Grizzlies/etc and the Mavs/Pelicans/Blazers (the last only by dint of injuries though). The Clippers were unlucky to draw a second-round-worthy opponent in Round 1 -- that could have been us had the Spurs won, and my attitude would be different facing the Clippers. As it is though, for the Warriors, Rockets, and Grizzlies, it'll be a failure and a flat-out embarrassment to lose in Round 1. You may think I'm too quick to celebrate, but I'd say I'm being quick to boo losses. We might lose, but we're supposed to win, and I will be absolutely crucifying the team on the bbs if we do not win. Losing to a second-tier team like the Mavs -- especially without Rondo and Parsons -- isn't acceptable.

 

Yes it is a different sport but it is still a seven game series and the psychology is the same. Yesterday afternoon even some of the typically dour local sports talk guys were starting to talk finishing the series in five. Many were saying that the Wild had St. Louis Blues number and they already knew all they needed to do about the Blues. Basically Wild fans were saying pretty much the same thing about the Wild as Clutchfans are about the Rockets. "We dominated them without playing out best. Our coach is outcoaching their coach. Their team is rattled. Our role players are dominating their stars, and etc."

These guys are pros and one of the most dangerous things in sports is to underestimate your opponent or think you've won when it ain't over yet. This is a lesson that Houston fans should know very well.

 

This is the "easiest" on paper matchup the Rockets have had in the playoffs since 1997 when they beat the T-pups 3-0.

They've beaten the Mavs 6 out of 7 games this season.... and when you factor in the direction both teams are heading (health-wise and quality of play-wise), it really isn't all that close of a matchup as it may have been to start the season (or even to start the series, for that matter).

That being said, to "expect" a sweep of any opponent... whether its the Mavs or even the T-wolves... is expecting a lot. ITs hard to beat ANY team 4 games in a row, regardless of who that team is. The Vegas line is going to reflect that the Rockets are likely to have either a hiccup, or the Mavs are likely to play with an increased desperation for at least one game.

That being said, for the Rockets to lose this series they will have to lose 4 out of 5 games to this Mavs team. Impossible? No... but it would say more about the true nature of this Rockets team vs. it being some sleeping giant that the Mavs have a chance to become.

 

That's the problem though if you start believing you;re supposed to win is when things get dangerous. As a fan though that is when the losses get more painful.

For me psychologically I would rather celebrate each victory while still considering that we have a tough road ahead before getting ready to plan the parade through downtown.

 

They were essentially the 2nd best team in 97 as well... and got to play a young inexperience T-pups team vs. a veteran Phoenix team that took the Sonics the distance.

 

The players shouldn't be thinking about whether they'd prefer the Clippers or Spurs. They need to concentrate on Game 3. Even so, they must know they are 'supposed' to win. They know the shame and embarrassment they'll face if they lose. Does that create more baggage for them that will essentially make it harder for them to win? Sure, but there's nothing to be done about that. It is what it is. If they can't overcome that, they deserve every bad thing said about them.

As a fan, I don't know if it'll really be any more painful whether I write the Mavs off or not. Even if I take a one-game-at-a-time mentality now, come the off-season I'd still be lambasting the team for losing to the Mavs. For taking yet another first round exit like a little b**** for the millionth time. I don't think anything I do now can make that any better or worse than it is.

Folks who don't want to get ahead of themselves talk as if they're in it with the team. Maybe the collective voice of the fans influences the players' mentality, but it won't really matter how hard we try because we're not playing. But, the fans do have expectations for how the franchise should perform and I don't think its helping anyone to be less than honest about those expectations. This place, and all basketball fans in Houston, will have an absolute meltdown if the Rockets lose in the first round again. The brand is at stake. So, no pressure Rockets, but don't screw up.

 

I can't believe how many people believe in jinxes... Jesus, how old are you people?

 

I'm not saying that I'm on the court with the team even if it feels like that. I'm saying as a fan from all the disappointments in the past I've learned to not declaring it is over when it ain't over.

 

Is anyone actually watching the series? Houston has NOT looked good for most of the series. Sure, there have been tons of dunks, but on the whole the team has not looked like a serious playoff contender.
- The offense has looked stagnant for large periods of time.
- the execution hasn't been very tight.
- we have been getting outrebounded
- Josh Smith has been the biggest "trick or treat" player I have ever seen in Houston. He's a complete wildcard which happened to help us in game 2 but he just as easily could have also sunk us.
- Capella has done really nicely given the circumstances(a real upgrade over Dorsey), but he's barely an NBA rotation guy and certainly not a guy you would want playing crucial minutes in a tight playoff series.
- Harden has looked very off all series. He seems like he doesn't have enough gas to take over the game - I think the weight of carrying this team for so long is starting to impact his play. By all accounts the last month of basketball has been his worst basketball of the season.

I have a hard time seeing Houston giving SA/Clippers serious problems. Unless Houston really pulls it together, they aren't even close to being on the same level as the Clips, Spurs and certainly not the Warriors.

 

I think Portland last year might have been weaker. Isn't any doubt that Houston last year was weaker. We need to beat them a couple of times on the road before we come to any conclusions.

 

Yet some of his biggest "MVP" moments have come in the last month or so including his 2 50 point games....

Rockets winning by double digits twice with Harden playing poorly has the opposite effect for me. We havent seen full tilt Howard with full tilt Harden this postseason....

 

Number 2 seed, ask the three seed if it is easy.

DD

 

For **** sake stop the madness