Im all or nothing. Getting out the first rd means nothing to me just like raising a dumb ass division banner.
because i would rather have the Blazers get a crack at upsetting the Lakers first. the Blazers actually play them tough at home opposed to the Rockets who got swept. imagine playing the Blazers with home court advantage in the WCF. the only good news is that the Rockets don't have to play the Mavs (or the Jazz) whom they lost to and just can't seem to lick.
Ideally, I would've wanted the Lakers to face Dallas in the first round and Portland in the second. Those are the two teams with the best chance of knocking out LA this year IMO.
Lakers going through Utah and Portland would have been a nice little gauntlet for them to run. Blazers might have knocked them off.
B/c it would be nice to go the WCF. The team your talking about back in the 90's, actually won the finals the year before, so it was not a freak thing. That team had confidence. This team does not. This team starts a point guard who should not be starting. This team has a coach and can't manage minutes. that's just how i feel. I'm as big of a Rocket fan as anyone. but there is reality.
the blazers have no chance of beating the lakers in the heat of the playoffs. these aren't the mavericks against golden state. this is phil jackson and kobe bryant. I understand what the OP is saying. I dig the idea of saving the lakers till the conference finals because of them possibly being worn down, not because they could get beat beforehand(they won't) But thinking about it now, maybe our best bet to beat them is in the second round before WE wear down. I've accepted our fate here and really the only bummer is the lack of homecourt.
OMG THANKS for posting this thread I been wondering the same thing..... Lakers are still the same team, whether in the 2nd or 3rd round so why postpone it.....
In my opinion, playing Lakers (if we got there) in the second round is better than playing them in the WCF. By WCF, Lakers will be well oiled, Bynum will be well re-integrated, Lakers will be out for blood. An easy run with Jazz for them could be a blessing in disguise for us. We match up fine with Portland, it will be tough - but which opponent, saves for perhaps the Hornets wouldn't be tough? SS999
no one in the west will even come close to the lakers and the comparison to dallas doesn't even work. It's basically phil jackson and kobe bryant vs avery johnson and choksky
well we would have momentum and our confidence will be sky high if we get to the WCF. not saying there wont be any after the first round, but just not enough to beat the lakers
The Rockets have no chance beating the Lakers. Zilth. Nada. So it was more preferrable to play them later so we could advance further. I hope that the Rockets can beat the Blazers and make it out of the first round. I'm not optimistic. The Blazers are very tough at home and we'll play four on their court. If we make it to the second round I would call the season a success.
With all this logic I guess we should let the Lakers go to the Finals on the behalf of the other 7 teams. Anything can happen. People get hurt. People rise to the occasion. We got a guy on our team who knows about that. He helped us not have to play the Sonics in the '94 Playoffs.
Great thread, I was looking for a thread like this. Not sure why it only has three stars, it should have five. I think too many people are concentrated on being #2 seed because you get to play a #7 seed that probably isn't as good (Hello! We just saw that isn't true with Dallas beating us here), too many people are concentrated on not playing Utah because we'll for sure lose in the first round, and if we had won tonight, we wouldn't have to play Lakers/Utah second round, and we might have gotten to the WCF...blah blah blah...etc etc etc...who CARES! I don't think we play basketball to calculate every win based on stats/previous games/best matchup. We play to win. And whether or not the matchup is ideal, or whether it's less challenging than another, who cares. The team just has to go out there and play, and whatever happens, happens. I, for one, don't want to see this team win JUST because we got a good matchup in the playoffs. I will take a good matchup in the playoffs, but I would really rather see this team win because they fought hard and deserve it, and because against all odds, they still won. That's what the playoffs are about. And more than just a good, easy 'match' for the Rockets, the win I want to see will come from a HARD 'match' for the Rockets in the playoffs (Utah/Lakers/San Antonio). Those are the wins that will mean the most to me. As some smart ClutchFans have said, "Just Play, Just Win".
i think most fans are upset at the fact that we blew the most important game of season, rather than playing the lakers in 2nd round
I think the NBA games are far more than pure sports games, playing one more game means millions of dollars for advertisements and broadcast. so every team just tries to play as many games as possible.
