I just don't get the Mavs fear. They are a soft team that will go down easier than the Sonics, who have a mean streak. If the Rockets play defense and attack offensively, the Mavs will go down easier than the Suns, who are a better team. It's true the Mavs don't have anyone equivalent to Dirk, but as a team, the Mavs are just a poor man's Suns. If the Rockets are rolling when the playoffs come, they will destroy any team that doesn't play defense. I think the Spurs are our primary roadblock to the finals. After that it's the Sonics. If the Rockets blow out the Sonics in one the two remaining games, I'll knock them down a notch. This road trip has shown me they are a tougher opponent for us than the Suns or Kings.
The mavs are different than the suns. The mavs actually have a half court set and Dirk can get off his own shot even over a double team. If Dirk goes off for fifty, there is not much we can do except try to outscore them. Amare does not have this capability.
Dirk going ballistic is the only way the Mavs could beat us. It's doubtful he would average 40 a game. If he doesn't, the Mavs are done. Now that the Rockets can chop up teams that don't play defense, the Mavs aren't intimidating any more. Very good point on half courts sets. This is why the Suns have no real shot at reaching the finals.
The Mavs have tremendous depth in the backcourt. Dirk isn't the only player that would give us problems.
I don't care who we play in the playoff. The tougher the better. We've already beat all the good teams. Perhaps some of these higher ranked teams don't want to play us.
No team scares me anymore. The only thing that scares me is if somone likle Tmac or Yao goes down with an injury. Suns, mavericks, mermaids, sonics......hell the 98 bulls' bring um on.
If we play like we did in the past week, it doesn't matter which team we play in playoff, we win. We can defeat ourselves though if we don't bring our A games. I say we play our best and try to overtake #4 seed.
That Power Ranking explanation is idiotic-- he's saying the reason our ranking isn't higher is because if the Rox get a 5th seed, it will be harder for them to advance in the playoffs. So what we're doing well --is that a fault ?? Yeah OK, sorry Marc Stein for going 4-0 for the week, and moving up the Western Conference rankings....
If you're referring to the ESPN power ranking explanation (Only problem with Houston's surge is that the No. 6 seed might prove more attractive than No. 5 out West, depending on San Antonio's finish), I disagree. Our Power Ranking is not being held down at all. He's saying that the Rockets might win themselves into a tougher path. The explanation has nothing to do with the "ranking".
The road to the NBA championship is going to have to go through San Antonio at some point, might as well get them out of the way earlier.
