Rockets will play the Utah Jazz in the first round

I was never really concerned with which round we face GS in. Wanted the 2 seed for the easiest road, but I'm not into moral victories like losing in the conference finals instead of the 2nd round, so 3 v 4 was inconsequential. We can beat them, so lets get right to it.

We honestly shouldn't have any more problems with Utah than we did last season, it shouldn't go past 5.

 

Bev makes it hard on injured curry. Cp3 and harden finishes him off 2nd round. Denver beats okc and play Houston in WCF. Houston Vs Milwaukee finals. Harden wins finals MVP to shut in giannis fans.

 

Last time the 4 seed made it to the second round in the west was 2011

 

Utah is a really good team. If the Rockets treat this series the way the fans are (and the way the Rockets have treated teams they thought they were better than all year) they will get stung in the first round.

Cannot be focused on Golden State before you beat Utah. Weird crap happens in Salt Lake, so if you let them snatch games in Houston we'll be watching the Jazz get stomped by the Warriors in round 2 instead of our beloved Rockets.

 

I'm sure you could write that same script for LAC, SAS and OKC. Who wouldn't you write that about?

Utah is not special to the Rockets. And they are soft. But yeah, sure, "if Rockets overlook Utah, they will get stung",,, is an absolutely true tautology,,, it almost writes itself!! (@SamFisher ) But, if you're saying we'll be watching [the 2nd round] if we lose one in HOU, that's probably a bolder statement than those from "the way the fans are treating Utah."

Really, you believe we must win both games in Houston to win the series?

I'll bet you on that. fwiw: Utah took Game 2, last year.

 

Utah has been one of the hottest teams in the league since ASG just like us. It will be a very very tough series. However I still prefer them over OKC for some reason. OKC is too much of a wild card the way they play, you never really want to face two super stars in the playoffs when either can just randomly go off.

Utah plays within their system, we just got to figure it out

 

It's time to reverse that anomaly. The only way Utah wins this series is if the Rockets take them lightly. I don't see that happening. We will win 4-1.

 

Utah only happened to start winning late because that was where the easiest part of their schedule was.

 

Sounds like we're doomed.

I plan on treating Utah terribly - TERRIBLY - if I bother treating them, at all.

Here's a devastating array of signs and chants that I plan to employ

Donovan Mitchell - more like DONOVAN B-TCHELL

Rudy Gobert? More like GOING NOWHERE IN THE PLAYOFFS

Joe Ingles = Joe DINGUS

Ricky Rubio? More like MARCO RUBIO

Derrick Favors - do me a Favors and GTFO

The big caveat - I may not even bother to watch at all since their impending doom is so horrible and boring and reeks of old Welch's grape juice and ennui.

 

Let's not get too cocky. I'm not overly worried about our team playing the Jazzh****, not like I would be against OKC, with Adams using Capela like a c**-cloth and the Rockets snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

But anything can happen. All it takes is one Scott Foster who turns a blind eye to the defender standing in Harden's space when he launches threes. One giant meltdown (the Rockets are good at this) when you have a good lead ("Denver lost, we're the 2nd seed, let's celebrate early, YAY!, whoops"). One horrific night from the three point line when it doesn't occur to anyone, "Hmn, maybe I better take it to the rack." One Chris Paul hammy. One 6-man rotation from Dan Tony when he has four other able subs on the sideline scratching their nads: see also, 72 point 1st half, 29 point 2nd half.

Let's be humble but confident.

 

That's the spirit Nick!
We're doomed!
So you are saying we should just collectively go jump off a bridge?
It's already over?

I don't care who we play. We just gotta take care of business

 

My thoughts exactly M

 

Let's get super cocky - the Jazz are trash and don't belong in the same conversation with us.

MAY I BE STRIKED DOWN LIKE A SHANDON ANDERSON JUMP SHOT IF I AM WRONG DO YOU HEAR ME FOUL GODS I DO NOT FEAR YOU

 

Utah is a better team than the Clippers and San Antonio and more consistent than Oklahoma City. They are very good. But in general yes, my fear about this team would be the same for any of those teams with OKC being worse than Utah but the other team being a little better. The Rockets can't go light on the effort in this series. They cannot get to looking ahead and worrying about Golden State, thinking they are entitled to face them. Utah could definitely knock us off.

 

Sounds like a plausable reason for a loss. It will be written.

Another reason could be we played hard, "but Utah just wanted tonight's game more than us, and made their shots." And they get their one game then inevitable let down following.

I'm working on other narratives, so I can cut and paste reasons when the one loss happens.

I'm all ears for other reasons we lose a game.

 

Howard Eisley ain't walking through that door boys. We got this

 

TIRED LEGS

 

I dont know who this guy is but he has some good points. It starts at 2:20

 

Bench guys struggle. The rotation needs to be shortened

 

good point

But I think "Tired Legs" falls under the category of an excuse for overlooking Utah with a sense of entitlement and getting Stung.

You have to think like fans think Harden thinks. ppl like @justtxyank think Harden might suffer from a sense of entitlement, I guess.