Which team is your ideal first-round opponent for the Rockets?

Is Denver the 2014-15 Atlanta?

 

I just wanna say, don’t sleep on the Clippers. Those guys have a good team. 3 of the best players are also former Rockets and all their role players are solid.

 

Clips, dream playoff route is to go Clippers -> Nuggets -> Warriors


While Warriors have to face Spurs -> Thunder -> Us


The reason why Denver has been so good is because they are ultra deep, like that 60 win Hawks team or the Raptors every year but they'll flame out in the playoffs when 8 man rotations are natural.

Houston's biggest obstacle is health. Even going into the last 15 games, Shump and Faried are still injured.

Hopefully, no one else gets injured right before the playoffs.

 

every team that makes the playoffs can be considered good. well for the west that's true at least. But being just good gets you only so far. Teams like denver and the clips if they make it, will get weeded out quick when they realize they don't have another gear that's needed in the playoffs to actually make some noise

 

But they're all role players. In crunch time, who gets the ball? Lou Williams? I'm much more concerned about the likes of Lillard, Nurkic, Mitchell, George, DeRozan, and Aldridge.

 

I don't fear any of those 5-8 seed teams at all. I'm going to say the Spurs because I'm a vengeful person and they recently eliminated us.

Dodge OKC and Golden State for a round or two and I'm satisfied.

 

Clippers -> Denver ->GSW -> Boston is my semi realistic hope. Doubt Boston makes it though. Don't want to play Philly or Milwaukee. I am okay with the Raptors or Celtics.

 

Utah/Clippers/ Spurs/Denver are all the same to me.

 

Bucks are

 

Hell's to the no for OKC and Portland.

We can beat everyone else tho but Spurs are also always annoyibg

 

Ideal, I would say Clippers. Even though they've given us problems in the past, I'm confident we can beat them in a 7 game series. I don't want to see the Jazz or OKC even though I know we can beat those teams as well. The other match up I don't mind is Portland.

I am only concerned about the Warriors at this point. If I had to rank.

Clippers
Portland
San Antonio
OKC
Denver
Utah
Golden State

 

This.

Star power trumps everything, in the playoffs. I don't think there's ever been an instance where a guy has come out of nowhere, to shock the world. Like a Linsanity effect, if you will.

 

Has MDA ever beaten Pop in a playoff series? Would be nice for him to get that over with.

I want the Warriors. Let's not waste time or risk injury/fatigue before playing them. They will have less time to figure their chemistry out too, I can see them imploding if we take game 1 from them.

That's not going to happen though so I guess it's the Clippers. Can't see them taking a single game from us. Yes I know they work hard bla bla bla. But MDA would crush Rivers, no one can bother Harden and it would not be difficult to guard them. We wouldn't take them lightly I'm sure given the adversity we've faced.

 

Am I the only one who says Warriors? Harden is at his playoff best in the 1st and 2nd round....CP3 will be fresh and healthy. Everybody will be fresh and good to go. I think it's better to Knock off the Warriors ASAP just to get them out of the way. I mean, why delay the inevitable? You want a fresh and healthy Rockets team against the Dubs or a tired and possibly battered Rockets team after 2 possibly tough series? (that's what happened last year. 0-27 from deep is Tired legs) And we all know the Rockets aren't just going to breeze through the 1st and 2nd round. Not with how the West is looking. Might have to go through a 7 game series or two early in the playoffs.

 

This... I would much rather play GS in round 2 rather than in the WCF. Ideally you'd have DEN at #1, HOU at #2 and GS at #3, but that's pretty far fetched, so I'd settle for GS #2/HOU #3 or GS #1/HOU #4.

We need to be completely healthy to beat GS. Against any other team (East or West), we still have a solid chance to win, even if we aren't healthy.

As for the 1st round, give me the Spurs... Short travel and probably a 4-1 series, with a 4-0 result being more probable than a 4-2 result.

 

GSW - no way; I want all eyes on us for that WCF matchup
DEN - only way we play them is if we drop to 6/7, which would give me a lot less confidence in this team's ability to make a long run
PDX/UTAH/OKC - meh, I think we can take them all, but they could each take a game or two from us
LAC - I have yet to see us stop Trez or Williams consistently; we'd win this series but it'd be tougher than most would think

SAS - ding ding ding! Derozan strikes no fear in my heart. MDA gets to avenge his losses to Pop. We're just as intelligent as they are and have much better high-end talent. I'd predict a clean sweep here

 

The j*zz

 

Steven Adams is gonna knee Chris Paul in his hamstring.

 

Worriers. Go to Oakland, punch them in the face and leave.

 

Clippers in 1st, Denver in 2nd is ideal.