We aren't good enough at this point with this roster to win a road game against any of the top 4 (SAN, OKC, LAC, DEN) in the playoffs. So we're not gonna make it out of the first round. That said, what this team desperately needs (and what it has needed all along) was as much playoff experience as possible. I believe we could take all 3 home games against anyone in the playoffs. That's what we need - a 7 game series to develop guys with some playoff experience.
My fear is that our team will drop off (like previous years) and we will miss the playoffs, at this point.
So far this season, are record vs. the top 5 teams in the west is 1-10. It breaks down as follows. OKC 0-2 SA 0-3 LAC 0-1 DEN 0-3 MEM 1-1 The bottom line is, we won't beat any of those teams, and the reason is that they have more talent than we do. We might have a chance against Memphis, but they'll be 4 or 5, and we won't play them. We should be talking about whether or not we'll make the playoffs, not who we'll beat when we get there.
Of the 3 we are most likely to face (OKC, Clippers, Spurs) the only one I really fear is OKC. They will sweep us. Clippers & Spurs we'll have an underdog's chance to make things interesting and get 5-6 games out of it.
OKC is the only team I fear out west. SAS has kicked our butt this season, but we're improving every game we play. Our loss against the Heat cemented our confidence that we can play against the big boys. We have the most upside among playoff contenders, closing the gap against the Spurs, and our style will benefit against their aged legs come playoff time (See Spurs vs. Memphis playoffs series).
This thread is asinine for just this reason. Rockets have lost EVERY game to the top 4-5 teams. The fact that they will make the playoffs is a good achievement but expecting anything more than that seems ludicrous at the moment.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>NBA's top 4: SA, OKC, MIA, LAC. <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23Rockets">#Rockets</a> 0-8 vs them. IMO Den is 5th best. HOU 0-3 vs Den. HOU 27-13 vs rest & 13-4 vs other playoff teams.</p>— Adam Wexler (@awexler) <a href="https://twitter.com/awexler/status/299358926690975744">February 7, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Believe it or not, we are more dangerous than most of those teams. The reason being is that on any given night, we can blow a team out. By the same logic, we can be destroyed as well. If you put an unpredictable team in the playoffs against a team that gives you consistency every night, there is bound to be an eventual upset. Case in point: 8th seed Warriors against the Mavs....Warriors were high-scoring, but the Mavs didn't know who was going to go off (BDiddy, SJax, Monta, shoot, even the bench) If I had to choose a team that I absolutely do NOT want to face in the first round: The Thunder. That team has an urgency to redeem themselves after the Finals loss to the Heat. I would take our chances against the likes of Spurs, Warriors, Nuggets, Grizzlies. If we get another big before the deadline (one that can score and D up) we're that much better.
Out of those, we can play with the Spurs. Our games have been close, until a collapse at the end. By the end of the season, hopefully we've adjusted. The Spurs can be touched. They're like the Patriots...they enter as the best team in the regular season and then get smoked because they can't anticipate an unpredictable team. What if Jeremy Lin gets his mojo back and catches fire again? Totally possible with the way he's been playing. Add that to James' prowess and Chandler's growth...that's a good front line. PatPat is regaining that jumper form that we've expected and Delfino isn't anything to scoff about off the bench. Hell, Omer has developed some post moves...No longer do we have a bunch of scorers and a center that has stone hands (Kelvin Cato, Stromile Swift, Dikembe ---love him, but he couldn't catch the ball--) I wish we could have kept Sammy D though.
I would rather face the Thunder than the Spurs in the playoffs. The Rockets just never seem able to beat the Spurs, and coach Pop has really had our number for a while now. If we face the Thunder, Harden will have a little extra motivation going against his former team that let him go, and theres always the chance with the Thunder that Westbrick will get stupid and make some crucial mistakes. Really either way its a lose/lose at this point, but I would rather face the Thunder.
Hollinger's Power Rankings are actually quite good at showing how I feel about this: http://espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/powerrankings In the West, I'd only fear OKC, Denver, and San Antonio. In the East, only Miami.
I'd say that it's not only possible, but likely, that Denver will wind up in the #3 spot in the West. I think we can agree that the #1 and #2 spots will go to OKC and San Antonio, and that there is probably going to be a fair amount of separation between these two teams and everybody else. Denver played an inordinately difficult early season schedule and so it's not surprising that they've started winning far more games lately. Denver should be expected to wind up in the #3 spot. The Clippers are probably as good as the Nuggets when healthy, but their two stars, Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, are fairly injury-prone, and Paul has been sitting for a while now with an injury. I will be surprised if Griffin doesn't miss a fair number of games, as well, at some point. So it's OKC, San Antonio, and Denver in the 1-2-3 spots. The Clippers are fading due to Paul's injury and are liable to continue to fade. Memphis is imploding right now and management probably needs to fire Lionel Hollins in the very near future if they're going to right the ship. Golden State seems like a team that should fade down the stretch, and that Houston can catch, especially if Houston upgrades at the PF spot. Utah is a pretty good team but they are liable to trade Paul Millsap and/or Al Jefferson for picks/prospects/expiring contracts at any time. Houston should surpass Utah. Then there's the Lakers, although I am going to be surprised if L.A. surpasses Houston. It would not be a big surprise for L.A. to surpass a rebuilding Utah team, though. Oh, and there's Portland, who may also wind up in the #8 spot. My best guess: 1 OKC 2 San Antonio 3 Denver I feel pretty confident about 1-3, although we can quibble over the order of 1-2. 4 L.A. Clippers 5 Memphis 6 Houston 7 Golden State I think that a lot can happen here, as well. If the Clippers continue to struggle with injuries, if Memphis continues to implode, and/or if Golden State regresses to the mean, then Houston moves up from the #7 spot (I think they may technically be in the #8 spot, behind Utah, right now, but they should eventually surpass Utah) and as high as #4. I can see these four teams ranked in pretty much any order, 4-7. 8 Utah, Portland, or the Lakers Dallas' roster is a disaster. Minnesota's chances are zero as a result of the Kevin Love injury. Whoever winds up in the #8 spot presumably gets throttled by either OKC or San Antonio in the first round. What I'd like to see is for Houston to finish strong, get into the playoffs, put up a strong fight, and get valuable playoff experience. Obviously it would be great to win a first round series, which may happen if they can move up to #4 or #5. If they remain in the 6-7-8 range, though, a win in the first round appears pretty unlikely, as those top three teams are awfully good.
Thats basically it, but i think we can surprise the first 2 with competition, but the Nuggets beat us in the hustle department and when that happens we collapse.
