My biased towards the Rockets would say "hell yeah! we can beat beat them!", but statistically, I would say " Hell no! They are one of the best teams in the Western conference!"
We should be able to run Memphis out of the gym. There weakest area defensively would probably be pick and roll defense. Luckily for the Rockets, they excel in this area. Jeremy Lin and Harden kicking it out all day, just like in December when the rockets blew them out by 20+. We have two 7 footers, active bigs off the bench and an array of shooters. I like our chances against these guys.
How many times have we beat memphis isn't it just once? People are kidding themselves if they think we will beat memphis in a series. REgular season is nothing like the playoffs. I am just happy that the Rockets made it to the playoffs. I don't really expect us to advance.
Memphis is the team that we most likely would be able to beat in seven games with our current style of play. We can still run them to the ground like last time, cuz as I observed, Gasol and ZBo can only keep up with us for three quarters at most. So fourth quarter collapse is likely to happen again unless they have enough young guns to bring up. For the other top teams, we most likely would not have enough time to adjust to a half-court offense with post power, as we are still weak at the PF position.
ehh memphis is playoff tested. I could see their size and bigs totally wearing Houston's out. They're also getting hot at the right time. Then again if you're 6,7,8....none of the top 3 seeds are good matchups. Maybe you roll with the Spurs and hope their guys aren't healthy come June.
this next game against golden state is going to be big. Hopefully we can win some big games in the last stretch because if we keep losing to these sub .500 teams, we might end up in the 7th spot against OKC (i dont think lakers pass us without kobe). I'm surprised Memphis has been so good without rudy gay but its all mainly because of zbo. Hopefully Asik can hold down the paint but with gasol and zbo, theyre gonna kill us in the paint.
Zach Randolph would feast on DMo and T-Rob. I don't like our chances against Memphis. But, of the top 5 teams in the West, they probably would be the best match up for us.
Our best matchup is Denver, because the entire NBA fan community will be watching this #1 matchup for the first round. This will be the funnest matchup, and most exciting, of Round 1. And I'll get to got to all the games!!! GAME DENVER! 11 game winning streak.
memphis would give harden the most trouble. their defense is legit and they got two talented bigs that would give us fits. we can run and gun vs the lac, den and win a few gms. i think these teams are our best matchups okc and spurs would beat us easily.
I said yes before, coz I felt they could be our ideal opponent in the playoffs, to pull a surprise win. However, after the Prince trade, I think our life just becomes a little bit more difficult. Whether he's guarding Parsons or occasionally on our guards, his defensive presence will affect us.
Despite having the #2 overall defense in terms of PPP, they are only 12th against PnR ballhandler plays, per synergy, while we have the #1 efficiency in PnR ballhandler plays. Basically, PnR them to death and we can win. They are good at defending the roll man, so have James and Jeremy attack off the PnR, and kick out to open 3pt shooters if they pack the paint and over commit to stop them.
Exactly. They are almost average defensively in the pick and roll and by running that to death, you are tiring out their bigs.
I say we need to steal one of the first two games. Probably don't have the maturity player or coaching wise to take a game 7.
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I think people are ignoring the fact that Memphis has Tayshaun Prince and Tony Allen at swing spots, both of whom are excellent defenders. Further, Ed Davis is playing well enough for them to be able to afford to rest Z-Bo and Gasol. Asik may be able to take Gasol out of the game, but I can't see how Z-Bo doesn't put up 30/10 every night against us. Not to mention these guys are all playoff tested, while our guys are quite young and inexperienced. I still like our chances better against MEM, but I don't think we are favored. Fast break opportunities tend to dip in playoff basketball, and I think we would have a really hard time scoring on MEM in halfcourt.
