I'd personally rather fall to the 8th seed and have SA in the 1... But that ain't happening. Go for the wins, finish 6th and hope for the best. We can beat Denver if we hit our shots and not turn the ball over 20+ times a game
Denver is going to the Finals. If you aren't scared of the best team in the West this year, then who are you scared of. Best home record by far Best Western Conference Record Best record against the best in the West (by far) Hottest team in the West
None of that matters since they lost Gallo and Lawson near the end of the season. It's disappointing that so many of you guys don't see how vulnerable Denver is, especially if their pg rotation is Andre Miller and Fournier. Can you imagine them trying to guard Lin/Beverley/Brooks?
The Spurs are a better team than Denver, however I personally believe that the Play offs is 100% about match ups. Harden shredded the Spurs defense last season and this season including in the play offs last year. Lin has had substantially more success exploiting the transition game against the Spurs than against Denver. And while the Spurs aren't a slow team, don't think for a minute that they want to run up and down the court at full throttle defending transition buckets for 5 or 6 games in a row. Yes, Pops coaches circles around McHale, but it only matters if the match ups are decent and the games are close. And with Manu out, those match ups tilt a little bit more in our favor especially in terms of bench play. Not to mention, it's better for the players to play against a team like the Spurs than Denver. Denver is long and athletic, but the Spurs just play great basketball. That's good experience for this roster to see it up close and personal. I'll take the Spurs for $100 Alex.
I'm fine with facing anybody. Losing in playoff is ok, and it may actually add more fun to next season. The only thing I don't want is big injury to our core players.
It doesn't matter how Miller or Fournier defend the perimeter when their interior is packed with shot blockers. Even if the guards get by their initial man they're gonna get swatted in the paint.
I'm scared because Harden can't play in Denver with all that sticky so the ball will be sticky and our offense will suck.
Chandler neutralizes the Gallo loss and Fournier lit is up last time around. Miller commanded triple teams in the post against Lin for some stupid reason.
They don't mind it in the regular season once in a while, but over a stretch of games? Timmy D, Tony P and Manu G aren't 24 anymore.
I think the key is to NOT play into the Nuggets fast paced game. Slow it down, play half court of offense and defense. The Nuggets are elite on the open floor, but they are about average in the half court. Gallo has been their main scoring threat, and he's out for the season. Watch the previous games, whenever we forced them to use the clock on possessions, their FG% drops significantly. Whenever McHale went 'Small Ball' and tried to push the pace, we would give up a 20 - 6 run. Don't play their game, play defense, and make them work for their shots.
Yeah but they loss to the Wizards and Minny at home. The wizards beat them in Denver! They are not Miami. They are beatable. And missing Gallo and playing with a less than 100% Lawson will hurt them. The Rocket on the other hand will be healthy. But more than that they are much better than the Rockets that started the season. They have 13-6 since beginning of March and all the while they had no idea who their starting PF would be. But loo who has eerged. Alias Smith and Jones! People argued losing PPat was a big mistake and it looked like they were right but right now not so much. Alias Smith and Jones give us much more rebounding and size than Pat and Morris could give us. yeah we don't have a stretch 4 anymore but we have a presence down low the likes we haven't seen since Yao went down. And our perimeter play is even better. So bring on the nuggets or whoever thinks we will be an easy stepping stone. I am ready and waiting and I am sure this team is not afraid.
Not really. You're forgetting that Parsons missed the last game, and that was our 3rd game in 4 nights. In the playoffs, we'd have Parsons guarding Wilson Chandler, and Parsons is a pretty good defender. A well-rested Beverley would run circles around Fournier.
1. iggy locking up harden to a mere 18 pts per game 2. playin in mile high denver (huge homecourt advatage) 3. Did not win one game against them this season. 4. beat us at our own style 5. George Karl ( has had the rockets # since his days in Seattle)
Bad match-up [for all the reasons already mentioned] and wouldn't be surprised if it's over in 5 or less.
Regarding Denver being a bad matchup for us, there hasn't been a single compelling reason mentioned, and frankly, most of the reasons I've seen show a lack of critical thinking.
