Well, no one gave the rox a shot against okc from the day the matchup was set, especially not after the blowout loss. We came back on the road and almost won. Now with westprick out, still no one thinks we have a shot We will show them. The rox have to contain kd and the extra energy okc will bring to compensate for wstprick
Golden State was just waltzing into the pain like it was nobody's business. If you're George Karl, you say: time to play one of my mobile, long 7 footers for some much needed interior D. Right? Wrong. Play 5'10 Ty Lawson at SG to match up with Klay Thompson. Slide in 6'7 Faried at C. Watch as Golden States' back court gets open layup after open layup. Watch as Faried loses a crucial rebound to Andrew Bogut. Excuse me while I throw myself off a bridge.
Really it depends on Scott Brooks. If he uses this opportunity to run a Durant/Ibaka frontline with Martin at the 2 and Sefolosha at the 3, OKC might just sweep anyway. If Brooks is stubborn and tries to run the same rotation except with Fisher in place of Westbrook, then the series has a chance to go to 7. I'm hoping Brooks has learned nothing.
Last season with the Thunder, Fisher was good for 1-2 of these a game. This season, Brooks is still giving Fisher big minutes. I doubt that Brooks has learned a thing.
Late night rambling alert Kevin Durant is superior to Harden. However, in terms of point production, they will cancel each other out for the rest of the series. Again, I know how amazing KD is. It will come down to that "second" and "third scorer" to win these games. Personally, I think we have a HUGE advantage now. We were so pathetic hoping that Jeremy could even compete against a faster, stronger and overall BETTER guard in Westbrook. That was a disaster and now it's alleviated. Chandler Parsons is better than Thabo (offensively) and is efficent as a defender. Serge Ibaka is a better PF than our lowly Greg Smith, but with a double team, he is not a strong jump shooter/post player. If you double Durant and Ibaka off and on, your looking at Thabo, Perkins and I guess, Fisher to score what's available. Omer Asik can handle Perk now. Plus he is a better finisher. Perk is als a tech or two away from a suspension if my memory serves me right. Our bench is so unpredictable that they are due for a breakout game. We're built on shooters. Carlos/Cisco/AB/DMo (as much as despise him) and James Andersen are all capable of hitting the three in streaks. The Thunder lost that when they let Harden go. Off their bench, the only guy that worries me is Kmart. He can go off and get to the line, so it wouldn't hurt to put a quick defender on him like Patrick to prevent a catch and shoot. Ideally, you want Kevin to have to create his own shot without a pick or anything. That's a weaker area for him. I think it's going to be EXTREMELY difficult to win this series, but that Westbrook loss is on the same level of Kobe, in my opinion. Russ' penetration, scoring, tenacity, passing mean everything to that team. Kevin Durant is going to have a ton of pressure on him to score, pass and dominate, whereas with Russell, he could pick and choose his position. I agree with many of you. Our strategy should follow the JVG philosophy of putting defensive variations on KD, doubling him as the shot clock goes down and forcing role players to beat us. My posting history and sig obviously prove that I think McHale is professionally unqualified, indecisive, polarizing, and stubborn. However, I have no doubt that he is a good person and a great father. This is his best chance to show how he knows how to adjust to significant change in a lineup, both on offense and defense. He SHOULD be able to recognize mismatches and opportunities to make progress. If he runs the same unsuccessful, risky and ill-prepared offensive and defensive sets despite this epic "game-changer" for the Rockets, we will all know that he has officially hit his ceiling as a head coach for our beloved Rockets. Chandler Parsons is about to show the NBA what hard work, growth and maximum desire to win looks like when the world counted Htown out before the first jump ball.
there's always a chance. denver did it against the red hot seattle sonics years ago. that's why they play the games
The only thing about this is Patrick Beverley had the Rockets trending upward towards the end of game 2.
thunder still win this series. i think the thunder w/o westbrook are similar the rockets, except they got durant both teams have a star player, surrounded by role players, and an average bench. but okc has durant, and i expect him to go 30+ for the rest of the series is westbrook is out that long.
I am but I am also a realist. I like the direction the team is headed but I don't think it is real possibility for them to win this series. The reason i hate this tread is knee jerk reactions are annoying.
Knee jerk reaction because the Rockets were really close to beating OKC at home with a complete team and the siries being 1-1???? Or because the Rockets have not shown all season that they can hang with superior teams like The Heat, Thunder, Knicks??? Or is it because the Rockets are young yet have surpassed all expectations and for some reason it feels like they are not quite done for the season yet?? I understand its a difficult situation but to say its impossible is just a little overdoing it in my opinion. Let the Rockets play tonight and then we can start being realistic.... K?
