Is it wrong to hope that the Rockets will lose vs the Clips?

I can't believe how many p*****s there are here. What are you so scared of? First off, the way the grizzlies are playing, they will probably be the 5 seed is there is that. Second, yall are crazy to want the Spurs right now. They are far and away the best team in the nba atm and okc is going to be on fumes due to westbrook missing half the year. Hell I could see okc going out in round 1.

Also, yeah my clipps are a bad matchup for the rockets but geez have some faith in your team. You will be favored tomorrow and have a very good shot to win and at that point it will be a dogfight the rest of the year. i sure as hell hope the players have that attitude instead of the defeatest "winner tanks all" (aka Mike Dunleavy system) because I for on am looking forward to a battle!

 

I agree with Clippy. What the hell is happening on here.

 

We play to win each game. The Clippers, Thunder and any other team should be worried about playing us! Bring em on!!! Heart of a champion!!

 

Is it wrong that I blame this thread for Patrick Beverley potentially missing the rest of the season?

 

Uh... ok. You acknowledge the Clips are a bad match up but still want them to match up?

That's like me saying, I know you're a better boxer and I'm a better wrestler, but have some faith in yourself! Wrestle!

There's a difference between having faith and recognizing your own limitations. The Rockets are exceptionally good at some things, and not so good at others. The same applies to every team.

And say what you want about the Spurs, but Harden is an acknowledged Spurs killer. Has been that way for years. Just ask the Spurs fans. They literally have *nobody* that can even slow him down.

So is it a lack of faith that we want the Spurs? Nope, it's knowing who your best match ups are... :grin:

 

Dude, wtf. this makes absolutely no sense. no, i'm suggesting we beat the seed and then play SA. whoever we play after (OKC/LAC) we will lose to. Any 3rd star will look at the rockets and admire the fact that we got to the WCF and will be more likely to think that his addition to the team will get us to the finals.

 

Yeah, as a Rockets fan, this is embarrassing. Everyone here is ready to concede that this team isn't a title contender. Maybe the Clippers are a bad matchup, or maybe we've gotten better since the start of the season. We haven't played them at home since Nov 9th. Now is the time to build confidence we can beat LAC and OKC, not the time give up and hope someone does it for us. As for Memphis, they could be the 5 seed by Monday.

This thread makes all the Lin threads look good by comparison.

 

Before Beverley went down, yes.
Now I'm not so sure.
Harden is going to have continue his stellar play and rest of the team has to knockdown their 3's.

 

Bwhahaha so many fans on here with no true faith in their team. He// no I don't want the Rockets to lose to the Clippers. We need to know that we can beat them. So whipping that as2 tomorrow night will do wonders to our teams confidence OP.

 

San Antonio is the most dangerous team the freaking west , especially during the playoffs. Lol at so many fans on here counting the Spurs out it they our Rockets. Regular season and playoffs are two different ball games.

 

SA was looking dangerous in the playoffs 2 years ago...until they lost to OKC. They're not immune to bad matchups either.

 

I agree with you even though we match up well with them. The fact is we would rather have them over okc who started off slow or the clippers who were without paul for 3weeks. I still rank prefer spurs, clipps, thunder in that order.

 

Just because you're the best team, or most dangerous team doesn't make you invulnerable. NO team or player is perfect. They ALL have weaknesses (including the Rockets). That's why they say the play offs is all about match ups.

You want teams that you match up well against, and you don't want teams that match up well against you. It's that simple.

Now if you think the Spurs are a worse match up than the Clippers or OKC, feel free to explain specifically why... otherwise just saying that they're the most dangerous doesn't contribute to the discussion.

 

Keep "true faith" to the church pews.

I care more about history and results that can be MEASURED.

 

Of course any team could beat any team sir. I remember when the 8th seeded Nuggets beat the #1 seeded Supersonics. The #8 seed Warriors beat the #1 seeded Mavericks. Upsets happen all the times 4 sho. But since you are talking history we all knows that the Spurs under Popovich's system is damn good. These jokers don't really beat themselves, especially in the playoffs. Have they lost before in the 2nd round, heck yeah. But playing them won't be a walk in the park like most of y'all think. Oh what the hell is the Clippers history in the playoffs?

Another thing faith is not just for church lol

 

Nobody is saying the Spurs aren't good. However, the question is when you're looking at the teams on the floor, I believe the Clippers present more problems.

It's like Iguodala vs Harden. Iguodala is a handful of defenders that can actually defend Harden straight up. A team that has Iguodala or the equivalent presents unique problems.

The same applies to Dwight. There's a handful of centers and defensive schemes that give him fits.

Regardless of the coaching, Popovich *still* has to find a way to effectively defend our two superstars.

Historically, Harden has pretty much scored on the Spurs at will both in the regular season AND the play offs.

Seriously, Take a look at James Harden's track record against the Spurs.

http://www.basketball-reference.com...&c3val=&c4stat=&c4comp=gt&c4val=&order_by=pts

That's with Popovich FULLY aware that he had to defend Harden, and with time to adjust his defenses to slow Harden down during the play offs. He's had very little success at stopping him.

Now, take a look at Dwight Howard's numbers in the last 5 years. His points per game are down, but take a look at his FG%. Yes, they slow him down sometimes, but if you look at his FG%, it's not like they're shutting him down. For the most part, they've resorted to fouling the crap out of him.

http://www.basketball-reference.com...&c3val=&c4stat=&c4comp=gt&c4val=&order_by=pts

Finally, let's look at Jeremy Lin and his track record against the Spurs. Note that while he's had a few poor games in the mix, he's also traditionally played well against the Spurs.

http://www.basketball-reference.com...&c3val=&c4stat=&c4comp=gt&c4val=&order_by=pts

So yes, Popovich is the best NBA coach in the game. And his players are smart, and his offensive schemes are great. But every coach is limited by the talent on the floor.

And his talent doesn't match up particularly well against OUR talent. At least in terms of stopping our talent from scoring on them. THAT's why they're a good match up.

I could pull up the OKC/Clippers match ups, but I think you can guess what they're going to say... OKC and the Clippers are especially good at slowing down Harden, Dwight and Lin as due to their athleticism, speed in transition and shot blocking ability.

Feel free to pull those up yourself.

 

Big homie all this is some great stuff and I believe we can beat any team out there. My thing is even though we have the favorables match up against the Spurs. We still can not sleep on this highly experienced playoff team. Alot of people on here act like its going to be a cake walk.
The Clippers however do not have a lot of playoffs experience together. Yes they give us problems but if we limit our turnovers, trust me we can beat them. Out of the three games we played them, we beat ourselves.

 

We beat ourselves twice.

Fixed

 

I get what you're saying, but let me ask this...

Given that we've been a TO prone team all of this season, and all of LAST season, and the Clippers and OKC are VERY good at forcing TO's, and those TO's come from multiple players at multiple positions (Harden on drives/passes, Lin on drives/passes, Dwight in the post), what on earth makes you believe that this is suddenly going to change?

Is Dwight suddenly going to NOT be stripped? Are Harden and Lin suddenly going to NOT get stripped on drives? Is CP3 suddenly going to stop patrolling the passing lanes?

OKC and the Clippers punish the crap out of you for TO's, Yet another reason you don't want to match up with them if you can postpone it until later in the play offs.

The Spurs can force TO's, but they don't have the foot speed to punish you the way that the Clippers and OKC can.

Anyway, long story short... do you see it as realist that Houston's TO's are going to suddenly disappear in the next month? And what about when we're in the play offs when the defensive intensity goes up?

We'd be doing *very* well if we keep our TO's the same or slightly lower in the play offs. Expecting them to go down a lot? I see that as more wishful thinking than probable...

 

I guess im more optimistic than most big timer. I've seen plenty of upsets in my time. I've seen teams own teams throughout the season and turn around and lose to that very same team in the playoffs. I believe we have the necessary talent to beat the Clippers. I am very doubtful when it comes to beaten the Thunder.

Oh and as far as those turnovers against the Clippers IMO most of them were careless turnovers on our part and not forced. The last two games against them we were leading going into the 4th. Our bench relinquished the lead in both games I believe. Starters came back in and went away from what got us those leads. We were pressing and forcing things instead of moving the ball.

But hey you are right.