Mediocre defense equals early playoff exit. Top five defense and top five offense yields championship runs. It is an obvious fact.
If we were gonna miss someone it's asiks elite defense and rebound and parsons as a solid 3rd go to guy. Not lins dumb ass turnovers We're a lot better off with Canaan, terry, and daniels
You can't discount Dwight the Shot Blocker as part of the reason for 2nd chance points. When Dwight goes for the block he is not in a position for a defensive rebound. All the more reason we need the SF to be a capable rebounder.
To me SAS, LAC, GS, HOU, DAL, MEM, are locks to get in the playoffs. I think OKC will cling to one of those last seeds and if they do, they're going to be the most dangerous 7th or 8th seed in NBA history Im not sold on Portland and I think they're going to miss the playoffs this year. They were really average in the second half of the season and they were only able to beat us because of terrible coaching and Harden's dissapering act. If the Rockets continue to play defense like they have in the first three games, I really believe this team has a shot to make deep run.
Did you read the post actually? Because I didn't mention those 3 games at all. And I didn't predict us to have the 3rd seed.
Depends on how you measure "top five". Off the top of my head, I remember the 2002 Lakers not even being in the top ten in defensive efficiency.
This team is thin and has a lack of offensive punch. The only guy on the team that you can put the ball in his hands is Harden. Everyone else lives on someone else setting them up. Howard is not Shaq. Ariza is not Parsons. Bev is not a Lowry. Where is the offensive punch.
The amount we let him try last year, you'd think he could, unfortunately the results weren't so promising.
Right now barring injuries the only team you can guarantee to be above us in the standings are the Clippers. Everything else is fair game after that. The Spurs are the next favorites to win the most games, then perhaps we have evened up with the Warriors as teams in line in the West. I don't believe for a second the hype on Dallas, Memphis, or Portland aka "the Luckiest Team in NBA History" in 2013-2014.
Wow, a good thread derailed into a chandler parsons thread. Ariza>parsons. Good analysis op and hope u r right. Stay healthy rockets
Simple. Blazers had a shot at the 3rd seed last year as well until they dropped because of a mediocre finish towards the end We should be better than last year's version of them
agree but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Would have to take into account team can stay healthy all year, and other teams injuries/health as well. I will say this though, if this team can keep up the high intensity defense, then we will win more games than last year OR we will stay in games with chances to win on games we should have lost last year.
