that "this was the rockets team the mavs would face in the playoffs". 1. I cant get over how wrong that statement was. -No dmo -limited howard -no full strength t-jones -we had to play that ridiculously small lineup with harden at pf. 2. it got me to thinking have the rockets played a game this year where they were at full strength? (Howard, dmo, tjones, beverly, jsmith etc.) 3. how many minutes is playoff dwight going to play? he makes such a difference just standing in the paint. My overall point is: even though the rockets were only missing one starter (not counting bev of course) this was no where near the playoff version of the rockets. AND we still battled back and won. I think tonight may have been a momentum shifting win. I see us going on a huge run soon.
The answer to your question is "No". The Rockets did not play one single game this year with their Top 8: Harden, Howard, Ariza, Smith, Brewer, Beverley, Jones, Motiejunas. These 8 did not play a single game together. And our starting five of Harden, Howard, Jones, Ariza and Beverley played 2 games together all year.
They're welcome to believe what they like, no matter how wrong they are We tolerate the cheke's, rockets ftws and sf3's of the world here with the same affliction.
All these injuries, yet we are currently 2nd in the west. Maybe it is a perfect storm situation, our guys are back to full health and strength in time for the playoffs. We can only hope.
In all fairness to that particular radio station... The guy who made that particular statement is the biggest Mavs homer and rocket hater ever. That station is wonderful... But they harbor a lot of blind Mavs homers. I listened to that entire segment and think it's funny that they spun the Mavs going 3-1 against us this season into a positive. The big thing is most people just point to Howard being out without mentioning TJones and now beverley and DMO. I think a lot of these guys still vastly underrate the team in General bc they haven't seen us play that often. They think that guys like Jones and DMO are just "borderline rotation players". Basically the whole idea is to undermine what the rockets have accomplished this season by insinuating that they haven't really lost that much with all the injuries. When DMO comes back for the playoffs and Dwight and Jones stay healthy... They're all in BIG trouble.
Let's not forget this was the Rockets' 4th game in 5 nights. How can you not love this team? They just find a way to win.
I don't care what Jalen Rose thinks. I don't care what Tony Kornheiser thinks. I don't care what Chris Broussard, Tim Legler, Avery Johnson, Steven A Smith or Mark Stein think. Those are all guys that I have heard say something like "I wouldn't be surprised if Houston is upset in the first round" or even "I expect Houston to lose in the first round". I definitely don't care what some random Mavs fan radio announcer thinks. When the playoffs start, whether we are playing, Dallas, SAS, LAC or anyone else, it will be up to us to go out on the court and shut the analysts and the "experts" up. We have been doing it all year. The playoffs this year wont be any different.
The advantage the Rockets have is that NO TEAM in the NBA played the Rockets at full strength all year. We're coming into the playoffs LOADED minus Beverly and possibly PAPA still pending. I think we're gonna shock the haters and at least get out of the 1st round and possibly further than that..shall see. DEFENSE matters in the playoffs and all our guys can rotate/switch and defend on every play and most teams don't have that Luxury like we do. Teams we lost to including Golden State will get different looks in the playoffs from the Rox. Just wait
dallas radio says a lotta stupid things. and i dont know one of them is true, but i believe it if they thought this rockets team was tough, wait till they see us at 100%. yikes
This was game #3 that Howard and TJones have played together. Undefeated! Let's get win #4 on Sunday.
Haha, exactly, Cuban looked pretty upset too (as his team basically fell apart on their own floor). This is just some Dallas station trying to keep things positive, at this point I really think the Mavs might have attempted to re-tool too much. I guess I haven't seen this Rondo addition pay off for them, so glad that wasn't the pg we got.
Well they won't be seeing us at 100%. And, for that matter, none of us have seen the Rockets at 100% either. Maybe next year.
The majority of the media don't even know half of our players. Just like Stephen A. saying Harden is playing w/ a bunch of "nobodys". I agree that Harden has carried this team and he definitely deserves MVP but we have good players they just aren't big name players
