The Houston Rockets will lose in the First Round of the Playoffs.

For some reason I feel like this thread should be deleted.

 

How can you have harden and howard and call this a done season? Best case well get portland in the first round....have you guys not seen how injured they are?
Also whats really funny is how yall clowned dmo about being a wimp who cant rebound or defend. Have you guys seen jones and smith? Such debby downers...

 

I understand it might take a little salt to settle in for some of you. You haven't been Rockets fans long enough to experience real choking and ability to blow a lead.

Let's talk about a Rockets team that not only blew leads during the season but even in the playoffs at home. Get this. In the playoffs when it really counts, there was a Rockets team that was playing in the post season and had an 18 point lead but lost. Then at home for the next game the Rockets seemed like they would even things up. But those guys who had an MVP candidate player with people the league thought were scrubs around him ended up with a 20 point lead in the 4th quarter of game two. Then they still managed to blow it and lose in OT. Those Rockets set a record for not being able to close a team out. They gave the other team the biggest comeback in NBA playoff history. Talk about a team that couldn't come through when it counted, had the weakness that this team has of not being able to close quality teams out when they get leads. To make matters worse in game 3 only scored 41 points in the first half and were down by 8.

But something happened. That team went on to win game three in that Phoenix Suns series and eventually the 1994 NBA championship.

So pardon me if I don't get scared off because I've seen a team with a lot of character and an MVP level player make mistakes, and have some weaknesses.

 

Good post bro. Thank you. This does make me feel a lot better.

 

Simmons and Haralabos not so high on the Rockets.

BS: No chance the Mavs turn on an invisible switch?

HV: ...If the Mavs play the Spurs, they probably won't win. If they play Houston, they could beat Houston. No Beverley or D-Mo for the rest of the year.

BS: I agree. Houston is very, very beatable in round one. Playing that team 6 or 7 times in a row would be an advantage for the team playing Houston. As you said earlier, everything is Harden. It's just the same thing over and over and over and over and over again. The more you play against that, the easier to figure it out.

HV: It's easier to defend...there's lots of things you can do to hurt a player like that. One of these smart teams in the playoff will hound him(Harden) for the entire game. The idea he brings the ball up the court, he will not be doing that in the playoffs. They'll need Jason Terry to bring it up. If he has to bring it up the court, remember Dallas did this vs. LeBron in the Finals and it had such a huge, incremental impact. They had Barea picking him up full court. If he has to bring it up and get past the pressure, even if he has to pass, now you can do the ball denial thing. That sort of thing, that is an easy way to take a way a lot of what he does. That will exhaust him.

BS: There are two other things. Run him off screens on the other end. The third thing and you'll see more in the playoffs and you saw Portland do last year, just hammer him on the fouls. If he's going to the line, make him pay every time. I think he gets frustrated and he's so used to getting hit, when there is extra, it bothers him. Get in his head every game.

HV: A team that is smart and knows what to do can neutralize him. Because that team has nothing else, if he's tired, they can't put him in the corner and let Terry-Dorsey two man PnR, I guess Howard in the post. My point is, I don't see them having the 2 seed to begin with. They play SA again and they'll beat them again. At that point, it becomes tough to get the 2 seed.

BS: Their worst case scenario, if they play the Spurs, it's over. Kawhi takes out Harden and that's it. I don't know if you even have to watch all the games in the series.

HV: Any team that faces SA in the first round, I don't know a lot of what will happen in the playoffs but I'm confident SA and GS win their first round series. It would be a nightmare matchup. Memphis probably has the toughest schedule.

 

I can see why it looks like that. I can also see why it may end up that way. The other side of that is the fact that Harden at this level+Healthy Dwight plus current role players are probably a better team than we had last year in the playoffs.

Oh the other team can figure James out? Funny how that can't work both ways... The key to our run at this point is Josh Smith. Can he play at a 3rd impact player type of a level for a sustained stretch of games?

 

I hate to admit it, but they make some good points. Doesn't mean we can't get to the second round or anything. It just looks like an uphill battle.

 

Hate to say it but our playoff success might depend on DH turning it up. I'm confident The Beard will show up MVP style and the headband brothers will keep the fort down. With that said, see you guys In the 2nd round!!!!!

 

Yeah they make some decent points. Injury and in their opinion an easy way to slow down Harden, which may or may not work, but they did also say it's not like this is just a Harden thing that he is somehow easier to stop than others.

Notice they didn't say McFail or our 3 point shooting which lots of here tend to point to as our downfall, they really seemed to key in on the injuries as the big reason.

 

they made excellent points. the rockets are a one trick pony. the fact that they wont so many games, with the injuries and with the one trick (harden) working so well, just makes the case that he should be the MVP. of course, if the rockets finish 5th or 6th he doesn't get it at all.

it looks like we will be finishing 5th with HCA against portland. i'm not sure we can beat them. they play four 7'footers. who can all rebound. we will have a serious disadvantage in the paint, and no way to stop lillard at the point. its a matchup nightmare. its not worse than falling to #6 and playing the spurs or clippers on the road, but its not looking good.

 

Ariza.

 

not quick enough to keep lillard out of the paint. ariza could probably do a good job of running him off the 3pt line but that would give up the driving lane.

even if you're right. there is no answer for the four 7 footers they play. dwight will have to play big minutes because once he comes out, they will dominate the glass.

we wont get swept, but its not a good matchup. we wouldn't be favored.

 

Bumping Clutch's comment because some of you would rather attack the OP

 

Wow, I am so glad im not the only one that thinks this!!! Every GD year its a back or leg injury!!! WTF r they doing?

These muthafukers need to do some damn yoga or some ****!!!

 

Good post. I remember that Phoenix series. We were destroying the
Suns and went to PHX down 0-2. We were done. I was in my early twenties and remember feeling the season was over. Hell man, statistics told us it was over. Only ONE team had ever done it at that point. Then we go to Phoenix and sit up in our coffin. And then. I went to game 5 when we beat the crap out of them. MAN was that an awesome in person experience.

BUT, does this team have the stones that team had? They had Dream. All time best center. A good power forward in OT. Big shot Bob. Vernon who was tenacious on D and a serviceable starting point guard. Then you had Mario who had balls that drug behind him. Also Sam. We don't win the title without Sam and his big three in Game 3 in New York. A rookie that was given a chance. Imagine that. Of course. Troy did get a chance last year and nailed it. So Kevin does try it here and there.

 

With all our depth taken out, we don't have much chance really, but Pop doesn't play Kawhi much on Harden, and he won't play him much. I get why he does it, Kawhi's greatest strength is his ball swiping and he doesn't want to do it against Harden for fear of being foul milked, instead he just rips steals out of everyone else on the team trying to dribble drive, lol.

 

They will not beat clippers sadly

 

On the offensive end, it's really simple. We shoot lots of 3s and free throws, but we don't make lots of 3s and free throws.

We would've been fine on defense if Bev and DMo had stayed healthy.

 

I agree. All their positions are well-thought and legitimate.

On the other hand, they can take their opinions and stick them straight up their ****ing asses. **** them.

 

With all the injuries I have little confidence.