Rockets in six - mark it down fool. Enjoy watching it while you are hoping to score some loose change at a bowling alley in the desert.
If I'm being honest with myself, I give us virtually no shot at a Game 6 win given our performances in Game 3 and 4 in LA, but damn do I hope they get it done. At least hey showed up in Game 5. Would have been a truly disheartening end to the season if they ended on a 3 game skid like that.
Coming back from 3-1 to force a Game 7 doesn't guarantee anything. Just ask the 1995 Knicks, 2000 Blazers, and 2006 Spurs. The Knicks and Spurs both had Game 7 at home and still lost(Jason Terry was on the Mavs team that beat San Antonio), and the Blazers were the ones who came all the way back from 3-1, took a 15-point lead in Game 7 into the 4th quarter at LA and then choked against the Lakers. As for Game 6, my gut tells me the Rockets will come up short. It'll probably be closer than the Game 3 and 4 debacles since they'll be more focused in an elimination game. But so will the Clippers unfortunately. I hope they prove me wrong, but I have a bad feeling that Game 1 loss will haunt this team all summer.
Rockets showed up for Game 6 against Portland last year. I think you have to do the same thing you did last night. Make Jordan block shots. Get him in foul trouble and pound that paint.
Rockets win convincingly in Game 6. Edge out victory in Game 7 with hysteria involving Clippers/Doc Rivers/Chris Paul. 1 ejection.
I actually would have been fine with the Rockets coming up short in games 3 and 4 had the effort and focus been there. If they would have truly been beaten by a better team on those nights, I could live with that. Game 6 is about as tough as they come. Rockets lost homecourt out of the gates and didn't play with the focus and urgency to take it back in 3 or 4. I mentioned in another thread that this Clippers team (while beatable) has really been tested. They won an elimination game 6 in San Antonio. That surprised me. Then they beat SA to take the series in game 7...again, I had a "gut" feeling SA would pull it out. I don't have a great feeling about the Rockets winning game 6 either. This hole that they've dug themselves just feels overwhelmingly difficult to overcome against a battle tested Clippers team at home.
The difference last year was that every game at Portland was close. Games 3 and 4 both went to OT. And Game 6 was about to go to the extra frame before....well, no need to rehash that one. This series, the Rockets were within 3 early in the 3rd in Game 3 and within 6 at halftime in Game 4. After that, they got blown out. I'd feel a lot better about their chances if they had at least been competitive in those losses.
Did the Spurs have the same 3-2 record like Clippers in the last series, and ended in a loss in the end? Current Rockets are just like Clippers in last series, the rockets can still win the series if Harden and Howard can perform at the same level in last game. Regardless, win or loss, at least the Rockets get some respects after last win.
To be fair, in games 3 and 4 (pretty much the entire series up till last night), Rockets had been switching on defense. Yesterday they fought through screens. games 3 and 4 fell apart largely because the switches gave CP3 a lot of cushion to shoot, lob etc. I really feel that a major key on defense is to continue to fight through the picks to stay man to man.
True, but it's easier to come back from 3-2 than 3-1. Believe me, I'm pulling for the Rockets and I hope they shock the NBA world. But in general when a team is good enough to build a 3-1 lead over you, they're too good to knock off 3 times in a row after that. There's a reason there have been only 8 teams in NBA history to recover from a 3-1 deficit. And even in some of those cases, you have to dig a little deeper. Remember that the 1997 Heat-Knicks series involved a crapload of suspensions that hurt New York's chances after a bunch of players left the bench during a brawl(I still maintain Pat Riley baited the Knicks into that). And the 2003 Pistons and 2006 Suns were way way way better than the Magic* and Lakers teams they came back to beat respectively. *In case you've forgotten, that was the Magic-Pistons series where T-Mac said after going up 3-1 that he was excited about finally going to the 2nd round. Man, did that ever come back to bite him in the ass or what?
What if the 2 teams (rockets-clippers) are pretty evenly matched? There's no clear answer here. I will say that if the Rockets do win game 6 in LA, it will be because the left it all out on the floor..PERIOD. The only concern after that is how emotionally/mentally drained they would have coming back home for game 7.
This is exactly how I feel too. I mean I don't give us much of a chance to beat LA in LA based on how we've played there. But I'll be cheering my ass off hoping for a win. I hope the game last night gave our guys confidence that they can beat LA. The past two games they just looked demoralized. Maybe last night sparked them
I think if we somehow manage to win game 6 we would take 7 LA would he crushed after the 6 loss and we would be riding high and the fans would be going crazy game 7
As far as Game 7 is concerned, you burn that bridge when you get to it. The good news is they wouldn't have to play a Game 7 til Sunday, so they'd have some extra time to recover.
All this talk, discussion and prognostication. Win just one game and Rockets extend their season. Let's go.
