When the beat the Rockets of course...because only the "elite" teams can beat the great and mighty Rockets. Basically, once they beat one of the better team in the NBA right now, and not when have that team is injured (and Dallas doesn't count).
The Cavs this year is much better than the last with the addition of Mo. In fact, as good as western teams look on paper, they are not playing as well as people expected. Right now, I will say Boston and Cavs have the best defensive in the league. The Lakers are not as good defensively, but they don't need to due to their superb offenses. Did you see how teams struggle against Cavs? I don't care they been playing mediocre teams but they are contesting every shots, no easy baskets in the paint.. beating teams over 12 points 8 games straight is no coincident.. These two teams have the right defense mentality.. something Rockets took pride in last year..
what season were you watching? they had essentially the same record east or west, i'm not sure how yuo say it would have been different if they played more against the west. and saying they weren't blowing everyone away? that's exactly what they were doing. they had a ton of 10+ and 20+ point wins last year and a huge point differential. they were one of the better "blowout" teams ever.
also, while they have played a weak schedule, the cavs offense isn't just better, it's #1 in the nba right now. and by a fairly large margin over the lakers. and while they have slacked a little, the lakers defense is actually #2, essentially tied with the cavs (#3). and they're both a good deal behind boston.
Most of us (including me) is assuming that the West had more teams that were of higher caliber than the East. If you are not agreeing to that statement, then it won't matter what argument. If you agree with that, then what I said in my previous post are the reasons why it would have been different and why they would not have won as many games. I don't consider a 10-12 point win a blow-out, especially for team that is as good a clutch, 4th quarter team as Boston. My reason is this: Let's the game is close going back and forth, and the Boston makes their 4th quarter run to get a lead of 5-7 pts with 5-7 minutes left and in the closing minutes the opposing team bricks a bunch of 3pt's and keeps fouling the Celts so they final score is a 12-13 pt win. That is not a blow out. I watch a lot of Celts games last year (30ish) and I saw a lot of games like this. I did admit they were an amazing 4th quarter team. I rarely saw them screw up in that clutch time, but they weren't completely blowing everyone out. They did have a few of blow outs, but when your playing the knicks/net/buck/bulls/heat (post injuries)/bobcats/wizards (post injuries) for 20-25 games, and you are an elite team you should blow them out.
Weak schedule, mostly at home, etc. I can't wait to see rockets vs cavs matchup. If we lose, they're definitely someone we should consider threats.
They've already threatened alot opponents after blowouts over 'em. LeBron's hard to guard,but he ain't gonna hammer nobody when facing up Rockets and our suffocating defense with Shane and Ron Ron on the roster.It ain't no difference if they're elite or not.
It's more like, if we win, we're somebody they should consider a threat. At this point they're the better team. Of course, we have the potential to be better come playoff time.
Do you really think those percentages would hold up playing the likes of San Antonio, Utah, LA, Rockets, and Hornets 4 times rather than 2!?
Obviously Cavs have been red hot but there is damn no way they will be better than Rockets. Right now? Maybe yes, but we still don't have T-Mac. First of all, we have YAO, a dominating big man. We have Artest and Shane who both can play great defense. I know Artest has been struggling but don't forget about his ankle. Once we will get HEALTHLY Tracy back and Ron will be 100% we will be unstopable, book it. The team has been playing better lately, and the chemistry is still building.
I don't know. I think it's amazing they went 25-5 to start with. My point was Boston excelled against the West last season and their regular season record probably wouldn't have been much different. Would they have gone, say, 41-11 like against the East, maybe. Jeff Who, what is the likelihood that Yao AND Tracy AND Ron are all healthy and near the top of their games for the playoffs? If everything breaks the right way for the Rockets, of course they are contenders. But based on history, it doesn't look good. All we can do is keep hope alive.
I don't know, but it is kind odd with Boston. I think you are right on the nose about them struggling against athletic teams (Hawks, Cavs, and Warriors) and they dominated the West last year. The Celtics beat every team they needed to be and either split or swept most of the good teams. Also, I think that if they were #1 in West last year and if LA were in the East. The Celtics would've had similar run in playoffs that Lakers had last season. Imagine if the C's played Utah and Denver, instead of Atlanta and Cleveland. They would've had much easier time with (uninspired) Denver and the Jazz punks. I doubt both would take them to 7, like Atlanta did. On the other hand, hard to say how the Lakers would've did against the best EC teams. I think they would've beaten Atlanta, but I could see them struggling against a team, like that with great shooters (like, Bibby) over the court and young athletic players (Horford, Williams, Smith, and JJ). Also, I think they would've had tough time with the Cavs and Pistons, who also play very tough, physical defense...the same one that beat them. The Lakers didn't have the team at the time to really shut teams down defensively. In fact, I will say that all three of those teams gave Boston a better series than the Lakers did.
Well yes, I kinda agree. You never know with the Rockets. History has shown we can't stay healthly. Hopes are big. But we gotta hope. That's why we are fans. Obviously there is always that 'if' but Tracy will be there when it counts. So will be Artest. I am most worried about Yao, but yeah I belive he will be fine. It is even GOOD that Tracy is sitting out now, even great for this team.
Like others have said, MUCH better offensive chemistry + Mo Williams. You may remember this team had 3 new starters trying to gel in the middle of last season. BTW, watching Cleveland play defense is actually FUN. It's like these guys have a bet on who can force the most turnovers or something, everyone hustles like crazy every single play. Yes, they've had a weak schedule, no doubt. And they won't keep up this pace. But they've DEMOLISHED every team they're supposed to beat. At this point we're so inconsistent I'm still holding my breath into the 4th quarter against everyone. As for overrated, people seem to forget this team was one missed layup away from beating Boston in game 7 last year. And that was w/ Lebron carrying the whole team that game.
Exactly, these cavs players hustle like crazy on every defensive play. They have great help defense inside or outside paint. Mike Brown has been a really good defensive minded coach
