Trying to determine Rockets' first round opponent.

I hope everyone had a nice and safe easter and we're all probably enjoying this holiday even more when we all know that the Rockets will see the playoffs for the first time this century. Our best chance to get out of the first round is playing Minny because not only we've tied them in the season series with a win on their court, but they also have that history of them not getting out of the first round and all of the pressure would be on them and not us. It'll be tough for us to beat them if we turn the ball over or we don't match their guard play, but if we rebound well, match their 3-point shooting, and YAO has his way with KG, then I think we stand a chance of getting out of the first round. I'm thinking we take at least two games from them if we meet them. I also feel that we can take two games from the Lakers if we meet them in the first round. The YAO/SHAQ showdown would only ignite YAO to play his best when he's up against him and in the matchups between them this year, he's had his way with them in 3 of them. We've almost beat the lakers 3 times if it wasn't for that fourth quater collapse (had a 10 point lead with 3 mintues to go). The Kings showed that if you play great defense around the perimeter, doubling Shaq and not letting him touch the ball or get it down low(he had no shots in the first quarter), you can take them right out of their offensive flow. Also the Kings shot the 3 good today and that's also our trademark. We do those two things against the Lakers (and we know Steve Francis has his breakout games with the Lakers), it'll be a great series and the Rockets' season wouldn't be a disappointment at all even if we lose. I don't see us winning more than a game against SA or SAC. Most likely they'll sweep us if we meet them. SAC has a great running game that works even in the playoffs and when we start to play their game, its over for us. We get frustrated and turnover the ball too much. San Antonio just pounds us on the boards whenever we play them and their interior defense pretty much forces us to go for the 3. When that doesn't go for us, its over against them. We haven't won in SA since 1997 when they were a lottery team.

Alright, Minnesota has a one game lead on SAC and SA a game behind that with LA a half of game behind them. If Minnesota beats Utah tomorrow night (they're favored), then SAC or LA cannot catch them since the wolves own the tiebreaker over both of those teams, but SA can still over take Minny if they win 2 of 3 and Minny loses out because of a better conference record. In the scenario that all four teams are tied, head to head meetings between all four would be like this:

MIN
SAC 3-1
SA 2-2
LA 3-1

SAC
MIN 1-3
SA 2-2
LA 3-1

SA
MIN 2-2
SAC 2-2
LA 1-3

LA
MIN 1-3
SAC 1-3
SA 3-1

So in the case of a four-way tie, MIN would get the #1 seed at 8-4 and SAC would get the #2 seed at 6-6. SA and LAL would be 5-7 but SA is #3 because they have a better conference record than L.A. So in that scenario, we'd play the Kings in the first round. LA cannot be the #1 seed but they can still win the division if they win out and SAC losses out. So if that scenario played out, we play the Lakers in the first round. Minnesota can only get the #2 seed if they lose the last 2 games and SAC wins out. Otherwise SA can still catch them but they'll
drop to #3 because the division winner in the Pacific automatically gets the #2 seed. Bottom line is if Minny wins tomorrow night, then they CANNOT be the #2 seed and we clinch the #7 seed and not face them.