Wow, the 1st and 2nd seeds all get the extra day of rest/preparation. They didn’t do that last year. Makes sense to reward top seeds the extra day, but I just assumed they’d spread out the games. I wonder if they still do that if GSW got Top 6 … ie have Lakers, Knicks, GSW all on Saturday. @DreamShook (thought you might like this after seeing your post about the playin screwing us of game-plan preparation)
We're not talking about a championship playoff run, we're talking about a 2 seed winning a first round matchup against a 7 seed. You shouldn't need break-out performances from your 23-yo kids for that to happen. Plus, you're not talking about "that player", you're talking about "those players", plural, if you want them both getting 30, which is pretty aggressive. You're also forgetting how the Rockets got here: depth and chemistry. We may not have one guy who will light you up every night (at least not yet), but we have several guys that can kill you with a balanced attack, and/or one of them might go off on a given night. And that formula has been proven to work, too, even though you usually need a true stud to win a title. If Alpi and Green got anywhere close to a combined 60-ppg on even halfway efficient shooting, especially considering they'll likely be going against Draymond and Butler on many possessions, we've hit the jackpot and will probably absolutely crush GSW.
I feel like the Griz are a worse matchup for us although the ceiling for a Golden State team is much higher but I don't think they can sustain it because of the age of those guys most responsible to their ceiling....also, Houston has a deeper team so they can actually win some minutes against GS' bench. That said both are tough vet teams - I think this is a good Round 1 test for Houston regardless because vet teams excel at execution and limiting mistakes and that is exactly the lesson this Houston team needs to learn is what does a mean when another team is dialed in and isn't making mistakes and what does it mean to limit your careless execution errors - the stakes for Tari losing his man and giving up an easy bucket, or Alpi getting bated into a few silly fouls that impacts our teams strategy because Draymond is instigating you, or Jalen not taking care of the ball - those are all much more impactful in the playoffs. I'm also curious what Memphis losing their coach at the end of the season means. Is their new coach(Tuomas Lisalo) a wildcard in a good way, or a bad way? I was reading about his background and basically he sounds a lot like a 3 and D version of D'Antoni 7 seconds or less coach and got here by being a guy who successfully turned around several European teams with an aggressive speedy PG constantly applying pressure to the defense. His "Murderball" drill works like this: It's 5-on-5, and each team has to get the ball to the opposing 3-point line within three seconds. There's no inbounding, either — if one team scores, the other team just grabs the ball and goes in the other direction. Assistant coaches are waiting on the sidelines, so if there's a steal or even a deflection and the ball goes out of bounds, the other team immediately gets the ball from an assistant and starts going the other way. "Murderball" tried to put players in the most chaotic situation possible and see how they'd react, but then everything would seem to slow down in the actual games. There were other unique drills. Iisalo wanted his teams to take the ball out of the basket on a made shot in less than a second. The goal was to create habits that eventually became quick decisions in games, but that only made practices more intense ....supposedly, Ja Morant's usage has went up significantly since Lisalo took over which sounds to me like a different style of play then when we have played them in the past and there was a little more balance between Morant and Bane as playmakers and scorers.
I revised it, one of them needs to avg 30. Totally agree that this team has had success with the balanced approach. Let's see if that translates in the playoffs when teams have more time to game plan. Exactly. If Alp and Green play great and FVV plays poorly, the Rockets win. If FVV plays out of his mind but Alp and Green play poorly, the Rockets lose. My point is folks around here obsess about FVV as if he's the difference maker. He isn't. The team just need him to do what he does. What the team needs is Jalen or Alp to elevate their game for the playoffs. Let's see.
I actually think we have an easier side of the bracket than okc. **** GS/grizz, either one is getting punked.
It don’t matter who we play just as long as the matchups work in our favor. We definitely can adjust to every team in the playoffs. Ime has to be locked in on that. I really think our best all around lineup is: Amen Green Brooks Jabari Alp
Barring an upset by Minnesota, the Lakers would be a tough matchup. But I do like that out of the Thunder, Nuggets, and Clippers, the Rockets would only have to face one of them.
If OKC gets knocked out and rockets should be favored in every series until finals , I do think they win 4-2 vs either Memphis or Warriors and then 4-2 vs wolves or in 7 vs Lakers, I think they would match up well vs clippers more than OKC and nuggets
I would like to add the notion of FUKK the warriors. They can eat my ass and really want to avoid them, but if not, this is finally the year we send them home.
I would prefer the Grizzlies so the Warriors can battle OKC. Clippers, Nuggets, Thunder and Warriors all on the other side of the bracket would be ideal.
I honestly couldn’t tell u what our record on afternoon start times is, but I mainly just said that because I’m impatient after years of no playoffs and don’t want to wait until the final game of the weekend Sunday at 2:30 or 5 pm would be a nice spot
The media raving about how good Kawhi looks. Well he rested for 80% of the season so he should look good and rested. Hardly any credit given to Harden who’s been carrying that team all year long while Kawhi continues to load manage. Without Harden they would be a lottery team.
