I was wondering why you are still a rookie with over 1000 posts and a member since 1999. Now I know...
We didn't need an injury to Boozer to beat out Utah. We've already passed them and they were fading badly anyway. Nuggets fans should be happy. 5th seed with a higher record is equivalent to being 4th seed. Same matchups, same home court advantage. So, I'll go ahead and say we are 4th seed. I think we'll do well against Denver in the first round. I won't rejoice in injuries, but Boozer remains high on my ****list because of his broken promise to Cleveland.
Bad bad news for Boozer. Same as Yao, the guy worked hard during the summer to be the best. Sad to see him go down like that. On the other hand, this is good news to us. When Yao went down, nobody felt sorry for us, and we did awsome without Yao. If Utah sinks without Boozer, they have none to complain about.
Exactly. Flip a coin whether the Mavs or Suns are the #1 seed. Whether we are 3rd seed or 5th seed doesn't matter to me, so long as we are the 5th seed with the 4st best record. Either way we have to face the Mavs or Suns in round 2, and the other one in the WCF. I don't even care that much if we had to play at Denver or at Utah. Also, the Lakers, Jazz and Nuggets all provide some challenges as potential 4th seed (Utah or Denver) or 6th (Utah, Denver or LAL) seed opponents, but a healthy Rockets squad should be able to take of of any of them. You don't want to route for injury, but I have to say we are in much better shape than I imagined when Yao went down and we are through half or more of those games without him. The Rockets probably need not worry about killing themselves for a few extra wins at the cost of being tuned up and ready for the playoffs. The pragmatic goal now is to stay ahead of the Lakers to assure us of not getting a 1st round match-up with the Spurs or worse (Phx, Dallas). Anything more than that (4th or 3rd best record in the WC) is gravy, but not critical to setting us up to go far in the playoffs.
when jazz players get injured it is karma playing itself out. the jazz are and always will be dirty bastards. i never like to see players get injured, but since its a jazz-hole i say hoo-ray!!! karma will never allow sloan and his dirty tactics to win it all. i love the fact that they got two chances and failed on both trips. it was right there but they just couldnt get it done. it hurts soooo much more when you get that close only to loose...twice ! and with the way we have been playing and the way the jazz had been playing we would be taking their spot boozer or not.
Mavs' schedule for the 2nd half of the season is significantly easier than Phoenix's. Dallas' strength of schedule is .506 to Phoenix's .491, and the last 11 games or so the Mavs have played opponents with a combined .518 winning % to Phoenix's .481. Don't let the 17 win streak fool you. Phoenix will falter down the line just enough for Dallas to secure that #1 seed -- there's plenty of reason to believe so. Right now my projected Western Conference playoff seedings are Mavericks, Suns, Spurs, Nuggets, Rockets, Lakers, Jazz and Clippers, in that order. Obviously whoever falls into the #7 and #8 spots is basically an automatic first round out.
Don't let a 17 win streak fool you? After an earlier win of what 15? I think you are missing the larger factor. With the Mavs and Suns, what is far more important than who they are playing, is how they are playing. There are few teams that can challenge them when they are at the top of the game. Yes it is a toss up for the #1 seed, and the ending strength of schedule will only make much of a difference if the teams themselves are not playing well. Both the Mavs and Suns have shown they are capable of winning over 10 strait, even with some tough road games mixed in. Both have also had early 4 game losing streaks (2 by the Mavs, 1 by the Suns, plus another 3 game losing streak by the Suns). So we just got to watch them play, either could take it.
Figures this Nugs team will back into another division title. Oh well. Looking forward to facing you guys in the first round as arguably the two best 1-2 combos go head-to-head if it does happen.
damn, that has got to be depressing for boozer and the jazz. to have a great season derailed like that is just brutal. before we all start rejoicing we should remember how it felt when tmac went down, because i'm sure all the jazz fans must be feeling the same way. it's hard to show any sympathy for a physical team though, haha!
I never thought Jazz will be a top contender, they benefit from a relatively easy 1st half season. They will be truly exposed the next half or after ASG.
Wow, as the guy who started The OFFICIAL "I hate the Jazz" thread, you showed some monumental restraint here, A-Train.
im actually quite dissapointed with the amount of not only restraint, but sympathy many of my fellow rockets fans are giving for a dirty jazz-hole. have you people no sense of history??? never 4-get.
Phoenix had their major star injury last year. Amare Stoudemire. Nowitzki is soft, but he is never injured. I don't get it.
