Man one thing to think about is when we hit our stride in the middle of the season, we are gonna be playing an easy schedule.
The record is great. The play of Rafer, Shane, and the bench on the offensive end has been inconsistent this past week.
Yeah, that's what confused me. He said that the Spurs have sliced the competition, except against a team that has a case for #1....then he proceeds to put us behind not only the team we beat, but another team as well? Makes zero sense....if you are gonna have Boston ahead of us, then at least make it 1) Boston 2) Houston 3) SA. That's the only way that argument makes any kind of sense.
Even though our consistency has been questionable, we've had toughest schedule by far in the league. Lakers on opening night Jazz for the second game of the year, both games on the road Blazers who might've improved and could possibly get an 8 spot in the playoffs. Spurs, the defending NBA champs Mavs, most wins in the league last seasons on the road Bucks, another possible playoff team we still have to play the Lakers, back to back with SA and Phoenix, and next wednesday another showdown with the Mavs and finishing out with the Heat Warriors. Y'know Shaq will try to bring his A-game against Yao, while the Warriors have shown themselves capable. The Rockets and other Western teams are way more tested than the C's.
sorry for nitpicking but =, the hawks have technically had the toughest schedule so far. our sched ranks #2 but after this next 5 game stretch is over then our strength of schedule rank will be off the charts. at memphis tuesday...yeah they suck but they are winless and have enough vets that are probably tired of getting their brains beat in. lakers at home wednesday...this will be a tough back to back simply because of kobe and they have odom back. then at SA friday...defending champs then phoenix at home saturday...if we stay competitive or even win this game i will be amazed. 4th games in 5 nights after a back to back against the champs. just sick. then to top it off we have dallas at home on the 21st. wtf? good job schedule makers!
that's failed logic. with that logic the lakers should be ranked ahead of the suns, and portland should be ranked ahead of dallas.
oh and furthermore... with that same logic, dallas should be ranked 1. cause they beat us, and we beat the spurs. you have an education... try and use it
Boston is like a 6-8 seed team in the West that has been playing a bunch of scrubs. They're gonna do pretty well this season, record-wise. If you look at their schedule they pretty much only have 2 hard road trips. Other than that, I'll be looking for them to be a 47-53 win team. February: 19th @ Denver 20th @ Golden State 22nd @ Phoenix 24th @ Portland 25th @ Clippers December: 15 @ Milwaukee 17 @ San Antonio 18 @ Houston 20 @ Dallas 22 @ New Orleans They should be pretty washed up after those 2 road trips. Those teams in February is gonna be running them up and down. As for December.. HAHAHAHAH!!! Good luck. This is like a dream come true to ESPN and the NBA that one of their babies is finally a "contender." Damn I can't wait till the playoffs! I'm rooting for Boston to reach the finals so the Rockets can give them a nice reality check.
Yeah, didnt we beat the Spurs? Power rankings are silly and just one persons opinion. I used to get frustrated with them, but I got over it.
I for one like where the Rockets are. We lost to Dallas (at Dallas) and yet we're in front of them, and we beat San Antonio (in Houston) yet are behind them. But to me it makes sense because I wouldn't say just yet that we would be favored in a seven-game series against San Antonio, but I also really feel like if we execute like we should against Dallas--by going to Yao in the low post 50 times a game--then we should be favored to beat them in a similar series. Combine that with the fact that Dallas have just not performed well against some of the weaker teams in the league, and that they needed Jason Terry to shoot his brains out to beat us, and I think Dallas at this point are behind us. San Antonio, and for the same reason Boston, although they've faced much worse teams in the East, are ahead of the Rockets because of point-differential. Trust me, when the first Hollinger rankings come out, Boston will either be 1 or 2 depending on how well Hollinger can de-value the Eastern Conference. Even against scrubs that +18 is nasty. The rub of course is that, come playoff time, Doc Rivers will have run those three guys into the ground. An avg of 40 minutes a game for three guys on the wrong side of 30. LOL. It's Dusty Baker all over again.
Does anyone really think the Celtics can win the East? That team is an explosive offensive team, they can simply just shoot the lights out, but we have seen teams like that, the Suns, the Mavs, the Nuggets, and even the Warriors, very good offensive team, but below average on defense. I don't think Boston will be able to duplicate their success in the playoff.
This upcoming week has me somewhat worried. Dallas and Phoenix are the 2 teams we always struggle with. Their uptempo offense and swarming defense has caused Yao problems.
We're third right now according to Sagarin's computer based rankings. The Hornets are second, by virtue of having a far greater point differential. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/nba0708.htm The Celtics have had the 8th easiest schedule in the league so far, according to him, but they have been so dominant they rank first anyways. Spots 2 to 5 all belong to Southwest Division teams.
Dumb, dumb, dumb. Celtics is having a cake walk in the East and we have just demolished the Sperms a few days ago. We should be number 1!!! Dammit.
For what it's worth, the Rockets are #2 on two other rankings that come out today. Ironically both have identical top threes. It doesn't deserve another thread so I'll just put it here: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/marty_burns/11/12/power.rankings/index.html http://www.nba.com/powerrankings/
Well looks like Celtic will remain #1 until they are defeated. Scary thing is, their PGs are playing better than ours right now. They were suppose to be 3 all-star, the rest scrubs. Looks like the roleplayers are motiviated with those big 3. No doubt they are making the finals. I just hope they run into the rox or spurs in the finals.
