Never mind the distance between the Rockets and the 6 seed, look at the distance between the 1 and 10 seeds in the West. 5 1/2 games! I've never seen anything like it, the one seed is completely up for grabs, even for a team like us. We just need to take care of business this month, then use that momentum to beat the good teams next month.
5 1/2 games between 1st and 10th seeds? wow.. that's just nutty... the east coast is a joke -- 4 1/2 games just between the 2nd and 3rd seeds.... and 19 games between 1st and 10th seeds.
I hope Orlando can put that game away early or get a small lead going into the 4th. If the game is close Lakers have a better chance of winning it. With or without Roy Detroit will beat the hell out of Portland. Washington have been playing pretty bad as of late so I think they are do for a win so lets hope they get it. Sacramento needs to run Utah out of the damn gym if they want this win. Its easy said then done but I think they can do it.
Detroit is demoralizing the Trailblazers. San Antonio is doing poorly against the Knicks. Spurs might be toying with the Knicks, before they take over the game.
When two teams pay against each other, the better team usually wins. For instance, I think the current Lakers should have 70-80% chance of winning when they play against a team like Orlando Magic. Similarly, the Spurs did not play well tonight, but a bad team like the Knicks somehow found a way to lose the game by making all kinds of bad plays and mental mistakes down the stretch.
We need either Denver or Utah play really bad from now on..one of the team is locked for third because of division winner. The other team, along with GS are our targets. We have to ask ourself, is a 48 win season good enuf for the eighth spot? I hope we get 50 to secure playoff spot.
Agreed. The Jazz are probably one of the top four teams in the West. Kyle Korver put them over the top.
The Nuggets are being underestimated by many on this board. They have an all-star point guard, all-star shooting guard, great defensive big man, 3 solid forwards (Kenyon Martin, Eduardo Najera, Nene), not to mention JR Smith coming off the bench. That is a very solid team that can do some real damage in the west. If we meet this team in the playoffs, our fate will rest largely on Tmac's peformance. He will have to outplay Melo and Iverson, which means playing all the way up to his full abilities, something TMac doesnt always do. In the playoff race, the Lakers, Nuggets, Hornets, Jazz have all emerged as new challengers with serious potential to go deep in the post season. The old guard (Spurs, Suns, Mavericks) are still dangerous as ever, which means there are at least 7 true contenders to deal with in the West. We are going to have to surpass the Warriors, and in the playoffs we must be prepared to beat the any one of big 7. As long as the Rockets keep going in the direction they are heading in right now, we stand a chance to beat any/all of those teams.
they're not underrated. they're exactly rated the way they should be: a great offensive team, but a supremely pathetic defensive team. the west is too good and the nuggets are just a very good team. there's a reason why we blew them out when tmac was healthy and barely lost without him. until that teams play some semblance of consistent defense, they're not going to do much.
<br> Let me correct you real quick... <br> Denver has an undersized all star shooting guard. A prolific scoring SF who can post like no other. They have a defensive monster in Marcus Camby. They have two very injury prone PF's in K-Mart and Nene (who can both turn it on when neccessary), and they have little to no bench play other than Linas Kleiza (who is a good player with potential) and sometimes JR Smith shows up to ball. <br> The Top Teams in the West are as follows <br> 1. Lakers-how can you not like having four all stars and as deep of a bench as the lakers have? 2. New Orleans- Every single member of their starting lineup can light the floor up with Tyson Chandler being a monster in the middle 3. San Antonio- You can't argue with the winning (even though they haven't been lately) 4. Utah- playing as good as anyone in the past month (korver has worked wonders) 5. Phoenix- Wildcard at this point, all we can do is wait and see what type of attitude Shaq has 6. Dallas- Labeled Chokers...But still capable of beating any team in a 7 game series. A trade for Jason Kidd could put them over the top 7. Denver- See above description 8. Houston- Have a good chance against any squad, but most likely won't beat LA in a 7 game series, luckily though if the playoffs started today we would draw Phoenix, who we will have a better chance against.
