The Rockets will have the Number One Seed in the Playoffs

6 games separate the top 10 teams in the West. 2 teams won't make the playoffs. With 32 games left, noone is a lock to make the playoffs; let along the top seeds. This is gonna be 1 crazy finish. GO ROX!

 

Let's see where we are at the end of this month and then this thread would bear more significance.

This month for the team to refine their game and get their chemistry and confidence.

March to find out how much the Rockets have learned and how far they've improved. Losing a few for the month would not be disastrous. On the other hand, if we have significant slump of ANY kind, we along with other teams once again could find ourselves on the outside looking in once again.

My prediction: Worst case 6th, Best case 3rd in the conference (maybe 2nd) .

Phoenix should be the #1 seed and imagine for a moment what would happen if they faced GSW in the first round? Could we see ANOTHER upset?

Perhaps shades of 93-94, where Seattle choked in 5 to Denver? Hmmm ...

 

I suppose it's not nearly as far-fetched as you would think. It's not like we're 5 1/2 games out of the playoffs -- we're 5 1/2 out of first place.

Personally, I couldn't care less about HCA in the playoffs. It obviously did us no good last year and we seem to play our best ball on the road anyways.

If we end up in the 6-8 range I would LOVE to play New Orleans. I think that team is vastly overachieving and could be suffocated by a good defensive team like us. Seriously, who is their go-to-guy in a halfcourt game? David West? I think I like our chances.

I guess we can worry about all that later. The most important thing is actually getting there in the first place. Let's keep this 'winning' thing goin....

 

we r out of playoff now u r talking about no1 seed?

 

This is not funny.

 

Statistically speaking, we do have a chance of being the top seed. However, the odds are smaller than 1%. Furthermore, our chances of obtaining the division are better but quite low at 5%. Basically, odds like this means that you have to win almost all of the remaining games while the other top teams beat each other out and lose several times to mediocre teams. Highly unlikely but possible.

 

No.1 seed is nice but I do not think it is possible this season!

 

I admire your optimism but even if Phoenix plays at there current pace they would end up 57-25. Which means the Rockets would have to go 29-4 to better them. A quick look at our schedule makes that highly unlikely...

Feb 9 Atl W Close
Feb 11 Port W Big Game
Feb 13 Sac W
Feb 19 @Cle L Revenge this could be reversed but Lebron will be ready
Feb 21 Mia W
Feb 22 @NO W Revenge after last tough loss
Feb 24 Chi W
Feb 26 Wash W
Feb 29 Mem W
Mar 2 Den W Revenge Big Game
Mar 5 Ind W
Mar 6 @Dal L 2nd game Back to Back
Mar 8 NO L Chris is Unstopable and we won't win all are home games
Mar 10 NJ W
Mar 12 @Atl W
Mar 14 Char W
Mar 16 LAL W Big Game but the Rockets will be ready
Mar 18 Bos W Boston aint as good as they think
Mar 19 @NO L 2nd tough game Back to Back
Mar 21 @GS L Still a matchup problem
Mar 22 @Pho W Shaq still not meshing and Yao cancels
Mar 24 Sac W Watchout for letdown
Mar 26 Min W Minny is better than advertised
Mar 30 @SA W Upset but long layoff before and close distance
Apr 1 @Sac W
Apr 3 @Port L
Apr 4 @Sea W
Apr 6 @LAC W
Apr 9 Sea W
Apr 11 Pho L Phoenix is Jelling now and we have depth perception
Apr 13 @Den W Big Road Game
Apr 14 @Utah L Utah is too Good at home
Apr 16 LAC W

There are alot of tough games remaining but if my projections pan out we will go 25-8 for the remaining and 54-28 for the season. Of course I have us winning some that we will probably lose but the reverse is also likely. Slightly optimistic but not unrealistic and a great finish considering the start. Still if everything pans out as I predict Utah, Phoenix and Dallas will win divisions. Leaving us not good enough for anything more than 6th seed and that will take us surpassing 1 of NO, LAL or Spurs, a tough task in and of itself.

 

If we go 54-28 and end up the sixth seed, I will be ecstatic. A few weeks ago the Rockets were playing so poorly and stuck at .500, I thought they were going nowhere but the lottery. The next few weeks will tell the story.

 

what is your problem with tracy? do you even watch the games? supposedly you're a landry fan and yet you haven't talked about landry and all you do is disparage tracy.

get the hate to another board

 

I honestly don't know what to expect right now. I'm sure that the Rockets will make it to the playoffs but beyond that, it's too early to say. They're definitely heading in the right direction, but there's still a lot of work to be done before we can even think home court.

Off topic but my feeling is that the games between March 14 and 22 will be crucial. During that span they play Charlotte, Lakers, Boston and New Orleans back-to-back, and then Golden State and Phoenix back-to-back.

How these six games are played could define this team and this season.

 

we're 5.5 games from the #1 seed and only 2 games from the #4 seed

but we have the kings coming up and they've been ballin', beating up some elite teams. we gotta just stay on course.

 

Oops sorry. Take out Charlotte from that list.

 

That's 5 games in 7 nights all tough games. I have us going 3 and 2 but we could go 2 and 3 and be okay. What we can't do is go 0'fer. That would be a major setback.

 

I just want the team to continue improving and gel and had a good run in playoff games. Go Rox!

 

He's a realist.

 

I hope we don't get first seed.. I hope we play most games on the road "when" we make the playoffs.

 

not really. tracy and yao had his best games AT HOME last yr v. utah in the playoffs. the entire team just sucked on the road in utah. and we had kind of the same trend last yr with tracy playing well on the road moreso than at home during the reg. season.

the most important thing isn't that we play at home or not. the most important is to face a favorable opponent in the first round (though it doesn't seem like any team is easy right now in the west. this is the toughest i have ever seen any conference. 5.5 games separating #1 from the #8 seed, are u kidding me?)

hopefully we'll get to face denver if everything goes down perfectly

 

I might actually rather have us go in as a dog than be a top 4. It's always nice to win, but if you look at how balanced the West is now, the only difference between a 3 and 6 will be that 7th game at home and a whole lot of undue pressure on the 3 seed.

I don't know about you but I'd rather the Rockets NOT have that combination of home game and pressure.

So maybe I'm rooting for us to get a fifth seed and face San Antonio. I think we have a great shot against Phoenix, but not in the first round. And wouldn't it be a great chance for revenge to go against Utah as the 5 seed?