Which team would you want the Rockets to meet in first round?

I think you should changed denver to warrior

 

I want Utah as well, then SA and then LAL. Utah for revenge. SA because they are the depending champs. LAL because the look on Kobe's face when we kick their butts will be priceless.

In the Finals, I want Boston so we can sweep them.

This year's championship is a wide open marathon. Anybody can win it.

 

Exactly. And that's the team I want to face in the first round because that would mean we are a 1st or 2nd seed.

 

Call me crazy but Id love to take out the defending champs the first round! Maybe a 4 vs 5 matchup.

 

denver won't make the playoffs.

 

I voted for Phoenix because we matchup well against them...

Dallas and Utah? Well, we haven't had much success against either club...

San Antonio? I'd rather meet them in the conference or semi-finals...

Denver? Hah... this would have been my vote but I do NOT believe that they will even MAKE the playoffs...

Lakers? Well, 7 games against streaky Kobe, (RED HOT more often than not) and Odom, and Gasol, I think they would own us...

 

Among the teams listed, Nuggets and Hornets are the ones that I dont see beating Rockets in a 7 game series..

Nuggets' two stars really wont give the Rockets too much problem. Both jack up tough shots and get away from the system, if they even have one. Battier or Tmac can contain Carmelo and Iverson has traditionally struggled against Rockets defense. Yao usually takes Camby out of his game. Camby cannot help on defense as much because he has to zero in on Yao. The only way Nuggets can beat Rockets in a 7 game series is if JR Smith hits an insane number of 3s for 3-4 games of the series. I will give him 1 or possibly 2 games to get hot but that wont be enough for a series win.

Hornets dont have a SG. They dont have one that can score on a consistent basis. They dont have one that can play defense either. Tracy McGrady will go bananas on this team because they have absoluetly no one that can contain him. That will be the series win right there. Addional bonuses?

2) They don't have anyone that can contain Yao either.
3) Peja is a perennial playoff choker and he is their best outside threat.
4) Our defense is much better than theirs.

 

NO..easy

 

Don't for Bynum for the Lakers as well. The Lakers are pretty damn scary. That's 4 out of 5 guys in the starting line-up who are either All-Stars or have All-Star talent. The fifth (Fisher) is a deadeye shooter with loads of experience and leadership qualities. That IS a scary team when Bynum comes back. If there is one favourite to win it all, it'll be them.

I don't even think Denver will make the playoffs at this point, nor do I think we can get the number 1 seed to face them in the first round. But if we somehow do, then look for Tmac to go nuts on them. He historically has against the nuggets. They don't have that reliable wing defender to shut him down and they play no defense.

I'd take the Spurs first. Parker is still not 100%, Ginobili is playing out of his mind but we have Battier to cover that. Tim Duncan will get his, but his production can be offset by Yao's. And I do think that any of our PFs have a good chance of containing him, Chuck especially. Both teams play a similar style and I think we match up well with them. It's not hard to see us grinding out a 7-game series 4-3.

Utah has our number right now. They're extremely balanced and they're tough as nails. Deron Williams still kills any of our point guards and Boozer and Okur are still mismatches for our frontline.

Dallas I think took 2 steps back this year. Dirk can still fill it, and they have an elite point guard in Kidd now. But Kidd's shooting has been horrible this year, and offensively, he's not that much of a worry compared to the other teams. I can see us grinding out a 7-game series against them too.

So my two choices would be Spurs or Dallas realistically. Hornets would follow. I think we'd have to go through either the Jazz or the Lakers if we're to advance deep, and those 2 are going to be problematic for us.

 

I did not vote because we will get to meet three of those teams in the playoffs. The order in which that happens is irrelevant.

 

I want the Mav's so that I can call my brother in law and make him cry all over again (Cowboys lost). I let him have hit.

 

the greatest possible WCF match up is rockets vs lakers. that would be a dream for stern. it has the "china factor" and then kobe vs tmac (possibly a motivated tmac). I'd give anything to see tmac in the nba finals. jesus christ...=D

other great matchups for WCF
suns/lakers
mavs/suns
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anyhoo, i chose hornets for first round. i'm not too sure nuggets will make it but yeah, nuggets were my 2nd choice.

 

I like to see the Rockets play Denver in the first round simply that's the
best chance for us to advance. I think playing Poenix, Dallas, Utah,
Spurs and Lakers are more excitng and fun just form pure basketball
point of view, but it will hurt even more if we got knock out by them.

 

The reason the Hornets are in a slump is because they got dismantled by the Rockets. They were doing fine prior to that game as they handily beat dallas. Now, they are starting to shake a little bit. And i wouldn't call losing to Houston and SA as being in a slump. I mean, they lost to the 07 champion and the future 08 champion , so those losses are acceptable for them.

 

If we played the Lakers in the first round, we would lose in 5. The problem would be TMac. The mental pressure of needing to get out of the 1st round plus the mental pressure of needing to outplay Kobe: He could easily shoot 3 for 25 in every single game.

 

Ok... Dr Phil.

 

I was going to vote for utah, but instead I choose the Lakers.

It would be awesome to knock them out in the 1st round.

 

The spurs, we do really well vs. them relative to other team, and even if we lose, we're just losing to the defending champ.

 

Denver shouldn't be in this poll, they definitely won't be high enough...unless we are one of the top seeds but I'll believe that when it happens.

NO - easy choice, if you take Denver out of it.
Phoenix - hard to say, have to see how they play out the regular season.
LA - probably not.
Utah - no, not in the first round at least. I think Utah is one of the better teams in the league and could knock the Rockets out. If we get out of the first round, bring them on.
SA - a lot would be going against us so probably not.
Dallas - see Phoenix, though I would absolutely love eliminating them in the first (or any other) round.

I believe that for the Rockets (especially T-Mac), winning the first round would be huge. So even if the Rox get eliminated in the second round, the pressure wouldn't be so great next year. Also, if the Rockets somehow manage to win it all (at this point I don't believe it can happen), looking back the first round would have probably been the hardest.