Seriously stop the stupid comments about teams that won't even make the playoffs. With that said...we will probably play either Dallas, PHX or NOK because utah will not fall unless we fall to 5th seed which i wouldn't mind at alll. Utah is a good matchup for us.
I think all playoffs teams in the west are tough, but among them, i would choose Hornets and GSW. We don't like spurs and lakers, cause they have larger hearts than we do .
well the best match up for us is denver if they make it, the worst match up for us might be SA and Jazz and maybe the Lakers. SA have so much experience plus they just added few vets to the team, the Jazz have a better team than us without Yao, i hate to say this but we have young body, landry and others but they do have a better team, and Laker if bynum mixed well with Paul then they r really good. the best possbile match up for us then is the Hornets, they lack experience and depends too much on cp3 so yea. i would like to c Laker vs GS Spurs vs Mav Rockets vs Hornets Jazz vs Suns then Laker vs Jazz Rocket vs Spurs, i wanna see mavs beat the spurs so we can advance to final then Lakers vs Rockets ( dont kno whos gonna win)
I would say anyone as long as we are playing in the first round. No one can count their chickens just yet
the HORNETS. they dont have much playoff experience, don't have much depth, peja is a known playoff choker, and they arent nearly as tough when those 3s arent dropping. also, we are still a top defensive team and they cannot stop tmac AT ALL. paul would roast us, but thats ok as long as we can limit the other guys. hornets are probably the only team i feel like its a better chance than not that we advance. against everyone else, idk....we can compete of course, but we are REALLY going to miss yao.
People are nuts if they think Utah is the choice. Utah is the best shooting team in the Western conference and we are the worst out of the PO team at the moment. 49.7% vs 45.5%. Their starting lineup shooting percentage is scary.
we probably won't see Lakers/Spurs in 1st round. We might see Phoenix, Dallas, Jazz, Hornets. any of these will be tough series. That leaves either Golden State or Denver (only one will make it though, and looks like we need to get #1 seed to play those teams). So realistically I would say it's against Phoenix or Dallas or Hornets. I prefer Hornets first, just because they are still a young team. Phoenix or Dallas? I'm not sure.
In order of preference: 1. Denver. Highest probability of a 4-0 sweep. 2. Phoenix. Having Shaq might help them keep pace on the boards, but we'll probably run them out of the gym. 5, maybe 6 games at the most. Despite having Nash and Stoudamire, their bench is thin, and as a whole they have inferior firepower and cannot even dream of being able to match our defense. 3. Golden State. Yao or no Yao, no difference here. Adelman has already proven he can outsmart Nellie's gimmick defenses against the big man. But the big man ain't here, so ... we can run with them, and we can switch everything on the perimeter. Guaranteed series victory, 5, worst case 6 games. 4. Dallas. The Mavericks have inferior depth (most teams do, frankly) and are not nearly as cohesive. McGrady will certainly be looking for payback, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him average 32/7/8. Containing Dirk will be a key challenge for Houston, but Dallas will have an even harder time containing our guards. 5. New Orleans. A great starting five and a dominant point guard, but not much in the way of bench production, and not as much roster flexibility to exploit matchup situations. I think this series would be much more competitive than most people give NO credit for, but still one that the Rockets should win.
Guess we'd better win the number 1 seed then. Take on the Nuggets and let the Lakers or the Spurs take on the Suns. I am gonna make a prediction. Come playoff time, the Suns will be a completely different team and Shaq will fit like a glove. He'll be a beast in the low post grabbing rebounds, scoring and clogging up the lane. We used to have a guy like that but not now.
Just watched the ESPN video. Tim Legler picked the Suns...He is really a believer now. Just hope it wont be another letdown.
1. Denver won't make playoffs 2. When Uncle Shaq turns on his playoff motion he looks like a freaking unstoppable beast 3. I want Utah because we lost to them last year and its time to kick their ass 4. Lakers better pray not to meet us in 1st round if they do they are done. I dislike them and i'm a kobe hater.
