Did I say it was going to matter? Read the thread, I'm comparing the teams, it doesn't have to matter, but it could be a possible Finals preview also.
I think we can beat Magic provided Yao is healthy. Howard is much better rebounder than Yao, but if you have watched 3-4 games played by Magic, you will easily find out he does little to make his teammates or the whole team better, while Yao can make a huge difference on Rockets’ tactics. So I think the point of our victory over Magic will be on Yao, not a high scores Yao may get, but how much he can help his teammates.
Here's why the answer is yes: The Magic win because they have Howard, and we all know what he does on his own on the offensive end. But, they use Howard much as we use Yao. Their 3 pt shooting is off the hook. However, we are also one of the best teams at guarding the 3. Therefore, we "take away" their two biggest advantages over teams. Sprinkle in a little bit of the mad depth and talent we have, and you have yourself a win. The only way they could beat us would be to be way above average in shooting contested threes and jump shots, which, unfortunately, they have done a few times recently.
the magic live and die by their hot shooting. if they can't hit their 3s, they don't have a go-to guy offensively to score for them consistently through their "droughts" and that was what happened tonight. they're still a very dangerous team, but they're not better than boston or cleveland in the east. the magic just don't have that go-to guy. they have a lot of good players and play very good team ball, but in the playoffs, you need that "great" scorer and they don't have any.
i wouldn't take your approach and compare the 2 teams based on individual match-ups. but if it comes down to a rockets-magic finals again this year (full and healthy lineup as is) and i have to bet money, i'd comfortably choose the rockets in 6, maybe 5.
I just wanted to compare the players, not really basing the wins on those matchups or anything. But that proves how much deeper and more talented we are, if we could just stay healthy and develop some chemistry.
The magic are a very,very good team and they will get better. Why? Because Howard and Nelson are getting better. They kinda remind me of the rox ring team in a way. They don't have thorpe and dream is better than howard, but they have 2 sf's playing with Howard on the frontline. The pg nelson is really a good player, more scorer than playmaker. Depth is their problem. Lee has played ok as well as Bogans. Pietrus is a good defender and finiser and Battie is the wily vet. They have bought into the defensive schemes by stan. They will never get any credit on this board because of the yao v howard debate. Howard isn't the skilled offensive player yao is, but he's a force reboundng and blocking shots. They're going to be in it at the end and the 1 advantage detroit had over them last yr is in denver now. Having the best record in the nba isn't a fluke.
we're just half way into the season. i have doubts if they can hold on to that "best record" trophy at the end of the regular season. to me they are not much improved from last year.
Sorry bud, but our biggest hurdle is the Lakers, not the Magic. The Lakers are the team to beat in the entire NBA, and unfortunately for us, they are in our conference. You're better off comparing us to the Lakers. And for that matter, we aren't currently as good as them if TMac and Artest continue to play they way have been for this season.
we beat them once,,didnot we? if we are healthy, we are unbeatable.. the fact that magic is having a good record doesnot reflect their true ability, not to say our big YAO always owns their so-called best center.. so i would say we are definitely better than magic when healthy
Of course we are better than Magic.I'm always believing we are the best if all of our staff could keep healthy
The Celtics are playing much better than they were when we played them. Still, I don't believe in Magic.
I don't know about the matchups. You can compare us to Celtics and get better individual players and all that. Orlando is playing great this season, above all expectations and have Dwight Howard who is a nightmare in the post and who's surrounded with bunch of great shooters. But still I think they're not so experienced team to get far, these results occurred due to good form of Magic. Still I think that healthy Rockets are better than any team in the NBA, even the Lakers and Celtics. The problem is that they don't go on the court too much together lately.
I just came out of an idea that the injury of t-mac and Ron may be the catalyst of the chmistry reacted of the whole team. less one-on-one matching, more ball moving and spacing. then just wait for their return
