Here's a breakdown showing Utah's record against the rest of the "notables" this season, along with the teams Utah has a losing record, too. I think a lot of Rockets fans are of the opinion that Utah is the one team we don't want to be facing in the first round, so I wanted to do a little research into how well they've actually fared this season when it counts. Granted, a lot of these games were played without Boozer and/or Deron Williams, but obviously the Rockets have had injuries of their own to deal with, so it's still worth a look. Looking at the head to head matchups, the Jazz actually aren't blowing the doors down on anyone. (except the Hornets, the Jazz just seem to play them well) On the other hand, they seem to be taking care of business against teams they should beat. However, they're record suggests that they are no better than slightly above average as far as playoff teams go. The one notable exception was their recent win streak, in which they took down the Lakers, Celtics, Hornets, Hawks, Nuggets, and the Rockets. It definitely seems like the Jazz are gaining some steam, and Boozer's return has been a big part of that, but I don't see anything here that makes me worry about the Jazz, either tonight or on the playoffs.
For me, it's the streak you mentioned and the fact that we just do not match up with them well at all in the front court.
also i think feigan noted that many of the wins they had on their winning streak were at home (not a big surprise there most team go on streaks during a home stand) but that many of the teams they were facing were on a second night of a back to back
The j*zz, and the j*zz fans = King of Homecooking They are the only team in the NBA that can be a 0.400 team on the road and 0.800 at home.
I definitely don't want to belittle the streak, because it was definitely impressive. I guess my point is that you'd like to see some more consistency and a broader body of work. Right now, the streak is by far the best thing the Jazz have going for them, much like the Rockets and their streak last year. Remove those 5 big wins, and they have a serious lack of big wins this season. As far as the home court win/loss disparity, all the more reason to ensure that the Rockets maintain that home court advantage, at least in the first round.
Tonight game will tell us more about the match-up between two teams. We should beat them with the HCA, but I will wait and then make a statement after the tonight game.
Nobody is really saying we can't beat the Jazz. The thing is, we have a BETTER chance to beat another team like Hornets or Nuggets. Why not go for the higher percentage?
This game counts for a lot as far having the right mindset entering the playoffs not to mention trying to secure homecourt. Both teams are at full strength and seem to be peaking at the right time. "Playoff intensity" is overused in the regular season but I guarantee this is going to look like a playoff game. I really believe the Rockets are going to take this one because our young guys are coming into their own. It's a different look than the Jazz are not used to seeing as opposed to the Tracy/Yao offense where they foul the hell out of Yao and turn Tracy into an inefficient jump shooter. These young guys have even progressed since the last Jazz game a few weeks back. I'm looking for Lowry to have an excellent game attacking the rim against Deron Williams. If Wafer can have one of his 15ppg games he has once a week or so then the Jazz are in trouble. Another positive thing for the Rockets is having Hayes on the floor instead of Landry. Landry plays decent against the Jazz and I hope he comes back soon but I honestly believe the best "big" combo against Utah is Scola/Hayes. Of course some scoring punch is lost but you won't see Boozer or Okur have an easy time scoring either. This is one of the rare games I prefer to see big minutes go to Chuck over Carl.
keep in mind that Utah gets away with more physical play in the playoffs. its a pretty different situation than anything in the regular season. matching their physicality without letting it take you out of your own game is much tougher.
Who cares about Utah? We still hold the 2-1 advantage against them this season so tonight will tell us how good we are against playoff teams. We only need to worry about ourselves, I believe this team could take on anyone except the Lakers and beat them in a playoff series
Utah has a huge advantage at home, due to altitude differences and rabid fans, scorekeepers, and refs. The combination usually wins ... and the Rockets haven't been good on the road this year, so, the Rockets are up against a stacked deck. Fortunately, we aren't on a back to back, so we have a chance, and the team did go there a couple days ago to get used to the altitude. If we beat them tonight, I'll have a lot more confidence in what we can do in the playoffs. This is more like a playoff game for us ... in their house.
Darkhorse, thats cool that you did a little extra work to compile this data. They don't play well against the elite, but I think you can say that for a lot of western conference teams. Especially when you are talking about a team like Utah that is on the lower end of the playoff seeding. I think we beat Utah in a 7 game series, but our probability of winning is lower than against teams like New Orleans and Denver. Utah is a playoff team, and they are the worst team in terms of matchups with the Rockets. Okur is the X factor. Forcing Yao to guard Boozer the entire game while on the offensive end Okur doesn't exactly suck at guarding Yao. They can use the Tracy McGrady defense to stop Artest this time. Artest and Battier get to "shut down" Brewer and Miles, who are going to probably get theirs anyway because they get most of their points off of passes from DWill. And speaking of Dwill, you suddenly have the worst PG matchup for Brooks. I can't think of anyone worse than Dwill for Brooks. He can shoot over Brooks, post him up, and he'll run pick and roll all day.
Eh. That's nice. But no matter how well they've played against anybody, they cause really bad matchup problems that won't change as long as they have Boozer and Okur and we have Yao. Oh and DWill. Freaking jerk sports the Texas tat...BUT PLAYS FOR UTAH?!
