Sure we match up well with Dallas. We lost this game because we were not at home, not because Dallas is better than we are.
There is nothing great about losing homecourt. Yes I know we had homecourt the last two playoffs and didn't win but that is irrelevant to this upcoming series.
I'll be hoping that all of portland young players shoot terribly in game 1 just die to nerves and we steal it.
the thing is we're more dominant at home this year, more talented, and the west is much weaker. all the teams outside of lakers are mediocre on the road, including us. so yes, homecourt is very important.
with a win tonite, it means we would've beat the mavs in their own house, which is a big confidence booster. we would welcome playing the mavs in the first round.
Believe it or not, I would say the same thing too even we won tonight. When I watched the game, the feeling was that something is not as smooth as we when play against Portland. The teams the Rockets need to avoid in first round in order are Laker, Jazz, Dallas...
But see they are 17-6 at home against playoff teams. Yes that is a good home record against playoff teams, but that still means they lose 1 out of every 3-4 games at home to good teams, and that is all we need. We are 8-13 on the road against playoff teams this year.
I'm not too worried about the confidence level of the team right now, I believe Yao Ming and the team will come out strong when playoff comes. I say this loss is a wake up call to their play off run to take care of big leads.
Who friggin cares. The Blazers is the best matchup possible of all the playoff teams in the West. Just split the first two games and we're in the driver's seat .
