I almost said this earlier, but now I will say that facing the Lakers and beating them would provide the highest level of gratification. Yes! However, in looking at who of our potential match-ups would give us the best chance to win, I see the Lakers near or at the bottom of that list. I am not saying we couldnt beat them. That we stand no chance at all. But the likelihood seems less to me.
Anyone else think we can move up to 5th? The Clippers have to play the Thunder twice, and then four road games with the Suns, Nuggets, Knicks and Hawks. The Clippers have 9 games remaining with 6 of those games on the road, where they are currently 13-14 and considering the teams I listed then its possible to see them do worse in that brutal stretch. No chance Houston can pass the Lakers or Grizzlies in the standings, but the Clippers are VERY possible. The Rockets are 2 games back of LAC so they're going to have to make every count if they want to jump up in the standings, but they have a much easier schedule. In this scenario though, I see the Grizzlies moving up along with is due to them having a rather average schedule to deal with so the matchup would be Grizzlies (4) vs Rockets (5). Would not want to see us play Memphis.
I happen to think people who want us to face OKC just because we beat them twice (barely) in regular season may be in for a BIG surprise when playoffs roll around...
Dallas is the team we want to face. Their players are aging, they lost chandler, and the pearsons vs Dirk matchup would be something to watch. Not to mention our backcourt - Lowery, Dragic, Lee. I'd like to see Jason kidd guard them
1st choice Clips, second choice OKC. Other teams, I don't give Rox much of a chance (unless with LA numb skull Bynum get ejected every game).
1. spurs 2. mavs 3. thunder in that order the bigger the frontcourt, the worst the match up idk why people want LAL or LAC. LAL is way too big and the clips have paul who's gonna be living in the paint passing off to a cutting griffin, jordan, and butler. i really want the spurs though. in this rare instance i feel like our frontcourt is not overmatched with theirs if not, better. this rockets team and the spurs play the same way, which is by playing team ball and trying to out execute the other team. so saying that, ill take the match up where out-executing the other team is the only thing you have to worry about rather than size and star power.
The thunder are the only great team, and we seem to match up with them well. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if we beat anybody, but the Clippers and Grizzlies would be the teams i want if i had my choice. If you can contain Paul, the clippers are extremely beatable, as a player Griffin doesn't scare me at all.
You say Memphis is the young team but they have a lot of solid vets. The Thunder are the young team here, and they are also the top dog. A lot of times the team that does tihs the first time gets a first round scare. They are expected to win...and when a team (like the Rockets will) pushes them and scares them it's different. It's different being the top dog and expecting to win. Remember when the Pistons first became a top dog or when the Mavs did? Mavs lost to the warriors, Pistons had a major scare against Orlando. Bulls last year had their first shot at being a top seed and got a scare against Indiana. Memphis will still be dark horses, Thunder are going to have pressure to win the whole thing. Plus the Rockets match up pretty well with them, better than those other teams. Sure they have Durant, but Parsons makes it tough for him to stop. Westbrook- Lowry/Dragic Harden- Lee Also their big men are not post scorers. All those other teams have elite big men who can score in the post, especially the Spurs and Lakers. No thanks to those two.
This sounds like it's setting up a "happy to be here" response for when we get blown out in the first round. I think it's necessary for Rockets fans to project forward, because if we just play the chalk and we are stuck at this time in July with a fruitless playoff run, a loss of two of our three potential picks in the draft, and a future fraught with continued mediocrity in the form of a #15 pick and the loss of Goran Dragic (or worse yet, a humongous contract doled out to him to stay on with us), then ****, that would make for a pretty boring NBA experience to me. Until then, I'm going to dream as much as I want. Wins the rest of the way, an upset of whoever we play in the first round, whatever. Go to hell faster David Stern. Basketball reasons.
I think the Rockets match up well against the OKC. There is only 3 people you have to worry about on that team: Durant, Westbrook, Hardin. Westbrook is a ball hog and will not give the ball Durant when it counts. Keep the ball away from Hardin and don't worry about him making 3's. If we were to face them, it would be close down the stretch and I can almost guarantee Westbrook will lose two games for OKC trying to be the hero. My second pick would be SA...always love that match up.
You are all thinking about this all wrong. Trying to decipher match ups and who is a more prepped for an "upset" is not the way to go about it. If the Rockets truly had a good chance against any of these teams, they would be higher in the standings and would not be facing these team. In that regard, I would pick a team based on: Which team has the biggest rivalry with current Rockets squad or do want to have the biggest? Lakers - This current team while different from the 2009 squad, definitely still has a palpable rivalry with the Lakers. Would be fun to see it play out in a series. Thunder - This season has sort of brought these teams to a head with the Rockets' comebacks. I think a playoff series could easily make them big rivals. It would be nice too, as the Thunder squad is still very young, and would be fun to be rivals against them from now until they fall apart in like 10 years. Hopefully, would develop into the old Sonics-Rockets rivalry without the nastiness of the Karl's illegal defense, Detlef Schrempf, and Rocket's virtually never winning. Dallas & Spurs for obvious reasons are rivals, but both of those teams seem more rivals because they have done well recently and because of the fan rivalry more than anything on truly court. Would be fun to knock one of them off, but I would rather the prior two. Which team has the worst playoff coach? Clippers - While Paul is definitely one of the most clutch players in the game, Del Negro is probably the coach less prepared to make adjustments between games, and change how a series is moving. Laker - Similar things could be said of Mike Brown, but he did coach a Finals team, and couple squads that won playoff rounds. He is also is highly defensively-oriented which is key for the Lakers in the playoffs. Brooks is still young, but I feel has shown to be a good coach even in the playoffs last year. Carlisle and Popovich are both very good coaches in the playoffs. So, I would avoid them. Based on that: 1. Lakers & 2. Thunder.
It doesn't seem right to put Memphis or Dallas in the list because it is either unlikely or impossible to see them in the 1st round. I picked the Clippers, even though that's a stretch too. I don't think they have the team chemistry that the others do and there's more potential for them to crack. My second choice is the Lakers for similar reasons, but they've been around and have the championship experience, so I think they're a bit more likely to hold it together.
