Prediction: if the Rockets are trailing or have the lead by less than 5 points with 3 minutes left, the Rockets will lose. Move over, Zach Lowe!
with 3 games to burn for Portland expect to see lots of fouls and baiting from portland. Portland can't win on their own. The real test is whether howard and harden get ejected or fall for it.
I know all the hate Lin gets and his boneheaded plays at times. BUT! BUT! Shockingly, I wanna see Lin start on Game 5 (in place of Beverley). I know. I know. This is blasphemy. However, if we still give up 110-120 pts to Blazers regardless of starting Beverley, wouldn't it be better to go all out on offense? Sure there will be few boneheaded plays (note; Every Rocket makes at least one during the game). But, at least ball would start to move and our offense would flow better. If we can't stop them offensively and we are lamenting on our ball movement, why shouldn't we do this? Plus, I wanna give Lin one more chance to redeem himself before all said and done.
Predication? I have been saying this for a year, the rockets are unpredictable, they can beat any them, can also lose any team too. They are just play the YMCA basketball.
Win or go home is not the time for a redemption game. Neither Lin nor Bev have been offering much offensively, but I trust Bev infinitely more with the ball. Anyway, I think we win. I also think HOW we win will say a lot about this squad.
it did. But its also playing into the reality that an ejected howard or harden is exactly what they want. Portland is going full bush league and sadly they have 3 games to bait us. It will be a great test for us but williams ejected and harden ejected at same time hurts us WAY more. I think the biggest issue going forward is how rockets respond to the baiting and fouling that portland is going to throw at us. Stotts knows they can't call a foul on every play and Stotts knows he has 3 games and a bunch of techs to dish out. Sadly I think harden and howard will be baited into it. I know I would. How many fouls, baits, and willing techs from portland can we get through? I honestly expect harden or howard to get ejected and we are going to have to pull at least one or two during full bait mode. Portland can't win any other way. It's clear portland won't make it anywhere near the finals anyway so this is all gravy to portland at this point.
Unless the basketball gods change their ways the Rockets fall in game 5. I know the officiating has been bad at times for both teams, but the game changing calls have all been against the Rockets. The officiating has been so bad in this series that is seriously has me questioning if I even want to watch the games at this point.
The Rockets have yet to play a good game, much less a complete game, at home. My evidence supporting that analysis is Game 1 and Game 2. The Rockets WILL play better than those two games, and they will win the game. Game 6 to me needs to be similar to Game 3 for the Rockets. We struggle to fight off the Blazers late, but we find a way to win on the road. If that happens, we head back to Houston for the pivotal Game 7. Rockets 105 Blazers 97
Rockets will win 110 - 98. Enough is Enough. Daniels will get more minutes plus DMo, Casspi, Garcia, or Powell will finally get some PT. McHale has wasted this bench thus far.
McHale will shake it up and start Daniels instead of Parsons with Harden sliding over to SF. Daniels will go nuts and hit 11 of 18 threes and get 34 points in a blowout win.
What makes y'all think McHale will go deeper into the bench? I sort of hope he does, but just curious why you think so.
