The Houston Rockets will lose in the First Round of the Playoffs.

I stay pretty grounded and don't get my hopes up too much when it comes to the Rockets since the Championship years but this is a SICK TEAM!!! I think a lot of people are underestimating how good we really are not just around the league, other teams, players and in general but even on this board.

I haven't been this excited about a Rockets team heading into the playoffs even without Bev/D-MO since the Post championship and big 3 era.

Overall, we have everything we could have hoped for AND MORE as a whole even if some areas could still be improved. Not only do we have a 2 SUPERSTARS but one of them is a TOP 3 player and possibly the MVP in the league this year. Say what you will but Dwight is STILL a Superstar and he's healthy enough to play (thank goodness). My favorite part is that we finally have Legit Role Players, Veterans, Not just 1 long, athletic wing that can defend but two even. (Remember when we had to rotate Jordan Hamilton, Caspi and Garcia (yuck.. seems like ages ago) and CHAMPIONSHIP Experience. Key word though is E-X-P-E-R-I-E-N-C-E.

Last year the only players that really had playoffs experience was Harden and Howard. Parsons, Asik, Jones, Lin, Beverley, Daniels (aside from his game winner) none of those guys knew WTF they were doing.

This year we have J-smoove who's been in many playoff battles when he was with the Hawks, Terry who's got a ring and pretty much always been there, Brew who's been there and got a ring, Ariza who was just there last year and played well and also has a ring. The biggest part though is Jones. Last year he got baptized by Aldridge and it's going to pay huge dividends.

We have the recipe to go very deep in the playoffs if Harden plays like he has all season, Dwight holds down the paint and gets a double-double every game (fully capable) and one other role player pops off and the rest contribute like they normally do we can go far. I expect Ariza, Brewer, Terry, Jones and Smoove to all play well and make huge plays but I think each one of them will take turns popping off (20+points) along with Harden and Dwight which is what we need.

This is a really special team and I picked Terry to be absolutely huge for us in the Playoffs from the day we acquired him and a lot of the board was up in arms about him being a Rocket. Well those Playoff days are almost here and I can't wait my Terry prediction to come true. He's going to be the next Rockets playoff legend..... somewhere between Sura and Sam I Am.

 

Bev's defense was overrated this year and I really felt his other shortcomings really hurt us. Some may think I'm crazy but I think we're better off without him. Brewer and Ariza are more than capable of helping to slow down opposing PG's and a dedicated Harden on D like he has been this season has been a huge asset.

D-Mo played well for us during stretches but I really don't know how much he would've contributed in the playoffs. The biggest loss to me in regards to Dmo was not having the luxury of throwing another big body out there that can give you different looks. I think Jones/Smith are more than capable of helping Dwight and holding down the 4 spot.

 

We don't make lots of 3's or free throws?

Houston is #1 in the league in 3-pointers made.

As far as free throws made, the Rockets are #6 in the league and #1 among the current Western Conference playoff teams.

We certainly have room to be more efficient but saying that we don't make lots of 3's and free throws is way off base.

 

Calling it now, Rockets will play the clippers without home court advantage in the playoffs. The seeding will look like this.

GSW
SA
LAC
POR
MEM
HOU
DAL
OKC

 

I become highly superstitious and start dreaming about the rockets weeks before the play-offs. And one of my dream sequence is harden vs lebron. And the only way i want to interpret that dream is finals appearance vs CAVS. So if I were you just throw out all the STats and start to believe. Its a long series anything is possible.

 

I thought that early on in the season, now my dream is for Curry to win MVP, the rockets to meet with warriors in WCF, the media already hailing GSW as WC champs, and for the rockets to wipe the floor with GSW 4-0 and harden embarrassing curry in every game. And in the end it turns out Harden met with Dream and dream said to him "I know how you feel, now go out there and humiliate this fool and show the world what your about"

 

That would be one of the greatest moments in Houston sport's history. I would be crying like a baby, which hasn't happened many times in my life.

 

I have the same feeling. 1 and done. We're very close to breaking through, but this won't be the year. I'd LOVE to be wrong.

 

I hate to be a nervous nelly, but we just aren't a dominant team. We don't blow teams out and we win a lot of close games that wouldn't be close if we were a better team. If we end up the #2 seed, which seems very unlikely right now, I would think we would be one of the weaker #2 seeds in a while.

Our best player is very good, but has struggled in the playoffs the last two years and can be limited by tough defenders and swallowing whistles. We have a huge void at PG. Our center can be all-world, but isn't a great scorer and has been hurt. We're OK at PF on the offensive end but outside of Smith's occasional shot-blocking, we're bad defensively at that position.

Other than Dallas, I would take all other West playoff teams over us in a 7 game series in this order of difficulty:


Pelicans
Memphis
Portland
Clippers
Spurs
Warriors

 

Luckily I work a lot of evenings so I'll miss most of the Rockets losing in the playoffs. Tired of this perpetual losing. Morey is a supposed genius GM who but together this low basketball IQ Frankenstein mish-mash of a team with an imbecile coach at the helm.

 

It's games like these last two against San Antonio where it's hard to be confident.

 

Yeah I agree. This team is going nowhere.

 

Trust me they can. Blowing a big lead resulting in a close loss after giving us a glimmer of hope. You know it's going to happen.

 

DMO was more important to this team than most realize. He can make free throws, and create his own shot. Harden is the only other player on the team that can do both of these things.

 

At this point, the goal should be second round. We don't have the roster to go deep; not as banged up as we are.

We cannot afford another first round exit. We're already seen as the joke of the Texas Triangle.

 

This a terrible loss, but even if we did win, I don't trust this team with homecourt advantage. Maybe being an underdog will help this team.

 

Memphis will lose to Clippers & GSW, maybe even to the Jazz tonight, that will drop them to 6th. Clippers & Spurs should win the remaining games, move up to 2nd & 3rd. So the Rockets should end up as 5th seed, and play the Blazers with HCA. Blazers just lost Alforo for a couple of weeks.

Not bad position to be in.

 

you think blazers are easy?