Rockets missing two starters beat the Clippers by double digits in the final two games of the series as they close it out. Yep, Clippers are better
He means that the division break downs are mostly arbitrary and the division winner rules threw a wrench into the seeding. If there were no divisions the seeding would have been much different.
I appreciate Lowe, he's a good journalist. I also somewhat agree with him that the Clippers are a 'better' team. It doesn't mean that we didn't deserve to win. We absolutely should not take this as a slight. It is a huge compliment in my eyes. Beating a team that is more talented in many regards takes incredible effort and we did just that. It's a testament to Harden's playmaking, McHale's coaching etc.
I genuinely don't understand what he's saying... To address the OP. 99% of the time the better teams win in a 7 game series, there really aren't upsets in the NBA playoffs because it's a big enough sample size to prove who the better team is. The only "upsets" are when an 8 beats a 1 or a 7 beats a 2. A 2 seed beating a 3 seed in a game 7 is not an upset.
Give me a break. While I agree the Clippers are talented. Any idiot can watch and see that playing Big Baby Davis any minutes at all means you have no depth. It is beyond a lack of depth. Also, who would have thought Austin Rivers wouldn't keep "playing above their usual level as they did to start the series". Austin Rivers has no business scoring 20 points in a playoff game. Josh Smith does and was due for a breakout due to talent alone. Our averages reversed just in time over a 7 game series while their averages reverted back to their mean. Matt Barnes is absolute garbage at this point in his career and Jamaal Crawford has finally lost the Rocket killer crown he stole from Jason Terry years ago. Basically you have 3 guys who are below average basketball players in Matt Barnes, Austin Rivers, Big Baby Davis and a declining Jamal (I only can go right) Crawford. I would say we have them beat on talent but didn't bring a true effort until Game 5 for whatever reason. There are many things you can say about this TEAM (lack of heart, no shot creators, bad shooters/free throw shooters, old) but they are very talented basketball players with versatile skillsets (unlike the Clippers). Flawed? yes! Talented? yes! No one epitomizes this more than Josh Smith, Corey Brewer, and Terrence Jones. We have talent you can bank on in a 7 game series while the Clippers did not. Our talent and depth won out over a 7 game series which was likely to happen given the Clippers lack of talented depth. Basically our 1-9 is more talented than their 1-9. Yes, we were fortunate we got hot at the right time or trolls like you would be piling on with your agenda that the Rockets are talentless and Clippers are gawds and Maurley sux. I can't even imagine what this board would be like if we lost Game 7. In 2009, the Yao-less Ron Artest led Rockets brought the Lakers to 7 games with Chuck Hayes starting at center. We had no business going to Game 7 against a much talented Laker squad but played smart and above our heads and with fire. That only got us so far. The Clippers obviously have way more talent than that 2009 team but not more than our 2015 Rockets from top to bottom.
Just like the Spurs were the better team but lost to the clippers right? At some point, you just have to say the better team won. They were tired? We were missing 2/3 of our starting lineup and didn't have the 3 plus years of continuity they had. Maybe we just finally figured them out and crushed them. Our versatility and depth won for us. When we threw a change up in game 6, they fell apart.
So we beat them by Xs and Os ???? If anything, I think we are the more talented side and they played Xs and Os. We beat them on instincts.
Daryl Morey got killed for not adding depth to this team and the Clippers were pointed to as a team that guys wanted to play for and were better positioned because guys like Big Baby and Hedo wanted to play for Doc. LOL
I don't get it. In this thread you have people saying the Clippers are better than the Rockets for the following reasons: 1) They are better, just not as deep. (So basically their first 5 are better, but our overall 8-9 rotation is better) 2) They are a better "team" but not as talented. 3) They ARE more talented, but we beat them with better Xs and Os (FTWRocketsFTW dies) 4) They are more talented, they have a better coach, but they choked. Seems like people are putting a lot of effort into explaining why the team that lost is "better" when all of the excuses sound like the Rockets are actually better. Too many people just can't admit it.
They are wrong. A lesser team never wins in a 7 game series...unless they are screwed by the refs like the Kings-Laker series... There was no tomfoolery here though. What happened was pretty clear to me, the better team went into the series sleeping and needed to make some adjustments. Once made though, the better team prevailed.
I'd understand if the Rockets got fluky and got on fire or something, that's how people justify the Warriors beating the Mavs back in 07, or the Grizzlies beating the Spurs in 2011, or it was just a bad matchup. But here, it was two teams that were fairly close in talent, and the better team won!
The "better" team failed three times to close the inferior team out according to some of you guys. LOMAO. Stop it.
They are pretty much blaming fatigue. They start out by saying "Fatigue is not an excuse" but then go on and on about how they had to play a grueling 7 games series against the spurs and were so tired. There saying the clippers are better, but they weren't deep enough and Paul & Griffin had to do everything. Well if they aren't deep enough, than they are not better.
They're just surprised. Nobody likes to be wrong. The spectacular fashion in which the Rockets won sets up an easy, rehashed narrative about the Clippers choking. This isn't the first time they've gone down when expected to advance. In a week, nobody will even remember that the Clippers ever played this postseason. They will all be tongue-deep in Curry and Lebron's buttcracks. Nobody has much to say about the Rockets because nobody has been paying attention to them. Somehow, the Rockets have become the new Utah Jazz of the NBA: the forgotten assholes that nobody else likes who are nonetheless a major threat. It's kind of a strange position to be in, but that's what happens when one star left LA, one star's elite skill is foul-shooting, and your GM is just a little too famous for having won squat. The more the Rockets win, the more all of that goes away.
Or, hey, fine, the Clippers are the better team. Hats off to the superior Clippers who should have won but didn't because [reasons]. I'm looking forward to them showing the world how much better they are than the Rockets next season when they'll be allowed to play again.
Luck is a part of basketball. Also, the Rockets played harder than the Clips did late in the series after they finally figured out that Kevin McHale's instruction for them to play harder is an extremely intelligent and important strategy. So, kudos to the team and the coaches for upsetting a team with superior talent.
It honestly blows my mind that people read Zach Lowes stuff as some kind of NBA mastermind dude is legit r****ded, knows very little about bball and gathers information (with time the rest of us dont have) to seem like he knows what he's talking about
