Let me start by saying I hate the Fakers, and I'm a big Rocket fan. I also hate Lebron, the j*zz, Spurs, etc. My reason for the fakers to win it all, and I may be reaching on this, is that if they win this year and the Rockets win next year with Yao, it would put an asterik on the Fakers two championships. Last year they only won because Yao got injured, and if they beat everyone this year, and the Rockets knock them out of the playoffs next year and win it all, everyone will say they only won these championships because the Rockets were not at full strength. Unfortunaly Kobey and Phill would have another ring, and yes that would suck.
I think that only works if the Rockets have actually won championships the year(s) prior to the Lakers winning last year and this year... and then have the Rockets win again with Yao. The Rockets haven't really been dominating the league this decade... no asterisks... nor obelix.
It's obvious where you're going with this but there are a few glaring oversights. 1. It seems like you're drawing a comparison to when Jordan was out and the Rockets won their b2b championships. First of all, Jordan had already won 3 championships. He was a proven winner. Whether it's a fair argument or not, at least there is a basis for people to say that the Rockets won because Jordan was out. I'm not saying that I agree with that argument because I don't but at least it makes more sense than saying that the rest of the league had it easy because Yao Ming, a guy who has won exactly one playoff series in his career, went down with an injury. 2. Just because we might have beaten the Lakers does not mean that we would have gone all the way based on the fact that the Lakers were the eventual champions. There are all kinds of other possibilities. Maybe the Lakers weren't playing as well as they could've against us. Maybe we don't match up as well with the Nuggets or Magic or other teams. Maybe, maybe, maybe, etc... It's far from a guarantee that we would've won the next 2 rounds. There isn't even close to a guarantee that we would've beaten the Lakers with Yao. You can't just say that Yao is a great player and we took the Lakers to 7 games so with him, we surely had it in the bag. Improved our chances? Sure. Beaten them? There is no way to tell. And there still would've been 8 more games to win after that even if we did. 3. You are simply overrating Yao Ming. He's a great player but he has not proven himself to be a difference maker on the level of a Shaq in his prime. Bottom line: Nobody will put any kind of asterisks on a Lakers championship(s) because Yao Ming wasn't playing for the Rockets.
i want them to beat the jazz, mainly because i hate the jazz, but more so because the worst they beat them the better we look, the further they go, perhaps the better we look. however, i think i would rather have phx, orl, or atl win it all (in no particular order).
nobody said this season: The rockets wont win a title this season because Yao is out. they only say: The rockets wont make the playoffs because they dont have Yao. Even with Yao, the rockets are not among the favorites to win the title.
Love the homerism but the Rox were down 2-1 with Yao coming off a home loss. Honestly, I think the Lakers put in cruise control for the rest of the series after that which accounted for the blowouts after game 3.
This "scenario" is akin to saying we should put an asterisk next to the Showtime Lakers championship in '86-'87 because Houston, who defeated the defending champions in 5 games in the WC Finals the year before, had had their team gutted by the White Powder and Ralph's injury. Does that make sense? No.
In my view, the Lakers last year are among the worst to win a championship in a while. So, I already look down upon them
The reason to root for a Lakers' title, to agree with what Matt and Adam said on 790 today, is so that they are less inclined to retool by sending Bynum to Toronto for Bosh.
The raptors wouldnt make that trade, If they did it would Gasol trade pt 2. Bynum is nowhere near the level of Bosh.
Toronto wouldn't be any worse off, they could still be a below .500 teams that consistently misses the playoffs with Bynum instead of Bosh
