I can't wait to see the rockets suprise a lot of people by beating those queens. I predict that the rockets will win in 6 or 7 games. It will be the biggest suprise in the history of the nba. Watch out guys. We are bout to be in for a nice rockets liftoff. I hope that JVG decides to rest Yao and Steve against Sonics and Mavs so they will have energy to run with the queens. If the Rockets face Fakers, if a player does so much as to breathe on any faker player, they will be fouls called against them. But against the Queens it won't be as bad. The Rockets will win. The Rockets will go farther than a lot of people here think. Watch and see. Buckle up, it should be a bumpy ride.
arco arenas floors will have a spit shine polish with as much time vlad is going to be sliding across them with all his flopping.
Honestly, the LAST team I want the Rockets to face in the first round is the Kings. They have way too many good shooters which could easily take advantage of our defense, which relies on clogging up the paint. Their ball movement is just awesome, and they play at a fast pace, which is bad for Yao and his lack of stamina. Unfortunately, this seems to be the most likely matchup for our first round.
No upset can touch what the Denver Nuggets did ten years ago when they beat the Sonics. But I would love the Rockets to be #2 on the list
Being a Kings fan, i think the Rox have no chance against the Kings. First thing first, playoffs experience...ROX have none...that makes a huge difference right there. And you have to understand Playoffs is way hardly to play and Rox is such a turnover prone team and add to the fact that Yao can't run and get tired too easily in Kings' offense. 2nd, Kings' talents are just too much for Rox to handle.
The last team I want the Rockets to play are the Spurs. Sac wouldn't be an easy win, since their up tempo game is too fast for Yao, kind of like the Grizz.
I predict JVG will throw a wrench in the Kings' "system". We won't allow them to run as much as they like. It's simple. If, at any point, the Kings don't shoot lights out from outside, we can take the game. The whole series will depend on the Kings' 3pt shooting.
I wonder if having our guards play full court pressure the majority of the game would help. This would allow the game to slow down, and yao to get himself back into our paint. Would something like that work? Would SF and Cat have enough gas to do that
The thing is, you have to hope that the Kings go cold as a team on their shooting in 4 games out of the 7. And considering they have Peja, Divac, Webber, Miller, Christie, Jackson, and Bibby, somehow I'm hesitant to believe that will happen. I'm also concerned about how the refs call the games. If Floppy gets Yao into foul trouble the way he did with Shaq today, we have no chance. If the refs actually call things the right way(not hold out my breath for that), we have a shot.
Not IMO. The Rockets outside shooting is just a critical if not more. The Kings (like the Mavericks and Grizz) force the Rockets to matchup early in transition D...something the Rockets don't so particularly well. Hitting 3's and mid-range shots opens thing up for Yao on the inside (longer distances for the double team to travel) and also makes it harder for the Kings to force tempo. IMO, no. The Kings have a much deeper bench. I feel the trick is to keep the TO's low and not allow the Kings easy baskets. Easy transition points fuel both the Kings and the Arco crowd. I don't have the stats, but intuition tells me there is a strong connection to low TO's and high 3 pt FG% in the Rockets wins this season.
Why does everyone think the Kings are a run-and-gun team? Guys that was years ago with J-Will at the helm. Vlade is slow as molasses, Miller is slow as molasses, Webber is slower than molasses. One of the Kings most glaring weaknesses is transition defense, cause that frontcourt just cannot get back fast enough. They don't run well at all. Where the Kings will tire Yao Ming out is the speed of execution. There's more running back and forth because they go through more possessions since they execute on offense so efficiently.
We can steal a game, maybe two, from the Kings. And even that will be a challenge. The Kings have too much playoff experience to hope for much more. The Kings have a chance to win it all. We might find another gear once we're in the playoffs. But so will any of the other teams: The Timberpups, the Spurs, the Queens, the Fakers.
If there's going to be a surprise in the playoffs, it's GOT to be us. The top 3 seeds in the East (if healthy) will take the bottom 3 seeds. #5 beating #4 is not an upset. Denver, Utah, or Portland will go down in their matchup, they just dno't have enough star power. There's a chance Melo will put in a phenomal performance, but their style of play has them doomed, and they're too thin up front. Memphis lack star power, they won't beat any of the top 4 seeds. So it's between us and Dallas. If someone's going to pull an upset, it will be either Houston or Dallas, and Dallas is going through a confidence crisis right now.
You begin a Sac Kings fan, you have hope in the playoffs for about 3 years. The Rockets have won 2 championships so we understand the concept of experience. We know this team doesn't have experience, we just hope our team wins.
IMO, we can stay with the Kings for about THREE qtrs, then run out of the gas in the 4th, just like what happened last game against them. In NBA, you can make a team look bad by taking them out from what like to do. For the Kings, you need to be physical with their shooters, push/bump/hold, especially the on-ball pressure. The problem we have is that we only play 8 man rotation, don't have enough horses to keep that kind of intensity for the entire game. For the experienced teams such as the Kings, Lakers, and Spurs, they don't beat themselves, so we don't have a chance in a 7 game series. But the Wolves are a different story, they beat themselves from time to time, hence we have a chance against them!
