Yao>>Okur Howard<<Boozer Battier=AK Tmac>>whoever Skip<<Williams pretty even matchup, but, the jazz dont have 1 dominate superstar. That is why they will loose. When the game is on the line tmac or yao can take over, the jazz dont have a player like that. I say rockets in 6 or 5
My concern is to get Yao back, start winning consistently, and make the playoffs. Right now the team is stumbling a bit, and it will take time for Yao to get up to speed, maybe several weeks. At present, the Rockets are losing more games than they are winning.
We can sweep Utah. OUr defense is way better than their offense - far better than their defense is vs. our offense. Rockets in 6, regardless of homecourt.
Yao got enough rest this season , he will be a monster in the court , plus TMAC 's big shot , as what YAO said , rocket will go far in playoff.
if we dont beat Utah, what a failure this season would be......but if we rebound good against them, we'll get em.....
The only reason we would lose to Utah is COACHING We are IMO more Talented Rocket RIver if we lose to Utah in the playoffs . . . FIRE JVG
The only concern is Mehmet hitting 3's after that I would be concerned with Derron Williams lighting up Rafer. After that, it's a no mismatch and that includes Boozer. Yao > Whoever Tmac > AK47 Rafer < Derron Shane > Some rookie or Harping Chuck/Juwan <= Boozer
I think we match up well with them, and we can outplay them with the players we have. I mean we have Yao and T-Mac... I don't know if they are gonna have answers for those two weapons. Plus we have a lot of good roleplayers and the defensive weapon known as Battier. Utah is a talented team, and a series with them would be a challenging one, but I think in 6 or 7 games we'd take them. I think we're just a better team.
Lose to Utah in a 7 game series!! HA! The only reason they have such a good record now is because of offensive execution and jump shooting. You take either one away and they'll fold like a deck of cards. They don't have a real star and they don't have ANY playoff experience (except fisher). Heck, even the radio jockies here in Utah don't expect them to do ANYTHING for those very same reasons. Don't worry about it. with Yao back, they have NO way to stop us.
You answered your own question in the bolded section... We can defend ANYONE more often than not as long as we can keep them in a half-court set. And a lot of good Andrei did gaurding McGrady when he went for his season high total. That's not even close to the first time the Jazz have allowed that, either. They routinely get lit up by superstar perimeter players. Oh, and then there's the fact that they have NO answer for Yao on defense. Utah is tough, but I have complete confidence we can beat them... and really anyone but the Suns.
I mean when both of our best two players are significantly better than anyone on the Jazz, you have to be confident...
everyone here is severely underrating the jazz. the jazz are a GOOD team. the game we beat them at home was us playing our A game and we still didn't blow them out. there's a reason why the Jazz have a better record than us, because they're GOOD. deron > rafer fisher > luther boozer > juwon/hayes yao > okur but yao wouldnt be able to guard okur on 3s t-mac > ak-47 but ak can give t-mac problems jazz also has a much deeper bench with guys like millsap, giricek, c.j. miles, and matt harpring. dont sleep on utah they are GOOD and with the way we play sometimes even with yao i certainly wouldnt count them out. it'll be a 7 game series with utah being the slight favorite.
so what if both of are players are better than theres. the Lakers had shaq and kobe but still lost to Detroit. it's all about teamwork and the jazz have scary teamwork.
rofflesaurus, yes, we DID blow them out. Moreso than they beat us by, that's for sure. We were within 5 points in the last few minutes of that game before they "pulled away", and the Jazz were never really in it against us other than briefly in the 3rd period. And when they beat us, they were on that ridiculous tear where they started something like 12-1. Also, people need to stop bringing up these player-by-player matches as if they mean anything. That is seriously the stupidest way of comparing teams there is... The Rockets may in fact have "only" two out of five 1-on-1 matchups in the starting lineup, but at the same time, like I said before, BOTH of our best to players are much better than ANYONE on the Jazz. That is a significant advantage. It's ironic you bring up the Kobe/Shaq thing, the one year they were disappointing was because they had problems that went beyond talent. The years they were winning championships, everyone outside of Kobe/Shaq was trash. Those were the only two players better than anyone on the opposing team's starting lineup.
