Boozer is glass, a good elbow from Deke and the series is ours. jk, but in all fairness, I think they are a fantastic team, but one that, as history as shown us, falls apart with the slightest injury.
The Jazz are 10 in front of LAL in the loss column. Forget this scenario. However the Jazz are only 1 back from SA, if you are looking for a flip-flop, this is it. I'd rather start with the Jazz because the Spurs have some much more playoff experience. I'd love to play the Lakers in the 1st round, but that just isn't happening. SA would have to go 13-7, and we would have to win them all, just to catch them. Cacthing Utah requires almost as much. Basically we need to prepare to take on SA or Utah, at their place. Both are formidable, but I prefer either to starting at Dallas or at Phx. Hopefully LA picks it up a little and can provide the #3 seed a decent fight. I think SA will bring out the best in the Lakers and the Lakers are the best of the lower 6 seeds to play them. I think for us wearing down is key. The longer the series and the more games we accumulate, the weaker we are. We need to draw Utah and try to put them in a big hole early (0-2, 1-3), or I can't see us going very far. IMO we are well positioned, I don't think it is even worth striving for the 4th best record. More important than having 1 extra game home or away in a 7 game series is getting our line-up fresh and tuned. We are in a position where it would be really hard to fall all the way to 6th or claw all the way to the 4th best record. Just fine tune at this point, we have done a great job for a favorable playoff position considering injuries.
i watch the jazz ALOT. the jazz are good. no doubt. if it was a 5 game series i would be REALLY scared. luckily we will play them for 7 games. the jazz cause us some mismatch problems. and they have a pretty deep bench. they hustle and they take good shots. okur can pull yao from the basket. boozer can outmuscle most people. and deron williams looks amazing this year. ak47 is not the same this year so i would say he is a non facotr. BUT utah is a jumpshooting team. this will play into our advantage because the rockets play great defense. the x-factor for houston will be to maintain the level of play (or the lead) with tmac or yao on the bench (or both). in my mind it boils down to whether our role players are prepared to step up or if they will wilt with yao or tmac out. that means BONZI, luther, and jho, and deke. oh and utah is very tough to beat on their own homecourt... let's not forget.
yao, when he gets back to full power, will kill okur, boozer, or anyone else they put on him if they wanna play halfcourt in a seven game series...i say bring them on! Dwill will molest rafer throughout the series tho hopefully we can get head to convince him to go EZ on us
The question is can JVG beat JS? Why ask that? Neither have won a CS. If they both have their teams play DEF, I am willing to beat that our OFF is better than their DEF because we have MAC and YAO. Always take the best players on the FL. Superstars win CS's. We have 2. I say JVG can beat JS because JVG will come up with a GP to play DEF on their main players. YAO and MAC are too much for UT.
Well lets put it this way. If you got your pick of who you wanted to play in the first round. 1) Dallas - No 2) Phoenix - No 3) San Antonio - No 4) Utah - Young, no playoff experience 6) LaLakers - Kobe in the playoffs is DANGEROUS 7) Denver - If Carmelo and AI figure it out can be Dangerous 8) LaClippers - OK, I think they are an easy out, but advanced last year... So out of all the playoff contenders I think Utah is the easiest out after the Clippers. So I think we're getting a great draw. And so what if they have home court. All that means is we have to beat them ONCE in their building. My predicition: Rockets in 6
I doubt Yao Ming spends more than a few minutes a game on Okur. Yao will most likely guard Boozer, Millsap, or Collins and leave Chuck, Juwan, or Shane to hang with Okur on the perimeter. The matchup favor the Rockets, if both teams are healthy. No one on the Jazz matches up well with TMac (or Yao, for that matter, but that goes for most teams without 7'5'' plauers). The key will be guys like Chuck and Juwan help win the battle of the rebounds.
Utah is more disciplined then Denver, Denver is a sinking ship. The problem is that Carmelo and AI will never figure it out, they really are a bad mix.
Yes, that was, as I mentioned, a big stretch. I agree that probably can't happen, but my soapbox was more about getting the home court as the 4 than playing the lakers, that was more in contrast to the negativity. You are of course correct about that. Personally, I'd rather play Utah than SA when it comes playoff time, but I would still like to see them go for the four.
I'll be interested to see since the Jazz don't really have a wing that scores much, will the Rocket experiment with Battier on Deron Williams
Okur is the type of center that Yao struggle to guard. I am worried~! If we get home court advantage, we'll have a much better chance. However, nothing is impossible when you have two superstars on your team. GO ROX!!
Assuming full health of both teams, I don't see how we shouldn't be favored. The Rockets play very good help defense, and Yao wouldn't have to guard Okur since he can switch to Boozer with whoever plays PF. On offense, Yao is the biggest mismatch there is. And the biggest factor is how good Utah is at ball-denial into the post. I don't see it, personally. Utah doesn't look to have the athletic frontline that Phoenix have to disturb the entry passes. And they lack the "crafty vet" who can pester Yao the whole game without getting much called. Okur and Boozer are both likely to get killed by Yao in the post. And Sloan can't matchup Yao with someone else since both Okur and Boozer are so instrumental for their offense.
I think the question should be would you rather play Utah or Dallas, Suna, or Spurs. Out of those four, obiously the weakest one would be the Jazz. We have no choice but we are the luckiest among the seed 6 to 8. we at seed 5 has the biggest chance to advance to the second round. I am not worry about players matchup, but i am however on JVG's game plan and the last few mins game decision. To me it seems like JVG is incapable when comparing to Sloan in making and drawing up game plan in last few mins of the 4th quarter
There is no doubt in my mind that we can beat Utah or the Lakers... I think the only real problem could be San Antonio, Suns or Dallas. I am not worried about the east either.
NO FRICKING WAY WE LOSE TO UTAH! We are more talented . . NO WAY!! I don't care how great a coach JS is [which I am not ready to concede] Rocket River
For the life of me I can't see how ya'll would prefer Yao on Boozer over Okur. Boozer is much quicker and stronger than Okur and can get the inside fouls and coversions. It is true Okur lives of the perimeter, but it is mainly because he can shoot right over most players. Just parking the even taller Yao on him should mostly eliminate him from the offense, I don't see Okur putting the ball on the floor and getting by Yao all the way to the hoop much. I think Hayes is our best match-up with Boozer. The only player with near Boozer's combination of strength and quickness. Howard can help a lot too, but Boozer will be tough on him. Now if Collins or Aruajo are in there, sure have Yao on them instead of Okur or Boozer, but if both Boozer and Okur are in there I much prefer Yao on Okur.
