Clippers are playing Spencer Hawes, Dahntay Jones, Big Baby Davis, and Austin rivers in the first quarter of an elimination game. In a 7 game series, I'd much rather face a team that is relying on such sorry role players
Get over yourself. I never even remotely suggested whether Kawhi could possibly have a better series than Harden. I merely stared that Harden is the best player in this series...PERIOD. How well Harden and Kawhi play in respect to each other is a SEPARATE DISCUSSION. Harden IS the best player in just about every series they will play in en route to the Finals. You can reference as many regular season head to head matchup stats as you want.....who cares? They mean absolutely nothing. This is the playoffs and the Rockets are peaking and healthy AT THE RIGHT TIME. That is all
I really don't have a preference but it would definitely be great to have a matchup against the Spurs. Contrary to what most believe, I actually think the rockets will actually play better against better competition. Rockets beat a good Mavs team but not great. I believe a factor in the rockets' struggles in round 1 was none other than playing down to their opponent. I just have a feeling the rockets will fare better against the Spurs, Warriors or clips than most are presuming.
I know this is a petty reason, but I'd prefer the Spurs simply so we don't have to deal with the late night west coast games.
I'm going to stop now though, you reminded me why I quit going to this website, the more popular it got, the more I wanted to bash my head in. Go clips!
I am so conflicted about who I want the Rockets play next round. I'm going to use this space to organize my thoughts. So... Why I want to face the Spurs: 1. It would be sweet to beat two of our biggest and in state rivals in back to back playoff series, especially since the Mavericks and Spurs have pretty much owned us the past decade. In my mind, I picture the iconic scene where their is a new sheriff in town as the Mavericks and Spurs are on their last days, for the most part. 2. I think our biggest advantage this postseason is our super athletic and versatile big man rotation featuring a healthy superstar Dwight Howard, Josh "Robert Horry" Smith and an improved and stronger Terrence Jones with dashes of Clint Capela. As great as Duncan and effective as Diaw is, I don't think they can guard our big men at all. Splitter doesn't look too healthy and I think we will see more Smith-Howard alley-oops or other nifty big man passing. Plus, Howard will get to play his full minutes against the Spurs, unlike our previous two meetings. 3. James Harden is a certified Spurs-Killer. Of course, Green and Leonard will tag team defensive duties on Harden 24/7 but Harden has proven that no one can stop him if he is on. Last time James faced the Spurs in the playoffs, he carried the Thunder in key spots of Game 6. 4. I don't think Parker and Manu are healthy. I still think Parker can get 25 against us but I don't think he will be as effective as he should be, given that we are playing Terry and Prigs at the point. Manu just looks like he is completely burned out. Of course, he will hit a big three in one of the games but I don't think he will be too effective either. 5. I might get flamed for this but if the Rockets don't win the title, I much rather have the Spurs win it. I think the Spurs can test the Warriors better than the Clippers, if they were to beat us in Round 2, and can beat the Warriors too. I just don't want the Warriors or Cavs to win. I might have to avoid all NBA media sites because if the Warriors win it, that's all we will hear till next season. Why I Don't Want to Play the Spurs: 1. Hack-A-Player is going to be so annoying. I can already picture losing at least one game because on of our big men just couldn't hit a free throw to save his life. Not only that but I'm scared of what it might do to the confidence of the our player who misses the free throw. For example, Smith lost some confidence following what happened in that recent Spurs game. Thankfully, Smith regained it in the Mavericks series but it's worrisome because the missed free throws are clearly a mental thing. 2. Pop is the master of playing with opposing team's mentality and confidence. McHale did a great job against Rick Carlisle but Pop is an entirely different level than Rick. If this becomes series of adjustment and execution, Pop will almost certainly make the right ones. Hopefully McHale and our players will do so too. 3. Spurs bench is scary. They don't have big mans like the Warriors or we do, but they are so effective together and with their starters. They basically have 8 or 9 starters out there at all times since every player knows each other so well. I think our bench can match their output but it's going to be extremely tough. Why I want to play the Clippers: 1. Our bench is superior to theirs. Crawford doesn't look the same, Davis is probably out and the Clippers bench has never been too worrisome to begin with. Now they will have to rely on heavy minutes for Rivers and Hawes. I think our starters can match their starters bu I think our bench can win us games against them. 2. If Doc tries to hack our players, we can hack DJ. DJ is probably the worst free throw shooter of those getting major minutes in both teams. I rather hack DJ than Howard, Smith or Capela. 3. They have no one to guard Harden. They might have to put Paul on Harden but that will tire out Paul or put him in foul trouble. Aside from Matt Barnes, are the Clippers really going to put Rivers on James Harden? 4. They lack experience and are prone to make mistakes. Unlike the Spurs, Clippers are not known for their execution or smart playmaking, except for Paul. Not hard to force DJ or Griffin to make mistakes. Why I Don't want to play the Clippers: 1. If JJ Barea has a 17 point and 13 assist game against us, I can only dread what CP3 will do against us. 17 and 13 may be a horrible game for him this series or his halftime totals for some games. 2. Our awesome big men rotation is neutralized by the Clippers' big men rotation. For some reason, Howard struggles against DJ. We need Howard to be better than DJ every night. 3. Do we really want a 5 hour games (on West Coast 9:30pm starts) with all the free throw shooting we will see. The NBA may have to change the Hack-A-Player strategy during the series lolol 4. If Clippers beat us, I think the Warriors are in the Finals and champions for sure. No way the Clippers can beat the Warriors. Either way we are going to have to play some of our best basketball to beat either team. Right now, I would put the Clippers slightly ahead as the team I would want to face. I think we can beat the Clippers pretty handedly, provided that our bench wrecks theirs and Howard keeps up his play. But, I think beating the Spurs would mean so much more to our team. Thoughts?
And in other words both series will go at least 6 or beyond. Good to have HC advantage in both series... small but maybe decisive factor (not really)
Ughh not petty at all. LA vs SA the other night went till almost 1. Gets me too amped up to sleep so I end up staying up later.
How about this: Pick the opponent you want to beat the most. Go for maximum glory...just like 1995, twenty years ago.
Is it just me or is it crazy that Pop limited everyone but Kawhi's minutes in a game where they could have eliminated the Clippers? Are they really tired or were they just not playing well so he benched them? Either way, it's nice to see that the Clippers were able to win 2 on the Spurs home court. I think we have a good chance against both these teams with them having gone to 7 games. We've played SAS well and we've split the season series with Clippers. We're a higher seed and have homecourt against both. I think if we win the first two at home it's going to be impossible for these guys to beat us, though they'll put up a fight.
Pops over-manages, just like Bobby Knight did. I'm glad his not crazy like Knight, so ppl can enjoy him. But he's not flawless.
