1. Hornets 2.Portland 3.San Antonio 4. Denver 5.Dallas 6.Jazz 7.Lakers They are all tough teams,anything can happen against them. There is no clear path to the 2nd round.
For any of ya'll wanting Portland you should watch the tapes of their Lakers games. Portland is a very dangerous team. When the are "on" and focused they are a load. A guy in Roy who can almost always create a decent shot for himself or another even against good defense, deep in bigs (one of whom can score--Aldridge), good overall bench (and Fernandez is a $ open shooter off Roy/LA), and the best offensive rebounding team in the league. Their defense and motivation has been up and down, which is why they are middle of the pack WC playoff record wise. But there talent is not middle of the pack WC playoff wise--and with playoff intensity to ramp that effort up, their opponents better knock their confidence early or this team will be scarier and scarier the longer a series goes. That includes the Lakers and any other higher seed they could face.
now end of season 1 lakers 1 lakers 8 jazz 8 jazz 4 rockets 4 portland 5 blazers 5 spurs 2 nuggets 2 rockets 7 mavs 7 hornets 3 spurs 3 nuggets 6 hornets 6 mavs
Denver is not for real and Billups' isn't young anymore. His clutch shooting isn't really an issue when the Rockets have already put the game in away by the closing minutes of the 4th. My predictions: Rockets vs. Blazers = Rockets in 5 Rockets vs. Dallas = Rockets in 6 Rockets vs. Hornets = Rockets in 6 Rockets vs. Denver = Rockets in 5 Rockets vs. Jazz = Jazz in 7 Rockets vs. Lakers = Lakers in 5 Rockets vs. Spurs = Rockets in 6 This Rocket team will beat any other WC foes except for the Jazz who I think will edge Houston out by the slightest of margins in a 7 game series and the Lakers who will mop the floor with the Rockets.
Just want to say I appreciate everyone's comments and thanks to kaleidosky for starting the thread. I really like some of the arguments... I think as long as LA is #7 and Utah is 5 or 6, it's hard to argue with placing any of the remaining teams on any other open spot. The West is really brutal. Sounds like the "ideal" would be to have the Rockets at 2 or 3 and face 2 teams out of New Orleans, Dallas and Denver -- then have the Lakers face Utah and then San Antonio/Portland. What West team can bother the Lakers? I'd pick Utah and Portland to make the road as tough as possible for them, but I still think they'd sail to the WCF. It's not a brilliant, lockdown defense... they foul too much, putting their opponent at the line way too many times (6th worst in the league)... but they are 4th overall in defensive field goal percentage (and best in the West) at 43.9%. That's better than the Rockets on the year, but I would argue that the Rockets are better since the trade deadline (since the Rockets roster/rotation has been stable). LOL... no way I will ever forget that. Truly unforgivable given that nightmarish season.
...which ended up costing us Brandon Roy. It will be years before I get over that blunder. Nice analysis, btw.
I agree. I think the Rockets best chance to represent the WC is for Utah or Portland to knock them off relatively early. For one of those teams to go on fire and the Lakers get tight like GS/Dallas 2 years ago. I think SA/Den/NO have next to no chance versus the Lakers, with us and Dallas not quite as long of a shot but not a good one either. It will be interesting to see how the Lakers play Utah manana. The last game LA REALLY wanted they were beaten (Blazers), so I don't think they want to go in with back to back losses to playoff teams (and pull a mulligan at home). I think their drive to right the ship and be in their best form will outweigh 1st round match-up concerns--but it is an interesting dilemma. I remember JVG/Rockets blowing one of these dilemmas before and drawing the Mavs, who beat us, when we could have drawn a lesser team (the Nuggets I believe) by losing down the stretch. This was before they righted that the 3 seed (weakest division winner) was often weaker than the 4 seed (basically top wildcard). Phil J is more strategic than JVG--but I think in this case he won't want a home loss on top of getting beat in Portland and won't completely toss it. But I wouldn't at all be surprised to see Kobe and Gasol's minutes less than their average. And if the Jazz do win, I have to admit it puts us in a more conflicted position. We really would have no idea what a win (Utah or NO) or loss brings us (@SA, @Port, SA, Port, Dal, NO) since the Spurs-NO game is the same time and Den-Portland is later. I suppose we still want to win so we could avoid because the current worst possible outcome of us as the 5th seed versus #4 Portland--but if winning gets us Utah even at home that isn't much better. A rare time I'll root for the Lakers.
When ever we play utah it is always a close game. The reason they win those close games is because they are a better offensive team than us. What make them better? The size advantage they have over us. Dwill is taller than both are guards and okur can shoot over scola easily. these two guys always kill us in the 4th qtr. sorry i did not include landry as an athletic player. Except for wafer, all our guys (landry, brooks and lowry) are undersized. In the playoffs last yr, I remember landry getting blocked mutiple times because of the taller utah frontline. And in looking from the rockets perpesctive there is only one matchup advantage we have over them and it is yao, offensively that is. I do not know how wafer will fare against utah, i hope he does not play like luther head cause I love von to death. But if you are counting wafer to be a big difference maker against the jazz, your living in lala land. He is a nice weapon off the bench who is a streak shooter, not a future franchise player. Artest is shooting just 35% against the jazz this season. He is averaging 22 pts but on like 20 FG attempts. oh and brewer is pretty athletic he is 6-7 with long arms and is a pretty good defender. wafer has the quickness advantage but the rest is all the same. need proof just check youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m19FW52ifwA&feature=related All utah needs to do is win one game in houston and because i don't see us winning in utah. also in the 4th qtr they execute while we have to rely on hustle and 2nd chance pts. I hope I am wrong but we need to play a perfect game everytime to beat them in a 7-game series.
I'm glad Utah is out of the picture. Win and we get NO (best) or Dallas (OK but still dangerous). Both are more attractive than Utah.
