[Foxsports] Rockets poised to challenge Dallas for #4 spot

if Dallas goes 14-14 in their final 28, houston would have to 20-7 in their final 27, and so on...

it looks like we better chase the 5 spot or stand pat at 6 with a Seattle matchup

 

Hey, that JVG quote looks familiar...

 

Why did we waive Zendon Hamilton? I have no idea who he is, but he was waived as soon as we got the trade through. Does he totally suck?

 

I don't want the Rockets busting their balls for a 4 seed. They should stay back and hover at the #6 seed. Not only then do you get the most inexperienced of the WC playoff teams, but you get the one with the weakest interior and worst match-up problems with us--Seattle.

So the Rockets should take the rest of the season to get guys fresh and ready for the playoffs, and finding the best combinations on the floor. No need to rush Sura or push Yao or Tmac's minutes.

I will say this, it is at best a 50/50 proposition whether SA gets home court. SA has the tiebreaker over Phx, but their last common game is at Phx. If I were beating I'd say Phx gets it.

 

We have no shot for the home court adv. I just hope we could somehow matched with the Sonics in the playoff, thus we have a great chance advance to the 2nd round.

 

If the game against the Jazz is any indication, this is a mute point. One game a season doesn't make, but this one didn't help the Rockets playoff chances.

 

Yep...

 

Can the Rocks switch places with the Queens? Hell Yes!

Can the Rocks switch places with the Mavs? Uhh... maybe...

 

Thanks to Minnesota, the Rockets are now only 3 games back of the Mavs with 19 to play. So let's stop hoping for the 6th seed and starting looking to move up and secure home court in the 1st round.

 

If we continue to play the way that we have been playing the last few games there is no reason why we can't catch Dallas. This is their remaining schedule:

Portland
Charlotte
New Orleans
@ Golden State
@ Sacramento
Cleveland
@ Detroit
@ Boston
@ Philadelphia
@ Cleveland
Orlando
San Antonio
Utah
Memphis
@ Seattle
@ Portland
@ L.A. Lakers
Seattle
@ Memphis

10 of 19 are on the road; 14 of 19 are against playoffs-caliber teams.

 

well, conservatively expect mavs to play .600 ball for the rest of the season, that's about at most 8 losses. Then we can only lose about 4 games. It'll be very tough.

 

Their schedule is not more difficult than ours. However, the 4th spot will not be decided until the last couple of games. In case of a tiebreaker, conference record and division record come into play. We have a better division record right now and Dallas has a slightly netter conference record. That could all change by the end of the season though, because both teams have a lot of games left against the Western Conference. Go Rockets

 

I agree it's gonna be hard catching Dallas, but it's no longer the pipe dream it may have been a couple weeks ago. I guess that's what a 4-0 road trip will do for you.

The key for the Rockets(aside from avoiding any additional injuries) is to start taking care of business against the lesser opponents they'll be facing in the weeks to come, particularly at home.

 

i just dont see it happening, provided that dallas loses tonight to the wolves that would place us i believe 3 games behind dallas.
to overtake them for the 4th spot lets, say we own the tie breaker (not sure if we do since season series is 2-2) so we need to make up 3 games in the final 19. If the rockets finish out the last 19 games 15-4 which would be incredible that means the mavs would have to finish at least 12-7 for us to have a chance. And this W/L ratio changes with every loss the rockets suffer. If the rockets finish 13-6 the maves would have to finish 10-9. Looking from the schedule posted above i see at least 9 games on there where I expect dallas to win regardless of home/road.

also given the injury to Howard its unsure how this team will respond i am sure they wont falter like crazy but they will have lost some of the momentum built on the recent road trip. hopefully padgett,spoon and esp baker can pick up the slack

i say hope and play to get the 4spot but regardless of where the rockets end up seeding wise just go into the playoffs with a full head of steam