Those Warriors and Clippers games could be meaningless. They're the last two games of the season for the Blazers. If the Warriors are locked into 6th place at that point, what's Golden State's incentive to put their best players out there? Same with the Clippers and the 3rd seed. If LA's too far back to catch OKC, why even start Chris Paul or Blake Griffin(who's dealing with back spasms right now, BTW)? If that happens, Portland wins those games without breaking a sweat. And I disagree about the only notable Rockets games being OKC and the Spurs. Tonight at Toronto will be very tough even if Lowry sits out. Next week's game at Denver won't be easy since it's the 2nd night of a B2B at that high altitude and Dwight might still be out. Also, the game at home against the Pelicans would ordinarily not concern me, but it'll be the Rockets' 4th game in 5 nights. And the game at New Orleans to end the season will be difficult. The Pelicans have beaten some quality opponents there recently and it took a huge comeback for the Rockets to win there earlier in the season.
Losing 4 or more games out of our next 9 is looking very possible given the current injury situation. Something like Portland going 5-1 and us going 4-5 is a legitimate possibility, although pretty unlikely.
With the late season collapses the Rox have had over recent years, I don't see how anyone can think the Rox have 4th seed sowed up. These late season collapses under McHale are very troubling. Don't know it its just a coincidence or he losses the team down the stretch. Even though Rox have significant injury issues right now, I just don't like how the Rox are playing and being careless out there still making dumb mistakes down the stretch. They seemed to have lost focus. Leadership continues to be a big question mark and concern for this team.
I tend to agree. Too many players on this team I do not trust at all in the playoffs. We just don't have enough depth, we need HCA in the first round IMO.
Honestly I wouldn't worry too much folks. This team is struggling like many young teams do. 5th seed against Portland isn't all that big of a deal. More important is that we get healthy and find our groove back. Sometimes these struggles can pay off by giving players that don't normally carry the load to feel some pressure. It will help us in the long run.
Not yet. But if they lose Friday night(and I ain't liking their chances in that game), then it is panic time. Now you see why I've been harping on this the last few days. Portland is not gonna hand us the 4th seed and we're in serious trouble right now with the injuries piling up and the remaining schedule still having plenty of tough games.
If the Rockets don't get HCA in the first round, there is a significant chance they will lose. Which would be an extreme disappointment. After all the good things that have happened this season, Rockets are throwing it all away right now.
Losing the 4th seed should get Mchale fired I'm sick of seeing the same thing happen under him year after year. We are not beating OK Friday that will be 4 games in a row. This organization. Has seen this cap happen the last two years and what preparation has been made to avoid this from happening? Absolutely nothing!
<PRE> G Date Opponent Tm Opp W L Streak Notes 53 Sun Apr 1 2012 Box Score Indiana Pacers L OT 102 104 28 25 L 1 54 Mon Apr 2 2012 Box Score Chicago Bulls W 99 93 29 25 W 1 55 Fri Apr 6 2012 Box Score Los Angeles Lakers W 112 107 30 25 W 2 56 Sun Apr 8 2012 Box Score Sacramento Kings W 104 87 31 25 W 3 57 Mon Apr 9 2012 Box Score Portland Trail Blazers W 94 89 32 25 W 4 58 Wed Apr 11 2012 Box Score Utah Jazz L 91 103 32 26 L 1 59 Fri Apr 13 2012 Box Score Phoenix Suns L 105 112 32 27 L 2 60 Sun Apr 15 2012 Box Score Denver Nuggets L 86 101 32 28 L 3 G Date Opponent Tm Opp W L Streak Notes 61 Mon Apr 16 2012 Box Score Denver Nuggets L 102 105 32 29 L 4 62 Wed Apr 18 2012 Box Score Dallas Mavericks L 110 117 32 30 L 5 63 Thu Apr 19 2012 Box Score New Orleans Hornets L OT 99 105 32 31 L 6 64 Sat Apr 21 2012 Box Score Golden State Warriors W 99 96 33 31 W 1 65 Sun Apr 22 2012 Box Score Miami Heat L 88 97 33 32 L 1 66 Thu Apr 26 2012 Box Score New Orleans Hornets W 84 77 34 32 W 1 </PRE> <PRE> G Date Opponent Tm Opp W L Streak Notes 74 Mon Apr 1 2013 Box Score Orlando Magic W 111 103 41 33 W 2 75 Wed Apr 3 2013 Box Score Sacramento Kings W 112 102 42 33 W 3 76 Fri Apr 5 2013 Box Score Portland Trail Blazers W 116 98 43 33 W 4 77 Sat Apr 6 2013 Box Score Denver Nuggets L 114 132 43 34 L 1 78 Tue Apr 9 2013 Box Score Phoenix Suns W 101 98 44 34 W 1 79 Fri Apr 12 2013 Box Score Memphis Grizzlies L 78 82 44 35 L 1 80 Sun Apr 14 2013 Box Score Sacramento Kings W 121 100 45 35 W 1 G Date Opponent Tm Opp W L Streak Notes 81 Mon Apr 15 2013 Box Score Phoenix Suns L 112 119 45 36 L 1 82 Wed Apr 17 2013 Box Score Los Angeles Lakers L OT 95 99 45 37 L 2 </PRE> <PRE> G Date Opponent Tm Opp W L Streak Notes 24 Sat Mar 1 2014 Box Score Detroit Pistons W 118 110 40 19 W 1 23 Tue Mar 4 2014 Box Score Miami Heat W 106 103 41 19 W 2 G Date Opponent Tm Opp W L Streak Notes 22 Wed Mar 5 2014 Box Score Orlando Magic W 101 89 42 19 W 3 21 Fri Mar 7 2014 Box Score Indiana Pacers W 112 86 43 19 W 4 20 Sun Mar 9 2014 Box Score Portland Trail Blazers W OT 118 113 44 19 W 5 19 Tue Mar 11 2014 Box Score Oklahoma City Thunder L 98 106 44 20 L 1 18 Thu Mar 13 2014 Box Score Chicago Bulls L 87 111 44 21 L 2 17 Sun Mar 16 2014 Box Score Miami Heat L 104 113 44 22 L 3 16 Mon Mar 17 2014 Box Score Utah Jazz W 124 86 45 22 W 1 15 Thu Mar 20 2014 Box Score Minnesota Timberwolves W 129 106 46 22 W 2 14 Sat Mar 22 2014 Box Score Cleveland Cavaliers W 118 111 47 22 W 3 13 Mon Mar 24 2014 Box Score Charlotte Bobcats W 100 89 48 22 W 4 12 Thu Mar 27 2014 Box Score Philadelphia 76ers W 120 98 49 22 W 5 11 Sat Mar 29 2014 Box Score Los Angeles Clippers L 107 118 49 23 L 1 10 Tue Apr 1 2014 Box Score Brooklyn Nets L 96 105 49 24 L 2 9 Wed Apr 2 2014 Toronto Raptors 8 Fri Apr 4 2014 Oklahoma City Thunder 7 Sun Apr 6 2014 Denver Nuggets 5 Tue Apr 8 2014 Los Angeles Lakers 6 Wed Apr 9 2014 Denver Nuggets 4 Fri Apr 11 2014 Minnesota Timberwolves 3 Sat Apr 12 2014 New Orleans Pelicans G Date Opponent Tm Opp W L Streak Notes 2 Mon Apr 14 2014 San Antonio Spurs 1 Wed Apr 16 2014 New Orleans Pelicans </PRE>
All of Portland's remaining tough games are at home (Suns, Warriors, Clippers). I'm positive Clippers rest their starters in that last game.
Late season collapse in full force. Last year we blew the 6th seed by losing two games to inferior teams to close the season, and the year before we were 6th seed with 9 games to go and roll off a 6 game losing streak.... ah well.
