With Tmac shooting in a low percentage, I don't see our chance. Hope Tmac could heal his shoulder soon.
I am sure they are planning to "beat us up" again; they seem more physical with the Rockets than most teams I have seen them play. The Rockets looked intimidated at times in last years playoffs, the Jazz are counting on doing that again. Williams is hurting and Okur could be suspended for a game or two. Key for Rockets: TMac must find the basket again, his shot has not been there for some time. Scola, Landry, Hayes, and Jackson have to get really physical and do some pushing and intimidating of their own. We got a chance.
the toughest part to beat utah is their constant fouling (literally) on defense. it has been sloan's tactic for like ever. and it is also why utah's home court has always been the toughest place. it should not have been an issue had the refs made all the calls right. but they don't. time to see what adelman has left in his bags.
4 All Stars? Kirilenko + Boozer + ? + ? Jazz are a less than mediocre road team and the Rockets are REALLY good at home. It's far from a sure thing but it's not a stretch to think that the home team wins every game in this series.
We do match up against Utah better this season. However, I am worried about not having Rafer or having him out there injured. As much as he choked last year in the playoffs I just think we need the guy. Jackson is old as dirt and Brooks is a rookie so I can't trust these guys as the only options at PG. When facing a guy like D. Williams I think we need as many different looks as possible to throw at him. The other issue I have is Tmac. He doesn't look right at all. He played like he was made of glass last year against Utah and he is actually less healthy this year. I hate to say it but I fully expect some 4/17 performances from him in the first round. The good news is that Scola is a beast, Hayes still plays fantastic defense on Boozer and Okur and Carl Landry seems like the type of guy who can come off the bench and keep doing what he has done for the last 2/3 of the season.
Good news for the Jazz - Utah has a terrific HCA. The fans sit almost on top of the players bench and are very, very loud. With the crowd noise, and the Jazz perfecting their flopping act, they can intimidate not only most opponents at home, but officials as well. They get away with murder, knowing full well the refs don't want to "interrupt the flow of the game" with too many fouls called. Consequently, Utah plays with a little more swagger - at home. Bad news, Jazz floppers - The Rockets have a pretty fair HCA too, and, guess what? - we have the Series HCA. Jazz aren't so tough on the road (see for example, the Spurs-Jazz game tonight). They can be beaten because I don't believe they're mentally tough enough to handle the role of the visiting team. Push back, Rockets. The Jazz'll fold like a house of cards.
Good Post. The only thing I disagree with is that TMac comment. TMac didn't play like he wasade of glass, he left it all on the court 29pts 13 AST and 3blks in a game 7 is not soft.
He certainly ran the offense and was the focal point but he looked slow, fragile and unwilling to go to the rim. I honestly feel the Rockets get by the Jazz in game 7 if Tmac goes to the rim a few more times in the 4th.
williams and okur.... people are taking the "utah sucks on the road" thing a little too far. people say it like they haven't won any road games at all, and keep in mind they only need to win ONE game on the road out of 3, just like they did last year. i think most people on this board are overrating the talent on our team. its t-mac and a bunch of roleplayers and that is not going to be enough to get it done against a stacked team like utah. talent plays a much bigger role in the playoffs than it does the regular season. hustle and determination can only take you so far. do you guys realize how far above our heads we are going to have to play to beat utah 4 OUT OF 7 times ??? IMO, beating utah means we are a title contender, and i can assure you a team with t-mac and role players has no chance in hell to contend for a title with all of these stacked teams in the league. i really hope i am wrong, but i doubt it. in fact i pray i can OWNED worse than brooksball when everything is said and done, but i don't think its going to happen.
The main questions is...WHICH TMAC WILL SHOW UP? If its the tmac that we have seen ever since the streak ended, then we would be lucky to win 1-2 games in this series. But if its the playoff tmac that we all know, then we have a chance. I think our bench can outplay them and so can our starters to a certain extent. But its Tmac's play that will be the deciding factor.
And especially since the Jazz were in the penalty with about 4min left to play. They could have easily iced the game at the line. But them again they have also grabbed a defensive rebound and not given the Jazz so many second and third chances which eventually led to Okur's dagger in the heart three.
if he did, his stats would be 35-37 pts and 14-15 dimes. how realistic is that? tmac scored 8-9 pts in the 4th. he did his part. we lost it b/c of rebounding. utah took off 2-3 minutes of game-time simply b/c we couldn't grab a rebound.
I agree w/ you on the Deke part. It would be great to have Bonzi for the matchup, but if that was the case. We would have AB starting and Head as the backup. That would end it for us!
Williams > Rafer et al TMac > Brewer Battier = Kirilenko Boozer > Scola Okur > Mt. M (all things considered) Benches equal (but Utah has more experience) Coaches equal It's going to come down to whether Houston can defend homecourt (duh) w/o Rafer first two games it's going to be tough
last year's series was a barn-burner this year promises to be no different. KNOCK EM OUT... get revenge! right now Houston v Utah is one of the best rivalries in the West
Why people keep talking about this 'Utah is a better team with more talent' garbage? Are they a better team because they won more games than us? If they got more talent, why we need to play the game anyway! Why don't the league just line every team up, and handle the trophy to the team every think has the most talent? Oh, that would be Denver.
yeah, I've very very worried about this matchup. This is the real test for Morey getting Bobby Jackson. I would have preferred Cassell.
A healthy Spurs and Suns are the two teams the Rockets couldn't possibly have enough counters for in a 7 game series, so the Utah, LA/Den draw with round 1 at home court is all the Rockets can ask for. Utah is an outstanding shooting and rebounding team, but an average defensive team, only NO of WC playoff teams allowed a higher %. Houston meanwhile is an outstanding defensive team and rebounding team--pretty much evening out the Jazz strengths. So it may come down to Houston's offense versus the Jazz defense. Clearly they don't have a wing defender the caliber of say Bowen, Bell or Battier. If Tmac is hot they really don't have a guy with the skills and savvy to disrupt. I think we will also need a 2nd high efficient option, that would have to be Scolandry. Boozer isn't a great defender, and they have 12 fouls between them, and 6 more from Hayes, so pretty good match-ups there. I also see a lot of Scola at C versus Okur, something we couldn't do last year. One final thing. Derek Fisher, and even Giricek off the bench, gave them really solid all around 2 guard play (and Fisher was their playoff experience and stablizer, and shared PG duties). They played smart, and effective on both ends. Brewer-Korver-Miles IMO all have more obvious flaws in one or more of the following areas, experience, shooting range or defense. This is a series we have a fighting chance. Where as controlling TD-Manu-Parker or Amare-Nash-Shaq would just prove impossible IMO and there is no way the Rockets can score with them over a series. I'd take my chances with the Lakers too, at least our best defender (Battier) would line up against their key player.
