Curious to see what yall are feeling at this stage with the series tied 1-1 seeing how the two games have gone with the return of Chris Paul looming.
i voted 50-50. paul coming back may not be as scary as some think. hamstring injury is tricky and different from most other injuries.
I think the Rockets have about a 35% chance right now. There have been too many bad signs from the first two games, particularly how atrocious the defense has become, to where I can really feel that good about winning 3 of 5, but damn I hope they do, though. It all depends on whether the defensive game plan improves and whether the Rockets "shooters" can actually hit some shots. Ariza and Terry have been especially disappointing shooting the ball, but even Brewer and Smith have to knock down a few.
LA looked lost on offense in Game 2 without Chris Paul. Catch and shoot guys like Reddick and Crawford couldn't get into any rhythme as they were forced to take shots off the bounce. Still, because of the brilliance of Griffin, the Clippers were able to lead most of the game, and even on the Rox home court. Staples Center is a tough place to play at against the Clippers. If Chris Paul plays like vintage Chris Paul then Clippers take this series; if Chris Paul struggles or is unavailable then we can win. If Jones or Josh Smith can step it up then that would help also.
Today I voted "hopeful, but it doesn't look so good." Completely open to move in either direction based on how we compete (really, if we compete) tomorrow.
I would give the Rockets about a 75% chance of winning one in LA. I think once we've split our chances will look much better. Playoff Dwight is the real deal.
Optimistic. Harden is pissed off and I expect him to go off in one of the next two games. Paul won't be 100% even if he plays in the next game and the more this series drags out with the weak bench they have and having already been through a 7 game series will work in the Rockets favor.
They have really played bad for 6.5 quarters and the series is tied. They will finally have a good game all around tomorrow i think.
You can assess more after the games at Staples have been been played. Those games tell you a lot about adversity and where our team stand in this year's playoffs.
I don't feel like even if CP comes back he will be even close to 100% However our losses i the post season have been a severe lack of effort on both ends of the floor and it's really annoying to watch
well we're not a very good team and we're in the 2nd round in the west so according to cuban we have no chance. but we did beat a good team in the first round in just 5 games so i dunno. that weird huh cuban?
Well it's just interesting to see how others feel. I don't think we have much of a chance at all. I mean, if I set aside my homerism, the Clippers just seem to be a better team on both ends of the floor. The fact that even without Paul they can be a handful is incredible to me. Imagine if we were without Harden. We'd really be screwed. Jordan is a defensive beast and playing Howard even or outplaying him slightly. Blake is killing us aside from the 2nd half. Their role players are giving us fits as well. The only thing would be if we had just been playing without energy but that doesn't seem to be the case. We were in a hole and scraped out a win, but the Clippers were too content to get the split. Now we go into the Lion's den and have to win at least one game, and that's not going to be easy. Yes we will know more by Sunday night, but at this point, I think we'll find ourselves down 3-1.
I still believe that we have the better team on paper only but there are two injuries to two relatively important players that are Bev and Moti. Regardless Clippers are still the matchup nightmare and Rivers has more experience as a coach. Their assistant coaching bench is filled with names that all could be head coaches somewhere. Blake, Crawford have to carry the Clippers even with a hobbled CP3. Their bench have to step up immensely. Hope Austin keep on being that laughingstock and help them lose. Harden, Howard, and the bench have to carry the Rockets as always in this series. So my personal conclusion 50.5-49.5 in favor of the Clippers (unless Rockets win back HC advantage) As a Rocket fan I will always tip for a win. Yet I really do not like to bank on 3 point shooting percentage. The 3 point range will be heavily guarded in the Wests playoffs. And it only can win 1 game or 2 games at best. And we are worse shooting team than the Warriors.
I voted 50-50, but I am counting on a "shift" that began in the fourth quarter of game two. The team seemed to kick into gear, awake from their slumber, knock off the rust, or however else you want to characterize it. They are due a better shooting performance for sure, and if they did really recapture whatever defensive Mo Jo that they flashed on occasion during the season, I think we may get HC back and turn this baby around. Won't take long to test my theory on Friday.
I think this series would have gone 7 with the teams trading wins, meaning Houston would win out in the end...now, I think Houston threw away their best shot by losing game 1. Noe, trading wins leaves them losing game 7. I don't think they can win two in a row, unless CP is out again tomorrow.
The rockets need a split in LA. I see the clips coming out strong in game 3, but game 4 is tricky. If they get that split, I think the series is theirs for the taking. I think our role players also haven't been enough of a factor, look to them to splash in some shots.
