Would the Rockets be better off facing the Spurs in the 1st round of the playoffs? Rocks are 2-2 winning both away games and losing only when Bonzi didn't play. Even Jon Barry in his interview yesterday mentioned the Spurs as the Rocks best chance. So far against the Jazz Rocks are 1-1 but the W didn't involve Yao who I feel doesn't match up well against Boozer and Okur. That said the most desirable aspect of dropping down to 6th seed is that the Rocks can potentially avoid the Suns totally in the playoffs even if the Rocks can make it to the WCF. Who do you want the Rocks to face in the first round?
suns are 2nd and they will beat denver or LA first round so 2nd round they will face the winner of the 3rd seed and the 6th seed which according to you will be rockets assuming they can beat the spurs in first round. I dont think this is necessarily better than meeting utah first round and dallas 2nd round
The Sixers. But if we're talking about good possibilities, its the Jazz. You people would be nuts to choose facing a championship team over one that hasn't made the playoffs the last few years, nevermind the second round. And no, the Spurs haven't lost it all, as they kindly reminded us last game.
Give me the Jazz everytime. The spurs have been there and done that in the playoffs and that scares me. I also think they get the benefit of the doubt from the refs.
It doesn't matter. But for the sake of argument I believe we pound Utah there in front of Jazzfan and in TC...We should have homecourt,but no worries either way.
have to choose utah over spurs even without homecourt advantage. The way the spurs are rolling now and with the experienced players all over there intact. I pick the jazz as long as rockets dont let sleeper derek fisher do something crazy in 4th quarters
Am I missing something? Under no circumstance would we play the Spurs in the 1st round unless we went on a huge losing streak while the Lakers went on a huge win streak.
Jazz are more inexperienced which is crucial in the Playoffs, a costly turnover here and there can be deadly.
jazz although their best positions are our weakest positions. i have nightmares of deron williams owning rafer alston, boozer having his way with j-ho, and okur shooting threes in yao's face.
Spur's best postions are our weakest, too. I have nightmares of Duncan owning J-Ho, and Parker owning Alston.
parker can only beat you off the dribble hes not much of an outside threat, but deron can beat you off the dribble, from the outside and he's a terrific facilitator. plus the way boozer's playing this year i think he'd be a tougher matchup than duncan.
The one loss against the Jazz, though with Yao and Tracy, was also with Shane starting at the PF...which was an expirement that lasted all of one game, and Boozer went to town. The Jazz is the Rockets best first round matchup outside of the 6-8 seeds. It's probably not a good idea, if you're a rockets fan, to be all giddy about playing them, though. The Rockets ahve advantages at SG/SF, C. The Jazz at PG, PF. And the Jazz are much closer at Center, imo, than the Rockets are at PF or PG. Add in the fact that the Rockets struggle the most when the opposing team has a PG that can dominate Rafer, and the Jazz could be trouble. That said, their style - half-court - plays into our hands, because their are few, if any, teams that are more effective in the half court than the Rockets (effective from an offensive and defensive standpoint). And, as good as their advantages are, only one team in that series will have Tracy McGrady, who despite failing to close out a series in 4 elimination games, has an amazing statline improvement in the playoffs, and is the only player on both team who can and has regularly hit clutch shots despite double and triple teams at the end of games. The Spurs would be the second best matchup of the 4 (Mavs, Suns, Spurs, Jazz) in that they have many of the same attributes as the Jazz, except a deeper bench and a much more experienced roster with players who know how to play and win in the clutch. I'd choose the Mavs after that, and the Suns last, though I think both teams would require near perfection out of this Rockets squad to have a chance.
i agree. many people here have already written the jazz off saying we'll beat them easily. that is simply not the case. the jazz have a much more balanced team from top to bottom than the rockets not to mention their passing has been superb all season. it'll be a tough series thats all im saying.
