The way things shape up, it is VERY likely that Rockets and Lakers finish 8th and 9th in the West. Sacto, Dallas and Portland are locks for the plaayoffs. Spurs are a lock barring an injury to Duncan. After what I saw yesterday, I think Phoenix is right there too. They played on back-to-back after a tough OT loss at SA yet they were very tough to beat. Utah is playing great, and they have played 4 more road games than home games. I see Houston, Minny and LA battling out for the last 2 spots. That makes all the games between the three very important. If Rockets win tomorrow they ensure at least a tie in the head-to-head and push the lead to 5 1/2 games. I know LA is turning it up, but it will make life very tough for them vis-a-vie the Rox if they lose tomorrow.
Phoenix ain't going no where come playoff time. Their defense sucks. They couldn't stop Steve and Mobley last night. Yao got 4 feet chip shots all night long (though he missed majority of them). They have 3 great offensive telent, but no defense. LA is still the best team. All of their problems are self-inflicted (and maybe the zone defense). If they kept on shooting themself in the foot, they won't make the playoff even if we lose tomorrow night. The converse is true also. But still, tomorrow night is important.
Penny being out will definitely hurt Phoenix. I think they are going to fall off alot. That little b**** Marbury is not one to lead a team to the playoffs. All he cares about are personnal accolades. Their team defense is pretty damn pathetic.
Well, we normally match well against the Lakers, so we should be able to have a good game. As for it being must win, sure it would be nice but I would not consider it a MUST win.
There's no way ANY game in January is a 'must win'. However, I do agree that there's more incentive for the Rockets to win this particular game than usual. But it won't be too big a deal even if they lose.
its as "must win" as a january game could be. a win would send a serious message out and could be vital when playoff positioning is concerned. in that respect, the win over the suns was huge. i think we will prevail. posey is the key factor here, as i believe they will put him on kobe and allow mobley to focus on offense. and again i shall say that yao ming will shock the world. shaq will still get his, no question, but i think that yao is going to do alot better than people are saying. its gonna be a great game!
it is a must win game because the lakers have started building some momentum. the rockets have to show they can stop the defending champions as they are starting to roll. its a must win game for the lakers so the rockets better consider it a must win game too.
Lakers lose to Golden State. It's looking more and more likely the Rockets will finish ahead of LA. We are 5 games ahead in the loss column and are at least tied in the head-to-head. The Lakers, meanwhile, are through with the soft patch in their schedule. They have New Jersey, Phoenix and Sacto to close the month. Whether LA makes the playoffs will depend partially on uTah and Minny, but I believe the Rockets will fend them off. All due to the great game of Jan 17th...
I don't think any game right now is a must win, and to say we'll be battling for for the 7 and 8 spot only is ludicrous. We're only 3 games back of being the #3 seeded team for petes sakes, and granted we've played some ugly ball as of late, it's no reason to scream bloody murder. My personal observation of it all, is Francis had a big game against the Lakers, and has been trying to do too much since. He's forcing a lot of bad shots and hasn't been getting the other teammates involved. Granted we are a big ISO offensive team, we still play around the team better then what's been displayed the past couple of nights. I also notice Rudy is trying to implement some more set plays that I don't think our team is comfortable with yet, and that's a big reason for so many of the high turnovers. When our set plays aren't working, I've noticed Francis gets frustrated and becomes a ball hog and tries to become a one man army against our opponents defense. Needless to say that's been a big negative for the rest of the team. We'll pick it up again though. You guys just have to realize we got a lot of growing pains to endure over these next few seasons, and need to simply look the other way when we play like garbage, but realize there's so much unwritten potential in our team, no one really knows how good we can be, but we all know we have the potential to be championship contenders eventually. The best part is, when this season is all said and over with, we'll have an off season to let Yao bulk up, let our team gel more, pick up some players to fit in the missing pieces of the puzzle for this ball club, and improve that much more. Have patience guys. We'll get there eventually. Not everything happens overnight.
I look at it this way. The Lakers will make the playoffs, somehow. they are the champs, and frankly they are still too good not to. So the Rockets, although 7th right now in the playoff standings, are really eighth right now becuase the Lakers will find a way to get in the playoffs. In the end, the Rockets, Timberwolves, Suns, and even the Sonics are battling for only two playoff spots.
I am not so sure Lakers will find a way and apparently a lot of Lakers fans don't think so either. You guys think that we are bashing our Rox team too much on this board. Well, the radio talk shows here in LA are so down on the Lakers that you'd think the season is already over.
