Shame on anyone who picks against the Rockets on this board! You Have To Believe. Rockets in 4, 5, 6 or 7- makes no difference. They will find a way to win. Last year, I picked the Rockets at the 7th seed. This year, I picked the Rockets for #5 at the beginning of the year. This series? Rockets in 6. So it is said, so it shall be done.
i don't understand why people think our recent streak means we're hotter than dallas. or why we have chemistry and they don't. or why they'll give up on their style at the first sign of adversity. they've won 57 games this year and might get to 58 (the same as we won during our first championship, btw). they've won 8 in a row currently, which edges our streak. and they're 15-2 under avery. who knows what happens in the playoffs, but all these ifs about their mental state seem a bit silly considering their recent dominance.
yeah, their weakness is only a coach who has lead them to a 15-2 record since he took over for don nelson and a person who has reduced their pts allowed from 98 pts to 91. if thats a weakness, i'll take that any day and 10 times over. the rockets really don't have much of a chance here. as a mavs fan, i expect the games to be tough and close for the most part, but the blind faith you guys put in van gundy is a little misguided i think. i agree with the assessment that yao is the third best player in this series, but the notion that the houston bench is better or has better chemistry than the mavs is simply uninformed garbage. the mavs chemistry from the bench has been the single strongest high point of this season aside from the emergence of dirk as a leader. stackhouse a known cancer in the league before coming to the mavs, has blended in beautifully with them, and has not complained once. the bench edge seriously favors the mavs and i think if you ask any objective fan (ie non mavs or rockets fan) then they would agree with that assessment as well.
Uh...yeah. They played real well in that 90-69 point blowout when they had to step up with Dirk out. The fact is you guys haven't been able to touch us since the Wesley trade(like most teams).
funny stuff. and a really selective memory. we played without dirk, damp, and finley that game if i recall correctly. take 40+ points from your starting lineup and see how well you do against other teams. you try playing any team without tmac, yao, and whatever other spare you want to call your third best player and then we'll talk.
Even though I have no respect for Mavs fans , I do agree with you here. I think people on this board are underestimating AJ. On paper, he's nobody as a coach, compared to JVG. But his records speaks for itself. They didn't pick him to succeed Nellie for no reason.
I'm not the one hyping up the bench as the strong point of the team, if it's as tough as you say that game should've been a lot more competitive than it was(franchise low in points scored? Strongest point indeed ) , you overestimate your team's qualities just like most of the Dallas fans are doing.
If I were the Mavs, I'd spend the doubles necessary to force the ball out of McGrady's hands and make our 3-point shooters beat them. Because our shooters can go cold, brothers, and we've seen stretches of, say, 7 games in the regular season when that just killed us. This is my biggest fear in the playoffs: We have to hit 3's at a reasonable level in four consecutive 7-game series. One bad stretch and we're screwed.
this is a great example of being completely short sighted and failing to analyze anything. the mavs are built around dirk on offense and dampier on defense. they rely on finley for perimeter jumpshooting. as great as the players the mavs have on the bench are, they are not interchangeable parts with dirk, dampier, and finley. if you want to use that single game as proof that the mavs bench stinks, then i'll use these stats: in the four games, the rockets have played the mavs this season, the rockets bench has been outscored by the mavs 124 to 70. the mavs have more assists from the bench 38 to 27. the mavs have more steals: 11 to 7 the mavs have more blocks:10 to 6 the only advantages are the rockets are slightly rebounding the ball better from the bench: 63 to 56 and they turn the ball over a slightly lower number of times: 16 to 14. take any team and remove the players they are built around, and see how well they do. before you begin talking smack, find a game where tmac, yao, and david wesley (or any other comparable player to finley) were out, and see how well the rockets did.
Wow you sure have a lot of time on your hands...it took you awhile to amass those stats didn't it? It's odd that you point out that the Rox are slightly better rebounders and protect the ball better...hmmm last time I looked that's what won championships(that and our great D) not how much you score...hell the Mavs have proven that plenty of times in the past years. The mavs are doing well because they're finally playing good D....we play GREAT D. Your team is built around Dirk offensively? So when he goes to the bench your team sucks and shouldn't be accountable? That's what you're basically saying. Oh, but the bench is the 'strongest point of the mavs'. Honestly, you guys are tough and have been playing great lately, but you have no high percentage post game(don't give me that Dampier crap, Yao isn't the same guy he's faced this year, plus he's still recovering), no shot blocker, a good but not great D...and all the scoring you guys normally do isn't going to be as easy in the playoffs. I'm glad you've analyzed everything without bias, you know how short sighted us Rocket fans can be...
True. This is the only hope I got. In my opinion, Mavs are much better team then suns because they have much better guards in Finley, Stack, Terry and Harris. Bradley has been playing allright lately, so he could be the problem, too. Anyways... wrong deceisons is what I am counting on. Sometimes you need to have general on the court, not by the court.
coaching does not win you ball games.... players do.... i hate relating wins to coaches.... these guys are all professionals and there is only so much you can say.... so forget this Van Gumpy Vs. Rookie Avery thing. Dallas has the better team by far... we have a decent team... though we have too many holes in the line up... we don't have a true point guard.... plus the PF position is one of the worst in the league.... i pointed out earlier that Houston has inside D problems other than Yao... your rebuttle was what about Deke...well when you have him on you don't have Yao.... so my point still stands..if you anything about weak side D...you would understand.... in the west if you wanna win you need a good front court....and we just are not there yet.... only way Houston wins is if Yao takes his game to the next level.
I understand that everyone here has an opinion about something about this serious, but really it all comes down to which team executes and which team plays the hardest. I truly believe that both of these teams are equally matched, they are deeper, we are more experienced, better coached IMO, and we have Tmac and if Yao shows up, then we have 2 of the more dominant players in the league. I am not at bit worried about Finley, Its Terry and his outside shooting and Stackhouse, I mean I know the guy wants to win, and Dirk, Bowen will have to hassel him 7 games long. I hope he can do it.
Fun fact: Record since January 10th: Mavericks: 35-14 Rockets: 33-14 Chuck out the first two months of adjustment, and these two teams are neck and neck. Buckle up!
I agree with most of Jeff's analysis but there is a problem with it, namely his under estimation of the Dallas bench. I have seen Dallas play several times this year and their bench is deep. No mention of Marquis Daniels, Darrell Armstrong or Devin Harris. Marquis averages almost double figures off the bench and he had 9 assists last night against Seattle. (You will likely wonder why his name was left off after watching the series as well.) Armstrong provides defensive intensity and is definitely better than the Rockets 3rd string PG. Harris ranks near the top in the NBA in steals and was ROM in Nov. The place where the Rocket's bench is the clear winner is in the middle, other than that, the Mavs have edge. It should be a great series and a close one since both teams will let you back in a game. My heart says Houston in 7 but my head says Mavs in 6.
True, but Dallas' record doesn't reflect their current team. Stackhouse, Daniels, and Dampier missed a month and a half each since then and KVH didn't join the team until late February. Not to mention that they have had a new coach for the last month. If you want a good comparison, I would look at the two teams records over the last month.
