[OregonLive.com] Houston, we have a problem:Rockets a bad playoff matchup for Blazers

what do you mean by that, are you saying that the Rox can't beat the Jazz all of a sudden and that I was right, and you are a hypocrite

 

well, at least SOMEONE fears us

 

Like one of the Blazers fans in another forum said when asked why he was afraid of the Rockets in the playoffs:

"They're one of the few teams in the West that can take Roy away from us. That's scary. Plus they're one of the few teams that gets much better production from the Center spot. They're just a bad matchup for us. We could beat them, but I'd feel a whole lot better against the Hornets or Jazz, or even the Spurs or Nuggets."

 

Yeah, the playoffs (at least for a team like ours) is all about who we end up facing. For the teams like the Lakers, Cavs, and Celtics it matters a whole lot less who they play and in what round-though it still does matter.

Of course you all know that the Jazz are a bad matchup for us; it's not that we can't beat them, especially if we end up with the higher seed, it's that they have a genuinely better chance of beating us than, say, the Mavs/Nuggets/Blazers... not only do they match up with us well, they have something of a mental edge over us having beaten us the way they have the past two 1/2 seasons.

I personally would rather play the freakin' Spurs without homecourt than the Utah Jazz with homecourt, but my ideal matchup for us, especially in round 1, is Portland. Definitely. It's pretty clear, looking at the recent history and just the way our players strengths play up to Portland's weaknesses, the view that portland is an ideal matchup in the playoffs is not just my own observation from months ago but a general consensus-so let's hope they do fall to us.

If they don't... I think we can beat any playoff opponent not named the Spurs, Lakers, or Jazz outright, and I still think we have a 50/50 chance vs. the Jazz and Spurs and a fighter's chance to upset the Lakers. Either way, let's all hope for that long awaited exit from round 1... I have a lot more faith in that happening this year than last-that's for sure.

...Yet, how freaking awesome would it be to finally get out of round 1 against those hated Jazz? You know, really hand it to em good in 6 games or less; now that would be sweet, but let's save humiliating the Jazz for round 2 or later. That way if they beat us again, at least we'll have seen our Rockets move to round 2 for a change!

 

nope, never heard of it...

Anyway, good read!

 

The Rockets have, by far, THE best perimeter defensive unit out there. You aren't going to jack up shots on this team. The only weakness on the perimeter is Brooks being potentially posted up or shot over. I don't think we have to worry about that with Blake.

 

well at least someone is scared of us.

 

Don't get me wrong, it's flattering that out-of-town sports writers are recognizing our superiority and don't want to play us. I still think this was a weak "matchups" article, though.

If your goal is to write about the matchups why not actually do so? I'm sorry but using half-assed blurbs like "Artest is too strong" or making a reference to Brooks' Oregon routes does little for me in terms of breaking down the actual contest between the two teams.

A "matchups article" should talk about strategy, tendencies and keen observations. Not half-assed blurbs and record regurgitation headlined by the overused and annoying "Houston, we have a problem...." phrase.

 

its pretty simple Roy is a really good and crafty player but he isnt at the same level of a kobe, wade or lebron or even joe johnson at the wing spot.

roy is athletic but not nearly as strong or as athletic as those players, the way I see it Roy is really really good at everything a wing player should do but he isnt great at any one single thing. he isnt as strong, quick, explosive as the other elite wing shooters. The one thing he lacks is a solid post game that others like pierce, kobe, lebron, johnson have used to their advantage.

anyways my point is that even though he is an all-star and I would have loved if the Rockets had him, I think Battier and Artest can really be able to force him into a lot of inefficient scoring nights.

Yao will own oden and pryzbilla neither of them are a threat to score the ball from the outside so that plays to the advantage of yao. and neither can stop yao from scoring...pryzbilla has learnt to become one of the league's most overlooked floppers though.

lastly aldridge is their biggest offensive weapon but even if chuckwagon doesnt score more than 2 points a game he can hold alridge down well below his averages...i think it has become almost a mental thing with aldridge and chuck guarding him.

rudy, blake, outlaw are great role guys but if they main weapons are shut down only outlaw can really step in to shoulder the scoring load for one of the two blazers stars consistently


so yeah i do think the rockets would love to see portland in the first round but who knows what may happen in the next 10 days.

 

Sorry,

But i'm not biting into the BS Cookie that's being passed around....

Couple of things...

1) Playoffs are totally different than regular season and young players tend to forget about what happened in the regular season.

2) The Rockets have yet to prove that they can get out of the first round... All this crap on paper (like stats) are BS...

3) The Trailblazers have one of the greatest Intangibles... Nate McMillian.. The guy is one helluva coach and unlike a lot of coaches he will adjust and improvise to the situation. I guarantee you he will have his guys thinking that bullets will bounce off of them.

This team reminds me a lot of the young magic team that made it to the finals.

So you guys go ahead and start looking at the 2nd round, but i'm going to sit back and see what happens in the 1st round.

 

Feels good to be feared for once.

 

Sure is.

Its nice to hear teams talk about us, like we talk about the Jazz. They better believe we own the Blazers.

 

I'm not afraid of Nate's coaching. You have some all-time great coaches in the WC playoffs, and then you have Nate McMillan. Pop, Karl, Carlisle, Scott, Jackson, Sloan and Adelman. McMillan is far down on that list.

 

They said the same thing about the lil general in Dallas....

Never under estimate your opponent...

 

I'm confused now, was it losing a rock/paper/scissors game that cost us a 2nd round appearance or the failures of JVG and T-Mac?

 

that would be sweet

 

Avery did suck, he just had a vastly superior team than us. Add that to the fact that JVG is also overrated and its no wonder we lost.

 

Against the blazers, pack the paint, let them shoot long bombs, and make sure chase down the boards, while we attack the rim or shoot wide open treys. This has been the winning formula against the Blazers.

 

All we are saying is that Blazers would be a easy match in the playoff. Anything can happen in the playoff, and nobody is underestimating the blazers. They are very good.

 

thats right !!!!!!