People are sleeping on Portland. Yes if you by last year I can see why; but there is something different about them this year. And Nurkic is a beast, he’s going to be a problem for teams in the playoffs
Given OKC has the ability to really hurt us on the boards as well as defend Harden at a high level, they are the last team I would like to see. Portland, Denver, and Utah are more preferable. Gotta make the playoffs first, though...
I don't want to play OKC at all. 3 seed is important for us, Denver is a great matchup in favor of the Rockets. Let OKC play the warriors in the second round.
Portland, definitely. Because I'm only 90 minutes away and could see the Rox in person a few more times this year.
meh...I’d rather face Nurkic than Adams, and I’d rather face Dame and CJ than PG and Russ...I’d rather face Portland’s defense than OKC’s
The Rockets hilariously bad losses might be the difference between the WCF and a quick first round exit.
I was thinking about this earlier in the season, and I'm sure it's crossed the minds of CP, Harden. But the amount of teams vying for the 8th spot in the extremely tough WC, a bit too high risk for the not so high reward.
Ideal Seeding (realistic-ish) 1. Warriors 2. Nuggets 3. Rockets 4. OKC 5. Blazers 6. Spurs 7. Jazz 8. Kings 1st round highlights) A) MDA gets to exorcise his Demons vs. Pop in an overmatch that MDA has never had the privilege of having. B) Nuggets have to play the Jazz who would be a tough out, setting up Round two if we got there with a team who just faced a tough opponent. C) Warriors would be playing a team that is reminiscent of the Warriors who ousted the Mavericks in the oughts. 2nd Round Highlights assuming higher seeds win the whole way through. A) Warriors face a team that could seriously challenge them in the Thunder. At the very least, the Thunder are playing a 6 game series with high intensity and physicality. B) We get the Nuggets who have been exhausted. WCF assuming we upset the Nuggets and the Warriors move on. The Warriors have actually faced two worthy opponents prior to matching up with us for the first time in our matchups. I think the Warriors still win but it gives us a puncher's chance.
I'd much rather play Portland than the Thunder. The Blazers are good, but they don't do much in the playoffs. In the last 4 postseasons, they've won one playoff series. And that was only because the Clippers lost Blake Griffin and CP3 to injury(in the same game, no less). They've been swept out of the first round the past 2 years, despite having home court advantage against the Pelicans last year. And yes, I know OKC has flamed out the last 2 years in the first round including in 2017 to the Rockets. But this year's Thunder is actually a respectable team at both ends of the floor. They have the kind of size that can cause problems for us. Mind you, I'd still favor the Rockets in a playoff matchup and Westbrook could always go into hero mode in the 4th quarter and tank their chances. But if you give me the choice, I take the Blazers with no hesitation.
Playing Dame is annoying because he can go 0 for 8 then suddenly knock down 10 shots in a row. That said, it won't be as dangerous as playing PG and OKC. George is definitely playing at an MVP level this year and even Russ has had a pretty bad year, he's picked it up lately and he always go into an extra gear playing against Harden. OKC basically has a roster full of guys that can run and dunk. It'll be annoying af trying to guard them in the paint. The problem with facing POR first is we'll run into the Warriors in round 2 but maybe that's not such a bad thing because we'll have to play them eventually, better early with CP3 healthy than later. Nonetheless, our goal should still be to secure at top 4 seed so we have "home court". If a miracle happens and we get the 3rd, as long as we don't fact the Spurs in round 1, I'll sleep well at night. Pop just has D'antoni's number year after year.
Not unprecedented. The 1993 Rockets lost to the 11-71 Mavericks in their 2nd-to-last game of the regular season which cost them home court in the 2nd round and resulted in a Game 7 overtime loss at Seattle.
Need a 3rd seed or higher whoever we face. Not willing to put this team on the same level as the Hakeem-and-Clyde-led second championship team, the only team in the post-merger era to win it all with lower than a 3rd seed. At least, let's start with the data somewhat on our side. Can't form an opinion on these two specific teams. Ideally, I'd say you want to play the easier team first, so you have more leeway to collect some data on your own playoff performances and adjust accordingly...but we'd need a coach that, um, does that. The fatalist in me says just bring on the harder matchup first, so we don't waste time seeing where the chips are going to fall. Yeah, we'll go with that. And the team will probably be at its healthiest going into the first round, so we shouldn't waste that. You guys can continue to figure out who's the actual harder matchup, and I'll take them in the first round.
It is really hard to say at this point. Right now, I am just wishing for: 1) Health 2) Getting House back. Let's see where things stand in late March.
Yeah, I mean I expect the March 24th return. But, we'll see about the rotation. I'd feel better if he was locked up in a multi-year deal where the Rockets are more willing to develop him and have him a rotation guy versus not locked up and perhaps just used in case of emergencies.
Yes, it's not like they play just like us, it's more like they are a very good offensive team lacking on defense.
