We've all seen the posts declared the Rox wouldn't go anywhere when they lost 4 in a row; we also saw posts claim the Rox can win it all after the LA/SAC games. Now, it's the reality checking time. Based on the remaining schedule for the teams currently in No.5 to No. 9, which team do you think will be left out the playoff? The Rox has the most road games, which is not a good news based on their record in the 1st half. Tomorrow's game against the Wolves will be HUGE. The Lakers are only TWO(2) games behind the Suns in loss column, with Shaq playing into his shape, I believe they will overtake the Jazz for the 5th seed. Bad news for the Timberwolves that Joe Smith is injuired. He has been playing real well for them, is a inside force. Eventually, this will be the reason the Wolves won't make the playoff. My prediction for the final order after 82th game is as following, 5. Lakers -- getting better with Shaq in better shape 6. Utah -- very consistent, just as the 1st half season 7. Suns -- better team with Penny back, easy schedule 8. Rockets -- bad road team, good home team 9. Minnesota -- KG won't be enough with J. Smith out Utah (28-19) ------------------------------- 35 games remaining, 17 road games; 21 games against winning teams, 10 on the road. Minnesota (28-20) ------------------------------- 34 games remaining, 16 road games; 18 games against winning teams, 9 on the road. Phoenix (28-21) ------------------------------- 33 games remaining, 15 road games; 18 games against winning teams, 9 on the road. Houston (26-20) ------------------------------- 36 games remaining, 21 road games; 20 games against winning teams, 13 on the road. LA Lakers (22-23) ------------------------------- 37 games remaining, 19 road games; 21 games against winning teams, 10 on the road.
...at least, A-Train is consistent with his Rox prediction BTW, based on the 1st half road record (7-14), the Rox will have another 7-14 record. That means 48-34 for the season if they win all the home games. Man, it doesn't look good, unless they start winning on the road!
Unfortunately the Rockets are the youngest team of the bunch, AND have the toughest schedule. It will be hard with both of those factors going against them.
The Rockets will get KILLED with the road schedule coming up. 3 games in 4 days at Boston, NY, and Washington 3 games in 5 days at New Jersey, Milwaukee, and Philly ....and the clincher - 5 games in 7 days at Seattle, Portland, Golden State, Sacramento, and the Clip Joint... not to mention back-to-backs at the Lakers and the Suns, at Detroit and Toronto, and at Minnesota and Cleveland...six road back-to-backs in all. All those losses to crappy teams will come back to haunt us...
If the Rockets could somehow finish up 31-10 at home (12-3 finish), they may have a shot. Could be tough with the lack of homecourt advantage at Compaq Center though. That would enable them to go 7-14 in their final 21 road games and still get to 45-37. Hopefully 45 wins is enough this year.
Here is the road record so far, 1st half Remaining Road games Prejected results Utah: 11-13 17 8--9 Lakers: 7--15 20 7--13 Phoenix: 9--17 15 5--10 Houston: 7--13 21 7--14 Minnesota:10-15 16 6--10 I looks like LA, Houston, and Min will fight for the last two spots. I really think the Lakers will get a big winning steak(10+) to end up at 5 seed.
If the Rockets stick to what they've done in the last two games for the reast of the season, then they make the playoffs. That's the '03 season in a nutshell. Next test, can they take the new act on the road. Will the real Rockets please stand up?
I think the Rockets will make the playoffs. But they are going to lose tomorrow's game. The Rockets have been great at home. But I'm not sure they can do it on the road. If they win tomorrow...BIG...we can make the playoffs. We could move up to #5 if we win the next two games and Utah loses.
Here's a different response. The Rockets are just starting to gel as team with Yao. They will finish with a great record and overtake everyone for the second best record in the West but be seeded 3rd by rules of division champs get 1 and 2 seeds. They will take out LA in the first round in 4. And if they do manage to struggle on the road and have to fight off LA for playoff positioning it would help for the Rockets to win 1 of the next 2 against LA to essentially gain an extra game on them by winning the tie-breaker. Right now LA is 3.5 games back, with the tie-breaker that would be 4.5. Big difference. Oh, I almost forgot. As soon as we trade for Eduardo Najera we will win the championship. Hehe, just kidding but he is a nice player that's injured actually so that would be dumb.
Huge difference! That would be rather nice. Wow! It could happen. Just watch tomorrow's game... Anything is possible!
I don't think you can read too much into splits (e.g., road WL to predict future road WL), and it is not like the schedule difficutly should make more than a couple of games difference (2 maybe over 35 games). Thus it is up to who plays better and who does not over stretches more so than who plays who where. I think one of Phx, Hou and Utah will fail--in that order of likelihood. I think Minn with KG as always and with Wally back are less likely to skid--I would not be that surprised if they finished above the Lakers.
If the Rockets establish Ming on the road like they did at home, the should be in those games to win them. Its no one on the schedule that should overwhelm the rockets. Get the ball inside and work from there and the team will be just fine. When the guards go off on tangents and try to win the games by themselves, thats when they have problems.
I won't say the Rockets have more talent than the Minnesota. The Wolves have two all stars in KG & Wally, a former No.1 pick in J. Smith. I don't know the status of Brandon for this season, he will be a huge fact if he comes back this season.
