I have no doubt it is a 2 horse race in the West. Barring injury to Tmac, Yao or TD (I think the Spurs could still stay among the top record wise, but not win the title, without Manu), these are the only two teams that have the defense and half court offensive options to be elite NBA teams. That said, the problem is us and SA are in the same division, thus the #2 team record wise (us or the Spurs) gets 4th placement in the playoffs. The consequence of the 4 spot is squaring off against a respectable #5 seed in the 1st round (more wear and tear) and home court disadvantage in round 2. I think for the Rockets to have a great chance, they need the #1 seed. But at minimum, they need to stay very close all season. Getting off to a great start is key to this. Even if we fail at the #1 by a couple of games, it does a couple of other things. One, gives us confidence we are right there with SA, and two it will keep SA pressing to keep up the whole season with extending TD and their largely older players as part of their core (TD, Finley, Bowen, Barry). Even if we can't make them develop chronic injuries, we can make them hurt and tire. All part of the young pups letting the old dogs know, and feel in their bones, their time is over. And when it is over, it is over (remember when Jordan’s Chicago team finally beat Detroit). IMO too many pundits have dismissed that we could knock the Spurs off, this year. So seriously folks, don’t worry about how the Mavs, Suns, Sonics or Nugs are doing. We have only 1 team in the West to measure ourselves with and they are 200 miles west. This IS the only real story in the WC, have the Rockets arrived. We will know if we are close if we are pressing the Spurs and they show it.
we BETTER knock off the Spurs this year. It makes me puke that the Spurs have more Championships than we do. its about Rockets pride. if you are a Spurs fan, you are not a Rockets fan. if you say you are both, then you are ABSOLUTELY NOT a Rockets fan. we can't let a midwest rival, and texas rival be better than us. back in the day, true Oilers fans HATE the Cowboys. no matter how many times they choked. Popovich is NOT a better coach than Rudy T. Robinson or Duncan can't touch Hakeem. Tony Parker may have a nicer looking girlfriend, but he's not Cassell. Ginobli IS NOT as good as MAXWELL. Horry is not better or worse than himself. HOUSTON is a MUCH BETTER CITY than San Antonio.
Where did this outburst even come from? Not all that related.. though yes, I do hate the Spurs. It's weird, cause I don't really dislike any of the players. I like Duncan and Ginobili, and I'm even starting to not hate Parker as much. Still hate the team though.. Plus, gotta compare Parker to Kenny.. and gotta compare their bench to our's at the time (if you wanna go through all of it). Off topic, but I disagree on the thing...true Oilers fans didn't necessarily hate Dallas fans b/c it was AFC/NFC, not even same conf., much less same div. like the Spurs or Jazz.
If I recall correctly, the second round and beyond is all based on record. So if we get the 2nd best record in all of the WC behind the Spurs, then yes we will be the #4 seed. But once we get to the 2nd round the home field goes to the team with the best record. Is this not so?
Well, I can say that I'm a Rockets fan through-and-through. But I sure as hell respect the Spurs. They have put together an awesome team and will be tough for anyone to beat on the way to the NBA Finals. The Mavericks, on the other hand? Love Dirk's game. Hate his flopping. Can't stand Mark Cuban (although I can also appreciate his enthusiasm, even if he is a glorified jock-sniffer). Hate the Mavs. Respect the Spurs. LOVE THE ROCKETS.
I love Horry. He's probably the only player in history that is allowed to turn it on during the playoffs.
Yes, but the pairing is still according to the seeding, which will very likely force us to face the Spurs in the 2nd round instead of the WCF.
I'm sorry, but Tinman, that was funny!! I read that and it sounded like you were having an argument with another personality or something. Very Funny. By the way, not sure that home court advantage helps us. Doesn't the crowd at the TC usually suck really bad? I don't know, I've never even been to Houston (please don't hate, I'm a poor college student trapped in Wisconsin, originally from Pennsylvania), but I read here on the BBS about how much our crowds suck. I don't really get to watch a lot of games either due to work and school commitiments, so basically I rely on R2K's videos he puts together to get me through the season, so I often really struggle to gain a grasp on what's going on on the court most of the time and how the crowd reacts.
Does not matter 1 or 4,to advance to the western conference final, Spur and Rockets have to face each other.
Ditto for everything, except I can't stand Jirk. One of the reasons I like the Spurs (beyond the players and Pop) is because San Antonio is such a rinky dink town they need something to root for. Besides Salt Lake City, I like it when small market teams do well. Also like the Spurs because they are old ABA. For some reason, I do not feel the same way about the Nuggets or Nets.
Small market teams can have the most arrogant, annoying, fans though because that is the only game in town (Spurs, Kings, Jazz). I used to like the Spurs 2nd to the Rockets. Gervin, Gilmore, rocken nasty hemisphere arena. The "Little Mermaid" era ended that, and it has only gotten worse. DR and AJ even chased away their last hope to return to being badasses, Dennis Rodman, only for him to go help the Bulls win 3 strait on a team/city big enough and tolerant enough, to handle him. Now the Spers fans sound like whiney school girls, the best cat call they can come up with is 3 syllabull "Go....Go". The team/arena/environment has become so sterile, so boring, and the fans so arrogant. Makes me want to puke.
What, larger market teams don't as well? I hate Laker and Knick fans just as much if not more than I do the small market fans. Spurs and Mavericks fans can blow me though. Seriously, how can you be a fan of the Mavs. I mean, yeah, Cuban's an ass which is cool, but past that... Flopitzki? Dampi'manassclownpier? I don't even remember who else is on their team. I went back and forth on Finley. Terry's a good player that didn't run his mouth, but seriously. They're going to suck with first Nash and now Finley gone.
Tinman is right. we have slid back in the race for the most championships. celtics - 16 lakers - not sure, but a lot bulls - 6 pistons - 3 spurs - 3 ROX - 2 knicks - 2 a set of back to back's would make us the 4th most successful franchise of all time.
It still feels like someone insulted your manhood when you realize the spurs have more championships.
