So we had heaps of problems with the Suns, but now that we have got faster, and more atheletic I dont think they are going to pose as a big problem as before. I think that when we play them, its going to even steven in terms of the our chance of wininng Spurs will always pose a problem with thier dribble penetration, whether we can keep up with manu and parker will determine whether we can win the game. Also if TD gets Yao into foul trouble, I think we can kiss our chance good bye SO what are the teams do you guys think that will give us the most trouble?? and what teams wont pose as much trouble to our current roster as they use to???
I dont know if theres any one specific team that comes to mind besides maybe Dallas.....and thats only because just about everybody on their roster can shoot. All I know is having Shane Battier on our teams helps us match up with everybody much better then we used to.
I think it will be much better to have a poll, besides, wasn't there one like this about which team would prevent us from getting the championship?
I can't believe Charlotte is not a poll option. Since their inception, the Bobcats have beaten the Rockets 3 out of 4 times, all in overtime. Like it or not, a rivalry is in the making. BTW, Pacers are a bad choice. For what I am concerned, they are quite irrelevant and non-threatening.
Can we change the poll?? it only has 10options otherwise I would have put down the bobcats even though i thought those 3 games that they won are flukes Rockets cannot loose to any Weak teams in the upcoming season, we can not afford to loose our guard
I disagree. We are the biggest challenge to the Suns, not the other way around. Simply because we've shown that, when healthy, we can throw a wrench into their engine. Also because Yao is by far the better player in head-to-head matchups with Amare and now, Yao is better than before, and Amare is (at best) the same. I've heard on a few boards that Battier does well against Marion as well. I think the Spurs are the biggest problem. Unless Head can use his speed to stay in front of Manu, the other defenders won't be able to keep up with him.
For real ... everyone picking Phoenix because they blew us out a couple of times last year. We are now fast and athletic enough on the perimeter to hang with Phoenix and stop their perimeter game, we have more than enough shooting ability to hang with them, AND we have a tremendous advantage in the low post. Phoenix should be *afraid* of meeting us this season. The Spurs could cause some problems with their dribble penetration, but I'm concerned about Detroit as well -- they still have a size advantage and depth at the 4 that we might have trouble matching up with (Sheed and Dyess). Although, at the same time, they no longer have the elite post defender in Big Ben they used to have, so we could exploit that against them.
Teams that have great backcourts or a dominating backcourt player will give us the most problems. Our defense in the backcourt is a question mark. At this stage, none of the guards we have are proven lock down defenders. David Wesley was probably a better defender than any guard we have and even he wasn’t good enough. I’m hopeful that Luther can develop into a stopper. A team not on that list that could give us problems is Minnesota with Foye and James in the backcourt.
I agree with New Jack. We'll never have a serious problem matching up with frontcourts, but a good backcourt will give us headaches. Battier will help guard some of the 2-guards, but he is probably too slow to keep with a good number of them. Maybe V-Span can turn into a good guard stopper, once he learns JVG's defensive sets.
DING-DING-DING...we have a winner folks. These little truisms are a serious chink in the "Win Now" armor.
I'm not sure how backcourt issues are a "chink in the 'Win Now' armor'. That would've still been an issue if we hadn't traded Gay, perhaps moreso. Battier serves us better as far as defending guards than Rudy does. Wells can also help in being a good guard defender, especially under JVG.
I say Phoenix cause if they can force their running game on us, then Yao will tire out too quickly. However, in the playoffs teams forced the suns into a half court game and if the rockets can figure out how to do that, they will beat the suns.
