There is no question in my mind that Portland has more talent on their team. Player for player they are better. Brandon Roy is a beast! After Kobe and Lebron who is better. You might throw Wade and Paul maybe D Williams but all of those are debatable. They have 2 top ten centers on their team that match up well with Yao and then Aldridge can pop in. Speaking of Aldridge, he is the best jump shooting power forward in the league his 15 footers are like layups. And then they have shooters like Outlaw and that Spanish 3 point ace off the bench who are killers. There are only 3 reasons why this series isn’t already over. First they had no clue how to play a playoff and were shocked opening night. They quickly recovered from slap in the face reality check and the real blazers have showed upi since. Secondly the one area we have a real edge is at the point and that has been exploited. Third while they may be more talented. We are playing harder and smarter. I have never seen a Rockets team leave it all on the court like that. Not ever. Not to take anything against Ron Ron the Warrior. But it has actually been guys like Scola and Battier and Lowry who are playing tougher. And Yao is commited to doing whatever it takes as well. SO why bring up all of this now. Because we have a 3-1 lead and are headed to Portland for game 5. Our Rockets need to come out with the killer instinct and put an end this monster teams season and give no room for hope. I was worried about game 4 but somehow we pulled it out and now we have a chance to close them out. And that is what we must do. Treat this like game 7 with everything on the line and somehow scrape and fight and beat this beast down! We can not give them hope. We barely won the last 2 games and now we must finish business and not give them that ray for hope! No one well play us tougher. The lakers might out shoot us for wins but they won’t fight us the way Oden and pryzbilla and Roy do. SO we have to fight back even harder and even more smarter. And maybe we come out with a victory. Maybe. But if we don’t they will come back TC with life and confidence. Before this series started I would have never given the Blazers a chance to beat us 3 games in a row. I thought we were just a little bit better and were more experienced and worked harder. I still believe the latter 2 or true But Roy single handedly gives them the edge on talent. So we must not give them a chance to breath. We've got them down and now it’s time to kill these pesky beasts. This game 7 time mentality. We must trat this game as if our playoff lives depended on it. Because it very well may. It is win or go home for the Blazers. Let send them fishing and eliminate these tough bastards on Tuesday!
Portland does not have more talent than us. Past Brandon Roy and Aldridge we have dominated them. Silly post.
I agree - mostly. I didn't see us going up 3-1 on the Blazers, I fully expected 2-2 RIGHT up until Chuck drew that charge. That being said - I'm very wary of our ability to close it out. This next win will mean to much to the team and all of us that it seems almost elusive. I will not be able to relax about the Rockets until we've won game #4.
portland does NOT have more talent than us. our bench >>> their bench. however, with experience, they probably are better than us. if we played them 2 years from now with the same team, i don't know.
They have better shooters and athletic players than us. Too bad that doesn't always make a better team.
I think that's what they have over us - athleticism. Still, some continue to undercut our roster. Read it again: Yao-Scola-Landry-Battier-Artest-Brooks-Lowry-Wafer-Hayes-Barry.. that's a good team, with a lot of heart.
I think if they play this series again next year - the outcome is way, way different, and not in a good way for the good guys.
bahahah... i heard this crap from barkley last night and laughed. This is not true. They have two good players who put up numbers... keep them at bay and you win. Battier and Hayes proved this concept last night.
and that tells me we're nowhere improved in terms of reaching the elite level. however, i'm optimistic morey sees what we see and he'll make us better.
They need to use Rudy Fernandez more. He's hit clutch 3 after clutch 3, yet people like Steve Blake and Travis Outlaw keep taking the ones that matter.
Like Charles Barkley said... Portland is a jump shooting team. Outside of Brandon Roy, no one on the team gets easy and or open shots consistently. And those shots that are open are usually long jump shots. That is not playoff basketball. But, if the Blazers start attacking the basket... This thing could get interesting pretty fast. But they won't, and we'll win. GO ROCKETS!!!
You really had me going until "They have two top 10 centers". Yes they are young and talented but not even close to the elite teams (healthy) in the league. i.e. Lakers, Boston, Cleveland and Spurs. Lets see, other than Roy and Alidridge they don't have anyone consistent, really. We have lot more consistent role players than they do. We should be beating them a lot easier than this. There is a reason why we were favored to win the series despite their HCA and phenomenol home court record this season.
+100 The Trailblazers are killer and the Rockets have to go for the throat if that want any chance to win, as impossible as it may be, no way we can win on their home court. /reverse jinx
b/c they're "young and experienced." this is their first playoffs for most of them. they're slowly figuring it out, but it's too late. and to the OP, roy is VERY good and has superstar potential. but the reason he's going off too much is b/c artest is on him moreso than shane. artest just does not possess the lateral quickness to stay with roy off the pick and roll. shane can. i don't know why adelman hasn't made that change to put battier on him exclusively. and shane's killing him on D so roy gotta step up on that part.
I feel like it's wrong to just throw them in the group with "top ten centers." At best, one of them might be the 10th best center in the league tied with about 5 or 6 other hard-working centers that have little or no offensive game, and miles below most of the centers in front of them.
Ridiculous thread. The two teams have played 7 times this season, and the Rockets have won 5. Houston is definitely a better team. If by "talent" you mean athleticism, sure, the Blazers are more athletic. But if you take into account the full range of skills that encompass a basketball player, and a basketball team, the Rockets are better than the Blazers. A team built almost entirely on under-25 talent is not likely to advance deep into the playoffs. Of course, young guys are going to be at their athletic peaks, but they're lacking in hoops acumen. Give the Blazers a couple of years for their guys to grow up, to get a good blend of youth and experience, and they'll be a dangerous team. Right now, they seem fairly passive and somewhat rattled, outside of Brandon Roy.
