Why does it make everyone pissed that Stein doesn't see a dark horse? I can kinda see it from his perspective. Honestly, the championship is gonna come from that trio of teams.
Just like last year, when the 3 favored teams were the Mavericks, Spurs, and Pistons. Every pundit picked one of those 3. No one picked Miami.
That Bynum kid is crazy good for his age. A for instance: 11 pts, 16 rebounds, 7 blocks tonight versus Emeka Okafor tonight. I don't think quality big men are their problem.
I really like what you said here.. With the exception of maybe Dallas/Suns, I find this statement very true.
Sure he's good (for his age), and Kwame is actually playing better too. But that's still not enough for a championship run this year. Not by a long shot.
the more i look at it, Phil Jackson is the perfect coach for the Rockets. the triangle offense would render Rafer meaningless or at least have a substantially reduced role perhaps something like Fisher. the starting backcourt would probably be Snyder (Harper/Shaw) and T-Mac (Kobe/Jordan/Pippen all in one). Battier would have a Horry type role mixed with a little bit of Pippen. none of this standing around and watching T-Mac or Yao. Yao would play so much more at the high post and average over 5 assists a game. NOVAK AND VSPAN WOULD GET MINUTES! complete offensive/defensive liabilities would be hidden: Chuckie(Rodman/Samaki Walker), Juwan(Longley/A.C. Green), Head/Novak (Kerr/Rice). Bonzi would be more valuable than Kukoc, and Deke moreso than Parish/Salley. they wouldn't have to make any trades. the thing with Phil Jackson's teams is that they are so difficult to exploit. everyone knows what their weakness is, but no one can use it to their advantage. the Bulls (second 3-peat) had no center, limited creative scoring outside Jordan/Pippen and little post scoring, average to weak 3-point shooting from the starters. the Lakers had no PF, an average to below average SF (Fox/George), no true point (guard or forward), very weak bench, Shaq couldn't shoot FTs. yet those two teams tore up the league and remained a huge threat until they were broken up. what could have been and could still be... oh well... let's just hope that the Rockets can get it done with what they have.
Rockets can beat ANY TEAM in a 7 game series if fully healthy outside of the Suns. The Rockets were built to take on the Spurs and Mavs.
So many people say Rockets can beat anybody except Suns. Why is that? We proved in the last game that we can still hang out with Suns without T-Mac and Yao. If T-Mac was playing at that game, an argument can be made that we would have won that game. Also from previous game, we have proved that T-Mac and Rockets without Yao still can't beat Mavs. IMO, only Mavs is a team that can match Rockets very well. I would rather face Suns than Mavs in the playoff time. This Rockets team now has become so good right now (seriously I don't know why, since the cast is similar except one major difference Battier in the starting lineup).
One big issue with your take: Fisher can shoot. Rafer can't. End of story. While I still think Jackson would be a very good fit for the Rockets current group of players, I actually see Head starting rather than Rafer if he did come here. Head is just more Fisher-like than Rafer.
If you can get production like that out of your 4th or 5th best player, especially considering the league-wide scarcity of quality big men to begin with, then you're in decent shape. True, he's a little erratic and inconsistent so far but he's only going to keep getting better and better. Bynum is one of those players you have to watch to really understand how good he's going to become. This is the kind of player that in a year or two could become another Dwight Howard with better post skills. His career is going to be very interesting to follow. If i'm Mitch Kupchak, Kobe might not be the only "untouchable" on the Lakers roster.
I'm not writing them off, but they're clearly not what they once were. Bowen, Barry, and Horry are old. Tim Duncan is healthier this season, but it's looking like all that mileage is starting to take its toll. Plus he doesn't have a reliable center this year, so he's forced to exert more energy on the defensive end. Manu's been banged up part of the season. And it's possible the desire isn't there anymore. At least not on the level of the other Western Conference contenders. That being said, they'll still win 55+ games barring a complete flameout on the rodeo road trip. But if they have to go through both Dallas and Phoenix to get to the Finals, they're screwed.
Tell me about it! With Kwame & Bynum pushing each other for playing time, the Lakers are fine at center. PG is their main problem. The Mavs are much weaker at center than the Lakers and nobody writes off their chances.
If anyone is built to beat the Suns it's SA. They should have beaten Dallas last year but they choked. Granted the Rockets are a nightmare matchup for them and T-Mac owns them, but if Houston has to go to SA for a game 7 (despite 2 wins their this season)............... I think SA is still every bit the threat that Dallas and Phoenix are.
for their careers, Fisher has shot 39.9% from the field, 37.2% from the 3, and 80% from the line, while Rafer shot 38.4% from the field, 35.6% from the 3, and 72.9% from the line. Rafer's not that much worse; if he cut down the number of 3s and tear-drops his percentages would actually go up a bit. funny how great coaches will make bad players look better than they're stats. must have something to do with winning.
I think we can very easily bypass the Lakers. They have played really great this year with injuries, but so have we. More importantly, they have played a ton of home games and us a ton of road games. I think that changes quite a bit in the next couple of weeks, and we have been great at home and them pretty weak on the road. Right now we are tied with them, but I am hoping in a couple weeks we can have a 3 game lead or so.
The Houston Rockets win it all if healthy.(I'd like to see a point and a PF added) If not us,then the Lakers....all their size will be back to go along with what they have running now. San Antonio isn't athletic enough......While they have depth,it's not as good as last year...on the downside they are. Phoenix doesn't have the halfcourt game to go all the way in the playoffs. Yao dominates against Amare....
i concur. but the thought of the Lakers and especially Kobe holding another trophy up really brings the bile up.
