The Jazz losing tonight shows they are more out-of-sync than anyone thought. It isn't just a matter of home vs road. Grant Hill and Matt Barnes personally personally handed the Jazz a home win last Saturday. On Tuesday, they couldn't close out the Knicks at home until the last 2 minutes. Then the Blazers pounded them in Portland. Last night's game in Denver was close only because both teams played very badly. After tonight's 3rd consecutive loss, I expect the streak to reach 6 games as they have @NO, @DAL, @SA upcoming. If the Suns hadn't blown the game last Saturday, they would only have 2 more losses than the Jazz. If the Jazz had missed the playoffs, I betcha Jerry Sloan would have retired.
Hopefully the refs are getting wise to the act. Ya know, when its just one team griping about it, it seems sour grapes. But maybe all the talk about the home/road disparity of this Jazz team(and the inference that the officiating has something to do with it) has caused the NBA to balance it out a bit. Perhaps a "making sure you saw the foul" directive to the refs.
The way things are going for them, I'd be shocked if Dallas doesn't pass them for the 7th spot. Boy, I'd love to see the Lakers mop the floor with the Jazz in the first round. I bet they're jumping off cliffs in Utah right now.
HORNETS LOST!!! Makes the LA loss hurt a little bit less. Even though Portland won, I like our chances Sunday at home. Portland can't play on the road(neither can we) so it's a win-win situation for us.
The Blazers won on the road tonight by 35 and seem to be hitting their stride. Meanwhile, the Rockets are stuck in the mud. I'd call it a "pick 'em". If the Rockets lose to the Blazers and Magic, they can kiss home-court goodbye.
Many (not all) Rockets fans around here continue to underestimate the Blazers. They are the best team in the league in close games (decided by 3 points or less) and they are the best team in the league on the offensive boards. They are also extremely athletic and deep off their bench. They also have more than one go-to guy in the clutch. How many do we have, if any? The Rockets don't have enough offense to pull away from teams on a frequent basis, especially in the playoffs. That means in order to win we'll have to win close games. Given that Portland is excellent in close games, that doesn't sound like an advantage for us. Given that we struggle at times giving up offensive boards late in games and Portland is a great offensive rebounding team, that doesn't look good for us. Given that we struggle with athletic teams because of our relative lack of athleticism, Portland edges us here too. Our bench is deeper than in years past (assuming Landy makes it back), but we still aren't Portland-deep. Given that Portland has multiple players, led by Roy, that can score in the clutch, that doesn't tip the scales in our favor either. Yes, Portland is young and they struggle on the road but they have several advantages over us if we do meet in the playoffs, especially if they get HCA. Regarding their struggles on the road, they are 17-20 while we are 18-20. We're both weak in this area. The only clear advantages we have are experience/maturity and Yao. Other than that, I can't think of much else that is in our favor.
I still contend that the Hornets would be the best matchup for us in the 1st round. Any other opponent may be an uphill battle, including Dallas and Denver. People may laugh at the notion that the Mavericks will be a tough matchup but that team did make it to the finals a few years ago. They may not be playing at the same level as they were at that time but they still have Dirk, Terry and Howard... all players that have killed us over the years. Kidd may be getting old but he's gone deep in the playoffs several times. He still wins the PG matchup regardless of who starts for us. I'd rank our ideal matchups like this: 1. Hornets 2. Blazers/Mavericks/Nuggets 3. Spurs 4. Jazz 5. Lakers No matter how it plays out, it will be a struggle. We aren't dominant enough to roll through any series no matter where we finish in the standings.
good post. in the last home game against the blazers, we couldn't hold the lead in the 4th quarter and almost collapsed (winning by a slim 3 points, IIRC). this one should be just as difficult, if not more.
Thing is, this is a young team with great poise down the stretch. And they ALL can flat out score. I smell upset over any team they meet in the playoffs.
maybe the only positive about losing tonight is that the lakers still have an opportunity to win home court throughout the playoffs, with the cavs current slide. therefore, they'll still play at full strength against the nuggets, blazers, and jazz hopefully, instead of resting players.
BrooksBall, I don't think it's so much Rockets fans underestimating Portland as it is recognizing a team that we seemingly match up well against. Portland's offensive strategy is essentially: spread the floor with shooters, let Roy create. Given that we are a strong defensive team with two of the best one-on-one defenders in the game that seemingly plays out in our favor. If we can contain Roy (limiting the games he KILLS us to only 1-2) and force Aldridge to settle for the 10-20 footers like he's prone to do, I like our chances of stifling them offensively and basically daring their role players to beat us. That's a risk you have to be willing to take.
The problem is the Blazers have changed and seem on a roll. LaMarcus Aldridge has been dominating recently and none of our PFs is geared to stop him. He is posting up and driving to the basket more instead of settling. The Blazers have been running the ball a lot (especially Aldridge, who is often the first guy down the floor) and this attacks one of the biggest weaknesses on the Rockets: Transition defense. The Blazers don't run and gun, they run and finish. Their defense has also improved a lot and if the Rockets go thru a scoring drought in the 2nd half because the offense gets stale, go ahead and stick a fork in them. The Blazers specialize in big runs mid/late 3rd quarter, sometimes later. Don't forget that Portland is (I think) the best offensive rebounding team in the NBA. They even recently battered and dominated a team like Utah on that end. If the Blazers were the same old slowball team that walks the ball up 99% of the time and couldn't stop a pick-and-roll to save their life, I'd agree with you they are a great matchup for the Rockets. But recently, they have raised their game and present more problems. It used to be they could be intimidated and would always buckle under pressure from good teams, while taking care of business against the weak sisters. Their confidence level is high enough now that they aren't scared of anybody and aren't afraid to hit back when punched. On a couple of occasions they've punched first. Just 2-3 weeks ago I thought the Blazers were the 1st round opponent everyone wanted. My opinion has changed. Give me the Mavs, Hornets or maybe even the Nuggets instead.
Outside of the Utah game I haven't noticed this style change you speak of. Granted, I know you like Portland and watch them a lot more than I do (kind of like how I am with the Hawks) so you would know better, just saying I haven't noticed a recognizable style change in the 4-5 games I have watched in their entirety the past month. I definitely agree they looked better/faster/tougher against Utah. They were running all over the place and killed them on the boards. There were a few possessions I remember where it was: rebound, outlet pass, shot attempt without the ball ever even touching the floor. That's an exciting pace to play at. All i'm saying is I was surprised to see Portland playing that way. As for the rebounding issue, you are correct that Portland is tops in offensive rebounding. The thing is: we are nearly tops in defensive rebounding. I know it's not as simple as suggesting they would just cancel each other out, but I think it's pretty evident some of our struggles on the boards (Detroit game especially) is partially due to Landry being out of the line up. I don't want you to think i'm disrespecting or dismissing Portland. I just think we're better. Homerism, aside.
baller, With Landry in the lineup, they grabbed 16 offensive boards against us in our first meeting and outrebounded us 48-36 overall. http://www.nba.com/games/20081106/HOUPOR/boxscore.html In the second meeting, Landry did NOT play and we actually barely edged them on both the offensive and defensive boards. http://www.nba.com/games/20081106/HOUPOR/boxscore.html I'm not saying Landry isn't important. We need him back ASAP. I just don't think he resolves our disadvantages. I'm sticking to the points I made a few posts up. A lot of their strengths (winning close games, athleticism, offensive rebounding, go-to/clutch scorers, bench depth) don't match up well with our weaknesses. We have an improved bench but we're not as deep as Portland. Few teams are. I do think we'd rather face them than the Lakers or Utah but I'm not convinced we are the better team at this point. Other than Yao and experience (to an extent), what are our advantages? I can't think of any while I can think of plenty of advantages in their favor.
I just mean in general: opponent's offensive rebounding vs. our defensive rebounding (especially the Detroit game -- 21?!). Landry returning will definitely help in that regard. As for our rebounding vs. Portland, in particular: we'll get a nice look during tomorrow's game even without Landry. As you stated, without Landry we seemed to play them better on the boards. Granted, the first Portland game (with the illegal shot) was one of the first games of the season -- hard to definitively judge a team's strengths/weaknesses that early. Still, it will be a nice shot at a possible playoff preview.
I can't lie. I'm worried about tomorrow's game. We're in a little rut and the Blazers are rolling. Anything can happen though. That's why they play the games. It will be a nice boost of confidence for our guys if they can play well and get a convincing win.
I don't watch the Blazers much so I can't disagree with the basic premise of your post. Last time we played, however, LA wanted none of the Chuckwagon . After a few bad misses he was passing out of the post. Chuck even mentioned it after the game. Just wanted to give Chuck his props. We will have our hands full with the Blazers, no doubt. Carry on.
