Though I agree that the Sonics are a "better" team than Dallas. It's so subjective: the Rockets can win or lose against any playoff team depending on how each team plays and matches up and controls tempo and rebounds and shooting etc. Nothing is predetermined. But I wanted to mention that Seattle is 46-20 Dallas is 45-22 So that's not a "much better record" in my opinion, and even though the Sonics have had Radman out of late and Allen missing the last couple of games, Dallas has had 4times as many injuries to key players...they've been banged up all year. And now that Avery is coaching full-time, Dallas might have defensive accountability, something that Nellie never had in Dallas nor Golden State. So as I said, even though I believe Seattle is slightly and subjectly "better" than Dallas, I think the Rockets matchup better against the Sonics, but of course all we are doing is speculating because games are won on the court in the moment.
I would much prefer to play Seattle to playing Dallas. I think Dallas is a much better team than the Sonics.
I would prefer playing Seattle, Sacramento, or Dallas in the first and second rounds. I hope the Suns and Memphis get beat out and I will take SA in the finals.
You know Seattle is only 1.5 games ahead of Dallas and they have two games to play, with the tiebreaker also at stake. I give the Mavs 50/50 shot to pass the Sonics in record. Also, SA (in loss column 2 up on the Sonics and 4 up on the Mavs) has a game left with both teams, and Seattle can take the tiebreaker versus the Spurs. If we beat the Spurs sunday, that Spurs-Sonics game next week can really turn the heat up on the Spurs. Right now it is freaken impossible to figure out the ideal seeding given injury concerns (if/when TD will be back) and match-ups. But you know I am not all that dissappointed we won't play Denver in the 1st round, if Duncan is out they could be as formidable as any WC team. Right now I guess the best approach is to win, but not too hard.
I want the Rockets to play against the Sonics in round 1. Rockets seem to match up well with them and I just think a healthy Dallas team and a San Antonio team with Duncan back are going to be tougher to beat than the Sonics. However, with all the injuries to the Spurs its almost impossible to figure out the seeding right now. The Suns (barring injuries) seem to have locked up the top spot but 2-4 is a total toss up. Spurs could fall all the way to the 4th spot and Mavs could rise all the way to the 2nd spot. It's just to hard to figure out who the Rockets will be playing in round 1. All I want the Rockets to do is win as many games as possible, get Juwan Howard healthy, and get a little bit of rest for T-mac/Yao and then play who ever they have to round 1.
I want the rockets to play the mavericks in the first round, but all the cheapskate fat ****s on the board will tell you they want the rockets to play anyone with a bad defense so that they can work their angle on a free big mac.
Silly thread, but not as silly as some of the answers I'm seeing. 5th? 6th? This must be a joke. The answer is clearly "4th or higher." HOME COURT ADVANTAGE
4th or higher is basically impossible unless Dallas absolutely tanks so weighing the benefits of 5th or 6th place is not so absurd. Personally, the I think 6th would be better for the rockets since they create tremendous mismatch problems for the sonics. Plus, we'd probably end up in 6th place anyways without purposely tanking games given our tough road schedule coming up. Suits our purposes just fine though.
Too bad the trading deadline is over. We could have traded for Lue and MoT to solidify the 6th spot. Then again, we might slip to the 8th spot. Where's Moochie? We could play a real 2 man game with Moochie to Vin Baker rather than that ridiculous T-Mac and Yao 1-2 punch.
Yep. Improving our seed from here going into the playoffs means that we are peaking going into the playoffs, doubly important since our last 14 games are with WC teams only. If we can win both of the games with Phoenix, I really like our chances.
