Who, besides the "Big 5," is better than the Rox in the West?

Dalls Thomas, thank you so much for this thread. I needed this.

Seems we all agree on who the top five is. That leaves three playoff spots, with five teams (six if you count Portland) competing for them. I like our odds. I forgot about Harpring's surgery- he was crucial for the Jazz; that's going to hurt. Phoenix blowing up to rebuild has basically given us no excuse to miss the playoffs.

Furthermore, there's no question the second half of our season will be better than our first. We can only get better, we can only get more comfortable, we can only gain in consitency. Will Denver have a better second half? Utah? Seattle could. Memphis? Portland?

Man, I can't wait to watch the Rockets in the playoffs! This is a playoff team, guys, and I don't just mean that by regular season record. Under VG our type of ball game is playoff style. We have a big man (and another scoring 4 off the bench), we have a true inside-out game. Most of all, we have big-game players. Our boys step up and play their best when they're in the spotlight. And that's what the playoffs are all about, baby. I don't know about you, but I'm praying for a first-round matchup with the Lakers! Oh man, I can't wait for that!

 

If we were more consistent I'd say we were a lock at the 6.

But you never really know which Rockets team is gonna show up on any given night.

 

Aw, c'mon...get real. Everybody knows playoff games are wide open, full-throttle 100+ point games.

 

The top 5 teams are not locked yet. Mavs are having problem. It's still possible that we beat Dallas for the 5th spot. Be optimistic!

 

Denver just dropped a game at home to the Shaq, Malone, and Kobe-less Lakers.

Meaning they have 23 road games, and 19 homes games to go and they're just one or half a game ahead of us.

As for us, we just beat the Celtics on the road, meaning we have 24 more at home, and 19 on the road.

It's looking good at this moment. *snapshot to remember*

 

On paper, the Rockets should be in the mix with the top five teams, not struggling to beat out teams like Denver, Seattle, and Utawful.

But the losses to Toronto, Denver, Boston, and Seattle were devastating. This team should be at least 26-12.

Let's face it, the Rockets are career underachievers. There's no way they make the playoffs.

Here are my predictions:

Minnesota
Sacramento
Lakers
San Antonio
Dallas
Denver
Seattle
Utah

Houston

 

Don't forget Memphis, they have deeper bench and is much more talented than Jazz

 

I still think we are the #2 seed. So nobody.

 

I agree, then I watch T-Wolves - Spurs, Dallas - Philly, Sac etc. and you can see there is a gap. We probably can close that gap if we stay healthy and improve on offense. We should be trying to seal 6 and shoot for 5.

This "we just want to make it" is part of the problem. It's time to step it up. Hopefully we are going to get a depth boost from MJ, AG and Spoon

 

I still have difficulty putting Dallas on the same page with LAL, Spurs, Kings and Wolves, and Cuban maybe too since I think he had a meeting with Don recently. As is reflected by our record right now, we are in the second tier after the top 4. Good to see that JVG is allowing Ming to spot up now, good to see that Padgett and Boki is getting minutes although Pike should still be in the picture. The ball movement is improved and SF is playing some serious ball. The offense seem to have an increasing pace to it and if that continues we have as good a chance to be #5 as Dallas.

 

Already conceeding defeat??