After 50 games it looks pretty certain that the Rox, Spurs, Jazz, and Lakers will make up the 3-6 seeds in the Western Conference, with the Jazz sure to be no worse then 4. That means, the Rox most likely will play either of the other three in the first round of the playoffs. Obviously the most important thing is to have home court advantage which we can do as either the 3 or the 5 seed, assuming Utah is the 4 and has a worse record then us. That being said, who do you think we have the best chance against in a 7 games series. I know we can beat any of these teams(even more so when we get Yao back), but of course they have proven they are all also good enough to beat us. At this point, I think the Lakers are the least consistent, but Kobe can always go off and carry a team, like he almost was able to do against Phoenix. SA seems to have dropped off a bit, but they are very playoff tested. The Jazz have the least playoff experience successwise, but they do have bigs who can hit the outside shot (Okur, Boozer) which makes them a tough matchup for us. So who do we want play?
My dream post-season scenario is as follows: First round: The Rockets face the Jazz. My hatred for the Jazz may have faded some since the retirement of Stockton and Malone, but it will never completely die. I'd take a great amount of pleasure in seeing the Rockets knock them out of the playoffs once again. I wouldn't care how many games the series goes, just so long as it ends with mormons crying. Second round: The Rockets face the San Antonio Spurs and the Rockets DESTROY them! Sweep them! Blow them out! Yao and T-Mac both dominate. Bruce Bowen gets hurt. Manu cries. I cry tears of joy. Western Conference Finals: After a close seven game series with the Suns, the Mavs head to the Western Conference Finals to face the Rockets. The series is close for six games, until the 7th game when the Rockets blow them out by 41 points. FORTY ONE! If all of that happened, I wouldn't even need to watch the actual finals. Nothing that could happen there could make me any happier.
I would prefer Utah and if that doesn't work out then Spurs! but I'm pretty sure we can beat anyone in playoffs when healthy including dallas!
We would either face the mavs or suns in the 2nd round, not the Spurs(unless they take over the top 2 seeds)
Jazz, if possible. I'd love to take advantage of their inability to guard swingmen. Btw, this should be a poll.
it would be impossible for us to play the spurs in the second round. if we are 5th, then we would play the winner of 1 and 8, which would be dallas. If we play the spurs it will be in the first round or the third...I would take utah in the first round, tracy seems to own those guys.
I would like to see either the Jazz or Lakers. I think the Lakers are nothing but hype and I would love to send them home in the first round.
This is one of those "be careful what you wish for" kind of questions. I am not sure I want to finish 3rd and play the Lakers. But then again, we also want to win as many games as possible so there is a shot at homecourt. Also, if we finish 3rd, we might not play Dallas on our way to the finals. And I really want the Rockets to kick their ass.
Not likely to happen and not necessarily beneficial for the Rockets, but it would be cool to replay the 94-95 Rockets Championship run.. 1st round: Utah 2nd round: Phoenix 3rd round: San Antonio Finals: Orlando I guess we'll have to settle for jmwilliamson's scenario but realistically, it's almost a toss-up between the Lakers and Jazz. A lot of people are counting San Antonio out, but they have experience and another gear for the playoffs. I would say Lakers, but Kobe is like a ticking time bomb waiting to take-over games, so I'll go with the inexperienced Jazz.
I think that in order for the rockets to win in the first round we need to either play the lakers or the jazz. I think that the jazz would be easier to beat, but to play them we would have to finish as 5th in the west which isn't going to happen. We are one game behind the spurs right now and we could probably take the 3rd seed. Then we would play the lakers. Which could be a problem because they almost beat the suns last year. Where we are as of now we would play the spurs first round which would be a problem. I hope its the jazz and remember T-Mac has never made it past the first round so we want to play an easy team.
Hmm... I beg to differ.. Personally, I'd like the Jazz to play the Suns in the first round (dream wish) because they are 3-0 against them this season. I honestly don't like our chances against the Suns in a 7th game series and would prefer if somebody else knocked them off. Aside from the Suns, I wouldn't mind playing anybody- even Dallas or San Antonio. I think we match up well and have a very good chance of coming out of it on top. Phoenix naturally poses the worst match up to us, and it'd be in our interest to have an other team go through the grueling 7 game series with them instead of us.
why do u guys fear the lakers? kobe nearly beat them last year? they didn't have amare NOR thomas. and kobe only dominated really 2 games. and the clippers took that suns team to 7 games too. the suns were lucky last yr to play those 2 teams. we want to face them moreso than the jazz b/c they don't play defense. and we will force kobe to play defense every game b/c of tmac. and tmac will still get his. who will guard yao? w/ the jazz, they can bring yao out w/ okur or boozer so he might get in foul trouble. we want the 3 seed to play the lakers. lakers just aren't that good. they're gone back to earth now.
The Rockets have a chance to move into that #3 spot and would most likely face the Lakers in the first round. However if they stay in 5th, they could still have homecourt advantage against the Jazz. I think the Rockets could beat either of those teams and San Antonio, another possible first round opponent. Seriously, I don't think it matters who they face in the first round because they can beat any of them.
I expect the Rockets to end up in third position in the Western Conference standings. therefore they will play the team in sixth position FIRST ROUND:- LAC v DAL DEN v PHOE LAL v HOU SA v UTAH SECOND ROUND:- SA v DAL HOU v PHOE FINALS Anyones guess! [we do stand a chance when we have all our players back but JVG must be willing to play a 10 man roster to keep our players fresh in the games, especially agains the Suns]
