Team W L Games Behind 1 San Antonio 37 10 - 2 Phoenix 30 16 6 ½ 3 Denver 25 23 12 ½ 4 Dallas 36 10 ½ 5 LA Clippers 27 17 8 ½ 6 Memphis 26 19 10 7 LA Lakers 24 22 12 ½ 8 NO/Oklahoma City 23 22 13 Utah 23 24 14 Minnesota 21 24 15 Golden State 20 25 16 Sacramento 19 27 17 ½ Seattle 19 27 17 ½ Portland 17 28 19 Houston 17 29 19 ½ Now, more than ever, I'm gonna be looking at the standings in the West. Every game where a West team plays the East, I'm praying that the Eastern team wins. SA, Dallas, & Phoenix don't look like they're going anywhere soon, i.e., they'll still be up there after 82 games. To a degree, I think it's possible that Denver and Memphis might stay their ground, as well. But I am very sure that the Rox can overtake 1) Portland's young/rookie team, 2) Seattle's inconsistent team, 3)Sacramento's hurt/unorganized team, 4) the Warriors' young/inconsistent team, 5) Minny's underachieving team, 6) Utah's hurt/inconsistent team, 7) NOOKC's inexperienced team, 8)LA's 1-man team, and 9) the Clippers' are-they-for-real team. With Dallas, SA, Phoenix, Denver, & Memphis, that still leaves 3 seeds. I believe that the Clippers & Utah will be our toughest competition for those spots, with the Lakers and Hornets not too far behind. And yes, that means I'm definitely writing off Portland, Seattle, Minny, Sacto, and i think GS. My predicted end-of-the-season rankings are :: 1) Dallas [ultra-deep] 2) Phoenix [good + get Amare later] 3) Denver [getting ppl healthy] 4) SA [need to get healthy] 5) Memphis [well-coached, solid, getting ppl healthy] 6) Clippers [will slow down] 7) Rockets [full head of steam, getting ppl healthy] 8) Utah [need to get healthy] 9) Lakers [no way in hell Kobe alone gets them into playoffs] 10)NOOKC [up-and-coming, but still young] 11)Minny [poor KG - no direction on team] 12)Sacto [big men hurt, little defense] 13)GSW [still too young] 14)Seattle [no consistent inside presence] 15)Portland [haha.. still too young]
Nearly every team in the NBA is ahead of us at the moment. But amazingly playoffs still a possibility.
I really have a strong feeling if we dont have any more injuries to T-Mac and Yao. We will be taking out dallas in the first round! Sweet Redemption. KD
I still see we are #15 on that list so far. Yes, ROX start getting into shape, but anything could happen before they push themselves into top 8.
Yeah. Last night, as Minnesota played Portland, I was trying to think of a way for both teams to lose. Didn't come up with anything, though.
yeah - LAL vs. NOOKC -> hopefully Lakers lose Dallas vs. Seattle -> hopefully Seattle Denver vs. Portland -> hopefully Portland Milwaukee vs. Memphis -> hopefully Memphis Bulls vs. Suns -> hopefully [but unlikely] Suns
Pick'em. It doesn't matter that much who loses, but I'd hope for NO to lose myself. They are very young, very inexperienced, but confident. If one of the 2 teams will potentially make it, I'd guess Lakers anyway, so myswell help get the Hornets out of there. Why? Portland is ahead of us and Denver is likely to win the division and get in the playoffs anyway. The last thing I'd want to see is that division going back and forth all year. Someone has to win (and get the 3 seed), myself have that team be as powerful as possible, making them (Denver) more likely to win those divisional games and the other teams (Utah, Minnesota) less likely to slip into that 8th seed ahead of us. I can see no way it benefits the Rockets to have Memphis win this game. Eastern vs. Western - root for the Eastern team, unless its the Rockets they're playing. See above. The only argument here is the analogous one that myswell have the Suns be as strong and confident as possible, so that they comfortably beat the Clippers/Lakers whenever they play, but alternatively, if the Rockets coudl somehow get up to the 7th seed, they will likely play the winner of the Pacific division. EDIT: Also, I'm rooting for Dallas. Seattle is ahead of us. The sooner we can at least start seeing teams in the rear-view mirror, the more tangible an amazing run to the playoffs will seem.
dude what the hell are you talking about? All the teams you picked are the ones that us Clutchfans hope win not lose! Oh and the Suns vs. Bulls who cares! hahahhaha. They're gonna end up being first in their division anywa.
I'm pretty sure he's saying he wants > team to lose. I agree with his picks except the lakers. I'd rather have the Hornets lose since it's more likely they'll slip over time. I think, in the end, it's going to come down to the Lakers, Hornets, Wolves, Jazz, and the Rockets fighting for the 7th and 8th spots.
umm, as TS said :: my fault for typing in shorthand. the rationale for my picks for who should lose was that i believed that everyone directly above us, standing in between us and the nearest playoffs spot, should lose. in the event that it was between an east and west team, i automatically want the west team to lose, b/c if nothing else, it makes all the teams closer together, decreasing the gap. that's also why i wanted LAL to lose - it would bring them closer to us, and kinda level the playing field. true, it'd put NOOKC a win ahead, but whatever, it's not a perfect science.
We'll roar back to within 2 games near the end of the season, everyone will be talking about us -- then McGrady's back will blow out again. You know it.
Rockets didn't beat the Mavs last year with a healthy linup. What makes you think they could do it this year with a better Mavs team?
First of all, we didn't have a healthy line up - Juwon was out Remember starting Private Ryan Bowen? Second, this team hasn't even played one full game together - Sura's been out all year, DA close to that, Yao 6 weeks, T-mac in and out, Swift, Barry, Rafer, I could go on and on. I think this is one of the deepest and strongest Rockets teams we've ever had, unfortunately they haven't even had a chance to play together because of the injuries. Maybe the injury bug will catch some of these other teams and bring us into playoff contention. I don't think I've ever seen a team with as many injuries as we've had the last 3 months. I'd take our chances against the Mavs if we had everyone healthy - they don't have any to match up against either T-Mac or Yao. Deke is even better than Dampier.
