Rockets record vs Denver in the 2012-2013 season: Rockets 0 wins -- Denver 4 wins we didnt beat denver at all during the regular season man no WAY we can beat them at all in the playoffs. well I just took a quick look at something first game: Nov 7, 2012 93-87 @ houston - 6 point loss -- not too bad a 2 possession game - really a bounce here and there could have tipped this in the Rockets favor. The bigger thing here is that this was the 4 game that this team had ever played together. To say that they didnt even know each other would be an understatement. Sure the brilliance of Harden beat the Pistons and Hawks - but it will take a TEAM effort to beat the better teams, especially the ones in the west. Maybe if we had this game later in the season when the team wasnt so literally new - those bounces go Houston's way. Jan 23, 2013 105-95 @ Houston First game back at home after a 4 game road trip -- first game back at home is always that "trap game" everyone always talks about. Not to mention that that road trip the Rockets returned from was at the tail end of their worst ball of the season - that crippling 7 game losing streak. Nothing was going right for the team in Jan Jan 30, 2013 118-110 @ Denver This was the one game the Rockets had no one to blame but themselves. They played the Jazz two nights before (a epic 45 thrashing in utah) and had time to rest but lost. Denver was playing some exceptional ball during this time as well (beat the Rockets twice during their 9 game streak in jan) April 6, 2013 132-114 complete thrashing but again there is this stat tweeted to us by Matt Bullard: <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Nuggets are 36-3 over last 5 years playing a team that played in the Pacific time zone the night before coming to play in Denver</p>— Matt Bullard (@bull50) <a href="https://twitter.com/bull50/status/321506601116782592">April 9, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>They are 72-9 if you go back 10 years <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23homecourtadvantage">#homecourtadvantage</a></p>— Matt Bullard (@bull50) <a href="https://twitter.com/bull50/status/321506953845174273">April 9, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> the Rockets had played the night before in Portland and had no rest - given the crazy HC advantage denver has in general because of the altitude - no surprise they would lose this game. (to be fair denver played houston on the 2nd night of a back to back in that first game of the season - they played the pistons the night before at home in denver -- all the other games were either played during a home stretch for the nuggets and the other game at houston was after 2 days of rest - it was a 1 game road trip from denver to houston and back to denver for a long home stretch -- basically they never played houston during a road trip or had to travel to houston further than the distance between the two cities) Now with Gallo out and Lawson not 100% - they have been still winning a lot of games at home against some good teams. But Gallo is a key part of their team and Lawson if not 100% will not be good either has he is their engine. NOW don't get it wrong here - this is NOT to say that the Rockets will BEAT denver in a 7 game series without having HC advantage -- no way. Honestly unless the Rockets catch fire from 3 for multiple games I am not that confident of their chances against any of the top 3-4 teams in the west. All I am saying that people who keep saying they would rather face the Spurs or Thunder over the Nuggets - have it wrong. The Thunder or Spurs would THRASH us in a 7 game series (especially the spurs) --I dont think it would be the same with the Nuggets -- I think the Rockets have it in them to be able to push this Nuggets team to a 6 or 7 game series. We would have to worry about planning for any other team but Denver and wouldnt have to face them in a middle of a road trip or on a back to back or anything. Granted I think Karl will run circles around McHale when it comes to coaching but I honestly PREFER our chances against Denver against any other of the top 3 west teams. Denver plays the style the Rockets play - they are better at it but again this Rockets team is pretty volatile if you are playing their style they can catch fire at any time and at that point all bets are off. (note i havent been as active on this board of late so I have no idea if anyone has mentioned this already if they have lock the crap of this thread or merge where needed)
They are unbeatable at home, and there are 17 different threads here explaining pros and cons of facing all our possible matchups.....
I agree with you 100% YoYo.....The Spurs and Thunder are championship caliber teams. You don't get the Nuggets in that conversation. I'm glad you said it.
Rockets have to win one road game to win the series & I don't see Houston beating denver at home I do see Denver beating Houston at home though. Omer doesn't play well under that altitude & we need him playing at his best & as many minutes as possible. Denver also has Iggy who does a great job on Harden. We need Harden at his best also. Sorry don't see it. Denver is a very poor matchup for Houston. I would rather take my chances with the Spurs who (yes they have championship experience) but at least we have a better chance of punishing them with our pace. Denver does the whole fast pace high octane offense much better than we do. Spurs I feel will have a harder time at outrunning us.
Ty Lawson is back and will see some minutes before play-off. I rather play Spurs and possibly get easier opp in second round than play bad match-up in first round and get Spurs/OKC in second round.
Mentally, you generally expect Spurs and Thunder to be championship level contenders while Denver's on that bubble. And even with Gallo down and Ty's injury, they're still a solid team that beat us good. So there's some rationalization in between that getting beat by a team that are favorites to advance to the WCF makes it all worth the learning experience. I'm afraid of all three teams, but I'd rather aim the 6th seed though and feel good that we didn't b**** out and try to stack the deck.
The question is, why are we so against facing the Spurs that we want to take our chances against Denver? I'll reiterate: 1. Asik defends Duncan really well 2. We've beaten them once with Parker going off 3. Parker is definitely not 100% nor is he likely to be come playoff time 4. Manu's definitely not playing 5. They don't have a defensive stopper like Iguodala against Harden 6. Harden is a known Spurs killer 7. WE'VE BEATEN THEM ONCE ALREADY.
They have Andre Iguodala who is a good player to put on Harden, and he has the ideal veteran qualities on a young team. He controls the pace well and he is the person the Nuggets give the ball to whenever they need to make a run or are trying to stop a run. Most of all, the Nuggets have insane morale boosting plays, and Iguodala is almost always part of that. I feel like the Rockets, if they are playing with high energy, would match up decently with methodical teams like the Grizzlies or the Spurs. However, against another high powered team where they have far more polished weapons and finishers than the Rockets? I doubt we would handle it well.
Denver is scarier. I posted this in the game thread: Harden vs Denver this season 21-55 FG 38% 3-16 3PT FG 19% 22 Turnovers (5.5 per game average) Iguodala owns Harden. That combined with the altitude advantage they have as well as athleticism at almost every position. I honestly can see the Rockets doing better against San Antonio or even OKC.
I think denver is a bad matchup because of all tHe wing lockdown players they have. Iggy,chandler, and brewer will dismantle our guards especially harden.
All you people that STILL want us to face the Nuggets are likely going to get your wish... I just hope y'all are right, because you are going to lose all credibility and get absolutely flamed if we get swept.
As mentioned by some previous posters, I don't want to face Denver because Iggy does severe damage to Harden. Since our offense isn't that sophisticated, we're going to need Harden to go off to carry us to a first round victory. That isn't likely to happen against any of our possible matchups, but it definitely won't happen against the Nuggets. It is that simple. Just say No to the Nuggets (and Yes to the Spurs).
Denver is faster, younger and deeper than we are. Denver has bigs that protect the rim and wings that can defend. Denver is basically a nightmare matchup and STILL would rather face them, than San Antonio (Popovich) or OKC (defending Western champs).
igudala and macgee are going hard right now. they feed of each others energy. i hate facing them but it may be our possibility of getting out the 1st round
LOL. People in GARM obviously take their internet b-ball cred VERY seriously. You may make them rethink their position now. As to the OP, I like The-YoYo's point, but I fear Denver b/c I feel like, overall, they do what we want to do but do it much better. I'm not that hopeful for our playoff run no matter who we face, but I'm excited. I predict we'll learn a lot about Harden this year and his real capabilities to win critical games. I also predict McHale will not surprise us with newfound playoff genius.
