Seriously - San Antonio is in some trouble. - Parker injured, out indefinitely - Jacque Vaughn is the only viable point guard on the team - This means that like the '06-'07 Rockets, Manu is now the only guy on their team who can penetrate and break down defenses - Brent Barry injured, may not return for a good while - Robert Horry is seriously struggling, looks like age has finally caught up with him - Bruce Bowen is struggling on offense, and Udoka is trying his best to put up a poor man's impersonation - Last three items mean that 3 point shooting, the staple of their offense, has been hit badly. Michael Finley and Matt Bonner are now the only guys who can space the floor reliably for them. - Elson sucks. Really, really sucks. - They haven't beaten a good team in their last 24 games or so. No, really. It's been a long, long time since they've beaten a good team. I still say they're a playoff squad, but man, they don't look good.
Great thread. Wish it would have been a poll. The teams most likely to fall out are in this order: 1.Portland is too young and inexperienced. Sustainable growth doesn't come that quickly in this league unless you add a Duncan or Olajuwon type talent. 2.Denver is the least impressive of the top 8 teams, even with Carmelo. And they don't play enough defense. 3.Lakers are coming back down to earth without their big man Bynum. 4. GS is one injury to Baron Davis (he's been injury prone) or Stephen Jackson (not as likely) away from tumbling in the standings.
Portland because of less experience. Denver or Golden state because of injury and inconsistency. But lakers and Spurs are in trouble. They are both losing and started/starting 9 games of road games. We need to keep winning and hopefully build our advantage by the end of next month.
ditto, i think C.Web is only gonna help Warriors and they are gonna get better, so that leaves Denver and Portland to be the ones dropping out
Denver and Golden State wont make it but Portland will make it at 8 seed and Houston will at 7th seed, then Lakers at 6th seed, then Utah 5th seed. Dallas, San Antonio, New Orleans, Phoenix round out the rest. 8) Portland 7) Houston 6) Lakers 5) Utah 4) San Antonio 3) Phoenix 2) New Orleans 1) Dallas Book IT !! Houston advances past 1st round.
Why do we need two teams to "drop out of the playoff run"? I'm assuming you mean we need to surpass two teams... which is a very different statement than saying we need two teams to drop out of the playoffs. Cuz last I heard, a single team is only allowed a single playoff spot... and the Rockets are just one team. Yes, I'm partly being a smartass, but partly not, heh. That is poor wording. Anyways, I'm pretty sure we can surpass the Blazers and Nuggets. We can probably also pass the Jazz, Warriors, Lakers, and possibly the Spurs. From there, it becomes a lot tougher, but we will definitely have a good opportunity to make a run for a higher seed.
check it out. the Lakers have a nine game, 13 day road trip starting thursday in detroit. they had lost 4 out of 5 before tonight... Jan 31 at Detroit Feb 1 at Toronto Feb 3 at Washington Feb 5 at New Jersey Feb 6 at Atlanta Feb 8 at Orlando Feb 10 at Miami Feb 11 at Charlotte Feb 13 at Minnesota granted they're probably favorites to win at least 6 of them, but a two week trip with three back-to-backs, i could easily see the fall out of the race within two weeks all of the sudden denver and portland are struggling bad too... I'm not following whatever injuries the Spurs have, but I can't exactly fathom any way they fall out of the race entirely...
Tony Parker is out indefinately with bone spurs in his heel. Spurs have been playing .500 ball with him in. Now I predict they will play about .400 ball.
Blazers and Nuggets seem to be ready to falter. Remember the seedings though that all division winners must be in the top 4. Sure, if seed 5 has better record than 4 they get HCA, but the Rockets were the 5 seed last year. Seeds 1 and 2 go to the top two records regardless of DW status, and you go from there. DW status first, then best record. As it stands now, the top 3 will be NO, Dal, Pho, with Utah getting the 4. Spurs would be at the 5 spot, then you got a mess for the last 3 spots. This is how Utah goes from 9 to 4 because they are leading their division. The previous 4 seed drops considerably also.
i think denver because of injuries to key players and lack of defence and portland for their young age and i see lakers struggling but will make the playoffs because of their good start
wassup with the spurs? they look EXTREMELY vulnerable. guess they will have another off yr after winning a ring. 2 teams that will drop out: blazers and warriors/lakers. blazers are just too young. brandon roy MAY deserve to be an all-star for his team's first half success. but he's not good enough to carry this team. and they'll fall back to earth in the 2nd half. warriors, if anything, will just get the 8th seed. nothing more, and could be less. the lakers might have the usual destruction as injuries befall them.
You have Houston meeting the Hornets in the first round. They may be the best team in the league right now and definitely a very tough 1st round matchuo. Let's hope you are wrong. I think the 5th seed is not out of reach for the Rockets. February will tell. We almost need to be the 5th seed by the end of the month and then hold or gain ground to hold off the insurgents.
