OT OT: Rockets in free fall, Pistons on 4 game win streak since Josh Smith was waived

Yeah, I remember Rocket fans getting slack for saying they were better despite the loss. I wasn't one though, I'm a believer in congratulating the team that won and saying they are better and moving on.

Rockets were and always a bad matchup for the Clippers. Not so much this year because the appearance of Motiejunas and his ability to spread the floor and get Jordan out of the paint...but Dmo is hurt. Not that that is a excuse here, I mean blown out every time and losing without Chris Paul too.

 

You are a good man... Hate your team, but glad there are fans that are respectable there.

 

Last year, the Rockets and Blazers played head-to-head. It was close, but the Blazers prevailed. Therefore, we get to say the Blazers were the better team (last playoffs).

This year, in the first round, the Rockets got a super easy matchup, the Blazers got perhaps the toughest matchup in the league. There is no way to conclude from the very predictable outcomes that the Rockets are better than the Blazers simply because the Rockets got to the second round and the Blazers didn't. It's Apples vs. Oranges.

 

You 100% nailed it. Plus, last season we beat the Rockets being the road team. This season, we played one of the toughest teams in the NBA on the road. Houston played a weak, dysfunctional team having HCA. They have HCA against the clips and are getting their ass handed to them. Would Portland be in the same boat in the second round vs Clips? I don't really know.

 

Plus, you know..... we were decimated by injuries

 

Well, technically they had some key injuries as well.. DMO and That shitty PG assfuck "Beverly" are injured. Definitely not the caliber as our injuries, but DMO's Stretch 4 capability is seriously needed in this series. Also, Beverly's defense is absolutely missed against CP3

 

I don't think Pat Bev's style of bullshit would have worked too well on CP3.

 

Well man you play the entire season to get that easy matchup. The Rockets deserved that easy match up and if the Blazers had played better than the Rockets for the season than they would have received Dallas that easy match up as well. Yeah we got a easy match up but we deserved that.

 

It doesn't have anything to do with playing better. It has to do with Wes Matthews being out. Afflalo being out. Aldridge being out. Rolo being out. We had guys that missed significant chunks of time in the second half of the season.

 

If's
But's
Coconut's

 

There aren't any "ifs" or "buts" in my post.

 

Glad to see Houston being exposed for the fraud they are. The Howard Harden tandem is not elite, it's not even great, it's flawed; they get in each other's way. Howard is not as athletic as DeAndre Jordan and he's going to be losing athleticism every year going forward. The Houston super fast paced uptempo stat padding offense will never work in the playoffs because the tempo slows down and you have to be able to execute in the half court. With a couple better role players Houston might be able to lose by 10 instead of 30 but they'll never win much with Harden or Howard as their best player.

 

Not my point at all. I wish the Blazers had been healthier or otherwise able to get an 'easier' matchup. They didn't. I was intending to merely refute the assertion that the Rockets making the second round, and the Blazers not, somehow 'proves' the Rockets are the better team, at this moment. The Rockets may in fact be the better team, but there is no proof one way or the other.

 

Well, clearly all the eastern teams that made the playoffs are better than any of the teams in the west who did not.

 

Well...the problem with the Rockets right now is not fast uptempo play, the problem is not playing disciplined enough to play slow half-court ball. The reason McHale continued to fould Deandre Jordan was because he wanted to make it a more half court game. He also knows that Harden is top 5 in the NBA in 4th quarter points and the idea was to just slow the game down until the 4th qtr. Harden usually gets better as the game goes on which has been the case the entire playoffs.

The Rockets transition defense is actually terrible, that's why GSW and LAC have been terrible match ups for them. People assume they are a fast breaking team because they throw up a lot of shots and that's how they played last year but it's really not true.

I understand that point, I just hate seeing my team get discredited. Saying they don't belong in the 2nd round (no one here said it, but it's being said) and stuff like that. It's unfair to them and no one says that about say...Golden State, who also worked for their easy match up. If GSW played the Spurs in the First round or any of these other teams not named the Clippers would they advance? Guess my point is the Rockets worked for that 2nd seed all year and at least deserve that credit.

 

Don't you mean the Clippers were a bad matchup for the Rockets?

 

Hahahahaha!

 

The rockets true problem is Harden. He is continually trying to draw contact that isn't there which is leading to turnovers and bad shots.

 

As far as I'm concerned, your team overachieved. (That's a good thing.) Mine underachieved a bit. Injuries had something to do with that, but it doesn't really feel any better.