What do you think of our chances at making the NBA Finals? Looking at the teams that are playing well in the west, I'd say we have a great chance. Th only team that could really cause a nuisance is the Spurs. The top 4 teams in the West are Phoenix, San An, Sonics and Dallas. Right now we are doing great against Dallas and it is expected for us to win the series considering how the first 2 games have gone. Phonix and Sonics are great offensive teams, but we've seem to have shut them down in our meetings with them late in the regular season. We have a great chance of beating either team in a best of 7 series. Then you have the Spurs who look to be the only team that we would really struggle with. The thing is, Denver have snatched homecourt advantage from them. If Denver pulls an upset series victory then it could give the Rockets a crack at one of the elite Eastern teams such as Detriot, Miami, or Boston. Only problem is that if Denver win, they may surge straight through to a championship considering how they've played late in the regular season. Maybe I'm looking too far ahead, but its interesting to see how well we've played against the best in the west late in the season.
If we win, I can see us going to the finals. I'm confident that we are a good team and we can beat anyone on our good day. We must take one step at a time but yeah i can see us going to the finals and possibly even winning it but thats still quite far away from now.
im also thinking about san antonio being the hardest matchup for us.. but dont forget phoenix. Yes we defeated them twice in their home but they also did just that to us in our home twice. And our two wins, one was because Yao has a tremendous game (probably his best game of the regular season) and marion didn't play.. and the other one because lucky miss dunk by hunter. So suns is gonna be a lot harder than mavs (if we advance from the 1st round). But i know playoff is different and many suns players aren't experienced enough so i hope it can bring advantage to us
Who do we face in the 2nd round. I only look 1 step ahead since things are looking good for the 2nd round so far. Are we facing phoenix? That succks since they look really unstoppable like miami heat
Phoenix Suns' playing style does not suit the playoffs as well as the Rockets, or even Dallas. Yes anything could happen in the playoffs, and we could be eliminated at any time, but based on theories and opinion, I think we're looking great for Phoenix. That is, if we beat the Mavs. We can't get too cocky just because of to away wins, but its good to see into the future. After all, this is a discussion forum, we must discuss right? Thats what's made the Rockets forum one of the best in JBB. Drm2Dnk. If we beat the Mavs, our opponent will be the winner out of Suns and Griz.
im confident that we could make it against the second round, and when we do if we face pheonix you guys forget that pheonix is run and gun and we are half court, an dpheonix's defense is basicaly weak. we are 2nd in teh league from allowing points in paint so we should be able to nuetralize the lane a little bit, but as far as their 3 point shooters go if we could nuetralize them as well. rockets are a great defensive team and during playoffs their defense is as good as any team out there because of the seriousness of the game i dont see any problem whith pheonix except for the fact of their running may tire out our team.
Good point Cheeno. We could get tired out against The Suns. While we are better known for our defense in the paint, I think our perimeter defense is still quite good. Wesley is our best perimeter defender, and he does a great job. Mike James is great and Jon Barry is very underrated as a defender. Tmac is also quite underrated but and is flourishing defensively under JVG. Haha, I remember earlieri n the season how many Rockets fans had a bone to pick with JVG. I was one of them, but look at us now. I gotta give credit to those who supported him earlier in the season.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting drm2dnk:</div><div class="quote_post">Who do we face in the 2nd round. I only look 1 step ahead since things are looking good for the 2nd round so far. Are we facing phoenix? That succks since they look really unstoppable like miami heat</div> 2nd rnd matchups will be 1/8 vs.4/5 & 2/7 vs.3/6 so it'll be Houston vs.Phoenix if ever...
This Rockets team is built to go far in the playoffs. They depend on their defense and have a legitimate low post threat. They have superstar who can take over late in the game and role players who play within themselves. They have a really good chance to go all the way.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting dakeem1:</div><div class="quote_post">Haha, I remember earlieri n the season how many Rockets fans had a bone to pick with JVG. I was one of them, but look at us now. I gotta give credit to those who supported him earlier in the season.</div>Don't mean to gloat, but I'm gloating. I definitely think we could advance to the Finals. Although I'm sure kingrex has something to say about this , I think the Rockets can sweep the Mavs. If the Grizzlies make things interesting and drag their series against Phoenix to somewhere in the neighbourhood of six games, the Suns could be exhausted and we could be well-rested. Getting past Phoenix would be much easier especially if a team without a lot of depth like them is too tired to run. After that we face either San Antonio or Denver. I don't think either Sacramento nor Seattle could advance to the WCF. I believe that our team can beat the Nuggets in a series, and could at least hang in there with the Spurs. This year definitely has the makings of another 94-95.
Hey, until the Mavs can win a game, there is nothing I can say to contradict the possibility of a sweep. Houston is playing championship ball right now, and the Mavs just haven't played up to their level. I liked the effort in Game 2, but it's still not a win. To the victor go the spoils.
I definitely think this team can make a run for the finals.......Duncan isn't close to being 100% right now and he's struggling, because of it.......if we end up beating dallas, I like our chances against the suns.
i wouldn't worry too much about who we play next.. Everyone thought the Mavs would be a tough matchup for the Rockets.. well a 2-0 series lead tends to prove otherwise. Playoff inexperience of the Suns (other than Steve Nash) could be a factor in the 2nd round. In the event of a Suns-Rockets 2nd round matchup, I'd even like to see Mike James start at the point to not only hound Nash, but to tire him out on D. The main problem I can see is the Rockets D at the 3 point line, as witnessed in game 2 against Dallas.. Too many wide open 3 pointers will destroy the Rockets. The main thing I'm seeing so far in the Dallas series is that Dallas is not exploiting the Rockets' biggest weakness - guarding dribble penetration. Dallas has become a jump shooting team and yet whenever the guards start to drive to the hoop, they get to the line or make the hoop. I don't see why they haven't been exploiting that more, even though I saw Avery Johnson stressing that in the huddle on the tv broadcast.
Nah, the only two problems I really see with Houston is rebounding and the inability to play against small lineups. Dallas outrebounded us by a large margin and the only reason we won was because they couldn't make their shots. Plus, whenever teams play small ball against us, like when Dallas took their centers out and only had like Dirk/Howard as the frontcourt, we were breaking up. Yao simply couldn't guard smaller and faster players which leads to a lot of easy points to the other team.
Jeff Van Gundy is a great tactician and because Avery Johnson is still in his rookie season as a coach he's prone to bad decisions especially on match-up problems and on how to take advantage of the Rocket's weaknesses. The problem is JVG always read what's on AJ's mind and he took advantage of it by making good counter-attack moves. The Rockets can survive a variety of disadvantages if they play well, shoot well and trust each others capabilities. They overcome a big disparity in FTs in game 1 and then being outrebounded on game 2.
yea, i agree, but we can not say about our next matchup until we win 4 games , so the Rockets need to be focused and not let the Mavs get back into this series by playin their best all the way. And i like the chance that we have this year in the playoffs
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting dakeem1:</div><div class="quote_post">What do you think of our chances at making the NBA Finals? Looking at the teams that are playing well in the west, I'd say we have a great chance. Th only team that could really cause a nuisance is the Spurs. The top 4 teams in the West are Phoenix, San An, Sonics and Dallas....</div> dakeem1, I don't know if you still remember a thread I posted before Rox made it playoffs. I mentioned my personal prediction that Jeff might loss one or two games intentionally in order to visit seattle in the first series. But you guys told me we never should picked up our opponents if we set our target at the champion rings. And the fact proved that JVG wasn't a speculator of games, I mean he never hopes to win one or two games by some tricks and then earns some fames. He's not a coach of that type! Thus we should have confidence in Rox. It could be ranked as one of the best teams in the league and candidates for the Title. Every game from now on should be treated as the final, and we're just adding value to the rings thru strivings and strugglings.
I do have confidence in the Rox. And I was one of those who always said we should just play our hardest and not think about the politics of the post-season. Who knows how it would've turned out if we faced the Sonics in the 1st round? The point is people had doubts about us facing the Mavs, but I sure wasn't one of them. We played hard in the twilight of the regular season and it is showing for us as our intensity has moved on to the playoffs.
