In the past couple of seasons...Rockets have always been losing to the Mavs. I remember watching every single rocket-mav game and us rockets just get owned so bad I would just turn off the T.V. Rockets have so far lost about 13 of the last 14 meetings with the mavs..(correct me if I am wrong). Now I know that we probably won't surpass the mighty Spurs but can we now bump Dallas to the side and take over as the 2nd best Texas team? I for one would like to see us topple these mavericks this season. Finley can't handle T-Mac, Dampier might be able to hold off Yao a bit but I doubt it. Mavs simply have no answer for our big 2. I want to rank my TX teams : 1.Spurs 2.Rockets 3.Mavericks Thoughts...
I think you're right. The Mavericks have a lot of depth at the swingmen positions, but so do we. Their defense has been bad traditionally and ours is extremely good, so that's an advantage right there. Without Nash, they lose a lot of basketball IQ and leadership, and Finley is injury-prone. Even with the addition of Dampier, I still see them as one big man away from being better than the Rockets.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Trip:</div><div class="quote_post">I think you're right. The Mavericks have a lot of depth at the swingmen positions, but so do we. Their defense has been bad traditionally and ours is extremely good, so that's an advantage right there. Without Nash, they lose a lot of basketball IQ and leadership, and Finley is injury-prone. Even with the addition of Dampier, I still see them as one big man away from being better than the Rockets.</div> What depth do we have at the swingmen positions? We got T-Mac, a star, and JJ who's a solid starter. That's about it. The Mavs are much deeper and overall more talented. I hate to sound pessimistic, but I don't think we can surpass them this year.
Dec 2 - Rockets @ Mavs - Winner - Mavs Dec 11 - Mavs @ Rockets - Winner - Rockets Jan 12 - Rockets @ Mavs - Winner - Mavs Mar 6 - Mavs @ Rockets - Winner - Rockets Home teams win each game - Series tied 2-2. 3 of the 4 games on national TV!!!
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">What depth do we have at the swingmen positions? We got T-Mac, a star, and JJ who's a solid starter. That's about it. </div>There's also Gaines, Sura, Nachbar in addition to the two starters. And heck, the starters are already damn good, plus Sura will be a great sixth man.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">plus Sura will be a great sixth man.-Trip</div> Is Sura gonna be out for a while or am I thinkin' about someone else??? <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">but can we now bump Dallas to the side and take over as the 2nd best Texas team? I for one would like to see us topple these mavericks this season. Finley can't handle T-Mac, Dampier might be able to hold off Yao a bit but I doubt it. Mavs simply have no answer for our big 2. I want to rank my TX teams : 1.Spurs 2.Rockets 3.Mavericks-12emix</div> I dont know about this bumping them to the side cuz it's gonna have to be a bit harder than a bump. But it is true that you own the 2 and 5 spot against us. But... Tyronne Lue v. Jason Terry??? Juwan Howard or Mo' Taylor v. Dirk Nowitzki??? And the 3 spot is where it will most likely break the game down so i'm saying were in for a 2-2 split.
While the Mavs may have an advantage at those two spots you mentioned, the gap wouldn't be as large as it would be at the 2 and 5 spots. Terry has been known for looking his shot first, so I doubt his competence as the starting PG on a team laden with other scoring options. IMO, Howard and Taylor's production combined won't be worse than Nowitzki's. And yes, Sura will be out for 2 months, although he'll most likely be back when the Rockets meet the Mavs.
I love Yao but, Dampier is a physical Defender and Yao tends to fade away jumper his way to a bad game against those types of defenders. Also I like Josh Howard and Jerry Stackhouse coming off the bench a lot more than Sura.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Also I like Josh Howard and Jerry Stackhouse coming off the bench a lot more than Sura.</div> Sura and Mo' Taylor vs Howard and Stackhouse.. that should be the game right there. If you think about it, Yao and Tracy both can have field days against Daniels and Dampier (<u>can is the word</u>). Dirk and Terry can have field days against Howard and whoever the PG is gonna be. The 3 spot, JJ vs Finley is gonna be great. This series can split 2-2, but my wishful thinking is going for 3-1 to Houston. A question for you guys, now that the Dallas series has been looked at, what about Sacramento?
yah i forgot weatherspoon was still in the nba... lol the problem the past few years has always been the Rockets ability to guard 4's who play out on the perimeter, or who are quick and mobile. example : dirk nowitzki. I think Howard will have a better chance of keeping up with him than Cato, but I doubt that will stop Dirk from going off on the Rockets.
At center, Yao will do at the least a decent job on Dampier in both ends, maybe getting 17/7 at least. Tmac will have a field day against everybody in Dallas pretty much. First of all Dallas has no defense, second, Tmac is just a crazy scoring machine. I expect an at least 18ppg average from Tmac against Dallas. Now at the 3, Finley vs JJ will be a great balanced matchup. That leaves the matchups at 1 and 4. Dirk will have a decent game on Howard/Mo. Mo's not very good at defense and neither is Howard, but our defense as a team is one of the best in the league. So I'll probably put him at around a 17/7 average. At the 1 it's really hard to say how well Jason Terry will do. He's always been free to shoot at will and score and do whatever pretty much because he's been in ATL for so long where anybody decent can have good stats (read: Sura). Overall though, It's an even matchup at worst and I'm leaning towards a 3-1 Rockets advantage. Now as for the question about Rockets vs Sac. That's gonna be another great matchup. I think I'd have to go with 2-2 on that series though.
17 points for Dirk.... Your kidding right??? <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Dirk will have a decent game on Howard/Mo.</div> Okaaaay. How did you come up with those stats for the Diggler???
Dirk's points last year vs Rockets: 25, 23, 18, 10. 25+23+18+10 = 76, divided by 4 = 19ppg My bad, I suppose he should be averaging around 19-20ppg, which is pretty much his average anyways. I don't know what happened on his 4th game against the Rockets, I guess they clamped down on Dirk?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting SupraJames:</div><div class="quote_post">Dirk's points last year vs Rockets: 25, 23, 18, 10. 25+23+18+10 = 76, divided by 4 = 19ppg My bad, I suppose he should be averaging around 19-20ppg, which is pretty much his average anyways. I don't know what happened on his 4th game against the Rockets, I guess they clamped down on Dirk?</div> Yeah I remember the 4th game was brutal and ugly!
I remember it as well and it was the last game of the season, and didnt play a lot of minutes. So there. Besides I think he was playing horrible anyways. But he always tries to rest up to play hard in the post season. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Yeah I remember the 4th game was brutal and ugly!</div> C'mon Dude whose side are you on???
dallas is gonna own houston. tmac can score all he wants, but no matter what he does, dallas is gonna own houston dallas > houston jt > marc jackson q'uis < Tmac finely > JJ dirk > howard damiper > yao
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting jtam101:</div><div class="quote_post">dallas is gonna own houston. tmac can score all he wants, but no matter what he does, dallas is gonna own houston dallas > houston jt > marc jackson q'uis < Tmac finely > JJ dirk > howard damiper > yao</div> Let's at least show intelligence in your argument.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting jtam101:</div><div class="quote_post">dallas is gonna own houston. tmac can score all he wants, but no matter what he does, dallas is gonna own houston dallas > houston jt > marc jackson q'uis < Tmac finely > JJ dirk > howard damiper > yao</div> Wtf? Dude, I'll bet you half the fans of NBA never even heard of Dampier before this season when he averaged 12 points...yeah Dampier is better than Yao and BTW, Marc Jackson isn't going to be on the Rocket's Roster during opening night. JJ = Finley. :shakehead
Yao is better than Dampier by far. Nowitski is better than Howard by far. Finley is a little better than Jim Jackson Tmac is WAAAAY better whoever Dallas plays at SG, i think Daniels. And Sura isn't quite as good as Terry. HOWEVER, you cannot just compare straight up like that. Houston's defense is way better than dallas. Last year, houston had one of the top 3 defenses, if not the best. Dallas had the 2nd worst defense in the league. Houston's 5 starters fit their roles much better. In Dallas, you have a 7'0 shooting guard in nowitski, a shoot first point guard in terry, a non-passing center in Dampier, and a no defense playing Finley. Also, rockets have so much depth on their bench. Lue, Ward, Nachbar, Howard, Mutumbo. I really don't see anyway that the Mavericks are a better team than the Rockets.
