If Rolo stays on the court out of foul trouble, gets Howard in foul trouble, we protect the ball so Lin and Harden don't kill us on fast breaks..then we can beat these guys in a 7 game series.
If Robinson and Freeland (Big if at this point because I have no idea where he is at in his injury rehab) play up to what they're capable of then I believe we are the better team. As long as we can keep Howard in check with lots of different looks then we can allow Harden to go for 30 every game and still win because our team is more than capable of scoring on the Rockets. We are deeper and have a more complete team.
I think both teams are pretty even talent wise. They have their two superstars that will get the superstar calls, but we have two all stars and over all, our starters are better than theirs. I think this series will be close and I think coaching will play a big role - and I think the coaching match up favors Portland. Both coaches have only made the playoffs one time, as a head coach, and neither has advanced past the first round. So, at first look, like the rosters, the two coaches look pretty equally matched. I think Kevin McHale is a great big man coach, but he hasn't really done much to impress me as a head coach. Stotts hasn't made it past the first round as a head coach, but he was the lead assistant and in charge of the offense when Dallas won their championship. I think he's a much better Xs and Os coach than McHale and is especially skilled at calling plays out of time outs and the end of quarters, etc. I think the games, and the series will be very close and every possession will be important. I think that due to Stotts' play calling and the fact that we have more scoring options favors the Blazers. The other keys for coaching in a 7 game series are mid-game and mid-series adjustments. We don't have enough playoff data to show one coach is better than the other in this regard, but again, my instincts tell me Stotts has an edge over McHale. I thinks Stotts has done a great job working with the young guys on our bench. He's given them all multiple chances to EARN playing time based on their performance. He seems to do a good job coaxing improvement out of his young bench players (and even veterans like Dorell Wright). None of the players seem to have gotten down when moved out of the rotation and every time they get re-inserted into the rotation, I see noticeable improvement. I've seen it multiple times with Thomas Robinson. I've seen it from Will Baton and Victor Claver, and while he's far from a finished product, I've even seen improvement in defensive positioning and rebounding from Meyers Leonard. To me this shows a coach that is flexible and adaptable. I also think the fact that he hasn't "lost" any of his bench players bodes well for the playoffs. It will give him the flexibility to make adjustments both mid-game and mid-series. He can throw a bunch of different looks at the Rockets to keep them off balance and prevent them from getting comfortable against a specific lineup or style of play. HCA would be huge, but it's going to be tough to get. I'd feel better, having HCA with a young team that lacks playoff experience, but even without HCA, thanks to our coaching advantage and better balanced starting five, I think we can still beat Houston even without HCA. And, this is a HUGE difference between this team and the Nate coached teams that made the payoffs. Nate was so horribly inflexible, and predictable, he was always easily out coached in the playoffs while he was in Portland. I just dreaded watching him stand there with his arms crossed while other coaches were coaching circles around him. I NEVER felt confident we even had a chance to win a series with Nate as our head coach. Stotts may not be Greg Popovich or Phil Jackson, but at least I don't have that impending sense of doom I always had when Nate was coaching in the post season. I'm REALLY looking forward to the playoffs this year. Anything can happen in a 7 game series, but at least I feel like we have a chance to prevail, not matter who we play. BNM
The problem is that our stars do not get even remotely the same ref treatment, and that's the reason why most of us did NOT want Houston. In the eyes of the refs: DHo > LA Harden > Dame It's not even close. Plus, they allow Beverley to just straight mug Lillard throughout the game, which has been a big problem for Portland.
"playoff basketball is more physical" is a great excuse to just stop reffing and start drinking heavily.
This is why I favor Portland in the first Round, it's always the best referee'd part of the playoffs. It's not until the later rounds that they revert back to their old ways.
They already let Beverley get away with murder on Lillard. You think it's going to benefit us if he's allowed to basically do whatever he wants?
No. But if they let Wes/Nic D up Harden properly, and let the bigs play inside without ticky tack garbage then I think we hold the edge.
Whenever I see that picture of Van Gundy, I hear this sound: [video=youtube;202eIv0ns1U]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=202eIv0ns1U[/video]
It sucks to say, but if we play the Rockets, then Stotts is going to have to wage a public campaign bitching about all the grabbing and holding Beverley does. It's a shitty strategy, but it will be an effective one.
The better team would win, half this thread is complaining about the refs and isn't even remotely to answer the topic question.
The better team would win? Are you sure you've been watching the NBA for the past fourteen or so years?
It's entirely the answer. The better team is whoever is allowed to be the better team by the refs. The NBA is fucking rigged. I'm disappointed already in preparation for the end.
The team that has loftier expectations which I think is the Rockets scares me. Do I think that makes them the better team? I don't know. I think there are big plans for them not only internally but externally. That makes them tough to beat. Portland needs to concentrate on playing their game and not get into all that.
Ok, whatever. I thought the discussion would be about match-ups, team defense, coaching, bench players...
Are you pissed off at my response? The X factor will be the refs. I'm sorry. Houston is the larger market and they have more marketable players.
