Playoffs chances are looking better now

[rocketsballin]

i gotta say i didnt expect the rockets to be this good w/o their starting backcourt. sure we're not playing like a contender, but to be 5 games over .500 with our setbacks is impressive...2 straight wins on the road vs chicago and lakers. even though they missing key players, so are we, so no excuses on their part. this is the toughest part of the season now that teams have build chemistry, and early season injuries are gone.

the wolves, suns, and jazz have cooled off. to stay in the playoffs all we need to do stay away from losing streaks (3+ games). looking at the schedule there's only 3 games that will be tough as nails for us...dallas twice and road game vs miami. every other game are in our favor. nuggets are right there with us in the standings. then the jazz and suns have barely been around .500. we keep up our level of play, there's no way we miss the playoffs

here's an encouraging article from feigen about lowry

A month to the day after Kyle Lowry was hospitalized with a bacterial infection, the Rockets guard could return to the court Sunday night at Sacramento.
http://blog.chron.com/ultimaterockets/2 ... acramento/

just to hear about lowry coming back this soon is a huge bonus. our bench is gonna be dope as a mug with him as the 6th man. who knows, i was wrong about us struggling to stay over .500. him being back this week is a now possibility instead of a hopeful.

(i hope martin out for the season + playoffs and traded on draft night. please morey we all know you got mad skills yo. get his ass outta here and dont look back!)

[zapatasblood]

Just need to stay away from three day breaks. Rockets seem to come out with no energy after a extended break.

Lowry should start and better start. He does not deserve to lose his spot in the rotation because of this sickness

[texasholdem]

Just need to stay away from three day breaks. Rockets seem to come out with no energy after a extended break.

Lowry should start and better start. He does not deserve to lose his spot in the rotation because of this sickness

Didn't Lowry only become the starter because of Aaron's injury?

[zapatasblood]

Well I never thought Aaron should have been the starter in the first place. Besides that Aaron was playing bad before the injury and Lowry was shinning.

[rocketsballin]

yeah but the thing with lowry starting is that he could be a significant liability if he starts right away. needs time to get back into game shape (which is key in the toughest part of the season), new roster/new rotations - lowry needs to work his way back into those two things. with the congested schedule it shouldnt take long for lowry to get into game shape (4 game week followed by 5 game week). but i would rather him come off the bench

[Zubby]

Lowry should and will come off the bench til he gets back in game shape.
He will be the starter come playoffs.

Lowry > Dragic still


More importantly who do we want to face.

LAC, LAL, OKC, or SAS?


I prefer OKC... SAS scare me sh*tless

If we play LAC I foresee a very ugly series, like ejections and blood on the court.
I don't think I have ever seen anyone irritate Scola like Blake Griffin does.

[dunleavyjr]

defensively, lowry is better and stronger.
offensively, dragic runs the show.

i must say spurs are pretty good at draft picks.
both scola and dragic were drafted by spurs in 2nd round.

[rocketsballin]

our best chance to advance is vs lac imo. they barely beat our depleted rosters last two meetings. with some chemistry and return of lowry, we have a good shot to beat them. lowry and dragic gotta play at a high level to make any 2nd round advance happen. just cuz one of them is benched doesnt mean they can start avg 8pts/3asts. the backcourt rotation should be only dragic/lowry/lee. that would net them at least 25mpg.

we played well vs okc, but i dont think we'll beat them in a 7 game series. too much star power, and ibaka could shut down scola. w/e mistaks they made vs us in the reg season wont be repeated in the playoffs.

[Zubby]

IDK Chris Paul always seems to be the best player in the league once the playoffs starts and now he actually has a team with a lot of talent.

[MaxRider]

start both of them

[rocketsballin]

lowry's too short to defend 2guards for the whole game. the ones 6'4/5+ will be too much height for the whole game. it doesnt really matter which of lowry/lee/dragic get the most minutes, but those 3 need to be the backcourt rotation

[pr0wler]

One of Dragic or Lowry can guard a lot of SG's defensively. When teams roll out undersized backup SG's like Jason Terry, Gary Neal, OJ Mayo, Randy Foye I see no reason why Goran and Kyle can't play the backcourt together for 10-12 minutes a night.

[zapatasblood]

Do not want to play the Lakers or Memphis. We have a chance against the rest of them

Edit: Spurs have caught fire at the right time so I don't want to face them either

[rocketsballin]

"The Rockets are the only team to beat the Lakers, Oklahoma City Thunder and Bulls on their home courts"

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketba ... 54119740/1

[x-]

Do not want to play the Lakers or Memphis. We have a chance against the rest of them

Edit: Spurs have caught fire at the right time so I don't want to face them either

I agree with this.

OKC or Clippers please.

(Am I crazy for thinking we might have a better shot of beating the Thunder than the Clips? Probably.)

[MaxRider]

we matchup better against the Spurs

[Jajwanda]

our best chance to advance is vs lac imo. they barely beat our depleted rosters last two meetings. with some chemistry and return of lowry, we have a good shot to beat them. lowry and dragic gotta play at a high level to make any 2nd round advance happen. just cuz one of them is benched doesnt mean they can start avg 8pts/3asts. the backcourt rotation should be only dragic/lowry/lee. that would net them at least 25mpg.

we played well vs okc, but i dont think we'll beat them in a 7 game series. too much star power, and ibaka could shut down scola. w/e mistaks they made vs us in the reg season wont be repeated in the playoffs.

Ibaka can shut down Scola?

That guys one-on-one D is not impressive against true post-up big men.

[FirstRocket]

Do not want to play the Lakers or Memphis. We have a chance against the rest of them

Edit: Spurs have caught fire at the right time so I don't want to face them either

Seriously....Are we hoping for just to be in the playoff or however little chance of Championship title the team may offer? We have to face any team that stand in our way to the final. Realistic or not. Who care? Just want to see the team perform great against the best after a disappointing Tmac and Yao era.

[Zubby]

HOU: 4 games 5 days...

@ DAL
@ NOH
vs GSW
@ MIA
vs NOH



PHX:

vs OKC
vs LAC
vs DEN
@ Utah
vs SAS

UTAH:

@ POR
vs ORL
vs PHX
vs POR




Maybe we get lucky and Denver loses 4 of 5... doubt it
Everyone has the tiebreaker on us, Utah has an easy schedule I see the winning out.

[FirstRocket]

Playoffs chances are looking bad now!