GT#56: Rockets @ Nets |2/22| 7:30pm | YES

[NyCeEvO]

I'm tired of watching the Nets barely get by on talent alone. Prokhorov needs his head examined if he was pleased with what he saw last night.

Proky ran out of the arena with his rich friends and didn't even talk to the media after the game. He's pissed.

I'm pretty sure we're like 1-6 in the last 7 games that he's actually come to watch us play.


Pathetic.

[PetroNet]

Missed the game last night. Went to support the high school I work at girl's ball team in the conference finals... and get crushed.

Someone give me the tl;dr summary?

1st Qtr -

Came out with good energy. offense played well. lopez hit 3 mid range jumpers. williams shot the ball well. i think they combined for 20 first quarter points. we led by as much as 5 or 6 but the rockets where getting TONS of easy baskets. mostly off pick and roll and the rockts big had a ton of easy dunks/layups off really poor rotations and they finished the quarter with the lead.

2nd quarter -

was more of the same, onyl we cooled off. they had a ton of open shots. delfino and parson drilled 3's, montijunas came in and got a bunch of easy buckets, they had a late run and went inot the half up like 8 or 10 points. Harden did next to nothing, had maybe 9 points.

3rd quarter -

we came out with a TON of effort. Wallace and evans were getting a ton of steals and were really active. watson got hot from 3, i think he hit 3 in that quarter. we tied the game but then once wallace came out we had a lineup where dwill was gaurding harden and harden hit a bunch of threes and scored a few and the lead quickly went back to 8-10 points.

4th quarter -

rockets continued to stay hot (they had WIDE open looks all night and easy layups) harden and delfino went off and tehn harden drilled a 3 to make it a 15 point lead with like 6 minutes to play. looked like we were done but we came out of the timeout with alot of effor still. Mirza came in and he and blatche played extremely well down the stretch drawgin charges, diving for loose balls, blocking shots, etc. mirza drilled a couple 3's, blatche had a nice dunk, dwill hit a 3, and next thing you know we have the ball down 3 with 1:50 to play....

Bogans got an open corner 3 that would have tied it but it was short. then rockets came down and hit a 3 to make it 6 points. watson scored a bucket to make it 4, the rockets came back down and someone maybe delfino hit another dagger 3 to seal it.

the last 5 minutes of that game was the most inspired basketball we played all year. Mirza/Blatche/Watson all where all over the place. its too abd we couldnt get that win, it would have been potentially season defining and a jumping off point (coming from behind late to beat a playoff team while taking the division lead).

bogans put it best at the end, "we needed to play like that the entire game not just the second half"

[PetroNet]

OK and?

With the exception of Miami every team in the top 8 can beat each other, even without home court.

my thing is, all the teams i would want to play in the first round arent teams we would play unless things change alot in the standings. id LOVE to see the pacers or knicks. i think we could knock them off. pacers i have no doubt that we would beat them. but we would need to be in a 4/5 situation to get either i think.

Atlanta is a scrubby joke of a team that racks up some regular season wins but is of no real threat other then to subject you to ugly low BBIQ basketball for 6 games that extend only because of their athleticism

you just described us, other then the athleticism:

- we rack up reg season wins vs bad teams
- we play an ugly brand of ball with poor D
- we have a ton of low bbiq guys run in and out of the lineup

we could beat them but i wouldnt want to play them. i think horford would end up being the best player in the series and they would win, mainly because horford/pachulia would outplay our front court.

[MrDollarBills]

OK and?

With the exception of Miami every team in the top 8 can beat each other, even without home court.

I wouldn't be nervous about any match up really in the first round save Miami or Chicago if Rose is back and is up to spec while fitting in.

There isn't an actual contender in this conference outside Miami.

Knix are mid-implosion.
The Pacers are really good but frauds.
Chicago needs an amazing stroke of luck and an injury to one of Miami's Big 3.
The Celtics are a tough out but old and have little to no realistic outside shot at winning it all or even getting to the Finals.
Atlanta is a scrubby joke of a team that racks up some regular season wins but is of no real threat other then to subject you to ugly low BBIQ basketball for 6 games that extend only because of their athleticism, transition play and some flukey shooting for a few games.
The Bucks are low efficiency garbage mixed with some really good role players and hot shooting nights. They have no shot of going anywhere, I wouldn't be surprised if Toronto overtakes them.

I'm unhappy about a lot with this team as well, but you're really exaggerating things for effect.

You should be the last one to say that someone is exaggerating things for effect.

The fact remains: we are very susceptible to being a one and done in the playoffs. I think that we can beat the Knicks, possibly the Pacers, but more than likely won't draw them in the first round. I have a bad feeling that if this team saw Atlanta, Milwaukee, Boston, or Chicago, we would lose. The Nets did not play well in any of the games against those teams.

For all of the criticism that you heaped on the Bucks, we struggled to overcome them in both games.

[vincecarter4pres]

Nets are now 2 and 1 against the Bucks, guess they played better then us though.

Nets are 2 and 1 against the Hawks, guess they played better then us though.

Nets are 2 and 1 against the Celtics, guess they played better then us though.

Nets are 1 and 0 against the Bulls, guess they played better then us though.

We did not play well and all those teams played better then us, but we just keep coming out on top of the season series. Weird.

We win the games, but we struggled to do so, so in your eyes we actually lost because the opposition came up with the moral victory. Interesting.

Edit: I was going off memory. Just checked we're actually 1-1 versus Atlanta, my fault. My point still stands though.

There are major faults with this team all over the place, we're not a contender and many a night we play a bland, aggravating, iso grind out style of ball that is counterproductive to what the roster dictates we should play because we have a buffoon of a coach. It's often unenjoyable to watch and leaves you stressing cause we're in so many nail biters that need late game heroics or defensive stands to last. I get that. But that also lends to show we win those types of games.

I'm not worried about this team getting ousted in the first round really, unless we're the 4 or 5 seed and Chicago winds up the team we're facing and Rose is back.

[PetroNet]

Nets are now 2 and 1 against the Bucks, guess they played better then us though.

Nets are 2 and 1 against the Hawks, guess they played better then us though.

Nets are 2 and 1 against the Celtics, guess they played better then us though.

Nets are 1 and 0 against the Bulls, guess they played better then us though.

not sure where your getting these records from, but they are incorrect:

we are 2-2 against the bucks, the beat us decisively the first 2 meetings

we are 1-1 vs the hawks, they were either missing smith or horford in those games.

we are 1-1 against the bulls, the second game came down to the wire even with noah and boozer out.

[vincecarter4pres]

I already corrected myself on the Atlanta one awhile before you made that post.

I was looking at the game logs on Yahoo, not sure how I missed the Milwaukee one or forgot about that heartbreaker of a coaching clinic on how not to coach in the Chicago loss either.

So...

vs. Boston 2-1

vs. Chicago 1-1

vs. Atlanta 1-1

vs. Milwaukee 2-2

vs. New York 2-2

vs. Indiana 2-0

Again, not this terrible army of doom you two guys seem to be specifically making our playoff opponents.

[PetroNet]

I already corrected myself on the Atlanta one awhile before you made that post.

I was looking at the game logs on Yahoo, not sure how I missed the Milwaukee one or forgot about that heartbreaker of a coaching clinic on how not to coach in the Chicago loss either.

So...

vs. Boston 2-1

vs. Chicago 1-1

vs. Atlanta 1-1

vs. Milwaukee 2-2

vs. New York 2-2

vs. Indiana 2-0

Again, not this terrible army of doom you two guys seem to be specifically making our playoff opponents.

well, like i said... id LOVE to play the pacers or knicks in round 1, but that seems unlikey. the pacers are complete trash of a playoff team and bigger frauds then us. problem is we are both likely top 4 seeds.

Boston isnt the same team we beat the first 2 meetings, they have played much better basketball the last month or so. id rather not face them, they play tough D and have a ton of playoff experiece.

The bulls are 1-1 against us, but really, they played us to almost a stalemate missing noah and boozer. im pretty confident we lose to a bulls team that has everyone but rose, and get beat handily if they have rose.

atlanta, at full strength i think beats us in 5 or 6 games. i dont like that matchup...quick gaurds and their frontcourt would outplay ours over a full series.

milwaukee we could beat, but i still hate that matchup, especially now that they have reddick. that series goes 7 i think, and if you put a gun to my head id probably say we come up short

[MGrand15]

None of those teams really scare me in the playoffs honestly. I really think if we play our game, we can match any team in the East except for Miami. I only worry about our coaching staff.