PG: Playoff Spot Clinched

Paradise · Post #1 » by **Paradise** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 3:33 am

Rockets: 96
Nets: 105

Palmeirense · Post #2 » by **Palmeirense** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 3:40 am

Hopefully Dwight Coward sits this one out.

therealbig3 · Post #3 » by **therealbig3** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 3:50 am

I'm expecting a not very close loss in this one, to be perfectly honest.

But hey, I've said that for a few games this season, and they've proven me wrong quite a few times. We'll see.

therealbig3 · Post #4 » by **therealbig3** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 3:54 am

Our schedule gets pretty brutal in April, not because of the competition, but because of how few off-days there are.

We have 4 back to backs, including a 4 games in 5 nights stretch, followed by a back to back after 2 off-days. Which means 6 games in 9 nights.

I feel like this team is going to be incredibly tired heading into the playoffs, unfortunately.

exculpatory · Post #5 » by **exculpatory** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 4:01 am

therealbig3 wrote:I'm expecting a not very close loss in this one, to be perfectly honest.

But hey, I've said that for a few games this season, and they've proven me wrong quite a few times. We'll see.

Gee whiz, trb3. W W W.

exculpatory · Post #6 » by **exculpatory** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 4:09 am

therealbig3 wrote:Our schedule gets pretty brutal in April, not because of the competition, but because of how few off-days there are.

We have 4 back to backs, including a 4 games in 5 nights stretch, followed by a back to back after 2 off-days. Which means 6 games in 9 nights.

I feel like this team is going to be incredibly tired heading into the playoffs, unfortunately.

The 6 games in 9 days ends on Wed 4/9. Then, after 1 day off, they play 4 games in 6 days with only 1 b2b. Unless it impacts seeding, multiple guys will not play the final @Cleveland game on 4/16. First round will begin on Sat 4/19 or Sun 4/20.

DarkXaero · Post #7 » by **DarkXaero** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 4:13 am

Is Dwight sitting this one out?

therealbig3 · Post #8 » by **therealbig3** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 4:22 am

Here's our schedule FWIW:

vs Houston
@ NY (b2b)
vs Detroit
@Philadelphia (b2b and 4th in 5 nights)
@Miami
@Orlando (b2b)
vs Atlanta
vs Orlando
vs NY
@Cleveland (b2b)

I'm trying to figure out when to give D-Will, Johnson, and Pierce rest. Especially Pierce. I know he's not playing a lot of minutes, but these aren't easy minutes. He's banging around with opposing PFs, so I gotta assume it'll eventually wear on him, so I'd like him to get some off-nights down the stretch. True, if seeding is irrelevant by the time we play Cleveland, then that's a game where our main guys are going to get the night off.

Honestly, I'd like to see Pierce get rest days @ Philadelphia and @ Orlando. You know he wants to play against NY and Miami, so those are out of the question as far as resting him. D-Will, outside of the possibility of injuring his ankle, I'm actually not really worried about. He's still young, and there are a few days off before the playoffs start, so he'll be fine. Johnson is a guy that I'd also like to see get some rest though, because he's been our horse all year.

Because of the back to backs and the small amount of off-days, it's kind of hard to predict which games we're going to win.

Paradise · Post #9 » by **Paradise** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 4:30 am

therealbig3 wrote:Here's our schedule FWIW:

vs Houston
@ NY (b2b)
vs Detroit
@Philadelphia (b2b and 4th in 5 nights)
@Miami
@Orlando (b2b)
vs Atlanta
vs Orlando
vs NY
@Cleveland (b2b)

I'm trying to figure out when to give D-Will, Johnson, and Pierce rest. Especially Pierce. I know he's not playing a lot of minutes, but these aren't easy minutes. He's banging around with opposing PFs, so I gotta assume it'll eventually wear on him, so I'd like him to get some off-nights down the stretch. True, if seeding is irrelevant by the time we play Cleveland, then that's a game where our main guys are going to get the night off.

Honestly, I'd like to see Pierce get rest days @ Philadelphia and @ Orlando. You know he wants to play against NY and Miami, so those are out of the question as far as resting him. D-Will, outside of the possibility of injuring his ankle, I'm actually not really worried about. He's still young, and there are a few days off before the playoffs start, so he'll be fine. Johnson is a guy that I'd also like to see get some rest though, because he's been our horse all year.

Because of the back to backs and the small amount of off-days, it's kind of hard to predict which games we're going to win.

If KG comes back vs Orlando, I think that's the perfect game to rest Paul. We will have enough depth to get away with Teletovic/Blatche at PF with KG getting 15-20 minutes and Plumlee/Collins backing him up.

Hard to see JJ or D-Will getting any rest games until Cleveland.

Palmeirense · Post #10 » by **Palmeirense** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 4:53 am

I'll go with

Houston W
@ NY W
Detroit L (we just can't play with these guys, apparently)
@ Sixers W
@ Miami L
@ Orlando W
Atlanta W
Orlando W
NY W
Cleveland W (or a loss depending if Kidd sits them out

8-2 or 7-3, So 47-35 or 46-36, i think we'll stay as the fifth seed.

exculpatory · Post #11 » by **exculpatory** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 4:57 am

Watching on TV & sitting at courtside twice this season, why is it that crowd noise is not what it should be? Somehow, sound is not transmitted well at Barclays?

Ronito · Post #12 » by **Ronito** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 5:11 am

What the hell happened to the RealGM forums?

This is going to be a 3-point shoot out.

MrDollarBills · Post #13 » by **MrDollarBills** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 5:23 am

We have no choice but to win. A huge home game on national television vs a quality opponent, time to show the world the home court excellence is not a fluke.

Palmeirense · Post #14 » by **Palmeirense** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 5:29 am

MrDollarBills wrote:We have no choice but to win. A huge home game on national television vs a quality opponent, time to show the world the home court excellence is not a fluke.

No 13 games stretch is a fluke, imo, that's the longest homecourt stand of the season alongside OKC.

Zachbretton · Post #15 » by **Zachbretton** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 5:29 am

Yeah, as hard as the schedule is from here on out, we really need as many wins as possible. Especially after our two b2b losses this past week... We really burned our loses to spare.

I say we can let up 1-2 L's at max.

That being said, this will be a hard one but I can totally see us pulling through like we did tonight.

exculpatory · Post #16 » by **exculpatory** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 5:57 am

Somebody named SDot needs to spend the game inside Harden's uniform.

Paradise · Post #17 » by **Paradise** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 8:00 am

The Rockets are 29th in fewest turnovers and 15th in offensive rebounds.

If we can force turnovers and focus on defensive rebounding like we did against Minnesota, we should be in good shape.

Sent from my LG-MS770 using Tapatalk

kerry kittles · Post #18 » by **kerry kittles** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 4:20 pm

I'm very confident we will win this game

Paradise · Post #19 » by **Paradise** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 8:07 pm

[tweet]https://twitter.com/MazzESPN/status/450715014840983552[/tweet]

Palmeirense · Post #20 » by **Palmeirense** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 8:09 pm

Paradise wrote:[tweet]https://twitter.com/MazzESPN/status/450715014840983552[/tweet]

Great news.