The only way I'd worry about the Lakers is if Luka could return by Game 5. Otherwise they should be an easy out in the first round, especially if the Rockets have home court.
Rockets have a habit of playing down to competition. We should be at or near 60 wins. This season's Rockets won't have a week off before the playoffs start so at least they shouldn't start off on ice.
I sincerely hope they don't play down to the competition come playoff time. Those aren't the kinds of games you take lightly.
This game shows exactly why that is such a stupid narrative. We were 11-1 at one time when Josh was starting, which was just as dumb a stat. We got killed from the get go. Ime should make the starting decisions based on matchups the rest of the year. I said before the game Josh should have started to keep Booker and Jalen from getting off to a hot start and building up their confidence, which is exactly what happened. The second half Ime smarted up and started Josh. Even if that unit didn’t win their minutes (it was close but don’t remember) the tone was set and doubt set in. When you face a team that is almost exclusively fueled by perimeter offense it makes no sense to start Reed. There will be other matchups where starting Reed makes more sense, like Denver or Minnesota.
As they say, you have to play the games. Sports isn't an AI simulation where the outcome is pre-determined. But yea, playing the Lakers with HCA is the best-case scenario.
I think home court is pretty big even against a depelted Lakers team. We need all the advantages we can get with Lebron and the referees. There's a big push for HCA with three games left. We both have a back to back left and they have the tie breaker on us. If Lakers go 2-1 then we have to go 3-0.
It's DD. Would you expe anything other than a stupid narrative? Denver makes sense. Ime can't adjust though what concerns me. The other problem is Reed can't guard his shadow which makes his starting in the playoffs problematic
We’re gonna wipe the floor with the Lakers. They won’t have a chance against us. And honestly, if we build real playoff rhythm and edge in that series, we might even have a shot against OKC too. The difference there is OKC is gonna load up on KD and Sengun, no doubt. That’s where Amen, Reed, and Jabari have to step up and show some real character. This is the time for those guys to prove who they are. Jabari and Reed knocking down shots, plus Amen cutting hard to the rim, would make life way easier for both Alpi and KD. The other big issue is how we completely lose focus in certain stretches and start coughing the ball up. That has to be cleaned up big time. We need to cut those turnovers down as much as possible.
We got killed from the get go cuz they were making every shot. It had nothing to do with the Reed playing bad. He was good in the game.Thats the difference between us now and before. When teams got hot from three we just couldn’t come back cuz we didn’t shoot enough threes before. By adding holiday and Reed into the lineup our offense is just more dangerous.
During the season, FLOPPER James and the FAKERS lost by a 29pts avg to the Thunder?? NOT A THUNDER FAN, but that is frickin awesome!! Spoiler: DESPICABLE!!! Go Rockets!!! ....... ....... .......
There's nobody I'm not worried about because I don't have confidence in Ime and the Rockets...although the recent win streak is helping with that.
Its funny because teams are looking at us the same way we look at the lakers If im denver im tanking to have a guaranteed matchup against either houston or lakers