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thats cute
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2...gn=programming
The NBA playoffs, like any other big-time sports tournament, is often all about matchups, where the luck of the draw can be just as important as the skills a team brings to bear.
So why does it always seem like it’s former NBA players who feel the need to point this out? Players, it should be noted, who aren’t exactly coming to the conversation with the most objective of opinions.
Take Houston Rockets legend Hakeem Olajuwon, who recently confided to the Houston Chroncile's Jonathan Feigen that his old team would’ve given the No. 1-seeded San Antonio Spurs a rowdier run for their money than did the Portland Trail Blazers:
" It’s deceiving if you just base it upon the playoffs, the loss in the first round. It is deceiving because I believe Portland did a huge favor to San Antonio. If the Rockets got past Portland, they had an opportunity to go all the way. ... My point is that team that lost in the first round was truly a championship team because you see they match up so well with San Antonio. I think they had a better chance than Portland. You cannot judge the Rockets team based upon just being out in the first round. I think they are a better team. I think they just played the wrong team."
Let me see if I have this right: You can be “truly a championship team” if you match up better on paper with a team that hasn’t even won the championship yet?
If Hakeem starts levying that kind of logic at his big-man camps, we’re going to wake up next November 1 to a viral video of Jonas Valanciunas catching the ball in the post, turning around and straight-up dropkicking it into the rafters.
In fairness to Olajuwon, the Rockets did sweep the Spurs 4-0 during the regular season. Although we’re assuming Gregg Popovich was resting Tim Duncan and starting Patty Mills at power forward in at least two of them.
Then again, San Antonio only managed to split its regular-season slate with the Blazers and still managed to brush them aside like a harmless tumbleweed when push came to playoff shove.
Why? As Bleacher Report’s Stephen Babb recently noted, the Spurs’ unique veteran-rest regimen has paid far more dividends than fresh legs for their starting five:
Those minutes have paid off. According to Hoopsstats.com, San Antonio's bench ranks first league-wide in points and assists. The second unit has become adept at breaking games open in the second quarter. Most teams hope the bottom half of the rotation can hold on to a lead, but San Antonio's actually expands leads more often than not.
In short, health has meant two things for San Antonio: a fluid system and unmatched depth. Those are the kind of force multipliers that make average talent look unbeatable, that make the Spurs winners of 18 straight.
Would the Rockets have beaten the Spurs? Unless you know of a wormhole in Hakeem’s toolshed, it’s impossible to say.
What we do know is, after slogging its way to a seven-game series win over the Dallas Mavericks in the first round, San Antonio has looked every bit the part of last year’s finals team.
Maybe the Rockets really are contenders in wait. Maybe Olajuwon has a point about the potentially ominous matchup nightmare that could’ve been.
Then again, it’s hard to take a team that seriously when the best you can conjure is a legend’s hypothetical.
thats cute
Where did he say they would have beaten them?
probably when he said portland did san antonio a favor because houston had a chance to go all the way
HAKEEM playing the 'what if' game? lmao gtfo
He's right.... SA lucked out playing OKC w/out Ibaka and playing the first two rounds against scrub teams with no D. But hey..... every T le run needs a little bit of luck.
Hakeem is neglecting the fact that Harden appears to be a playoff choker as a #1 option, tbh..
the 94-95 Lockets led by Hakeem himself might have a shot at beating us, tbh.
The Rockets lucked out because MJ was eating sunflower seeds.
Yeah. the kind of defense that James Harden plays, it gave them a chance to go all the way. The Dream was a great player, but he should shed the "clutch city" love when he does analysis.
I am surprised that the Rockets went 6 games against the Blazers considering the pathetic defense that Harden & Lin played and the fact that they had practically little offensive flow beyond depending on Harden playing one on one /iso.
The blazers D was first round D. Look what the spurs Dodd to them.
Rockets doesn't even play d. Helk, Aldridge torched them regularly. After that game 7 against dallas, god help anybody in the Spurs way
Won the least amount of games of all Terxas teams in these playoffs but yet they were gonna go all the way? GTFO
Actually the rockets could of made it all the way since Ibaka got injured lol, still cant believe they choked against the blazers. Spurs getting lucky yet again, hope the heat push their in
just like the Heat lucked out by playing in the East against such stiff compe ion like the Bobcats who lost Jefferson, Nets who are like 1,000 years old with K.G. already on his last legs and playing without Lopez and the mighty Pacers who have been dysfunctional as they come, barely squeaking by series after series. got.
Houston > Blazers > Worriers > Memphis > Dallas > Floppers > Meth > Spurms
now if you include the Ibaka injury:
Houston > Blazers > Worriers > Meth > Memphis > Dallas > Floppers > Spurms
either way... Houston was the worst team in the playoffs.
they would have, because if popovich would have had parker, mills, ginobli, green, or whomever sitting in the paint crowding the area to stop the dream or driving, ellie, cassell, smith, horry, and even tracy murray would have destroyed us on wide open 3's
Hakeem is obviously a blind homer. I hope those comments were before the Spurs/Blazers series, because it sounds dumb as considering how the Spurs have crushed everyone they've played for months outside of a 2 week stretch at the end of the season/beginning of postseason.
The Rockets would have also lost in 5. Thunder swept the Spurs this season too, that doesn't mean .
his just bitter that all the big men that went through his training are just utterHakeem is obviously a blind homer. I hope those comments were before the Spurs/Blazers series, because it sounds dumb as considering how the Spurs have crushed everyone they've played for months outside of a 2 week stretch at the end of the season/beginning of postseason.
The Rockets would have also lost in 5. Thunder swept the Spurs this season too, that doesn't mean .
Hakeem is getting senile.
The Rockets, even if they somehow got past Portland, and then the Spurs, would not have gotten past OKC - Ibaka or the Heat.
Given that he was one of the best defensive player of all time, and that his Rockets were great defensive teams, he would appreciate that end of the court a lot more. The current Rockets just does not play defense at all, and will always be a pretender team unless coaches hold Harden accountable on that end of the floor.
Speaking of coaching, McHale can have a team of Lebron, CP3, Durant, Dwight and Paul George, with Parker, Duncan, Ibaka and Curry coming off the bench and would still NOT win a championship, because he really does suck that much as a coach.
I was way more worried about the Rockets than the Blazers tbh. The way the Spurs woke up after the Dallas series though, they still would have won.
Spurs have done a great job of attacking weakest defensive link of the opponent. Harden being one of the worst defender at his position seeing huge amount of minutes, Spurs would have abused in ass. You add Duncan owning Howard during POs, no way Spurs lost that serie
yeah, no way spurs go 7 games against mavs either
oh wait
jajaja
The way you wrote it, Houston is the best.Houston > Blazers > Worriers > Memphis > Dallas > Floppers > Meth > Spurms
now if you include the Ibaka injury:
Houston > Blazers > Worriers > Meth > Memphis > Dallas > Floppers > Spurms
either way... Houston was the worst team in the playoffs.
Houston coulda won if the Spurs played like they did against the Mavs. I think they'd have put up a little more of a fight than the Blazers too.
But they're never winning with McHale as coach.
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