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They are still 2 games behind in the loss column. Even if they beat us, we're still the number 2 seed. Again, not a big game...
Rockets up pressure on Spurs
Moments after finishing off the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Houston Rockets were talking about the next game on their schedule.
Ron Artest scored 20 points and Aaron Brooks and Von Wafer added 13 apiece in Houston’s easy 107-88 win over Minnesota on Friday night.
The Rockets play in San Antonio on Sunday with first place in the Southwest Division on the line after the Spurs’ loss to Boston left Houston a half-game behind.
The Rockets’ season has been dotted with injuries, and they lost Tracy McGrady to a season-ending knee injury around the All-Star break. Even they’re a little surprised to be contending for a division le with only 11 games left in the regular season.
“Who would’ve thought we’d be here?” said forward Shane Battier, who scored 11 on Friday night. “We’ve stayed the course, stayed together and we’ve set ourselves up for this matchup.”
The Rockets will need a big game from Yao Ming on Sunday, but they didn’t need one against Minnesota.
Yao scored 14 points, but missed 10 of his 16 shots. He also had eight rebounds before leaving for good late in the third quarter. Houston had the game in hand by then, stretching their lead to 24 earlier in the quarter.
They are still 2 games behind in the loss column. Even if they beat us, we're still the number 2 seed. Again, not a big game...
We can't be tied with them though can we? Who has the tie breaker if we finish 2-2 Vs the Rockets? Against nearly every other team we'd be losing the tie breaker. We need to finish one loss ahead of most teams.
There's no pressure. The spurs eat pressure for breakfast. The pressure is on the rox.
There is no pressure. The Spurs are gonna have to win on the road to win a le anyways. An extra round of not having home court wouldn't hurt. they could fall to 7th place and they wouldn't be in that much worse of a position than they were as a 2 seed.
If the Spurs can take this game, they take the tiebreaker, which essentially puts them 4 games above the Rockets in the loss column.
I agree with you on this. Homecourt avantage is nice to have but you still have to play the game and over a 7-game series the best team wins regardless of HCA. I actually like the Spurs starting a series off on the opponents homecourt and getting an early win rather than getting that first win in SA.
Very nice late season division game. Gonna be a great game!
lot on the line with this game. Bragging rights to TX. Divisional standing in the SW division. Overall standing in the Western Conference. Bring it Rockets!!
Bragging rights < advancing in the playoffs
The division or the standings isn't the end all either....just ask the 2008 Hornets.
Should be a good game, but the Spurs will bounce back for sure. This loss tonight stings bad....another thing...I hate when ppl say that we're up 1/2 a game or whatever, we have 23 losses, Houston has 25. End of story for now...we're up 2 on them in the L column..
never hurts to have HCA. hornets came blazing out because the series started at NO. they became little energizer bunnies and surprised the spurs with their fearlessness. the series wouldn't have dragged on that long if it started in san antonio. hornets would have never been able to generate the kind of momentum they got playing at home and nailing the two victories. then the spurs may have lasted at least 6 games against the lakers.
If your HCA is strong then it'll help your championship push that much more, but it guarantees nothing. Who's to say what would've happened had the series against the Hornets started in SA. Based on the pattern of the series, the home team would've won almost every single game except the most important one: Game 7.
I'd attribute that more to Shaq beating the out of all our guards in the Phoenix series, and the Spurs having nothing in the tank those first two games (they blew both of them in the second half after being decent in the first).
This is going to be a good game. The Rockets are a talented team and could challenge anyone in the West if they ever get their collective heads together.
I hope the Spurs bounce back after last night's heartbreaking loss....you shouldn't lose those type of games, esepcially when you're mano to mano against a quality team....very disappointed in the team right now but I still love em but I don't see championship on the horizon the way they've been playing.
spurs will be an absolute different team when the postseason comes, what the spurs are doing is just saving energy and confusing their rivals with their pretendingly bad performances.
Rockets actually look good recently, but i still don't see any hope the rockets will make the second round this season. without tmac the rockets still can play good in the regular season but the postseason is quite different. rockets fans always blame tmac for their fails in the postseason ignoring the fact that tmac is their most effective player in the playoffs.
ok I see spurs keep saying look at the lost column, also look at the win column. Rockets are 46-25 21 games over .500 spurs are 45-23 22 games over .500. Rockets are only back a game or 1/2 game however that works. If rockets win they will be tied for 2nd then I guess div wins and losses go into account to see who wins the tie breaker.
also the only team I see knocking rockets out in the 1st round again out of those lower seeds is jazz. Dallas knocking rockets out um no, nuggets don't think so, Portland now that's a team that could prob challenge rockets. Hornets we own the tie breaker over both them and nuggets and one more against Dallas to win that series.
postseason games are not the same as those of the regular season. games will significantly turn tougher when the postseason comes, which will perfectly explains why the first round is always the tombs to the teams which lack tough guys in the paint. yao and scola are pretty good but their softness is always the obstacle in front of their way to bring their team to the second round, carl landry's size makes him look more like a SF. a tough big guy is the basic equipment for a second round team, but the rockets just don't have such a guy, so there is no wonder they were knocked out by jazz in the past 2 yrs in a row.
Yao and scola is far from soft yao is beat up night in and night out by players pushing and tugging and leaning on him. The reason jazz beat Rockets because simply they are a matchup nightmare. Jazz have perimeter big men who Yao cant gaurd. Okur is a center but sits out around the 3pt arch and shoot 3s and jumpers, and boozer can pull Yao out from the post and either shoot over Yao are blow past him for a dunk or a layup.postseason games are not the same as those of the regular season. games will significantly turn tougher when the postseason comes, which will perfectly explains why the first round is always the tombs to the teams which lack tough guys in the paint. yao and scola are pretty good but their softness is always the obstacle in front of their way to bring their team to the second round, carl landry's size makes him look more like a SF. a tough big guy is the basic equipment for a second round team, but the rockets just don't have such a guy, so there is no wonder they were knocked out by jazz in the past 2 yrs in a row.
Mavs had bulky Dampier and a solid forward in bass but couldnt beat gsw who had no interior tough guy in the paint they were just simply out matched. Some teams just have your number.
Amen!!! The division lead means nothing, oh yeah and ask how the 2007 Mavs fared as the #1 seed. Rockets can beat anybody when they are on their game, they can win a first round series, but it's going to take the elements of a miracle to beat the lakers in round 2
In a thread earlier in the year about final standings or something, I predicted the Rockets would be tough to beat in the division.
Losing McGrady doesn't seem to have hurt them as much as you might think. In fact, some over here in Houston claim that the team chemistry is better without him and the Rockets continue to win.
If J van Gundy was still the coach I'd be more worried. He had them playing good defense last year. Adelman can't seem to get their attention.
Even if Rockets win Sunday they would be a 3rd seed by percentage points because spurs has a better division record. 9-4San Antonio2 45 23 0.662 0.0 29-12 9-4 24-10 21-13 6-4 L 1
Houston3 46 25 0.648 0.5 29-13 7-6 29-8 17-17 7-3 W 3
You're dumb
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