Houston Rockets
While the Rockets have been pretty much irrelevant since the days of Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, this year has been more promising with the acquisition on the number 2 seed in the West. They won 56 games this year even while Dwight Howard missed 41 of them. They also used 18 different starting lineups and their players missed a combined total of 180 games.
The Rockets are in my opinion the most interesting and intriguing team left in the NBA playoff final four. Their first series with the Dallas Mavericks went 5 games and the last series with Los Angeles Clippers went 7 games. They are tied with the Hawks with the most playoff games played this year with 12 games. Jason Terry said that the Rockets were actually at a disadvantage coming into the Clippers series because they had 5 straight days off before starting the series. Well there is no excuse now because they just had 1 days rest from the last series. A positive for the Rockets is that Dwight Howard is hitting his stride at the right time. He played excellent against one of the game’s best centers in DeAndre Jordan during the Clippers series. During the playoffs Dwight is averaging 17 points and 14 rebounds per game, which are both increases from the regular season. If the Rockets want any chance of beating the Warriors, Dwight has to dominate the inside and take advantage of the mismatch of either Bogut or Green that will be guarding him.
There have been 8 series in history where the runner up for MVP has taken down the MVP in a playoff series, but none since 1997 when Michael Jordan took down Karl Malone. Against the Rockets for his career Steph Curry is only averaging 19 points per game and against the Warriors James Harden is averaging 21 points per game. With both players have almost exactly the same stats, the series will almost undoubtedly come down to the role and bench players. While the Warriors have Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, and Leandro Barbosa coming off the bench which is very good, I believe the Rockets hold the advantage in this department. With Pablo Prigioni, Corey Brewer, and Josh Smith the Rockets have a second group of players that clearly enjoy playing together and are successful as well, which was evident in the 40-15 run in the fourth quarter of Game 6 against the Rockets to avoid elimination.
The Rockets average 111 points per game in the playoffs which is the highest of the four remaining teams. This is important because the Rockets and Warriors play essentially the same style of game, rely on transition baskets and three pointers while playing lockdown perimeter defense. The thing that the Rockets will lean on to beat the Warriors is their playoff experience. The Rockets top 10 players have played a combined 67 more playoff games than the top 10 for the Warriors. With veteran leaders like Jason Terry and Josh Smith, the Rocket have the players to help lead younger players in this unfamiliar playoff atmosphere.
There have been many people who are predicting this series to go seven games, even though the Western Conference Finals has not gone seven games since 2002. The Rockets are 6-4 all time in seven games series and the Warriors are 0-1 all time in seven game series. That is why I am predicting that the Warriors and Rockets will take this series to seven games and the Rockets will prevail and advance to their first NBA finals since 1995.
The Rockets are in my opinion the most interesting and intriguing team left in the NBA playoff final four. Their first series with the Dallas Mavericks went 5 games and the last series with Los Angeles Clippers went 7 games. They are tied with the Hawks with the most playoff games played this year with 12 games. Jason Terry said that the Rockets were actually at a disadvantage coming into the Clippers series because they had 5 straight days off before starting the series. Well there is no excuse now because they just had 1 days rest from the last series. A positive for the Rockets is that Dwight Howard is hitting his stride at the right time. He played excellent against one of the game’s best centers in DeAndre Jordan during the Clippers series. During the playoffs Dwight is averaging 17 points and 14 rebounds per game, which are both increases from the regular season. If the Rockets want any chance of beating the Warriors, Dwight has to dominate the inside and take advantage of the mismatch of either Bogut or Green that will be guarding him.
There have been 8 series in history where the runner up for MVP has taken down the MVP in a playoff series, but none since 1997 when Michael Jordan took down Karl Malone. Against the Rockets for his career Steph Curry is only averaging 19 points per game and against the Warriors James Harden is averaging 21 points per game. With both players have almost exactly the same stats, the series will almost undoubtedly come down to the role and bench players. While the Warriors have Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, and Leandro Barbosa coming off the bench which is very good, I believe the Rockets hold the advantage in this department. With Pablo Prigioni, Corey Brewer, and Josh Smith the Rockets have a second group of players that clearly enjoy playing together and are successful as well, which was evident in the 40-15 run in the fourth quarter of Game 6 against the Rockets to avoid elimination.
The Rockets average 111 points per game in the playoffs which is the highest of the four remaining teams. This is important because the Rockets and Warriors play essentially the same style of game, rely on transition baskets and three pointers while playing lockdown perimeter defense. The thing that the Rockets will lean on to beat the Warriors is their playoff experience. The Rockets top 10 players have played a combined 67 more playoff games than the top 10 for the Warriors. With veteran leaders like Jason Terry and Josh Smith, the Rocket have the players to help lead younger players in this unfamiliar playoff atmosphere.
There have been many people who are predicting this series to go seven games, even though the Western Conference Finals has not gone seven games since 2002. The Rockets are 6-4 all time in seven games series and the Warriors are 0-1 all time in seven game series. That is why I am predicting that the Warriors and Rockets will take this series to seven games and the Rockets will prevail and advance to their first NBA finals since 1995.