To all Minny T-Pupp haters, this one's for you........

[NYCdog]

And I know there are a lot of T-Pupp hater in these parts of woods.........

A possible preview of a first round upset...........

I called it a while back, and tonight's game at Target Center pretty much sealed what I think will eventually happen.

Rockets 112
Pupps 109

The Rockets have now taken two of three from Minny.............and if they get that seventh spot, which is likely to happen, the Rockets will pull the upset of the 2004 playoffs and Minny's first round jinx will continue.

If my prophecy comes ture, I cant wait to see and hear from one Kevin Garnett.

Would he demand a trade then?????

[ddh33]

I really do believe that much of the playoffs will be determined by matchups. It's not necessarily that some team is better or worse than another, it's just that they have a hard time matching up. I think Minny/Houston could very well be one. In contrast, we match up very well against the Rockets. This is why I believe playoff positioning is so important this season....

[NYCdog]

I really do believe that much of the playoffs will be determined by matchups. It's not necessarily that some team is better or worse than another, it's just that they have a hard time matching up. I think Minny/Houston could very well be one. In contrast, we match up very well against the Rockets. This is why I believe playoff positioning is so important this season....

Exactly my point..........which is also why I believe the Mavs better find a way out of the 4th or 5th simply because the Lakers will probably inhabit one of those two spots as well, thus spelling an early ending to the Mavs season.

But back to the topic at hand...............I really feel if Minny gets knocked out of the first round again, Kevin Garnett's frustrations of not winning in the playoffs will boil over to the point where he could demand a trade to a team that has a better chance of winning a championship which he longs for, like an Eastern Conference team. Imagine him in a Knick, Net, Pacer or Piston uniform.....imagine what his arrival could do for one lucky Eastern Conference team..........

Or he simply could change address within the West.

If the Mavs have a luckluster showing in the playoffs (which I feel could happen btw) Mark Cuban wont hesitate to pull the trigger on any trade to help improve his team's chances of winning a championship. Enter Kevin Garnett, who happens to want the smae thing as Cuban does........anything's possible when Cubes is involved.

Or he could go to the obvious contender.......The Lakers who crave superstar names like his.

Or he could go to a place where the future is bright..........Like Houston. Yao is definitly the next dominant center in basketball. If KG were to join along side of him, KG could be lookin at winning "RINGS", not a ring...........

Point is, for Minnesota, this is it. If they dont get out of the first round this year, the "Big Ticket" could very well be punching his plane ticket out of town...........

[Shaq Attack2]

Minny will beat the Rockets in a 7 game series. Rockets have no one to hit big game shots in the playoffs, and Flip is smart enough to double Yao, and Yao doesn't know how to handle that.

There really isn't any doubt here. I mean come on, the Lakers have trouble with the Rockets too, but is there any doubt the Rockets would lose a 7 game series to them? Please.

[stevie_franchise3]

Minnesota and the Lakers are definitely the two best chances for the Rockets to win in the first round should we make it. The Rockets have players that can make big shot as well. I think we would be so glad to get to the playoffs that we would be playing without nothing to lose. We also match up well with both of these teams. I would rather face a Sac or Dallas team in the second round myself.

S.A. would also be my third choice right now because although we were swept by them this season, 3 of the 4 games were decided in the last minutes. I think we can match up S.A as well.

[Nash13]

which is also why I believe the Mavs better find a way out of the 4th or 5th simply because the Lakers will probably inhabit one of those two spots as well, thus spelling an early ending to the Mavs season.

Has anybody thought of the idea that LA could get the 3rd seed?

[NYCdog]

Minny will beat the Rockets in a 7 game series.

But they cant even take 2 out of three from them........especially last night's game which was played with playoff-type intensity by both teams......

Rockets have no one to hit big game shots in the playoffs,

Jim Jackson........remember him? Francis has hit clutch shots in his career before. Yao seems to be a clutch player too.......

and Flip is smart enough to double Yao, and Yao doesn't know how to handle that.

Last night at times, flip put both KG and Kandi on Yao and sometimes substituted Madsen in to help with either Kandi or KG on defense against Yao. Nothing Flip tried worked. Yao scored 19 in the first half alone. He ended up with 27......

I'd go out on a limb and he can handle any double team they put on him..........

Besides no one (or group of players for that matter) can even touch his sky hook or fadeaway. Those shots are money for him. He's simply too big and skilled, which is a deadly combination..........

There really isn't any doubt here. I mean come on, the Lakers have trouble with the Rockets too, but is there any doubt the Rockets would lose a 7 game series to them? Please.

Heh, typical casual Laker fan.........always cocky.

Your own LA bretheren at Lakersground.net seems to be pretty scared of playing the Rockets in the first round judging form there comments. Here's a comment from a fellow Laker fan regarding Yao and the Rockets........

I don't know about you, but I really don't want to play Houston in a 5-game first round series. If Kobe's in court we could easily lose the first two and be forced to win three in a row. I don't think this team has the mental toughness to do that. Right now Yao is 80% offense and 20% defense, though his sheer size still intimidates in the paint. He is the best shooting Big Man I've seen since Hakeem. Maybe the best shooting big man ever... in just his second season.

I say we ride out the next two years with Shaq. Then no extension and try to pick up Yao when his rookie contract expires. He should be the next great Laker center. Under the CBA, he'll cost half what Shaq is demanding. Shaq can go play for New York or somebody and balloon to 400lbs. Houston can offer more $ with their Bird rights I think, but Yao can make way more in endorsements as a Laker.

Lakersground thread link........

Wouldnt wanna play the Rockets in a 5 Game Series!?!

Of course not........considering they dont play those series any more......

Point is, no matter how you try and put a spin on it, the Rockets just might be the most dangerous low seeded team in this years playoffs, simply becuase of Yao.

Its "Put up or shut up" time for me..........I say the Rockets will eliminate the Wolves in the first round.

[Shaq Attack2]

NYCdog,

First off, I could give a crap about LG.net. In fact, I'll say it right here; LG.net is for typical bangwagon fans and idiot Shaq/Kobe fans (mostly Kobe fans). Their credibility is shot. They can kiss my white fat ar$e. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

That said, yes, the Rockets pose matchup problems for the Lakers....yet the Lakers have beat them without Karl Malone and lost two other games....during the regular season. It'd be one thing if they had easily swept the regular season series with their full squad and the Lakers full squad....they didn't. They're up 2-1 with one game to go. Getting excited over regular season games is stupid, you know that.

In addition, the Rockets don't have crunch time players. They just don't, nothing you'll say will convince me otherwise simply because it isn't true. Francis has never proven to be a crunch time player, in fact he's proven rather incapable. Yao has done nothing consistently clutch, ever, that I can tell. Certainly never in the playoffs, because he hasn't played a single playoff game. Mobley? Please. Jim Jackson, maybe. But I really hope the Rockets aren't counting their crunch time chickens on Jim Jackson, for god sakes.

Yes, Rockets are very dangerous, they play tough defense and are a good overall team. They have a terrible offensive scheme and aren't good enough to win the championship, those are the facts. If you don't believe me, talk to me in June. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[WayOutWest]

Rockets and Mavs would be a big problem for the Lakers in the 1st round IF it was still 5 games. LG posters don't know squat, they don't even know what the playoffs format is so quoting them as a source is bad for your arguement.

The biggest obstacles for the Lakers will be the Kings and Mabs because they are not built like the Lakers and pose different problems than the Lakers are used to. The Kings do alot of off ball movement that causes the Lakers problems on defense and they can goto a power game when they need too, which IMO gives them an advantage over the Mavs head to head.

The Mavs have the potential for matchup nightmares and IMO are a bigger threat than any other team. When you put 1-5 as Nash, Finely, Jamison, Walker and Dirk, the Lakers don't match up on defense at all with the players they want on the floor. The 4&5 in that scenario is brutal to watch. If the Lakers don't make the Mavs pay for their matchups on defense then the Lakers are in big trouble. The last game in LA the Lakers could not make the Mavs pay on D and make them adjust thier personnel because of the effectiveness of the zone. I'm glad that Rush has grown alot over this past year and will most likely be counted on in the crunch time to be a zone buster.

My dream matchups are Kings/Spurs or Lakers/Spurs or Lakers/Kings or Mavs/Kings or Mavs/Spurs. Any matchup with the Wolves will be interesting but I will be very disappointed if any less that three of those matchups occur. Still IMO this year could be the greatest post season since 1988.

[NYCdog]

They have a terrible offensive scheme and aren't good enough to win the championship, those are the facts.

If you don't believe me, talk to me in June.

No 1..............I wont need to talk to you in June, I believe you.....

..........partly because I Never said anything about the Rockets winning the championship this year.

Maybe in the future as Yao's game matures.

But not now. I know that. We all know that.

To reiterate.......I just think the Rockets will top the T-Wolves this year in the first round cause it looks most certainly like that will be the first round matchup and simply becuase of the match-up problems that will exist for Minny in this series.

In addition, the Rockets don't have crunch time players. They just don't, nothing you'll say will convince me otherwise simply because it isn't true. Francis has never proven to be a crunch time player, in fact he's proven rather incapable. Yao has done nothing consistently clutch, ever, that I can tell. Certainly never in the playoffs, because he hasn't played a single playoff game. Mobley? Please. Jim Jackson, maybe. But I really hope the Rockets aren't counting their crunch time chickens on Jim Jackson, for god sakes.

As you brougth up.........I think part of the reason why you say this is because none of us has ever seen this team preform in playoff situations. The only evidence we can go by is what their shooters have done in clutch situations.......in the regualr season, that is. And like you said, "Getting excited over regular season games is stupid!"

So it would be unfair to say they dont have clutch shooters on this team simply because they have never had the chance to prove themselves in the clutch, in pressure packed playoff games.

But I guess we'll get to see how this team handles the pressure of the playoffs this year.........