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Rockets Series Predictions/Analysis?

  • After a hard-fought Game 6, the Jazz have less than 40 hours to rest, prepare, and travel to Houston
  • Donovan Mitchell was totally gassed after Game 6
  • Ricky Rubio is unlikely to play game 1 or game 2
  • Houston swept the season series against the Jazz
  • Media see the Jazz as no more than a speed bump for Houston's march to the GSW conference finals.

Therefore, the Jazz will win in 6.
 
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This series is gravy. Mitchell is a superstar and will be even better next year. We have turned to a new page in franchise history, and started out on an incredible note. Jazz have really set themselves up for long term success. This season will benefit us for years to come. Couldn't have asked for a better start to mitchell's career, and it will pay dividends. He will be unstoppable next season. He already is.

If we can play well in it and make it competitive that will be extremely impressive. Houston is a very good team and their defense is going to give us fits. OKC's poor defensive schemes and collapses (and headhunting Melo) is what allowed us to control most of those games, we won't have that in Houston.

My big fear is that the jazz will play great defense, not be able to score, and then Houston will inevitably go on a run at some point and we won't have an answer. Worst case scenario is these games are competitive the first half and then the Rockets cook us in the second and we roll over. Would not be surprised if that happens tomorrow. Rockets are rested, mitchell, ingles, and gobert will likely be gassed in the second half--especially with no Rubio. Really hard to figure out what to do without Rubio.

Can't afford Exum stretches in this series. Really can't afford mistakes. With no rubio, I don't know what we do. I mean I do--Ingles runs the offense, Mitchell touches the ball every time. This might actually work really well when the starters are on the floor. But Rubio not playing takes away any depth. We were, at most, seven deep with Rubio. Now we are six--Mitchell, Ingles, Gobert, Favors, Crowder, and Royce. Royce and Crowder HAVE to shoot well for us to compete. We will need someone out of those six to step up--Burks, Neto, Jerebko, Exum. I don't know who it is going to be. Burks seems like the best candidate.

Favors and Gobert have to be dominate defensively and offensively. That seems like the key. Our front court size is the one area where we have an advantage. If the jazz can get it going inside we have a chance. If not we don't. gobert and favs can't get in foul trouble--obviously.

Going to be fun!
 
fallenchicken said:
This series is gravy. Mitchell is a superstar and will be even better next year. We have turned to a new page in franchise history, and started out on an incredible note. Jazz have really set themselves up for long term success. This season will benefit us for years to come. Couldn't have asked for a better start to mitchell's career, and it will pay dividends. He will be unstoppable next season. He already is.

If we can play well in it and make it competitive that will be extremely impressive. Houston is a very good team and their defense is going to give us fits. OKC's poor defensive schemes and collapses (and headhunting Melo) is what allowed us to control most of those games, we won't have that in Houston.

My big fear is that the jazz will play great defense, not be able to score, and then Houston will inevitably go on a run at some point and we won't have an answer. Worst case scenario is these games are competitive the first half and then the Rockets cook us in the second and we roll over. Would not be surprised if that happens tomorrow. Rockets are rested, mitchell, ingles, and gobert will likely be gassed in the second half--especially with no Rubio. Really hard to figure out what to do without Rubio.

Can't afford Exum stretches in this series. Really can't afford mistakes. With no rubio, I don't know what we do. I mean I do--Ingles runs the offense, Mitchell touches the ball every time. This might actually work really well when the starters are on the floor. But Rubio not playing takes away any depth. We were, at most, seven deep with Rubio. Now we are six--Mitchell, Ingles, Gobert, Favors, Crowder, and Royce. Royce and Crowder HAVE to shoot well for us to compete. We will need someone out of those six to step up--Burks, Neto, Jerebko, Exum. I don't know who it is going to be. Burks seems like the best candidate.

Favors and Gobert have to be dominate defensively and offensively. That seems like the key. Our front court size is the one area where we have an advantage. If the jazz can get it going inside we have a chance. If not we don't. gobert and favs can't get in foul trouble--obviously.

Going to be fun!
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I dont think we should look at the series as gravy.

Its so hard to make it to this point with a healthy team as it is. Also, the path to the championship is about as clear as its ever going to be. The east has no one, and Golden State has been off and battling inuries. Houston isnt even a super team really. Just a good a good team. They are beatable.

I think we need to look at this year as having as good of a chance as we are going to get. As soon as you think you have built a team that is ready then some other super team forms or you have injuries, etc..
 
Rockets in 5.

The Rubio injury stings. Even without him, I couldn't confidently pick us without being too homerish.

My guess is we drop the first two on the road, nab a home win in either G3 or G4 and then drop the final one on the road.

Tomorrow will likely be the toughest game - HOU has a lot of rest and the team only had a short time to prep and get over the emotional and physical highs.
 
Gas said:
I dont think we should look at the series as gravy.

Its so hard to make it to this point with a healthy team as it is. Also, the path to the championship is about as clear as its ever going to be. The east has no one, and Golden State has been off and battling inuries. Houston isnt even a super team really. Just a good a good team. They are beatable.

I think we need to look at this year as having as good of a chance as we are going to get. As soon as you think you have built a team that is ready then some other super team forms or you have injuries, etc..
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Houston is a 65 win team, Golden State is a historically great team. Curry will be back this series, and they will likely dominate the rest of the way. I agree with you that Houston isn't a super team, but I don't think that makes them very beatable, at least not for us. It's true if we got out of the west we'd have a great chance to win the championship. But, personally, I don't view the west has being weaker or more open than last year. The only thing that has changed is that there are two dominate teams instead of one. The West is better this year, even if some teams (the spurs) are on the downswing. For instance, I think OKC was a harder series than the Clippers last year. I think OKC would have beat the clippers last year, and this current Jazz team wouldn't have needed seven games to beat them. Even though OKC is a mess in a lot of ways, this was a much tougher first round series. Even though our team has some holes, I think we are better than we were last year. We weren't better the whole season--but our rookie has taken steps and is undeniably a star. Our team is much better than where we started because our guys have developed has the season went along. The great news? This will continue in the seasons ahead!

That's why I really don't agree this is as good a chance as we are going to get. I don't think this is *our* time. Not yet. But time is on our side. Mitchell has years to develop into his prime. We are in this for the long haul. If we lose this series, even if we get swept, we should not look at this season with despair or as a missed opportunity. This is the start of something, not the end of it. And I really believe the Jazz's future has never been so bright. We have a legit super star now, and the best defensive player in the league. We have the pillars to build around but I don't think we are done building. And Mitchell is only going to get better. Imagine how good he will be in year four? Forget ROY. He will be in the MVP race. Golden State won't be able to keep this team together forever, probably not for more than a couple years at most. Lebron will age, eventually. And I do agree that this houston team isn't a super team, and I don't think they are going to dominate the league in a dynasty. I think, if anything, THIS is their chance. Houston should be looking at this season as their shot. If they don't win the chip, they should see it as a failure.

I think we are the third best team in the west--we might even be the third best team in the playoffs. But there is a lot of separation between us and the top two teams.

Very excited to be wrong. This jazz team has broken every barrier. So I'm not counting them out.
 
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