Series Thread: Houston Rockets vs Dallas Mavericks

[gordontrue]

Game 1: Saturday, April 18. Toyota Center, Houston TX. 9:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Game 2: Tuesday, April 21. Toyota Center, Houston TX. 9:30 p.m. (TNT)
Game 3: Friday, April 24. American Airlines Center, Dallas TX. 7 p.m. (ESPN)
Game 4: Sunday, April 26, American Airlines Center, Dallas TX. 9:30 p.m. (TNT)
Game 5 (if necessary): Tuesday, April 28, Toyota Center, Houston TX. TBA.
Game 6 (if necessary): Thursday, April 30, American Airlines Center, Dallas TX. TBA.
Game 7 (if necessary): Saturday, May 2. Toyota Center, Houston TX. TBA.


Lots of familiarity here from Carlisle and McHale's days as celtics teammates, to Jason Terry's glory days with the Mavs, to Parson's recent history with the Rockets.

 

[Hornsstampede2.0]

Dallas in 6 games

This is the one big upset series

Injuries have forced Houston to always have either J-Smoov or Dwight on the floor
They dont have any other lineups they can use to hide them.

Dallas will hack them relentlessly.
James Harden will never be able to get in rhythm watching 50 freethrows a night.

And everyone will be crying for a rules change since Dwight and Smith will shoot about 35% from the line.

 

[purguy12]

Houston in 6

 

[bksballer89]

Dallas in 6 is trendy

 

[logic]

Dallas in 6 games

This is the one big upset series

Injuries have forced Houston to always have either J-Smoov or Dwight on the floor
They dont have any other lineups they can use to hide them.

Dallas will hack them relentlessly.
James Harden will never be able to get in rhythm watching 50 freethrows a night.

And everyone will be crying for a rules change since Dwight and Smith will shoot about 35% from the line.

Harden's not going to give up the ball unless there are 4 guys on him and then there will be no one to fowl Dwight or Smoov.
I got Houston going on to be extinguished rapidly by the Spurs.

What is the over/under on stupid Cuban quotes?

 

[GenJac]

Not a fan of either team, but oddly drawn to this series. If the Mavs can keep Harden off the line, they have better overall talent and should win the series. However, if they don't keep Harden off the FT line, Houston will win.

 

[bksballer89]

Not a fan of Dallas since the trade.

Houston in 5

 

[TxHeat]

Not feeling very confident about the Mavs chances the way they finished the season.

 

[gordontrue]

Yeah the Mavs have been pretty bad lately. No sign that rondo has worked out.

Locally, they're saying that rondo is going to get the bulk of the defensive assignment on Harden. They seem to think here that that will work. I'm not so sure about that. I guess we'll see.

 

[Hambombs]

Houston in 6

 

[Hornsstampede2.0]

Harden's not going to give up the ball unless there are 4 guys on him and then there will be no one to fowl Dwight or Smoov.

I dont think you need the ball to be fouled.
I know its not popular, but everyone saw what the Spurs did to Josh Smith. It totally works.

Thanks to the Euro-big man guy being injured, the Rockets only really have Smith and Dwight.
One of the two will almost always be on the floor.

Harden cannot do jack squat if he spends the whole game watching Josh Smith clank free throws badly.

Carlisle has a pretty deep team.
He would be an idiot not to use the HAck-a-Smoov / hack-a-Dwight

.........

Of course the funny thing would be if Houston started doing the Hack-a-Rondo right back at them.

 

[logic]

I dont think you need the ball to be fouled.
I know its not popular, but everyone saw what the Spurs did to Josh Smith. It totally works.

Thanks to the Euro-big man guy being injured, the Rockets only really have Smith and Dwight.
One of the two will almost always be on the floor.

Harden cannot do jack squat if he spends the whole game watching Josh Smith clank free throws badly.

Carlisle has a pretty deep team.
He would be an idiot not to use the HAck-a-Smoov / hack-a-Dwight

.........

Of course the funny thing would be if Houston started doing the Hack-a-Rondo right back at them.

Yeah, I believe you are right, I wasn't thinking.
This is one of those series that I really wish both teams could lose.
If they hack him enough do you think that Howard will lose it and end up getting suspended?

 

[lakersrule]

Rondo said that he'll flip the switch come playoff time. We shall see.

Dallas has been pretty average the last couple of months. No upset in this series.

 

[Hambombs]

Rondo said that he'll flip the switch come playoff time. We shall see.

Dallas has been pretty average the last couple of months. No upset in this series.

Lol what switch

 

[Hornsstampede2.0]

Hack-a-Smith
Hack-a-Dwight
Hack-a-Rondo
If you breathe on me I get a foul called harden

We could be seeing alltime record number of freethrows if the coaches are smart

 

[Demonjoe93]

Rockets in 5.

 

[LALakersboy24.7]

Dallas will win this series.

 

[bksballer89]

Dallas will win this series.

ok

 

[bksballer89]

Harden with as many fts as the Mavs team.

Houston attempted 28 more fts than the Mavs

Didn't see the game so can't comment if the Mavs got the short end of the stick or if Houston was just aggressive

 

[trojanfan12]

Harden with as many fts as the Mavs team.

Houston attempted 28 more fts than the Mavs

Didn't see the game so can't comment if the Mavs got the short end of the stick or if Houston was just aggressive

A little of both. Harden got several of his b.s. calls. The most egregious that I saw was he was driving to the basket, Dirk was running right next to him and he veered shoulder first into Dirk (who was still running in a straight line) and they called the foul on Dirk even though Harden initiated the contact.

Never seen Dirk that pissed.