Today's Poll - Predict the Series

I remember the ’91 season. The Blazers won 63 games and had a long winning streak snapped on the last day of the regular season by Cotton F. and Phoenix. Petrie had updated the roster with Walter Davis and the feeling around town was that Portland was a shoo-in for the title.

Then came the L*ker series, game 1. Portland had a nice lead after 3 quarters so Adelman rested Terry/Clyde and before the 4th quarter was half-over the Lakers had control of the game as well as the freaking home court advantage.

We all remember how that series ended in game 6 (Uncle Cliffy dropped the pass, etc) but few remember why the “other reason” why there was no game 7 back in Portland

Let’s get past games 1, 2, 5 against the Rockets before banking on a 2nd round matchup vs. L*A

(Rockets, in 6…hope I’m wrong)

good call. You’re always looking out for me. Like Brutus looked out for Caeser.

something that involves Ming fouling Blazers instead of Blazers fouling Ming

Like you said, if we can get the refs to not ticky tack Oden to death, while making sure the whistles blow when Artest mugs Roy all over the court, this series is much more winnable.

the reffing will be a big part of what happens here. I think the mouth-smacking will go both ways and we will have to see how the games are called. That is why I wouldn’t bet the farm on any outcomes. – Elgin

Still…

Yes, yall have improved since the trading deadline, a 21-8 record i believe. But the rockets have improved more with a 22-8 record since McGrady quit the team for good and a 20-8 record since the trading deadline. But the big difference between the teams and those time frames is that the Rockets drastically changed their team when those improvements started. Im not 100% sure about the blazers, but if i recall correctly, yall didnt make a trade and if you did it wasnt a huge one. Also, about the W/L in last 10, the strength of schedules arent really comparable with portland have games against memphis x2, okc x2, clippers, and a careless denver team. while the rockets “easy” games were against the clippers, @ sac, @ gs. the rocket’s 4 losses came on the road to utah, lakers, suns, and dallas. the blazers one loss was @ houston.

I dont think anyone can make a decision on who will win this series based on the way each team has been playing lately because the truth is that these are two of if not the two hottest teams in the league since the all-star break/trading deadline

… are picking Portland.

and matchups are the biggest thing in any playoff series. the rockets scout amazingly well and can shut down great players. if battier and artest play defense on roy like they did against lebron in houston on feb 26(the first game in Lebrons career with 0 assists) then the rockets will win the series. by the way the rockets beat the blazers two days before that lebron game. Defense wins in the nba playoffs and the rockets play better defense, especially at home. I am worried about the rockets play on the road but i think this is going to be a fantastic series

GO ROCKETS!!

I have the Blazers as 7.5 point favorites at home, based on their average “adjusted” margin of victory, homecourt advantage, Houston’s average adjusted margin of victory etc. Then, I calculated their winning percentage as a function of predicted margin of victory. The probability that the Blazers win at home came out to about 85%. The probability that Houston wins at home came out to about 65%. Then, I just used basic probability theory to calculate the probability of each outcome (4 game sweep, 5, 6, 7).

Being perfectly honest, I think those number overestimate the Blazers chances in Houston. I don’t think 85% is too far from the probability that they win at home… . So, I was kinda kidding around with the probabilities, but it was fun.

Matchups are what make the playoffs in all sports and the rockets matchup better with the blazers than the blazers with the rockets. the fact that blazers fans have all been saying that they really really did not want to face the rockets, but rockets fans not really minding having to play the blazers is proof of that

Just checking, because that is what you’re arguing right now.

You, however, lost points for cheering on a university that once hired an ill-prepared dimwit (i.e., Clyde Drexler) to be the head coach of its men’s basketball program a decade ago.