get to the conference finals and take the lakers to 7games? I would be surprised if they make it past the second round.

me personally. i’d take fisher b/c of his experience. experience goes a long way in the playoffs.
and depending on the situation, i’d prefer the ball into yao’s hands or ball movement. i don’t want the ball to stay in one person’s hands. it tends to lead to a contested jumper. rockets have to trust each other. if the ball can’t get to yao, move the ball around some. the rockets have already proven that with good movement, it turns out in a win. and when the ball isn’t moving(as it usually does in the 4th quarter) the other team either comes from behind or extend the lead) it ends with a loss.

Fisher is incredibly overrated in my book. I’d take either of our PG’s over him.

There’s no one on the perimeter I’d trust in the final seconds of a close ballgame (and, indeed, most of us here have been pleading for everything in the 4th quarter to go through Yao).

While I understand the need for a proven perimeter scorer late in games, I think it’s really just been poor execution down the stretch. We really should have two options in late game situations 1) Double screen across for Yao to free him up on the block. 2) Aaron Brooks pick and roll with Yao or Scola.

If teams insist on double-teaming Yao, we still should be able to get a wide open shot through some ball movement. Where we’ve run into the trouble is the late-game dribbling black hole known as Ron Artest. Hopefully this full week or practices has put some sense into him.

take fisher over brooks but only for the playoffs. fisher has more experience and knows how to make the clutch shot, something the rockets are lacking this year.

I absolutely loathe people’s fascination with Derek Fisher. He’s a 38% career three point shooter, which is good not great, and had a few solid years playing alongside Kobe and Shaq (and now Kobe again). His seemingly large collection of clutch shots is most attributable to 1) Large collection of high leverage playoff games 2) Playing alongside two of the best players of the last decade. Yes, he had to make them, but there are plenty of players who can shoot 38% on wide open threes and play good defense (Rafer Alston comes to mind).

Him and Rafer are pretty much a wash, with Derek Fisher being a little better shooter and Rafer being a bit better attacking the rim and distributing the ball. There’s a reason the Lakers let him go in 2004 when someone decide to finally pay him a bit. He’s not that good…

it’s totally not like the Rockets would play the Blazers in the first round if the playoffs started today. Oh, wait…

L.A. Lakers1w
San Antonio2
Denver3
Houston4x
Portland5
Utah6
New Orleans7
Dallas8

that based on your recent comment history you seem to get a kick out of bagging on somebody who is not only an excellent writer, but works his butt off to make BlazersEdge as good as it is. If you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say it at all.

…..

And I, for one, am not wild about the prospect of matching up with the Rockets. You guys have not one, but two elite wing defenders to throw at Roy; our offense really, really struggles when he’s not facilitating easy shots for other players. Artest has given him fits in the past as a King and as a Rocket. I can only hope that Artest’s propensity for terrible offensive possessions neutralizes the impact he’ll almost certainly have on the defensive end. Yao is a tough matchup for us even with two legitimate centers, and Brooks/Alston are both cat-quick and can slice and dice any of our point guards. And Landry/Scola/etc. will make life tough on the boards, which is where the Blazers frequently overwhelm their opponents. I’d rather play the Jazz OR the Nuggets over the Rockets…anyway, best of luck to y’all.