Houston, We Had A Dynasty - Officially Retired

[Andrew]

Good work getting the sweep. Thanks for the bonus coverage too, good to see the Bulls doing something positive.

[lefisto]

Nice sweep! Yao Ming is just a giant monster! With this continuous strong defense on your team, the Rockets will get the trophy in no time. Also liked the article with the Bulls, if it's real, they could pull out a great video montage about it then at the end we will see the classic "where amazing happens" quote.

[kibaxx7]

Superb sweeping of the Hornets. Great games by Yao.

[Justine.]

Grats on the sweep man, keep it up!

[Axel The Great]

Same here man, same here.

phpBB [video]

Best song ever!

Good work getting the sweep. Thanks for the bonus coverage too, good to see the Bulls doing something positive.

That article was mainly for you, but I hope everyone else was amazed too.

Nice sweep! Yao Ming is just a giant monster! With this continuous strong defense on your team, the Rockets will get the trophy in no time. Also liked the article with the Bulls, if it's real, they could pull out a great video montage about it then at the end we will see the classic "where amazing happens" quote.

Yao continues to clog the lane with his wall-like body type. If only we were able to see the games we don't play, it could be possible to do a video montage of the Bulls coming back from 3-0. I'm glad you liked the article.

Superb sweeping of the Hornets. Great games by Yao.

Like I said, the Hornets only have starters, their bench is crap! Yao will continue to dominate in the series against the TrailBlazers Hopefully.

Grats on the sweep man, keep it up!

Thanks. Hoping for another sweep on the JailBlazers.

[Axel The Great]

Second Round



These are the match-ups for the Conference Semi-Finals. Let's focus on another particular series: TrailBlazers vs. Rockets

Background- These two teams can be considered rivals, facing off last year in the first round of the playoffs. The Rockets prevailed, moving on to the second round after 11 years of not being able to get there. Both teams have different players now. The Rockets have Kevin Martin, Jordan Hill, Donte Greene, and Chase Budinger, while the Blazers acquired Andre Miller. The Rockets did sweep the season series against the Blazers, so they go into this series with those bragging rights.


The Starters

C LaMarcus Aldridge | PF Marcus Camby | SF Brandon Roy | SG Rudy Fernandez | PG Andre Miller

The Bench

Greg Oden | Martell Webster | Travis Diener | Jerryd Bayless | Nicolas Batum | Juwan Howard | Joel Przybilla

IR

Jeff Pendergraph | Patrick Mills | Dante Cunningham


The Starters

C Yao Ming | PF Luis Scola | SF Trevor Ariza | SG Kevin Martin | PG Aaron Brooks

The Bench

Shane Battier | Chase Budinger | Jordan Hill | Jared Jeffries | Kyle Lowry | Donte Greene | Chuck Hayes

IR

David Andersen | Jermaine Taylor

The Keys to the Series:
Portland TrailBlazers-
The Blazers will need to utilize Brandon Roy to perfection. But if they can get LMA, Marcus Camby, and Greg Oden to take down the Great Wall of China, they are in for a Blazing series. Yao Ming's presence in the paint was the reason for the Hornets' downfall. They will also need to protect the basket as if it were the family jewels. The Rockets have entered these playoffs with an attack-the-basket mentality.

Houston Rockets:
If the Rockets need someone to stop, it's Brandon Roy. He averaged 20.7 ppg as the leading scorer of the Blazers in the regular season. Though the Rockets did sweep the season series against this team, Roy had his way in scoring against the Rockets in all 4 games. Yao Ming will have a huge role to play here, he needs to stop LMA, Camby, and Oden, but he can't do it alone. Jordan Hill, Luis Scola, Chuck Hayes, and Jared Jeffries will need to help out. Let's move on from the giants, to the elves. Andre Miller can't be allowed to get to the basket or he'll own this series. Kevin Martin will match up against him, while Lowry and Brooks will match-up against Fernandez. Battier will be depended upon to harass Brandon Roy.

Overall, whatever front court dominates more, will win the series.

[Keef]

Good luck! Probably another sweep for you though

[Andrew]

They might be a little tougher, but I think you'll get the job done.

[lefisto]

Another face off between the two! Hope you win this time and I am surely it will. Camby/Oden is the main defensive threat on that team for sure so Yao better be prepared.

[Axel The Great]

Good luck! Probably another sweep for you though

They've got a better bench than the Hornets, way better I should add. They might be able to steal a game or two, but I think I'll be good on this one.

They might be a little tougher, but I think you'll get the job done.

Yao wasn't needed as much last series as he'll be needed for this one. The Blazers have good, but injury prone frontcourt depth.

Another face off between the two! Hope you win this time and I am surely it will. Camby/Oden is the main defensive threat on that team for sure so Yao better be prepared.

Height can achieve so much in basketball, so with Yao's height advantage, and some help from fellow frontcourt players, he should be able to put up good numbers this series as well.

[Lamrock]

Go Blazers! Hate how underrated Batum and Oden are in this game though.

[Axel The Great]

Go Blazers!

Hmm... For that, I'll sweep 'em.

[Lamrock]

Nooooooo! What was Portland's record in the regular season?

[Wyze]

I'll be expecting another sweep. Ps: I'm at the airport right now waiting for a flight to Houston. Pss: free wifi ftw

[Martti.]

Oden's rating can't be determined properly, he doesn't play enough.

I predict Rockets in 5, that's right, you'll lose one.

[Axel The Great]

Nooooooo! What was Portland's record in the regular season?

41-41, and they managed to sweep a 52-30 Spurs for some reason.

I'll be expecting another sweep. Ps: I'm at the airport right now waiting for a flight to Houston. Pss: free wifi ftw

Awesome, I live in Houston.

Oden's rating can't be determined properly, he doesn't play enough.

I predict Rockets in 5, that's right, you'll lose one.

That's a reasonable prediction. I'm OK with losing a game. 2-game recap is next.

[Andrew]

Go Blazers! Hate how underrated Batum and Oden are in this game though.

Oden's probably not that underrated really, it's just the way the sim engine reorders the rosters for the CPU teams and some of the primary and secondary positions. Aldridge at centre with Camby at power forward is a good example of that.

[Axel The Great]

2-game recap

Houston Rockets 105-96 Portland TrailBlazers


The Blazers showed why they swept the Spurs.

This was the toughest game so far in the playoffs for the Rockets. The largest lead for the Rockets was 11, only for a slight moment. The Rockets shot the ball over 50%, while the Blazers only shot 40%, they kept themselves in the game with multiple offensive boards by Camby and LMA. "I had to go over what the meaning of boxing out was and how to do it at halftime," were Rick Adelman's words after the game. In the 2nd half though, the Rockets started boxing out more, but with Andre Miller's game-high 18 assists, there was no need for rebounding, as Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge made every shot on their first try. Somehow the Rockets held on, going up 1-0 in the series.

"We defeated the Blazers and the referees this game," said Kevin Martin. "Rudy Fernandez got away with more fouls than I can count with my fingers."

SPOTG-

Yao Ming
20 points | 10 reb | 2 ast

Top Scorers-
Rockets: Kevin Martin- 27
Blazers: Brandon Roy- 29

Board Crashers-
Rockets: Yao Ming- 10
Blazers: Marcus Camby- 14

Assists-
Rockets: Aaron Brooks- 9
Blazers: Andre Miller- 18

Box Scores-
29 27 23 26 105
25 25 24 22 96


Kevin Martin's consistent scoring has gotten the Rockets this far.

Houston Rockets 111-88 Portland TrailBlazers


Yao Ming was just storing energy in the regular season to unleash in the playoffs.

Only two words can describe this game. Total Blowout. The Rockets Blazed the TrailBlazers, and neither Brandon Roy, Marcus Camby, nor Nate McMillan could've done anything about it. The Rockets got out to a 24-point lead in the 2nd quarter. In the 2nd half, though, the Blazers narrowed this deficit down to 10, due to some poor defense by the bench, but the starters once again came to the rescue and brought the lead back up to 20. "I'd sure hate to play for the TrailBlazers as I think Nate McMillan is about to unload his anger on them," said Kyle Lowry, who contributed 14 points off the bench. Though the Blazers as a team didn't have a swell game, Brandon Roy did. He had 31 points to lead the game. On the Rockets side, Yao Ming scored 23 and pulled down a game high 11 boards, while Kevin Martin lead the Rockets with 29.

"I am very happy with what this team has accomplished. I feel like I've done my job right, acquiring all of these pieces to a championship puzzle," said GM Daryl Morey who had bottom row seats this game.

SPOTG-

The Scoring Champion
29 points | 4 ast | 2 reb | 1 blk | 1 stl

Top Scorers-
Rockets: Kevin Martin- 29
Blazers- Brandon Roy- 31

Board Crashers-
Rockets: Yao Ming- 11
Blazers: LaMarcus Aldridge- 9

Assists-
Rockets: Aaron Brooks- 8
Blazers: Andre Miller- 9

Box Scores-
35 29 23 24 111
19 22 30 17 88


Greg Oden got some extended play time due to LMA and Camby's naughty behavior (foul trouble).


When I said Shane Battier "harass" Roy, I didn't mean this.

Playoffs Watch:
East-
CLE leads NYK 2-0
CHI leads BOS 2-0

West:
HOU leads POR 2-0
LAL ties PHX 1-1

[Axel The Great]

Go Blazers! Hate how underrated Batum and Oden are in this game though.

Oden's probably not that underrated really, it's just the way the sim engine reorders the rosters for the CPU teams and some of the primary and secondary positions. Aldridge at centre with Camby at power forward is a good example of that.

Very true. I'd have Camby off the bench, Oden at C, and LMA at PF. Also, in my Hornets series, the post I had was wrong. The Hornets put Peja on the bench, brought Marks at C, 'Meka at PF, and David West at SF. Something else Elite 11 needs to fix.

[lefisto]

Looks like we're going to see another sweep. The first game is so close and glad to see you still overcame to it. Poor Oden he sits on bench.

[Andrew]

I too see another sweep coming.

[Lamrock]

Ugh. I blame Kevin Pritchard for dealing Steve Blake when he was GM!

[Keef]

Off to a good start

[Axel The Great]

Looks like we're going to see another sweep. The first game is so close and glad to see you still overcame to it. Poor Oden he sits on bench.

I still don't know how I managed to win Game 1, LaMarcus Aldridge was killing me. If I can win at least 1 game at Portland, the series is mine.

I too see another sweep coming.

You can see the future? JK

Ugh. I blame Kevin Pritchard for dealing Steve Blake when he was GM!

That was a dumb move, but Travis Diener was as annoying as Steve in Game 1, so there's your replacement.

Off to a good start

I feel sorry for Portland fans.

[Clutch]

crazy busy these days but glad the MINGSANITY is still going strong!

SWEEEEEEP!