ROUND 1 WEST PLAYOFF PREVIEW

HOUSTON ROCKETS VS MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES

HOW THEIR SEASONS WENT

HOUSTON

The Rockets ended their season with a record of 52 wins and 30 losses, which had them sitting 6th in the West. The driving force behind their successful regular season was obviously Nikola Jokic. Who has had an MVP caliber season. Also credit needs to be given to Houstons emerging young stars in the two Tyrese�s, Haliburton and Maxey. They are both two very promising young players in the league.

They have had steady contributions from two of their vets in Harrison Barnes and Norman Powell. Powell who has missed some time, but is back for finals basketball.

GM, Vitticus continues to show faith in his guys and has a knack for getting his young talent.

MINNESOTA

The Timberwolves have had stellar year, and GM Ethan has shown he knows what he is doing after he went all in on the trade market and turned his team from a bottom dweller in the previous season to third in the West this one, finishing with 66 wins and 16 losses.

Like Houston the Wolves have a combination of seasoned players and young studs who are already contributing.

Although the timberwolves don�t quite have a player the calibre of Jokic, they do have multiple top end guys, in Siakim, Valanciunas and Middleton. Then like i mentioned with their young studs, they have had great contributions from LaMelo Ball and Scottie Barnes, both looking like future all stars. 

 KEY MATCH-UPS

JOKER VS VAL/HOWARD

The obvious one is Jokic and whoever The Wolves decide to throw at him. Obviously Jonas is their most skilled offensive big man, but GM, Ethan has trusted Journeyman, Dwight Howard with lots of responsibility this season and Dwight has shown he can still produce when it counts.

Jokic played 78 games and put together averages of almost 22 points, 15 rebounds, 6 assists and just under a block and a steal, in only 30 minutes. This was done on efficient shooting while committing only 1 turnover per game.

Whoever matches up with him will have their work cut out for them.

BALL vs HALIBURTON

Two of the top young point guards in the league. Both in their second season and safe to say both out performed their expectations in their first season. This has now lead to justified sky high expectations for them both.

In the regular season, LaMelo has put up averages of 15.3 points, 7.2 assists and just under 2 steals per game. The tall and lengthy point guard can contribute in many different ways and puts constant pressure on the defence.

The match up with Ball and Haliburton will be an intriguing one, since the main selling point when scouting Haliburton at draft time was his defence. Haliburton is a big point guard in his own right, however slightly smaller than Lamelo.  Haliburton this season put up rounded numbers of 14 points and 4 assists.

KEY TO SUCCESS

HOUSTON

This goes without saying, but for the Rockets to be successful in this one, Nikola Jokic needs to perform at his expected high level. 

Jokic is really the only proven high level contributor on this team. He needs to lead by example and carry the majority of the load for the team.

Houston will obviously need to get some solid contributions from their next tier or talent, Being Haliburton and Maxey, then Powell and Barnes. 

Barnes and Powell are fairly seasoned and have shown they know how to contribute on a regular basis. So that experience needs to brought every game.

The X-Factor for Houston belongs to Tyrese Maxey who has had a definite breakout year. In only his second season he has grown into a electric score first guard.

He has the ability to get hot in a hurry and really change the tempo and momentum of the game.

Maxey has averaged 13 points and 3 assists in only just over 25 minutes per game.
I would expect if Maxey can get and stay hot that he would be increasing those minutes.

MINNESOTA

The Timberwolves success and main weapon is their diversity. They have a number of high end guys who can all contribute in a major way. 

No one would be shocked if at the end of the game, either LaMelo, Siakim, Middleton or even Val had a team high for the Wolves.

This, although not a secret, is a big weapon of the Wolves. It will be hard for any team to keep all these guys quiet in a seven game series.

Pascal Siakim who only put up 12 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists per game in the regular season. Those numbers don�t do him justice. He is much more talented than those numbers suggest. He is a beast in the open court, so if he can get running out on the break he is going to be difficult to hold down.

Khris Middleton is another one, who could average more than his 20 points per game if he wasn�t on such a deep team. As mentioned, Khris has the talent to lead his team to multiple victories in this series. 

That is just to mention a few of the weapons the Timberwolves have. Who knows what lineups they will end up going with, which may be their x-factor throughout the series, as their opponent may always be guessing what will happen int he next game.

PREDICTION

Minnesota Timberwolves in 6 games. 

The Timberwolves have shown they have been the better team all season and my prediction is they will continue to do that in this series.

It will not be a walk over by any means. The Houston Rockets were also a great team this season, but I think the depth and diversity of lineups that the Wolves can go with will overrun the Rockets.

Although their is a looming question with Khris Middleton and his injury status. Him being could certainly change the outcome as he is one of the Wolves main contributors. Time will tell with his availability, which could be a huge blow for the Wolves and a huge break for the Rockets.

Either way looks to be a challenging first round for both squads.

Best of luck to both teams and both GMs who have shown they deserve to be here.