Round 1: Cowboynut_73_ vs. whoosh

What has been the most important factor for your team making the playoffs?

 41 Home Games!

  If it were not for their stellar play at the Energy Solutions Arena, the Jazz would be mired in 12th or 13th place in the Western Conference.

 41 Home Games!

 If it were not for their stellar play at the Energy Solutions Arena, the Jazz would be mired in 12th or 13th place in the Western Conference.

The 22 game win streak, 10 games without Yao.  The win streak wasn't just about the wins (although needed) as it was about confidence building in the young rookies we have; Landry, Scola, and Brooks AND the team itself.  When the Rockets began the streak, they were in 10th place and out of the playoffs.  When Yao went down, even moving up to 5th; most felt the Rockets wouldn't get there.  No one thought the Rockets would make the playoffs without Yao, their only all star who was having his best season (aside from Rocket fans).  Not only was Yao out; but they knew then he wouldn't return even if they got into the playoffs.   Yet, with all that, they persevered and won 10 more straight.  They just kept winning until they were in 3rd place and knew they belonged in the playoffs.  This streak created a team mentality; they believed that as long as they play like a team, a guy can be out of the rotation or have a bad night and the Rockets can still win.  They also knew they could win without TMAC putting up star numbers.  This is something the team couldn't do last year.

The team knows if they play like they did during that streak, they could win it all.

My vote goes to Whoosh....

Good essay and GREAT year for the Rockets.

I was one of the many that thought they had no chance of getting to the playoffs without Yao-zer.   This year is going to give those young'ns you mentioned a lot of confidence in there game.

41 Home Games!

  If it were not for their stellar play at the Energy Solutions Arena, the Jazz would be mired in 12th or 13th place in the Western Conference.

I believe the main reason for the difference between road and home for the Jazz lies within the Defense or lackthereof.  I will use the Spurs and Jazz games from 4/4/08 and 4/16/08.  The Jazz held San Antonio to 36% and 64 total points in Utah, then almost two weeks later allowed 59% shooting and 109 points respectively in San Antonio.  The Spurs in Utah had 17 turnovers with only 8 assists on 24 field goals, yet in San Antonio they had 25 assists and only 13 turnovers on 41 field goals.

This is just a sample of how most home and home series went for the Jazz the entire year.  If it wereen't for their play at home, the Jazz would've certainly had a losing season, and missed the playoffs for the second time in 20 years.

Thank God for Energy Solutions Arena.

Two great answers!  I kind of interpreted the question the same way Cowboynut did when I answered my question on the Hornets.  What was the (one) most important factor.  So don't vote against someone because you felt they didn't touch on all factors, the question only asked which you felt was MOST important.

Otherwise, we would all be writing 2 pages essays!