Utah is better than New Orleans and way, way better than Detroit and Philadelphia. I think it's clear that Houston without McGrady is at least even to Houston with McGrady and you could make the argument that they're actually better. And the Rockets played LA tough the first couple games when Yao was still healthy. Houston without Yao, I'll give you, but they're probably still better than most of the crap the East can throw out there after the Big 3. Utah is not better than New Orleans. The Rockets probably win that series with Yao. They're probably even and last time I checked, Utah didn't quit on their season or lose by 58 points in a playoff game. That gives the edge to Utah. They are pretty even. However Utah couldn't win on the road, giving the edge to New Orleans IMO. Utah was also all banged up all year and kills New Orleans head to head.