. . . still at number 3, even with all the sucky losses lately. Clearly there is a media conspiracy keeping us elevated in public opinion despite the recent setbacks. http://www.nba.com/2016-17-power-rankings-week-15 3 Last week: 3 Houston Rockets Record: 35-16 Pace: 101.6 (4) OffRtg: 111.6 (3) DefRtg: 106.2 (20) NetRtg: +5.4 (4) The Rockets can be an elite team with a mediocre defense when their offense is sharp. But they've ranked 14th offensively as they've gone 4-7 over the last 2 1/2 weeks. Eric Gordon and Ryan Anderson have each missed games in that stretch, but the Rockets have also just gone cold from 3-point range, with Gordon, James Harden and Trevor Ariza combining to shoot just 31 percent from beyond the arc in the 11 games. The schedule has been a little tough and they now play eight of their next 10 games at home, with eight of the next nine against teams with losing records. This week: vs. SAC, vs. ATL, vs. CHI
Good find, friend. This bolsters my calm. Also proves how much the media is against us. Finally it reinforces that a corner has been turned: even losses can't stop us. This last fact is the key to the league wide consensus that we are the team nobody wants to play in the playoffs. POSTSCRIPT: also shows how we could be #1, IF we had a skilled big body like DMo.
Lol, the whole media conspiracy thing (definitely me included) ran pretty rampant over the last couple years. Houston will never have the fanfare of one of the major market cities, but there is no big grand conspiracy against us either. Harden and Howard were just unpopular players.
That is called a makeup call. They're making up for having largely dismissed the franchise, even during championships, since at least the 70s.
Honestly, I think the Rockets really are the 3rd best team in the league right now even with the recent cluster**** that has been January. It's very hard to put any other team in front of us right now, especially when you look at the schedule. I mean, maybe you could say the Jazz or Celtics have been the hotter teams this month, but when you look at how many home games they played and how the Rockets have played at least 6 more road games than those teams have, with more B2B games and while overcoming a slew of injuries then I think you can come to a logical conclusion. Folks witnessed how good this team was early in the season and if not they definitely took notice in December and they know what we're capable of. We've beaten Golden State on the road, San Antonio on the road, Memphis on the road, and should have beaten Cleveland on the road too if not for a late collapse. This Rockets team is good, very good. And because of that we're starting to get some respect now. The only thing that worries me is whether or not we can stay healthy, because if we can then I think we have a shot to beat any team in a 7 game series.
yeah, health is our primary x factor people forget we had many injuries to main guys and starters and they missed many games 1 capela 2 beverley 3 gordon 4 ryan
Yep, it sucks. Because the truth is that the NBA scheduling hasn't been very kind to the Rockets, either. Yet, few here on this board want to come to terms with that. It's much easier to just blame Harden for his turnovers and demand for Rubio trades, then call it day.
If only we had Dwight on this team. Harden/Howard combination late in games would be unstoppable. Noway Curry could shoot 3s on us with that guy swatting them all away. Plus I know his wisdom would be perfect for our locker room to fire up the guys and provide that much needed chemistry.
They are being kind at this point. Noway are we the 3rd best team in the league with the kind of defense we have been playing in the last 12 or so games.
Hell, they dismissed us in San Diego, Batman. The last time we were the media's "darling" was probably when we drafted Ralph Sampson (anyone doubting that should look up the number of SI covers with Ralph's picture on them. I think Sampson and Bill Walton are the only 3 time Naismith College Player of the Year winners - both got huge media coverage before their draft). That makes it a long drought, for sure. I would toss Yao in there, but the gentle giant got as much grief from the media as he did praise. If this is a makeup call, it's about time. Heck, it's way past time.