[msnbc] Rockets might be the worst great team ever

Actually very complimentary about the Rox, stressing that they play team ball better than the elite "teams."

Here's the rest so nobody has to click away from ClutchFans...


Rockets might be the worst great team ever

Houston’s winning streak is a surprise, but it’s hardly a fluke

Sam Smith

The team with the most consecutive regular season wins in NBA history featured three Hall of Famers in Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West (generally acknowledged to be among the top 10 players in NBA history), and Gail Goodrich. And those 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers started the season with four Hall of Famers before Elgin Baylor retired.

The team that is tied for second with the most consecutive regular season wins, the 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks, featured two Hall of Famers, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Roberston, on many lists among the top five players in NBA history.

The other team with 20 straight regular season wins are the 2007-08 Houston Rockets. These plucky Rockets don't have a single top 50 all-time player, don't have a single playoff series win from either of its top two current players (Tracy McGrady and Shane Battier), don't have a player who's ever played on a championship team, and start a 27-year-old rookie and 41-year-old center.
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Yes, the Houston Rockets are the worst best team ever.

And the NBA better watch out for them because what you don't understand can definitely hurt you.

The Rockets earned their 20th consecutive win on Wednesday in Atlanta to tie the 1971 Bucks, and trail only the Lakers, whose record of 33 straight wins is generally considered to be unbreakable.

That's seven straight wins since All-Star center Yao Ming went out for the season with a stress fracture. And, yes, we know all the downside and the excuses from the detractors: Only eight of the 20 teams have had winning records. With the Hornets, whom they beat twice in the run, faltering some of late before routing the Spurs Wednesday, the Rockets didn't beat a division leader. Dirk Nowitzki was suspended when they played the Mavericks. Thirteen of the 20 games have been at home. No one yelled "jinx" when they shot.

It's obvious these Rockets hardly line up in talent with the best teams in league history.

They don't even rival the best teams in Rockets history.

Without Yao, they don't appear to be among the best teams in the Western Conference.

At least that was what everyone thought when Yao went out for the season.

But — and now picture me as a song and dance man with a top hat and cane — you've got to have heart.

That's a bad cliché that we put on athletes too often these days, and a great dance number from the old Damn Yankees musical. Sorry, my best references are a half century old.

But I know a good basketball team when I see it, and that's why we should come to praise the Rockets and not bury them. OK, some of my references are 400 years old.

It's also old basketball the Rockets play.

Yes, McGrady has been terrific, and in some respects the perfect formula for regular season success in the NBA, if not immortality.

You take a group of hard working, unselfish role players who'll cover for one another and contribute relatively equally and have one star, an All-Star if not transcendent as McGrady basically is, and it's a pretty good recipe for success. Even though it was their sloppiest win of the streak, that amalgam was on display against the Hawks.

As the Rockets slogged through an atrocious shooting game Wednesday, McGrady finally got hot with double figure scoring in the third quarter to give the Rockets some room and then a bit more later to help them pull away.

There's nothing like having a finisher and someone who can make plays, and McGrady has done that in the streak when necessary, getting 41 to beat the Hornets and 31 to win in Dallas, though his scoring has not been astronomical during the run.

Not that the Rockets are better without Yao. They aren't, and they figure to have big playoff problems without Yao, with a potential first-round defeat once again a possibility. There are seven teams that have won at least 18 straight regular season games. Only the 1982 Celtics, the defending champions that year, didn't win a title, losing in seven games in the conference finals.

But without Yao, they do have some more freedom of movement on offense. Coach Rick Adelman plays more out of the high post and had to adjust to Yao's discomfort there and McGrady's preference for half court play. It's one reason the Rockets started slowly. Though the Rockets lose Yao's post presence, they get more back cuts and movement across the lane.

Still, if you were told before the season that a team would win 20 straight, and even if you didn't know Yao would be out, how many teams would you have picked ahead of the Rockets? Certainly at least a half dozen.

It helped to move Bonzi Wells and Mike James — who could be distractions and weren't the most committed defensively — for Bobby Jackson. They weren't even sure they'd keep second rounder Carl Landry, and he has been terrific until going out recently with knee problems. So Chuck Hayes returns and does well and they bring back someone named Mike Harris and he's grabbing four rebounds in seven minutes against the Hawks. Yes, Dikembe Mutombo starts. And gives them something.

This is as unlikely a successful team as anyone ever has seen in the NBA.

Remember, McGrady's critics say he continues to be called by tissue paper companies who want him to be their spokesman.

But this is the Rockets' secret and why they should be admired and not discounted.

It's the most amorphous concept in sports, teamwork and chemistry. Like the Justice Potter Stewart's remark about p*rnography that "I know it when I see it," it's often difficult to describe that ideal chemistry, but you know it when you see it. And you see it now with the Rockets.

They are the classic group greater than the sum of their parts.

And it's on defense where a team reveals itself. Red Holzman used to say there was just one ball, but on defense everyone could play. Great defense is knowing your assignment, knowing the game plan and helping.

The Rockets, though they haven't had the ultimate NBA success, have winning type players like Luis Scola from the Argentinian Olympic team and Shane Battier from Duke. They've managed to get Rafer Alston, a famed street ball legend, to play under control.

And it's a wonderful thing to watch. They help on assignments, cover from the weak side, double out or switch the pick and roll. No one but McGrady can truly make a play, but everyone can help thwart a play. They got a good foundation built by Jeff Van Gundy and Adelman has continued while also bringing his positive, player-first style of coaching with him, which the players have embraced.

The Rockets' winning streak is a shock. But it's no fluke.

 

I find it hilarious how so many writers can't seem to figure out the Rockets or why they're winning so much. I agree with the OP, Smith was probably in the middle of a "reality check" article. Too bad for you the Rockets won't lose...yet

 

Personnel wise, it's not might be, we ARE the least talented great team, and that's why our streak is so speical compared with others.

We are like seabiscuit, hoosiers. Everybody wrote us off. We proved everybody is wrong.

Man, it feels great, 10 times better than all those cheesy sports movies combined.

 

love that article!

obviously.

 

well honestly the other twenty win streak teams you could feel would win the championship. In a conference this tight and match up problems that could occur over 7 game series
this is pretty tight rafce to tell

 

once yah get past the headline its pretty decent.

'course, in the 'how quickly they forget' column, the Pistons last championship team wasn't exactly thought to be loaded with stars before they won.

winning changes perceptions ...

 

Actually, I really like this article.

 

ESPN has been spending the first 6 to 7 minutes talking about the 19th victory and now the 20th victory.

They are eating it alive. They love it right now.


They are trying to Britney Spear us down though!!! You know build 'em up just to tear them down.


They are looking to the Lakers or Celtics to call them the Giant killers!!! Because those are their picks for the finals. Come on, the Lakers vs. Celtics is what they all want. Kobe vs. Garnett. The highest rated finals of all times?



All this love they are showing the Rockets is fabricated. But they are milking it big time. It's kind of annoying when you know what they are trying to do.

Just keep winning!!!

 

Yeah, I got the same feeling. It's like "well this the biggest story there is in between NFL and MLB season, so we have to talk about it. But let's get it over with quick, and BTW Celts are on the 10th winning streak and they are a superior team to the Rockets, so let's kiss some Celts azz more."


BTW, sports center, I havent seriously watched them for years, what's up with all those quick one two word line. I wonder if they think their audience has some sort of comprehension problem. What's funnier, the female anchors do that too, horrible.

 

Yup. Should we continue to amaze, the machine will right their analysis by granting another player or two on our team boosted media status. Scola and Landry perhaps.

Scola and Landry and reminding more and more of Cassel and Horry. Not in any way other than their excellence. I predict they are winners for many more years in this league, and hopefully we won't trade them for some washed up Charles Barkley type player (man that felt good to take a pot shot at Charles).

And agreed, its not a bad article if you can overlook the bad title. I prefer to think we are as talented as any of those teams, just not as hyped. We are not mere roll players, we are a TEAM. Chuck Hayes is underrated for how dominant his D is. Scola too. BAttier too. LAndry too. Together they dominate, and set the stage for Tmac and RAfer. They are kinda the bodyguards, the bouncers, the muscle, and Tmac and Rafer the finesse. Novak and Head the bombers... ok ok i'll go to bed now...

 

man.. everyone is jumping on board now. kinda a crappy title though.

link

 

Wow, great read! Thanks for posting .

 

This guy can't figure out what he wants to say. I don't know if I should be happy or sad after reading this article.

 

what kind of a back-handed compliment title is that? "worst great team ever"??!! idiots at msnbc

 

Don't know how to take it.......

It's like mixing


+


It taste a lil funny to me............mmmmm thanks anyway

 

Should've said "worst great group of individual players" instead of "worst great team." They are an exemplary team. In fact, their chemistry as a team is the one thing that MAKES them so great.

 

What's really offensive is "might"- what, we can't even have this?

"Rockets ARE the worst great team ever!!!"

We can't even get a definite on being the worst.

 

Oh Sam again ....