Ok I'm hearing people get excited about a 7 game winning streak, an 16-4 record since 2008, and winning 11 out of last 12 games. But I persist on looking at that double overtime loss to denver. It was the first game with T-Mac sidelined, and the rockets knew they had to step up, share the ball and fight as a team. It raised some eyebrows: Battier, Adelman, Feigan, Blinebury, and Magic Johnson. Remember this was the game that made Magic Johnson suggest that T-Mac & Yao should be split up. Some snippets in the press after that loss: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- courtside: No loss is ever a good loss. But this was an effort to build on. /But they competed. Hard./This was a night when the Rockets knew they were playing without their leading scorer and so they moved the ball like it was radioactive and actually ran the offense the way Rick Adelman would like to see more often. /...the kind of effort that should speak volumes. --------------------- ROCKETS NOTES: Though the Rockets' loss to the Denver Nuggets was their third straight and fifth in the past six games, they considered it a step toward turning around their December slide. "We were on the wrong side of a couple plays that determined the outcome," Rockets forward Shane Battier said. "If we keep fighting like this and play with the effort we played with, we'll win a lot of games." Coach Rick Adelman said though the improved play was not enough, it could be a start. "Our team was terrific to come back after (Wednesday) night and play that way," Adelman said. "Sometimes you lose a game and don't see the progress you're making. We made a lot of progress, but we've got to get a win. We've got to find a way to get a win." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Magic had a point: the rockets were moving the ball nicely without T-Mac. But since Mcgrady has returned, we've won 11 out of 12 games. (That record could also be argued as the result of Chuck Hayes' battle cry "PHILADELPHIA!!!!", but that's a whole other mile-marker topic) So looking at everything after that smelling-salts Denver game, we went from a 12-14 record to a 31-20 record. Thats a whopping 19-6 difference. Thats 25 games, almost 1/3rd of an NBA season where we have been playing .760 basketball. we had about 8 tough games in which we won 3. (L-detroit, L-Golden State, L-Boston, W-Orlando, L-New Orleans, W-San Antonio, L-Utah, W-Golden State) We only had Mcgrady back for the last three "tough games" in that stretch. So now we're truly on a roll since our team gelled in Denver, we have Mcgrady back to help us edge out tougher teams, and we have "PHILADELPHIA!!!!" to keep us professional against the not-so-tough teams. What if we can carry that .760, post-denver winning momentum to the regular season finish line? That would be like winning another 23 games, giving us a 54-28, .659 season. That might put us right in the thick of the playoff seedings. But to do that we'd have to only lose 8 games out of our last 31. Is that bonkers? I count 13 tough games. (remeber we were 3-5 .375 in the post-denver stretch against tough teams but we didnt have a recuperating mcgrady for but just 3 of those games) Can we win .375 of those, and pick up our 8 losses there? W Wed, Feb 13 Sacramento 8:30 PM W Tue, Feb 19 @ Cleveland 7:00 PM W Thu, Feb 21 Miami 8:00 PM TNT L TOUGH Fri, Feb 22 @ New Orleans 8:00 PM W Sun, Feb 24 Chicago 8:00 PM W Tue, Feb 26 Washington 8:30 PM W Fri, Feb 29 Memphis 8:30 PM W TOUGH Sun, Mar 2 Denver 8:00 PM W Wed, Mar 5 Indiana 8:30 PM L TOUGH Thu, Mar 6 @ Dallas 9:30 PM TNT (Dallas homecourt. a W not likely) W TOUGH Sat, Mar 8 New Orleans 8:30 PM W Mon, Mar 10 New Jersey 8:30 PM W Wed, Mar 12 @ Atlanta 7:00 PM W Fri, Mar 14 Charlotte 8:30 PM L TOUGH Sun, Mar 16 LA Lakers 7:00 PM W TOUGH Tue, Mar 18 Boston 9:30 PM TNT (I'll be at this game. Gotta "Believe!") W TOUGH Wed, Mar 19 @ New Orleans 8:00 PM L TOUGH Fri, Mar 21 @ Golden State 10:30 PM (Dallas homecourt. a W not likely) L TOUGH Sat, Mar 22 @ Phoenix 10:00 PM W Mon, Mar 24 Sacramento 8:30 PM W Wed, Mar 26 Minnesota 8:30 PM L TOUGH Sun, Mar 30 @ San Antonio 1:00 PM W Tue, Apr 1 @ Sacramento 10:00 PM W Thu, Apr 3 @ Portland 10:30 PM TNT W Fri, Apr 4 @ Seattle 10:30 PM W Sun, Apr 6 @ LA Clippers 9:30 PM W Wed, Apr 9 Seattle 8:30 PM L TOUGH Fri, Apr 11 Phoenix 8:30 PM W TOUGH Sun, Apr 13 @ Denver 9:00 PM L TOUGH Mon, Apr 14 @ Utah 9:00 PM (Jazz homecourt. a W not likely) W Wed, Apr 16 LA Clippers 8:30 PM
Nice post! I have to say one thing. Suns is a Rox killer no more. Without Marion, Suns cannot make much damage on the both end. Shaq is a question mark in that team but one thing for sure they have to lower their tempo if they put Shaq in. We all know Yao or the Rox has no trouble playing low tempo basketball.
Thanks for the post. You do point out some interesting things. However, what is the point if we can't beat the teams above us in the rankings. Basically, you are stating that we will make it into the playoffs but we can't beat anyone in the playoffs.
I think he's saying that this is how it would go if we continued the trend of going about 3-5 against "tough" teams.
The thread title brings back bad memories for me. I sat courtside at that Nuggets game, and I watched that scrub Anthony Carter throw up a prayer beyond Bonzi's reach. It was disgusting, and revived my hate for the Denver ButtNuggets. Anyway, I'm glad that the Rockets are at least competing right now.
i remember after this game saying the rockets would be 10 games over .500 by the all-star break, and people were in disbelief - how about seeing of yall eat some crow?
Yeah, I still recall a month or two ago when we were 13-16 or somthing like that. It was disgusting. I'm just very glad the team is finally comfortable under RA's coaching style.
Forget it dude! They only remember what they choose to remember. Some on here just talk to hear their head rattle and nothing significant comes out especially from moron rookies. Agree. The Rockets are utilizing this break in their schedule to refine their game and get geared up for after the ASB and do another one of those patented crazy Rocket finishes to the season.
The Rockets certainly have played well since Denver, and only a small hiccup against Philly did they appear to lose the intensity. The Nawlins game was against a much better team and the Rockets didnt have a 15 point lead middle of 4th quarter.
Here's the real key. Adelman is not subbing in Luther Head when Aaron Brooks is playing well. If anything Rafer might come in for stability. But Head was turning over the ball way too much in the clutch and made many bad decisions in the 4th qtr. He cost us at least 6 games(most notably the Boston game) with his BS. I blame that on bad coaching. Finally Adelman has learned that you can't masquerade Head as a distributing PG and facilitator.
I just want some props man...I made a pretty bold prediction that earned me a few crazy names. But I want some of those folks...wasn't solid one of them? to say, hey - 10 games over .500. I saw it coming - I'm not surprised at all with the current play. What I am surprised is how quickly it's happened.
The Denver game was probably the first game where the Rockets started to show flashes of running Adelman's offense properly. Denver's defense isn't too shabby with Camby as the anchor. However, in that game, you could tell the Rockets were getting easy layups and the cutting/slashing was effective. When TMac first came back from injury, he had trouble running Adelman's motion offense. However, in the last 3 games, despite TMac's bad numbers, he is getting the hang of Adelman's offense and we are winning because of that. I really liked the ball movement in the last 2 games. All of a sudden, getting baskets isn't hard labor for the Rockets anymroe.
