Overall Record: 4-5 Off Rating: Dead last among top 12 teams Def Rating: 2nd among top 12 teams To me that's actually pretty impressive considering the injuries. The only real bad loss we have had to a top 12 team were Memphis and Atlanta who also beat Dallas in Dallas. Our losses were vs GSW x 2, Memphis, Atlanta, and LAC Dwight played only vs Atlanta and Memphis. We wiped the floor with Memphis the next game, and our team just seemed to be doing the motions vs Atlanta. But Atlanta is playing very well too so... Our games vs GSW we have had a decent lead and played competitive both games without Deight, but GSW made the plays to close out the games when we got tired. To be unbiased, 2 of our wins were vs Spurs with lots of players resting, and Portland with no frontcourt. The offense is somewhat worrisome, but Zach Lpwe mentioned that Rockets were a top offensive team when both Harden and Dwight are on the floor together. But our defense vs top 12 teams is just wow. Dwight's played in less than half those games and we have the 2nd best defense against top 12 teams? I wonder how we look going forward now that we are pretty healthy.
Given our health issues and our new pieces that are added, its a bit early to decide how we match up. If anything tho, I'm cautiously optimistic given our record up to this point without these pieces.
The top 8 in the west are very close and will be very competitive this whole season. It will be a blood bath so I think if the Rockets record against the top 12 will be at the 52-55% range, it will be a big success.
west top 8 teams... warriors, grizzlies, blazers, rockets, mavs, spurs, clippers, thunder. I wouldnt be surprised if any of these teams made it to the finals because all of em are so freaking stacked. in the east i'd be surprised if any teams other than chicago, cavs, and maybe the wizards made it to the finals. whoever has the home court in west would have a slight advantage against the opposing team
I'd stick the Hawks in there too. They've been playing some awfully good ball. And even though the Raptors are at the top right now, don't see them making it out the East
We have a long way to go till the end of the season. When this team is healthy they can beat any team in the NBA.
Dwight has the highest on/off offensive rating on this team behind James Harden (who is way ahead of everyone else) so I am sure its safe to say that when Dwight is on the court the team scores a whole lot better. Not to mention when he is on the court there is a significant drop in opponent ORtg. I wouldn't put too much stock in the off rtg being so low right now that should balance out by the end of the season if the team stays healthy - Howard has missed close to half of the games so far this season so the stats at least until the end of Jan (if he plays all the games) will be skewed as a result of that and all the other injuries the Rockets have had early this season Of course the one very impressive thing is that their defense has held constant throughout. To me that tells me that the Rockets have found a scheme that is effective and works regardless of what players are in the game and that alone will help them stay in games and win games when their shots are off. Last year if the team scored 95 points there was no way they could win a game. This year they can win games by scoring that "few" points
You forgot to go through the 4 teams we beat: Spurs: Popp rested his starters Blazers: Missing Aldridge and Lopez Dallas - On a night where Dirk was 0/12 to win in OT by 1. Grizz - This is the only good win. Zach only played 10 minutes and I still have no idea why that happened. So yea, I am worried how we stack up against these teams: 1-OKC 2-Clippers 3-Blazers 4-Mavs 5-Grizz 6-Warriors
That's where I'm at too .... It's kinda hard to evaluate this team with all the injury issues. Early in the season they were rolling offensively and have struggled of late but having so many games lost to injury has taken its toll in many ways , just look at how many minutes Ariza has had to play and how awful he's been shooting because of it. I think we have to see how they match up in a month or two before we can come to any real conclusion.
I seriously blame the injuries we been having lately. We still missing one of our bigs in TJ, and missing Dwight those games versus GSW didn't help at all.
Injuries have definitely hurt, not just the Rockets, but other top teams as well. Not to mention OKC, who are easily top 1 or 2 in the entire league. In regards to the Rockets, I would say I'm optimistic. Not only have they been without over half of the entire starting unit for part of the season. The bench has been absolutely terrible.
I'm I only to worry about our offence? Does our Starting 5 now have enougth options in O. Its kinda similiar to Memphis few years ago, good D, but.. I'm just saying if Harden have a bad day, o thees does fall..
No, we have good inside-out scoring, our offense will be fine. Memphis doesn't have perimeter threat as good as the Rockets
