Perspective: coming into this season, we weren't expected to make the playoffs, we weren't expected to have an MVP caliber, COY caliber, 6th man of the year caliber squad. We were expected to be close to dead last in defense, and would have issues with team chemistry since we lost a good portion of our roster. Yet here we are, 3rd best team record in the NBA, pushing a 61 win team with proven players to a tough (until the last game and OT) playoff series. Was it the best ending? No, not even close. But the team overachieved my expectations from September. Hell of a season Rockets, hell of a season. Let's get em next year! Proceed to flame
With all due respect, the loss the Rockets suffered tonight on their home floor was comical. I mean, if the Rockets play another 50 years in the NBA they likely will not get beaten on their home floor in a close out game as soundly as they did last night. When you mix that with the context that Leonard, an MVP candidate didn't even play in this game then it makes it look even worse for the Rockets. Sure, I see a bright future for the Rockets. But that future needs to involve Paul George and or Jimmy Butler. I do not trust Harden with this team anymore.
Fair enough. Taking a heart breaking game 5 loss followed by an embarrassing game 6 loss at home really hurts. I'm praying we don't take this lightly and feed off this to grow and improve
Agree. Harden has set the bed too many times at this point in crucial playoff games for him to be the annointed team leader of a legit contender. Best case scenario is to surround James with a DRaymond Green and Bev types with killer instinct so your players don't need to consistently rely on Harden for leadership.
I mean, none of what you say is false. But it really does come down to this series, and in particular yesterday's game. They showed that they can win against the Spurs in the playoffs even on the road. Yes, they lost Nene, and that was a huge and exploited opening by Pop. But the Spurs were down TWO of their BIG stars. If the Rockets really looked like the wanted to win, yesterday, and just either looked gassed or outmatched while trying their hardest, we'd all just be talking about ref calls, and who to acquire next season, and I think most people would be sad but neutral about this loss. But last night, they showed a reprehensible amount of effort and pride. As I've been putting it, it looked like they'd conceded before the game started. THAT'S why the fanbase is rightly furious despite all the regular season accomplishments. They rest of the team mostly looked uninterested, and the leader/star/MVP-candidate of the team looked like he just wanted to get out of that arena ASAP. It was watching the heart of a quitter, not the heart of a champion. THAT'S not acceptable, no one's sure if it anything will change about that. That's why everyone's furious.
2005 Game 7 Rockets/Mavs comes to mind. They need more Nene type characters that have gone deep in the playoffs in the locker room and another star. Oh and make sure Anderson doesn't have tickets to the game next season.
we need a big. a big who can hit 3's and grab rebounds. there were countless posessions where spurs got 4-5 rebounds on one possession
Let me counter with a different perspective.....what IF....the San Antonio Spurs go on to beat the Warriors and then proceed to beat the Cavs and win the NBA Championship??? How would that make you feel as a fan, knowing deep down that we could have beaten the Spurs... and that trophy could have been ours if only our MVP candidate had a little more desire or perseverance? Think back to our first championship, we had our backs to the wall, people given up on us, but then we came back and won it all.
My expectation for this series was spurs in 7, so the result wasn't too far off. The spurs were the better team, we all know that. I would see a silver lining had we lost by 10 last night. But yeah...just giving up before the game even started is unacceptable. No silver lining for me.
I agree with this post, only thing is Ryan Anderson IMHO was a massive flop. Morey better work his magic and unload him in the offseason so we can get a better player, preferably someone who shows up at both home games and away games.
Yes it was disappointing to end this early. New coach, new system, practically new roster. It takes time to build a championship team. I had a whole season of very enjoyable rocket ball. We all saw the impact Nene had in these playoffs - the composure he has definitely kept us close. We knew we were one big man going down and unfortunately, it happened and the spurs pounced on the opportunity. We just could not compete without a real big. Proud of my Rockets and I'm sure we will adjust and go real deep next season.
