His opinion means very little given the fact he rooted against us in the playoffs against the Lakers.
I don't hate Tracy like most on this board seem to. I got frustrated with him when he quit on us, but before that he gave this franchise everything he had and we got stung by bad luck, bad officiating and injuries. However, as a commentator I don't find him very insightful or relevant at all. To answer the poll question... CAN we win the West? Sure, of course we CAN. I consider it extremely unlikely, but if the shooters get hot and stay hot, absolutely we can. Rockets are a math equation. If they take X number of threes and hit at Y percentage they win.
Some positives.... Rockets Team Stats #3 Points Off Turnovers #5 2nd Chance Points #4 Fast Break Points #6 Points in the Paint #4 Net Rtg #2 Effective Field Goal Percentage #2 True Shooting Percentage #5 3PT%
We shouldn't make it our goal imo. We should just keep working on improving game to game and as long as we are securing homecourt, don't over exert our band of injury prone guys. Tactically, we haven't stopped improving defensively or offensively since game 10 and that's the right way to go about things. I would prioritize improving our play when the pace slows down and grinding games out with defense. It would have a far greater impact on playoff success than being a higher seed imo. This team has to be ready for when refs swallow the whistle, allow more fouls on Harden, and opponents get rough and tough to slow us down. With the way Anderson is playing on the road vs at home, I almost prefer that we are on the road from the 2nd round onwards. I kid I kid. A little bit.
I think another indicative Stat to keep in mind is the point differentials: Rank Team PPG Diff 1 Golden State Warriors 12.59 2 Houston Rockets 7.91 3 San Antonio Spurs 7.67 4 Cleveland Cavaliers 7.33 5 Toronto Raptors 6.86 6 Los Angeles Clippers 5.08
The fact that we can at all, or at least in the discussion, is a good thing. OKC, as long as Westbrook stays healthy, will make the playoffs. I don't think they have any chance to win the WCF. Utah looks pretty good and they will make the playoffs. I don't give them any chance either. Same with Memphis. If we had playoff series against any of those teams they would most likely be very tough series. But, while those are good teams, I don't consider them as legitimate contenders. Houston isn't the favorite, of course. But the fact that we are even saying that they could is a good sign. Much better than where I or just about anyone else was predicting before the season started.
I hate when people don't acknowledge the defensive improvement from this group. They will only get better. That notion that they don't play defense is dead
If Steph Curry gets in a motorcycle wreck or something, sure, the Rockets can totally win it. To be real, I'll consider a conference finals appearance this year to be a huge success. The Spurs and Clippers are very good, too. In the playoffs, anything can happen, but you have to get there (and get a good seed) for it to happen to you. Beating the Warriors isn't so crazy as to be out of the realm of possibility, but the Rockets would be at least as big an underdog as they were heading into last year's playoff series.
It is very refreshing to see someone of his stature adamantly support our team on the national stage.
I felt the Wizards game the other night was a little preview of this. Refs weren't giving either team much of anything.
