I will be laughing when the playoffs come. This team is capable of everything and I believe in them. Yao is playing great if you look at the only bright spot this season. Ofcourse there is emergence of Landry, Brooks and Wafer. Health is preventing this team to become great but I'm sure everything will be ok when playoff comes. I mean it must be?! No room for failure this time...
I'll go ahead and try to be helpful for the op. I say we'll still make playoffs but I was never really expecting too much after that (especially not right now). I will like the chances if the Rockets can get home court in Round 1 as they have a 18-6 home record (respectable losses to Boston and Lakers, terrible ones to Philadelphia, Indiana, Washington, Dallas). Conference-wise Rockets are somehow respectable at 20-10. If you look at only Western conference teams, when Rockets are at home they would be 13-2 (I think) at home. For me, I see a trend of playing horrible to really bad teams and to Eastern conference teams. Of which as long as we make playoffs won't be our problem. Granted things are suppose to ramp up during playoffs, but most (not all grant you) teams seem to be having their sets of problems. Spurs and Lakers are going strong (can't believe Lakers are still that good without Bynum). Portland and Denver, I would put them close to those two just because they seem to be consistent now but docked due to experience (NBA playoffs, lack or just bad respectively). Utah and New Orleans have been hit by injury bugs. Dallas and Phoenix just seem like they are imploding and want to implode. The problem with a lot of posters here I think was putting bets on being in the NBA Finals due to a super streak from last year and calling it chemistry and adding Ron Artest. Well, granted they played well during most of the streak but a lot of it was due to unexpected hot streaks from different players, playing against some bad teams (with good ones in there). I guess I wouldn't call it luck (c'mon 22 wins in a row!) but I wouldn't call it superb chemistry like I would consider Pistons after they won their first championship or San Antonio who just keep chugging along (we just don't have that consistency factor). Artest although talented is just a question mark due to injuries and other factors to me. My hope before and after the Artest trade was that we get out of the first round. It's still likely we can get out if we get home court. After that, I guess I'll leave it to Lady Luck. I liked the video and the ending was hilarious.
This "I still believe" nonsense is becoming way too redundant. If you still think the current roster can get it done, you're delusional. I BELIEVE we need to make a change. 5 years in and we are still at point A.
I still believe they're better than what we're seeing now, and I still believe that if you find a trade that makes you better now, you do it. They look terrible, and that they're obviously not playing to their potential right now, but they will improve. Does that mean they shouldn't consider a deal to make them better now? No. Does that mean it's time to rebuild for the future? I don't think so. That decision gets made this off season. Some people need to step off the freakout wagon... and others need to put down the koolaid. Like almost anything, the reality is somewhere in between. I don't expect a 22 game winning streak, but to think it's all over unless we make a drastic move is premature in my opinion.
Before the season started, I BELIEVED... ...that we would finally have a healthy season ...that T-mac would come back to his old form ...that our defense would be unstoppable with Battier AND Artest ...that Adelman would create the perfect offense ...that Yao would be THE most dominant player in this league ...that the Rockets would be the BEST team in this league ...heck, I even believed that Steve Francis would make a dramatic comeback Has any of these happened? The Rockets have severely underachieved up to now. And this isn't just this year... The Rockets never fail to disappoint EVERY SINGLE YEAR. The list continues on to past seasons: Stromile Swift, Spanoulis, Bonzi Wells, Mike James, Steve Novak, first round exits, more first round exits, injuries, injuries, and more injuries. DISAPPOINTMENT is what defines the Rockets right now. And as a fan, there comes a point when you just can't believe anymore. I've ALWAYS tried to get behind the Rockets and ALWAYS believed that they can eventually reach their potential... but after consecutive years of failure, you can't help but doubt this team now. I don't think I'm overreacting. This is just all the frustration building up to now. Having said all this, I'm still a Rockets fan. And I'll admit that I still hold onto a spec of hope. But all my general impression about this team points to just another year of disappointment.
I was not much of a believer at the beginning of the season nor am I now. But one thing I am sure of - last year team missed guy like Barry not Artest just to have possibility to come out of the 1st round. All along this team needs a Mo Williams type of point guard - a threat.
