The duo has only been together 1 year. Though admittedly the ending of year 1 was disappointing. The first year we got knocked out against the 1st seed Thunder. Hardly anything to be held against one of, if not the youngest teams that year that had been thrown together just that season with random parts from all over. All that said it's not surprising they were omitted and would guess they still would have been left out even if we beat Portland than lost to SA. Those 4 have done more together or are more popular or a combo of both even if it were a 2nd round exit instead of our 1st round exit.
Quite frankly, I've lost some respect for the team after losing to Portland. Yes, I know it was close and we may have been the better team in that series, but that's just an excuse. If the Rockets want respect, they need to earn it. They haven't so far.
Not to be a know it all, but the phrase is "the point is moot"....and your absolutely right - the point is most definitely moot.
Rose and Noah? LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL... no offense to any Rose fans, but seriously?! I don't even remember the last time that dude played a consistent amount of games in a row. And as well as Rose has played in the world cup this year, he still hasn't proven in the NBA that he's healthy and "important" yet. Back to the topic.... oh well, Harden and Howard will get their respect, only once we finally win a championship. Who cares if we have respect or not yet? We have to stay in pursuit for one thing, and that's reaching the top of the plateau, and competing for that championship.
Further? How exactly have Rose and Noah taken their teams further? Rose/Noah got their asses handed to them by Miami and then Rose spent the next two years injured, how's that better than a 50 win team and first round playoff exit, Dwight by himself accomplished more than Rose and Noah combined (that BS MVP win notwithstanding). I can understand Lilliard and LMA or Wade and Bosh more than Rose and Noah.
A lot of respect vanished with the first round loss to Portland...and Portland subsequently lost badly in the next round. It will not return until the team advances to the WCF.
I think we're portrayed more like villains by mainstream media. The media just focuses on the Rockets' negative side and doesn't really represent us in a good light at all. Antiheros would be villains who developed a cult-like following. Antiheros would be more like Zach Randolph, Rasheed Wallace, or Ivan Johnson in today's NBA narrative.
Some marketing kid at the NBA, who probably calls himself a "social media ninja" or something ridiculous like that, probably just grabbed the latest NBA Q-Score ranking and picked the top 3 duos + a couple from the reigning champions. I'll be good if we get most effective versus most marketable.
