Rockets are #3 in the daily Hollinger rankings. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/powerranking. The Suns are #1 over the Mavs, probably based solely on margin of victory. I'll be curious where Marc Stein puts us next Monday.
Just remember that Stein is a Dallas homer. He doesn't like the Rockets. He lives in Dallas, and was a writer for the Dallas Morning News. Everyone has biases, but he seems to really be biased to the Mavs in my opinion.
How the heck did we drop .001 in our rating from last week? Last week we were: 106.503 This week we are: 106.502 Hollinger is an idiot!
TNT guys last night talking about Dallas, Phx, and SA being "the top 3 teams in the league way above everybody else". I guess when we pass SA, we will have just shot up to the top 3 overnight and became good the last two games or something. r****ds.
not really those three have generally been the best three teams the last 2 seasons and this season and they have shown to be the ones to beat in the playoffs. even if houston does take over the third spot it'll be "houston is up there but come playoff time the spurs are still the ones to watch out for" dont expect to get respect for having a decent season so far respect is earned by winning in the playoffs and the rockets havent won a series since what 97? its been about 10 years, so its expected. it doesnt bother me at all much, but i think this could be the first year since 97 where we may actually be favored to win a playoff series.
that's ridiculous, Spurs is old, their speed and energy level can't compare to the ones they have years ago. The spurs-suns game last night indicates this, Spurs just couldn't keep it up toward the end of the game, while suns were still running and jumping like they just started the game. Dallas and Phx are at a level way above any other team in the league. SA, Utah, houston and L.A. are at the next level. These four teams will seed from 3rd to 6th by the end of the season, and compete with each other hard in the first round of the playoff. Then the two winners will play against Mavs and Suns in the second round respectively, also likely lose to them. The winner of Mavas and Suns in the WCF will have the NBA title. Although I love Rox to be the champion as everyone else here, and I believe they do have a chance, realistically it will be either suns or mavs.
when this happens, TNT will just talk about the top 2.....Suns and Mavs......friggin' rockets haters...
Well just a while ago on Nba Tv they were discussing the Power Rankings from Nba.com.. examining the top 5 ranked teams in the Nba and when they got to the number 3 spot(which is us), they were prasing us... saying how its amazing how we are being able to play without yao ming... and that when Yao comes back it wont mess up are flow but make us even Better(which i could of told u that, but still good to here it from other people).. and they say come playoff time We will Be the DARKHORSE and how that if we end up in the past Dallas or Phenoix in the Western Conference playoffs that noone should be suprised.. I might also add that they said a lot of coaches around the league have said come playoff time they DONT want to play us and that if theres anyway possibility not to play us they would be happy because were Such A BIG MATCHUP problem and that were capable of beating anyteam because of our defense, T-mac and Yao, and our ability to spread out the floor to hit Threees ...Im glad were starting to get more and more props for being a SUPERB team
Interesting to note that Hollinger states that the Rockets have had the hardest schedule so far. (it's in his 'explanation of how the rankings work!)
Everyone is talking about our schedule being the toughest, but if you look at thos numbers we probably have a leg up against the Spurs, Jazz and Denver, but we're not the power-house team that Dallas and Phoenix have proven to be. I can see how we could beat Phoenix in a 7 game series, but I do not see how we could beat the Mav's. We are still a second-tier team in terms of talent even if we're probably a top-four team. If either T-Mac or Yao make history we could take anybody, but I still don't believe that those two have on-court chemistry that mesh with each other. I'm still waiting...
Right on the money! I'm waiting also, but remember 2 years ago. We know they CAN mesh together because it's happened before. Tracy was the lead and Yao was the follower. With Yao's emergence things have changed some. The last 10-12 games of the regular season are going to be a crash course in offensive chemistry for Yao & Tracy. It will also test JVG's ability to make it work. IF it does work, we can also beat the Mavs in a 7 game series. My primary concerns for the rest of the season are: (1) Tracy's back & (2) Integrating Yao into the offense. If I knew beforehand both of these would have a positive result, I actually favor the Rockets to win it all. But those two ifs loom very large and the realist in me says at least one of them will be a problem.
I'm reminded at times like this of a certain team back tens years or so ago that wasn't one of the top 5 teams in the league. nobody but their own fans thought they were "elite level" and yet, they beat every "elite team" on the way to beating the league's new dominant team (as they were considered before our sweep) and winning their second title. I realize we had Dream, but by mid-season we were not expected to make it back to the finals. Which was why we made the deal to get Clyde. point is you dont have to be the best team in the league to win it all.
Actually you do have to have the best team in the league to win it all. Fortunately, the only people that needs to believe you are the best team are the guys on the court.
Given the rankings stating that the suns and mavs as #1 and #2 respectively....... The Rockets whooped the spurs twice, and should have won three times. The Rockets whooped the Mavs, and should have had two wins against them. The Rockets whooped the Lakers, and should have lead that series 3-0. The Rockets without Yao and T-mac gave the Suns a run for thier money. I feel like we are exactly where we need to be. Under the radar, hungry, fighting, underdogs. The Rockets can take any of these teams and should fear no one.
