Raising the bar By Steve Greenberg - SportingNews Whatever your take on the Rockets' chances to git 'er done come playoff time, the fact is Houstonians love their margaritas. Well, there happens to be one right over there on the bar. The question is ... ... is it half-empty? # The bad boys of the Southwest Division, Dallas and San Antonio, own the Rockets like a rented mule. Wait, something's wrong with that. And something is very wrong with the Rockets' 4-16 record against the Mavericks the past five regular seasons and with their 6-25 mark against the Spurs dating back to 2000. # The Rockets are going on 10 long, hellacious years without a postseason series victory. # If the playoffs started today -- not that they ever do when that disclaimer is attached -- Houston would have the fifth-best record in the West and would begin the postseason on the road. Teams that failed to secure first-round home-court advantage in the West are 2-12 in playoff series the past two years and 6-29 the past five. ... or is it half-full? # Look around the sports world and you'll find that outside of Tiger Woods and Roger Federer, being No. 1 doesn't mean squat when championships are on the line. Ask the teams that didn't win it all while the Heat, Colts, Cardinals, Hurricanes, Gators and, uh, Gators got jiggy with it. # For three seasons running, the NBA team with the best regular-season record hasn't even made it to The Finals. # A young, 7-6 gentleman named Yao Ming has returned to the court and restored to the Rockets' lineup what can only be called the best 1-2 punch in the entire stinkin' league. Whoa, Nelly. Perhaps last season it was Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O'Neal, but let's get real -- until Yao broke his leg and was knocked from the top of the MVP race in December, was there another twosome in the game who could touch Tracy McGrady and Houston's big fella? No, no, a thousand times no. As you can see, we're choosing to think positively about the Rockets, who somehow have gone 20-10 without Yao. What do you suppose the Mavs would do for 30 games without Dirk Nowitzki? The Spurs without Tim Duncan? The Suns without Steve Nash? Certainly no better than the Rockets have done, although -- and here's where some hammered dude takes a quaff from the glass on the bar -- there are signs Jeff Van Gundy's gang has a mental block to clear when it comes to the team with the best record in the league. "You've got two guys guarding me. That leaves four guys on three. Attack them. We don't do that," McGrady said after Dallas won last month in Houston. And forward Shane Battier: "To beat Dallas, you have to play a mistake-free game." For crying out loud. To beat a healthy Rockets team in the playoffs, you'll have to derail a dominant post man -- Yao is averaging 25.9 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.2 blocks -- and McGrady, who has more game than even he realizes. Sip it, slug it -- believe it. The glass is half-full. The Rockets are contenders. Here's looking at you, kid. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_y...y2kvLYF?slug=raisingthebar&prov=tsn&type=lgns
totally agree with this bit. once the rockets realize they've got the best center in the league who is unstoppable 1 on 1, and one of the best swingmen in the league who is similarly unstoppable 1 on 1, and then take advantage of that realization by going into attack mode, this team will have actualized its potential. the one thing this team is lacking now that we're healthy is the mental aspect. i have no doubt this team can take out the mavs. the team just needs to believe it. more than that, they need to believe that in order for the mavs to beat the rockets, THEY'RE the ones who will have to play mistake free. at this level, it's all about confidence and swagger. if the rockets can find that, nobody can stop them.
Nice read. I honestly feel that if the Rockets are going to go deep into the playoffs, it's going to come down to two things: 1) The play of our two superstars. Combined, they cover ever facet of the game. Yao's inside presence on both the offensive and defensive end, and T-Mac's shooting and passing ability, along with his decision-making. 2) The play of our role players. This might even be MORE important than the first one, because with the first one, you know what you're getting. With our role players, it's pretty obvious that when they don't show up, we don't win. It's that simple. Rafer needs to be facilitating flawlessly, Juwan needs to be knocking down those mid-range jumpers consistently, Chuck needs to be getting some offensive boards, Shane and Luther have to hit those open 3's, and I'm hoping Bonzi will give us an option on the low block. Without all of those clicking, it's going to be tough to get past any one of the four teams ahead of us. But, that being said, I also think we have the biggest upside of any of the teams in the playoffs. When it comes to giving other teams matchup problems, we're probably right up there with Dallas and Phoenix.
No I don't think we are that strong. This team shows too much inconsistency and dependence on the superstars to an extend that if the superstars are not on an offnight, they will not bring it either. Unless our role players go to a cold blood attacking mode, I am not confident yet.
I also believe the Rockets are lacking the confidence and especailly the swagger to compete against the elite teams but I am confident they will gain it.
Great find! Good points in this article. And Tmac brings that swagger to all the big games and he sure as hell will have it come playoff time. Not to mentioned that Yao was beggining to get that "no one can stop me" mentality. Looking good.
look at tmac's playoff stats. EVERY SINGLE STAT goes up. he WILL go to another level in the playoffs. reg. season is chill for him like it does w/ shaq. he just goes 75% most times.
That guy sounded like he was damn near getting down on his knees to suck some Rocket ****. Or is it just me?
We have too many nominal point guards to go very deep in the playoffs. They wilt under pressure, and, more than likely, so will the Rockets. We can get past Utah (doesn't mean we will) and might take Dallas to six games, IF Tracy and Yao are dominating.
Sums things up pretty well. You can make a logical case for a disappointing end to the season or a very exciting one. The bottom-line is that it's just too early to know. On the plus side, at least we have a legit chance to be special. There were far too many years in the recent past where you really couldn't believe that. Here's to optimism!
I ****ing hate it when "experts" use misleading stats. I like how they restrict the statistic so that it proves their point. First round teams playing on the road... hmmm that means seeds 5-8. We're 5th seed, so we are towards the top of that list, and thus have a higher chance than the statistic suggests because they include 1-8 and 2-7 matchups which are almost always won by the home team.
I liked this article alot, it's comforting to see people really recognizing the kind of team we have here in H-Town. We're the one team that most people overlook that, if relatively healthy, can upset everyone and win the title. No one really sees Utah doing that... ditto for the Lakers. Those two teams are good but they don't have the firepower to really upset a Dallas or PHX (never say never though). I'm not so worried about Yao and Tracy meshing well together. I know that if they are both on the court and healthy... it'll just fall into place. They are both natural ballers, after a few games where they are both healthy they are gonna find a real solid formula. I think what we're gonna see is one guy getting hot, getting doubled and tripled... then from there just a dump off to the open superstar, be it Yao or Tracy. That could mess up a defense all night long, and if you lock down Tracy and Yao... you've got to worry about Juwan, Bonzi, or even Battier and Skip getting streaky and hitting big shots. We play the best defense in the league but in the playoffs I think it's gonna be how we execute on offense that really puts us over the top. I don't think our roleplayers are gonna have to play flawlessly in the playoffs if our superstars are doing what they should be doing. They'll have to do a good job for sure... but when Tracy and Yao are both healthy and working together everyone else just has to do a steady job, fill their role, and stand back. The only Rper thats gonna have to really be exceptional is Battier... and he 90% is anyway. I like our odds and this article points out some things a lot of people are overlooking. We really have the potential to make a run going into the playoffs and throughout the playoffs itself. If Tracy, Yao, and Rafer stay pretty healthy and have time to mesh going into round one... watch out. I personally don't see us snagging a title this year, there are just a few too many holes in our team, but it is certainly in the realm of distinct possibility. I do see us going Round 2 and beyond (WCF anyone?) and that's a lot more than anyone foresaw coming into this year or when Yao went down. Go Rockets.
We have the confidence, but we don't have that swagger. We don't have that murderer's mentality. We need to demoralize them and make their moms depressed.
Great article. The negative stats are on-point, and the 2nd half of the article gives you chills when you think about just how good we can be.
Totally agree with what this article says, esp the "attack" mode. Constantly I find our role players standing around and passing the ball one to another, sure, they might not have the skills, physical gift or competencies to actually finish a successful play (head, alston) but the agressiveness they have would have a positive impact in the game. The only player I've seen from this rockets team that attack consistently with aggression is Kirk Snyder. Come on rockets, win the damn trophy for us fans.
Nice article that got me all pumped up for my team, I hope we can play well in the post season and prove this guy right otherwise he will join the rest of the Rockets haters.
And so it begins......the REAL season. Most of us here have waited and believed.Yes,we've wanted a PF,a PG,and wondered if TMac and Yao(along with Bonzi) would be ready.Also many of us have wanted VSpan to get more playing time and slammed JVG for it.(I'm one of those) But in the final analysis,we needed our core to be healthy.It doesn't matter what seed we are.Nobody can match up with us...esp. in the postseason. Now the media has started to trumpet what we've known all along. This is where the fun begins...So,look for us to be peaking going into the playoffs...Enjoy the run and get ready for a giant parade.
