Today is the birthday of the inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell. The telephone's invention was actually an accident that came about when Bell was trying to perfect the telegraph. Alexander Graham Bell said, "When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us." National prognosticators keep on keepin' on about how the Rox are d-e-a-d. Maybe they are. But they don't seem to know it, do they? Maybe the Rox cannot continue this win streak through 54 games (though to FINISH with a 16 game spring-streak sounds so very sweep sweet). Or maybe they cannot continue the streak through the 16th (or, more sadly like the 17th) this very week. How about the question of Denver and Golden State winning enough to overcome any stumbles and sit the Rox on the Lotto platform? Or perhaps the question could be whether Phoenix has anything left in their tank. Or New Orleans? Dallas? Which West powerhouse is most likely Jersey bound? After my great disappointment with the Rox earlier this season, and then my joy at seeing the Rox rise above the TMac loss; after my disappointment with losing Yao and then my joy at them rising up, together, as a TEAM playing hoops the right way; I have my glass half full that the Rox have not yet peaked. That the best is yet to come.
I took this kinda've literally... The one thing I have noticed is that the Rockets are getting a lot of easy points in the paint with Yao out. Just seeing McGrady casually walk in, flip a Rafer on Camby, then pull the layup made my day. It's a very good thing that Adelman has already twaked the system. I have to admit, the guy is quick on his feet.
No deep messages, just a reaction to the 'Rox are dead' theme. They aren't. Not yet. There's still life remaining in the Toy Shop, while blood seems to be draining from the desert, the bayou, the prairie town in north Texas, the mile high town, and the beautiful bay locale. But not, as said, in the clutches of H-Town.
Well put. Even today in the newest weekly power rankings at ESPN the comment is made that our perfect month is "not perfect with the loss of Yao." No optimism at all, even with the Rockets still winning, and other teams struggling. Fine by me though. Matter of fact, our next loss will throw us way under the radar again, a plus in my eyes. As Battier said, it relieves pressure while giving us something to fight for.
Great post xiki. You know though he flattered the Rox in many ways, I was disgusted with the Richard Justice "piece" today.He intimated that we better enjoy what we're seeing now because it was going to be too tall an order later.At the same time how can you expect a bandwagoning fool like this to recognize what is happening?Plenty of people with a lot more hoops knowledge than him are writing us off too. For the record though,I'm with you....The Houston Rockets are on their way to a title barring anymore injuries.I'm not going into all the why and why nots in this post,but I see it.And it's not just a matter of believing or homerism...Boy,it feels good. Prediction...We'll see LA in the WCF's and battle it out for the hardware...then dispatch the Cavs in the "Finals".
Rockets look good without Yao. Real good. Would rather have him, but we're damn near impossible to beat if our 3's are falling like they have been.
I love the optimism brothers! I'd love to see it happen too and my heart tells me they can do it, but my mind doesn't. Their streak is great, but they haven't really had a tough test against a top notch team in awhile. Their schedule has been good to them during this streak. I can see them making the playoffs, maybe even getting out of the first round. But I just can't see them winning it all this year without Yao. The west is just too tough.
I've been thinking about that myself. I tried to convince myself that our streak would end soon, and we're only prolonging it because our shooters are hot and couldn't miss from beyond the arc. As soon as we hit a scoring drought, we're toast. Then, I remembered that even when our shots aren't falling, we always have our excellent defense to fall back on and stay close in every game, regardless of the opponent. As deep and balanced as we are, this team has the opportunity to do something special this year.
that's because of Marc Stein. He is a Rocket hater. we'll see what the rankings are after they get updated. I would be surprised if we move up.
Make the play-offs? So many of the pro-gnosticators think not. They are 'reporting' as in a vacuum. Well, the teams mentioned are not in a vacuum, tey are in arenas across America. And, of late, one of the referenced teams is flourishing and the others are leaking oil. I sure cannot predict April or beyond as I cannot predict ten minutes from now. I can, however, see what has happened with other teams and things haven't been pretty there.
They are saying we are doing well without Yao (this is great, and it is pretty obvious). They are not saying (like you foolishly did) that we are better without Yao. Big difference.
Better w/ out Yao? I think we're playing a hell of a lot harder w/out Yao. These guys have something to prove, not only to the NBA, but to themselves. We know Yao isn't coming back, so there's no more 'holding the fort' until he gets back. Combine the incredible momentum we've had w/ the tight playoff race...these guys have shown they aren't taking a single minute off. I do think if Yao were in we'd be a little more complacent in going for the kill early. I'm not saying we were taking games lightly before Yao was injured, but we'd have plenty of lapses where we're up by 10 and then 5 minutes later the game is tied.
Thanks,guess you learn something new every day. And BTW...How do you come up with Denver being a subpar team?
Adelman is the perfect coach for this situation, i.e. losing a dominant big man. The loss of Yao is more devastating to the offense than to the defense. We have Deke still able to shut down the paint. But Adelman knows how to coach an offense without a dominant low post threat. That's why we can still sustain a pretty productive offensive game after losing a 20+ point scorer.
The point is that withOUT Yao, as withOUT TMac earlier, this squad is picking up the pieces and playing with a great focus, cohesion and success - 12 with and three more withOUT Yao. The Rockets have only seen doors slammed on the opposition. We can only hope that the team builds from here. It's still a long way to April, let alone June. It's also a long way from the death of the season the so-called cognoscenti called for.
Lol, do you think Desert_Rocket is smart enough to see the obvious difference? His "same observation" proves he is NOT.
