There are no moral victories

[Bobby]

There aren't any moral victories - just wins and losses. We had every chance to win this game tonight - Portland kept trying to give it to us, but we kept dropping the ball.

There are some things to be proud of: Cato's inspired play, Mobley kept coming back at them, Francis tried, CB digging the ball time and time again off the boards from bigger guys,Drew's play (I still don't like him, but he earned his props tonight), Bullard's threes. Things not so proud of: 34% shooting (Portland's defence wasn't that good), Rogers inability to either catch the ball, pass it, or shoot it; not-so-clutch free throw shooting, bad decisions in the passing lanes (but not as atrocious as Portland's).

How Francis can be outplayed (on both ends of the court)by a guy six inches and half as quick as Steve is beyond me. Out of all the Trailblazer "alumni" on our team - Cato was the only one who redeemed himself. The line-up at the end of the game and for most of OT just gave Portland fits, although I sure as hell wouldn't want to see it regularly.

Leave the pain of this loss behind, learn from it, and get ready for the Grizzlies.

[alaskansnowman]

i would agree with you on any other day bobby, but today i would have to say that this was a moral victory.

u are right that portland gave us so many chances to win(especially Rwall's crazy pass), but we showed that we can compete with the best team in the league. Not only did we compete with the blazerz, we did so while playing bad game.

u have to look at that. even though we didn't get the win, i'm sure the rockets have a lot more confidence in themselves. I'm sure they're thinking, if this was any other team, then we would have won.

and that's how you know whether it was a moral victory or not. This loss actually had a positive effect. Sure a win would have been great, but you can't get everything.

[Dr of Dunk]

I've always disagreed with the statement "there are no moral victories -- just wins and losses". It's often the moral victories that lead to wins. Confidence even in a loss does wonders for a team. Who knows... maybe this win will inspire these guys to suck it up and get enough wins to enter the playoffs... I'm not sure if it will happen, but their chances are looking a heck of a lot better now than about 4 games ago.

------------------
Rocket fuel pumps through these veins...

[theWIGMAN]

I tend to agree with Bobby on this one. We've seen enough "moral victories" from these Rockets this year. Right now, I'd settle for some more plain vanilla VICTORIES.

Anyway, there is no "moral victory" when you keep making the same mistakes that have cost you the game in so many other "moral victories." The turnovers remain a constant, and in close games (aka "moral victories") a few possessions make all the difference in the world. When will these guys learn how to protect the basketball?

[treeman]

"Moral Victory"... Morality is a relative concept. For our purposes, it's only relevant to focus upon morale.

I'd say that the Portland game was a "Morale Victory", if not a "Moral Victory".

Utah fans get "moral" victories - and then only in their minds...

This game should definitely be a morale-booster, though. We go to 3-11, but everyone else - all other teams - know that we can put the best in the West into OT and scare them silly with an old shooter pulled off the injured list. We are contenders.

At the very least, this should give everyone we play from here on out pause. I remember seeing a shot of Portland's coach in the OT stretch, right before Stevie's unfortunate freethrow: he was shaking.

This New Rockets team is not to be taken lightly. Good players from good teams have repeatedly said this. I have confidence in this team now. I believe.

Hopefully, they've found a little confidence too... 4-11 looks pretty good right now.

[Cohen]

I'd have to agree that moral victories exist (thus, this be the new Existentialist Faction).

[theWIGMAN]

I always thought(in relation to sports), that a moral victory is something that you can learn from ... that the value of a moral victory is in the lesson learned. What have the Rockets learned in all these moral victories --- nothing, in terms of protecting the basketball.

[Dr of Dunk]

Wigman,

When you're getting loss after loss compounded by the fact that you get beat by teams like Dallas, you lose confidence. If you can even play even with a team like Portland, it is a confidence builder. It's a sign that you are *possibly* improving. That in itself is a morale builder.

------------------
Rocket fuel pumps through these veins...

[TheFreak]

The best teams in the league sometimes lose to the worst. When the Bulls won 72 games, two of their losses were to the Raptors and Nuggets. The Blazers, like the Bulls, just had a bad night. They still won the game, however.