Not sure it is safe to post ssomething positive, but after holding off the Cs we moved up to 3rd in the West. Houston has the most road wins in the west (tied with Atl for most in the NBA). Only the Warriors have more conference wins, and only the Grizz have more wins from their last 10. Well done Rockets :grin: :grin: Sensational effort considering the injuries we have faced so far this season!!
Also worth noting is that unless I counted wrong, the Rockets are 8 wins and 7 losses against the teams currently holding a play-off position in the West. In case you are curious, the Mavs are only 2 wins and 10 losses against the West play-off teams.
My opinions. 1. Fire McHale 2. Trade/cut Howard. 3. Beverley is not a starting PG. 4. What's going on with Ariza? 5. We can't win shooting 3s. 6. We can't win not shooting more mid-range jumpers. 7. We need to run more plays. 8. Fire McHale again just to be sure.
Strange, number 4 is really a question and not an opinion. Numbers 5 & 6 have been thoroughly proven wrong in a big big way. Number 7 seems kind of odd to since the last three NBA Champions (Heat, Heat, Spurs) essentially ran the same type of read and react offense as the Rockets. But like you said those are your opinions.
9.DMO is overhyped 10. We need Dragic 11.We need Reggie Jackson 12. We should trade for Jimmy Butler 13. What's a shved?
And 4 of those 7 losses are against one team. A team that have almost zero chance to face in the first round, with some luck we could avoid them altogether.
Is losing Dwight really considered adversity? Seems his crappy post game is what causes adversity to our offense
Defensively, Dwight is pretty huge. That hovering help defense really makes D-Mo and Jones look better on the one on one post ups. Jones is doing alright, but in some games D-Mo is getting absolutely worked. And obviously Dwight's "hot games" are better than any other big man's on this team. D-Mo is definitely more consistent though.
This! He was killing our offensive chemistry. We don't need another playmaker who can create his own shot. We need to move the ball to the open guy and he needs to take the shot. With Howard out that will start improving again just like it did the last time he missed games. This team has everything it needs right now even without Howard. Everyone has become trade happy. DMO and Jones could be the starting front court for this team for a long time and if they keep improving at the rate they are going, we'll be just fine.
Trade/ cut Howard doesn't help us at all. Plus with all the injuries we have had and still being as competitive as we are you still think it is on Mchale? He's done a hell of a job under the circumstances. The only thing I agree on is that we do need to run more plays. There definitely needs to be a balance between 3's and midrange shots but that Rockets team that won those two rings with 3's bombing left and right to punish those that swarmed Dream sure as hell will disagree with you about not being able to win with 3's. It's all about our players having better shot selection, playing smarter not just harder, and that comes with maturity. I hope Dwight gets healthy and as much as people knock on his scoring game I feel that the real thing he needs to work on is his passing. When he gets to post up mode he is only looking to do one thing and oponents know this. If he implents better passing, I guarantee defences will not have an easy of a time guarding his shots and his way to the basket. They'll have to worry about his passing to someone else that can score. Passing also doesn't just mean kicking the ball out to Ariza in the corner but a legit open man. Both Dream and Shaq were just great at this during their championship days and it made it just so hard to always put a body on them because that ball could go anywhere.
Why does no one think of defense? Howard has such a big impact on the defense end of the floor. He actually scares people from driving to the rim. You think Jones or DMo are capable of doing that? Smith is the only consistent shot-blocking threat but he isn't tall enough to protect the rim. Offensively, I completely agree, but I think Howard will stop the post ups in the playoffs. It's the reg season, so maybe he's just practicing. I think he puts winning a ring over everything and so if he knows what is good for the team in the playoffs, he'll stop with the post ups.
Goal should be the 2 seed. Homecourt in the first 2 rounds, and no GSW until the conference championship. I feel good matching up with Dallas or Phoenix in the 1st round. Maybe even San Antonio if Harden gets some help in the backcourt.
Harden and Howard just don't have great chemistry together, and probably never will. That is the huge problem that just won't go away. Also, Dwight significantly decreases the amount of touches that Motiejunas gets, which makes us much, much worse as a team. There is still a "balance" trade that Morey needs to figure out, If McHale doesn't figure it out first.