I thought I'd take a look at our 14 losses so far this year: Oct 23 Grizzlies - 98-90 - A home loss after the team had been in Houston for 5 days. CP3 was out and Ariza had a bad game (2 pts). Grizzlies were at full strength back then, even Parsons played 16 minutes. We gave this one away: We were up by 6 going into the 4th quarter, but scored just 2 points in the final 6 minutes as Memphis ended the game on a 20-2 run. Oct 28 @ Grizzlies - 103-89 - Road loss again to a full-strength Memphis team. This was the second game of a back-to-back after a win in Charlotte. CP3 and Gordon both out. Luc and PJ combined for 3 pts in 62 minutes. Bobby Brown played 22 minutes, and MDA waved the white flag and emptied the bench with more than 3 minutes left. Probably our worst game of the year, effort-wise. Parsons with 24 off the bench. Oct 30 Sixers - 115-107 - Another home loss to an inferior team. CP3 was still out and we were still looking for our identity without him. Sixers were at full strength (other than Fultz). We shot 27.7% from 3 and were out-rebounded by 11. Nov 14 Raptors - 129-113 - With CP3 and Nene out, another bad 4th quarter killed any chance we had. We out-rebounded them by 16, but they hit almost 50% from 3. Dec 20 Lakers - 122-116 - The game that broke our 14-game win streak. It also started our 5-game losing streak, our worst stretch of the year. This was our 6th straight home game, so we should have been well-rested. CP3 was back by now, but Luc and Capela missed this game. Harden had 51, but Ryno offset that with only 2 points. Lakers were at full strength, and rookie Kuzma went off for 38 points. They jumped out to a 15-point lead in the 1st quarter, then held on for the rest of the game. Dec 22 Clippers - 128-118 - Another loss at home. Harden had 51 for the second straight game, but CP3, Capela and Luc were out. Bev, Wesley Johnson and Teodosic were out for the Clips, but Austin Rivers went nuts for 36 pts. Briante Weber and Tarek Black each played 16 minutes for us. This was a 3-pt game with 3 minutes left. Dec 25 @ Thunder - 112-107 - CP3 and Luc out again, Thunder at full strength. This was a 1-point game with 3:28 left. Dec 28 @ Celtics - 99-98 - The infamous Marcus Smart flopfest game. We blew a 26-point lead. Our *definite* worst game of the year. Properly officiated, this would still have been a win. CP3, Capela and Luc still out, and Weber and Black both logged 11+ minutes. 10 points total from our bench. Dec 29 @ Wizards - 121-103 - Our worst loss of the year, points-wise. The second game of a road back-to-back. We were undermanned, with Capela, Luc and Nene all out. Green's first appearance, with 18 pts. Tarek, Qi, Brown and Weber had 50+ minutes between them. Only 46 points from our starters. We were never closer than 5 points from midway through the 2nd quarter. We hit under 30% from 3 and were out-rebounded by 12. Jan 4 Warriors - 124-114 - Second game of a back-to-back, as we'd played the night before in Orlando. No Harden, Luc, Nene. Durant was out for the Dubs. Gerald had his second straight big game, with 29 after scoring 27 the night before. We were only down by 3 after 3 quarters. Jan 6 @ Pistons - 108-101 - No Harden, no Luc, no Nene. Drummond was out for Detroit. Ariza, Gordon, Anderson and Green all shot poorly. The Pistons pulled away midway through the 3rd and we never got closer than 6 the rest of the way. Jan 15 @ Clippers - 113-102 - The infamous secret tunnel game. No Harden or Nene for us, no DJ, Rivers or Bev for them. They hit over 55% of their shots, while we hit 40% and shot under 30% from 3 again. The less said about this game, the better. There's no way we should have lost to these chumps with 3 starters out. Jan 26 @ Pelicans - 115-113 - Nobody out for us, our only full-strength loss of the season. Huge game from CP3 (38 pts), but 0 pts from Ryno and PJ. We were down by 20 in the 3rd quarter, then came back to tie it with 2:34 left. Still tied at 1:17, then we let it slip away. Mar 9 @ Raptors - 108-105 - Broke our 17-game streak. Ryno out, Raptors at full strength. Luc, PJ and Joe Johnson with 77 minutes and only 11 points between them. Game was tied with under 2 minutes left. Mar 22 Pistons - The Rockets gave this one away in t— wait... hang on... okay, false alarm. Never mind. Things that stand out: * In the 29 games since the Secret Tunnel game, we have only 2 losses, and both games were absolutely winnable (tied with less than 2 minutes left). 29 games represents about 35% of a full season. Without doing much research, I'd guess this is one of the more incredible lengthy runs in NBA history, and it's managed to go pretty much under the radar in the national media. The recent 28-game win streak by the Warriors was preceded by a close loss to the Pelicans, also giving them 29 winnable games in a row. Only the '71-'72 Lakers, with their 33-game win streak, had a longer streak of wins+close games. The '12-'13 Heat had a 27-game win streak that was preceded by a 10+ point loss, and ended with a 4-point loss that wasn't close until Bosh hit a 3-pointer with a few seconds left. * Worst loss was by 18 points. Only 4 losses > 10 points, and 4 decided by 5 or fewer points.. * Only 1 loss when we had all of our key players. * Only 2 losses in game with Harden/CP3/Capela. * Only 4 losses in games with both Harden and CP3. * 3 losses in the 8 games Harden has missed. * In 4 of the losses we were tied or ahead in the last few minutes. * 6 home losses, 8 road losses -- both fewest (or tied) in the league.
Excellent thread! Even with all the injuries, there was a shot of being a historic team (record wise), if the new players had a chance to be acclimated with new system and players.
I was the most disappointed in these losses: Dec 20 Lakers Dec 22 Clippers Dec 28 Celtics Jan 15 Clippers I hated the fact that we couldn't obliterate CP's old team, for the sake of pride. The fact that Blake Griffin looked good against us makes me so frustrated. I hated how we lost to the Lakers, they were hitting all of their shots and we couldn't disrupt them. Even Brew looked good, WTF. I hated how we blew away our blow-out against a hot Celtics team.
I understand all of the injuries we went through and that the beginning of the year we weren't nearly as deep as we are now (remember playing Weber?) but still.. I'm not sure which is worse: the fact that 2 of our 14 losses came against the Grizzlies.... or the fact that 2 of the Grizzlies' 19 wins came against us.
Incredible the Rockets played Memphis 4 times by the end of November. And now that team is a sad sack.
Worst losses were Grizzlies and Clippers at home and in Boston. I can live with most of the other ones, although it's too bad we couldn't get one against Toronto.
I only remember the two losses to the Grizzlies Oh, and the 26 point comeback by Boston. And Brewer/Kuzma going off for LA. And one Clippers game where they(HOU) led for most/all of the way but LA came back & won? Could be misremembering. Oh, and the one where scrubby Austin Rivers went off. And the Raptors because they ended the streak. I don't remember the rest.
We all know that this team is a legit 70 win team or very close to it.. it is one of the all time great teams... But the big risk with our team is if we lose either capela, Harden or Paul we go to becoming a 55 win team.. which i feel can be beaten by both Warriors and raptors quiet easily if either one of them goes out.. Warriors are so diversified, they can lose one allstar and can still pull out a 65 win season... We need to be smart from here on out and rest our guys majorly in the last three weeks, there is literally nothing to prove.. Warriors are bringing back Stephen Curry which is a big mistake, as they are trying to ensure they retain home court over the raptors, they don't want to go two series without home-court... This could back fire as Stephen is there best player, and if he exerts himself, warriors are done.. Blazers aren't catching them and they ain't catching us.. the only explanation is they want to end up having atleast a tied schedule with the raptors..
Rockets are the only team who can afford to rest out, maybe the celtics as well, as they are probably not losing that second seed.. the raptors and warriors are going to try and get a better schedule then each other, playing a hard brand of basketball in the last three weeks..
