Are the Rockets as good as their record indicates?

inb4 next month to tank the season if they're on a losing streak

All the Rockets gotta do is take it one game at a time. Let's see if they can keep this up throughout the season.

 

I don't think so. We need to play some Western conference teams to see where we're really at.

 

In the sense that they're a top 4 team in the west, yeah. 88% wins...maybe not.

 

Their record indicates that they project to be about 74-8 so no, obviously not. But they've played extremely well and they're not overrated at all. Weird thread. Feels like a downer thread on what's been a great start to the season.

 

They've played extremely well but against easy teams and with no fouls trouble. I wanna really see what will happen when D12 will be out after few minutes because of refs stupid whistles or if/when Harden is in a bad shooting night. Our bench is terrible, I think we have seen a good example of how many trouble we can have last night against 76ers. An upgrade is needed or many of us will cry at the end of the season because of their high expetations

 

We could be even better in games because we played only at 80% of what we have due to injury......

Disregarding the record

 

As other posters have noted, tregardless of the competition, the Rockets are doing well, especially given that they're playing with a second-year guard and a third-year power forward in place of two starters. Guys like Ariza, Terry and Papanikolau have meshed amazingly well from the get go.

But the GSW loss showed to me how shaky the Rockets are without Howard manning the center spot. In other words, the team still lacks the Plan B and C that will keep the team steady if/when their two stars sit for stretches due to an inevitable injury (knock on wood), and also keep the two stars from burning out in the first place.

 

That's just how to take the Rox out of contention right away. Howard gets bogus calls and this team is basically done in when facing real competition.

 

If (or when) we go into a mid-season slump or lose a few games in a row, we'll be glad we started off 8-1 rather than 5-3 or 4-4.

 

That Golden State game was a six point game with less than two minutes left. That's with the Rockets out three starters. I say, they handled themselves well in the game.

 

Everyone tends to take the early games lightly, but every W is equal in the regular season. An 8-1 streak to start the season has the same value as an 8-1 streak to end the season. This is great.

 

Probably not, but it beats the alternative. There is merit in beating the teams you are supposed to beat. It will even out as the schedule gets harder. It will end up being an extremely tight race in the West. You know SA will crank it up as the season progresses.

 

I think we are better than we are showing. We aren't running on full cylinders yet. Harden's shot is off and we are missing 2 starters. I predict we will have a 12 plus game winning streak this season and be close to 60 wins if we don't have any major injuries.

 

Rockets are better this year. Even though Rockets have probably the easiest schedule of any team so far. Harden and Howard chemistry seems to be a bit better. Not just "your turn, my turn" like last year. Ariza is the perfect role player for Howard-Harden combo. Papa signing and Jason Terry has been very good. Harden improved defensively and he is not holding the ball as long now and making a QUICKER move once he catches the ball instead of dribbling it for 10 seconds for nothing. (Hated his brain for that the past 2 seasons, so frustrating to watch). This years team is a year older and has more proven veterans on the team and it sure looks like that helps.

 

Our record merely indicates that on 8 of 9 nights we were the better team. It says nothing about the next 73 nights.

 

If the Rockets can continue to score 2 points more than the opponent they WIN.

The Memphis game should be tough though

 

the Rockets are 9-1 and 6-0 on the road and 1 division win.

 

Any team that loses its best player is going to suck. If Golden State plays that game without Curry we win by 10+. That's the nature of the business, NBA is a star driven league and if you don't have them you will lose to the teams that do have them.

 

I think good teams find ways to win regardless of circumstances. In our circumstances, essentially missing two starters for the start of the seasoned have won games regardless of the schedule. Road games are road games and you still have to go out and get it done.

Looking forward to the Memphis game, great test

 

I think we are as good as the inverse of the Lakers