I just have to say it's unbelievable that we are even considering Finals at this point. But with the improvement that Ming has brought to this team, hey, the sky's the limit. Go Rockets, all the way to the championship!!!
All I can say is that if the Lakers can fall this hard, then the Rockets can rise just as high. This is the NBA and anything can happen.
two more things: #1. james posey = mario elie and #2. no team will want to face yao and the rockets in the playoffs.
I agree with Jeff, the team is still a year or 2 away, don't discount the 'experience' factor. In fact, they're still trying to develop chemistry among one another, and that may take a good portion of the season. Now, I woudn't be surprised if, assuming the Rocks make the playoffs, they made a nice little run of winning the 1st round & maybe taking a team to game 7 of the 2nd round. But it's a little too early to start thinking about conference finals, nevermind winning the 'Big One.'
Like evryone else is saying..experience..if they do win it this year, it would be a huge deal... No team from my time (1984-present) Im only 23 has ever come into the playoffs for the 1st year without making any noise the previous year in the playoffs and won it all...Its always been a team that has battled, but come up short for the past few years. If the script plays out, it looks like Sacramento is teh frontrunner. Also, rogue teames built of of mercenaries for hire like the Blazers and mavs, never win bevcause it takes a couple of years of chemistry to really get a good team going with chemistry. The mavs a re a bit different cause they have some staples in the line up , but portlands team is made up just to beat LA
Again, those who did not have the Rockets in the top 4 by this time of the year should stay out of this projecting discussion. After what the Nets did last year we are in no position to being realistic. Also based on Ming, we do not know what realistic means. If you want to be conservative, fine, but do not say realistic. We have two all-stars on our team and someone mentioned a very good 3rd option in Mobley. Well I should point out the statistically, Posey is right next to Mobley as seen in the SG player rankings on CBS Sportsline (see below); so we have a very good 4th option too. If we are being realistic, what about the defense we are playing. Didn't Detroit do wonder last year with defense? Defense wins championships. It appears to me that we have as good a chance as anyone. 11. Cuttino Mobley, HOU 66.01 16 43.0 18.1 3.8 3.1 41.2 82.9 12. Michael Jordan, WAS 65.15 25 31.5 17.4 4.7 2.8 45.4 76.6 13. Richard Hamilton, DET 64.66 24 31.7 20.3 3.5 3.3 43.6 86.3 14. Brent Barry, SEA 63.55 26 34.8 11.6 4.6 4.7 46.7 75.8 15. Jason Richardson, GS 62.42 25 34.2 15.6 4.6 3.5 37.4 78.6 16. James Posey, HOU 61.42 25 34.9 14.1 5.8 3.1 37.3 84.3
just for the sake of clarification. . . I'm not saying it's experience. I'm saying it's a mentality. granted, the mentality usually comes with experience. but I'm saying there are teams who have done it before without experience [Shaq's Magic, Ralph's Rockets]. but no team ever does without the mentality. I think part of the reason for that is because most leaders [ie. coaches] don't want to set a young, fragile team up for failure. why say to your young, growing Rockets team: "guys, we CAN win it all this year. let's go for it." if that means risking feeling like failures if you only make it to the second round? I don't necessarily think the Rockets need X amount of years before they can be considered championship contenders. but I do necessarily think they need X mentality to get the job done. a mentality that will not allow them to take nights off against the weaker teams in the league.
Jeff and everyone that says it is just not realistic to think this team will go far into the play offs, or make the championship are totally right. Two months ago when we were all being realistic, we thought Ming might be adjusted enough to help a little by mid season, or at the end of the season. But it would be a least a year before he was able to have a impact. We were, or at least I was, being realistic before the season when I thought we would not be 14-10 with wins over Lakers, Spurs, Kings, 76ers, and Pacers. Would never have believed Ming would have 30 points againest Dallas and follow it up a few games later with 29 and play with regular double/doubles. The rest of you can continue to be realistic, I am starting to think I sold Ming, this team and Rudy short. So I am going to not be as realistic the rest of this season, and just continue to be surprised with what they do.
As long as Eddie Griffin can continue to play the defense he has been the last two weeks, Im happy with the frontcourt. I have not seen him get pushed around nearly as much as early on, and Griffin has been doing a good job on the glass. This is really all we need from Griffin, a player that will rebound, defend, block shots and play with a lot of energy. That being said, the only thing that is blocking this team from vaulting into elite status is the decision making and lack of court vision/passing ability by the guards. Even if you are going to run the offense through Yao, he cant produce every shot you take not with zone defenses and such. Danny Ainge mentioned something like that last night saying something to the effect of "In the NBA, you cannot throw it into the post every single time; you have to mix it up." This was in reference to the Spurs and Tim Duncan. He was saying that pnr and other such plays with Tony Parker had to be mixed in. Thus, no matter which way you slice it, all three of our guards make a lot of bad reads in these situations as their court vision, court sense and basketball IQ simply is not very good. I think that plus the lack of defense at the point of attack is all that is preventing this team from really vaulting into the elite of the league. This basically means that I dont think Mobley and Moochie are good fits unless they start making better reads and make better passes.
at the start of the 92-93 season, i would never have thought the rockets would be playing in game 7 of the second round with a chance to advance to the conference finals...their improvement over the second half of that season was remarkable. i'd love to see the same this year...i'm just rooting for continued improvement! Go Rockets!!
Good point Max. Manal, I would like Rudy to involve Cato and Collier more. EG is great playing with Ming but sometime you need more size and bulk and that is where I would involve Collier and Cato. You know I think that MoT is now damaged goods.
I don't think metality will be an issue coming playoff time if Ming indeed ends up being the best Rocket player. NBA/West conference final is a big deal. But don't forget Ming has been representing more than 1 billion people ever since he was 17 and in China, basketball is more than just sports. Rockets all the way. Shrimpie
Let's take a realistic look at the conference. Teams that are WAY better then the Rockets. Sacremento Dallas Teams that are in our league San Antonio Minnesota Phoenix Seattle Portland Lakers Utah I do not think that we can get by the top 2 teams this year....and if the Lakers ever get off their butts and play with passion you could move them up as well. DaDakota
Good points, E.J., I definitely see where you're coming from. But the emergence of a team is a harder, more tedious activity than the emergence of a player. I'll take your advice, however, and just enjoy the ride!
Verse, I like your thinking!!! I also agree with DaDakota. There are only two teams in the West that are way better than us (I'm gonna assume the Lakers are out until further notice). But who knows...maybe Sac gets bounced in the first round and we catch fire in a bottle and take out Dallas. And there's no '86 Celtics in the East. It's sports...anything can happen. On the flip side, we could get bounced in the first round by the Trailblazers. But hey, that's the learning experience most of us expect. That's the great thing about the first year in the playoffs, you're happy that your team is just there!!
I'm with DaDa, again. How do we beat Dallas? and Sacto, with all their pieces back. That would be an interesting discussion. I'm guessing it would have to start with us stopping their incredible scoring attack (re Lakers last year) rather than with us finding new ways to outscore them. What did the Lakers do to beat Dallas? How'd they beat Sacto (besides Bavetta)? I think in both cases they found a way to neutralize the jump shooting pf and slow the quick gaurds.
I want to win a ring also, but out of all those teams came from nowhere and made it to the Finals, how many made a repeat the following year? It takes time to build "dynasties."
Sac beat Dallas last year with defense and Dallas' lack-of. Didn't Sac have like 75% of their FGs either layups or dunks. Lakers beat Sac with luck (Horry), favortism (refs), and balls (see Game 7: Sac's FTs and airballs)
One thing that encourages me this year is that, in contrast to last year, we have been beating some of the really good teams (e.g., Sacramento, Indiana, Lakers). Last year we lost almost all of these games. Yes, we are still a bit erratic and lost to some teams this year we should not have lost to - but I would not be surprised if we became a major surprise in the playoffs. Let us just not get our expectations too high for this year. I do not expect it, but I would not be shocked. I love our mix of players now.
