Rockets would only win it all if they can avoid the Clippers and Thunder in the postseason... And I don't see that happening...
The NBA is two things: a fraternity and a popularity contest. It is a fraternity in that the seniors run the show. There is a hazing process of a couple of years where you will get nickel-and-dimed and cheated out of success in the playoffs before you a.) learn the tricks of the trade and b.) get officiating which is more commensurate to your actual superior performance over another team. Inferior teams will always go the Jerry Sloan route of fouling you and daring the refs to call it. After a year or two of this pattern, the NBA front office will finally start to treat you with respect by disallowing some of the dirty play. It is a popularity contest in that there is no parity in the NBA. It's not like the MLB or NFL where any team can win in a given year if it gets hot. Look at the nature of those leagues' champions in the past twenty years. It's all over the place. In the NBA? It's been something sad like 8 teams (with 5 taking 17 of those 20). I think you can even go back 30 years and you won't get any more than 8. Basically, in the NBA you need superstars to win, and those superstars need to be acknowledged by the general public as being worthy. Usually one guy in the consensus top 5, preferably two in the top 10 or three in the top 20 as well. And until the league BELIEVES you should win, you will not win. This is not because there are only five players on an NBA court, and one superstar has that much more of an impact. No, it is because officiating is the key. Until the officials are told from the league office to officiate your superstar a certain way, you have no chance. You NEED halo rule. It's the only way. The only team in my recollection that was instantly assembled and won was Boston with KG Pierce and Allen. Every other team, Miami included, had a year where they had to do the time. This year, if you apply the superstar standard, you would narrow the playing field to 3, maybe 4 teams. Those would be Miami, OKC, the Clippers now with Paul and a rising-Griffin, and then that fourth bubble team would be the Rockets. The Spurs are out basically because Duncan is out. They won all their championships when he was in his prime as one of the 10 greatest players to ever live, even if he never dominated the way Hakeem or Shaq did. Now they are toast. If you apply the do-the-time standard, then Houston is out. Maybe even the Clippers, with Paul who has never gotten out of the second round and Griffin who has never been out of the first. Indiana's hopes ride completely on the back of Paul George's candidacy for superstardom, which looks like it has gone the way of the groundhog, back into hiding.
1994. Denver vs. Seattle. 2007. Golden State vs. Dallas. 2004. Red Sox vs. Yankees. Keep the faith. Anything can happen.
Live by the 3, die by the 3. And the probability to shoot a high % of 3's is stacked against you. Sure, you might get some blow outs and win a series, but not for a long duration of time against really good opponents.
We're not deep enough or smart enough to become a contender. Harden needs to compete every possession and stop pacing himself. Same for howard
I don't think we have enough good shooters to play the style we want in the playoffs, and win it all. Our bench is too inconsistent, and we can't sustain hot shooting for long enough against good defenses to win 4 7-game series. With that being said, I don't think a team like the Spurs wants to see us in the second round.
I don't think so. I'd love it, but we just have these random lapses where we fail to execute as a young team and when our shots aren't falling against a good defensive team like Chicago or Memphis (and even OKC an SA) it can become a nightmare. I believe we can beat SA, but OKC is just too good on both offense and defense and LAC is just a bad matchup for us because they lead the league in points off turnovers, one of our major flaws. Even if we somehow get out of the West, I don't know about chances against the Pacers and the Heat, because we happen to catch them on a bad slump that resulted in a losing streak of multiple games.
How is an upgrade at point guard going to solve the monster that is Kevin Durant? The majority of games the Rockets have played against OKC over the last two years Westbrook hasn't played and the Rockets have still lost. The same argument could be made regarding the Rockets vs Clippers seeing as Paul was absent for some of those games. Despite complaints about a weakness at point for the Rockets they have fared well against elite point guard teams such as San Antonio, Golden State, and the Suns this year. It would seem to me the Rockets need to find a way to contain Durant and Griffin to surpass OKC and LAC in the west.
We have the talent. so yes its possible. I just don't think the chemistry is there yet to survive a best of 7 series against OKC. Everyone else we could take. We could take miami, we could take San antonio, we can take LA. OKC is our kryptonite.
I'm literally shocked by the results thus far. Of course this team has the players to win it all. We have all the talent we need. Now whether or not the team will jell enough to win it all this year is another matter, but with the talent on this team, how can anybody vote no?
Not good enough. Still need a PG and another shooter. I love this team but it actually isn't even as good as its record indicates. Still, I think this year marks a massive leap forward with loads of potential left for next season. I don't think anyone really expected thus team to contend this quickly anyway.
