My question...why do most sports "experts" underate this team sooooo much? I mean, really! I heard on guy say that we have a bunch of role players or something of that nature. Well, yeah we do! Isn't that how it's supposed to be? Not everybody is a superstar. Yao and Tracy are our "superstars", and that's okay. When we won our championships, we had Hakeem the first time, and Hakeem and Clyde the second time. The rest were just a whole bunch of role players and awesome chemistry. Those sports "experts" should know from history that you CAN win a championship with just one superstar. Personally, I believe chemistry is the #1 ingredent in the 1st place. There have been teams that have been stacked with talent (Portand for example during the Brian Grant days) and have not won a championship. We have some REALLY great players and the only reason I can see why sports experts underate us is because we do not have a star at every corner and that we are not in a market as big as LA or NY. Just my opinion. I believe we can beat any team we want, regardless if they have a star on every corner. The Rockets are only as good as they allow themselves to be (and that goes for any team). What do yall guys think? Have a great day! P.S.---weren't sports "experts" saying in the beginning of the season that we would be one of the top teams and predicting big things for us for the season and the playoffs (also mentioning how deep we were). All of the sudden, you lose one star and they are saying our streak is a fluke, we won't make the playoffs, we do not have enough talent, just have a bunch of role players.....yall get my point. Oh well, must be nice to have a job were you can sit in a comfortable office all day, call yourself a sports expert, make predictions all day long, and pass your off the wall or biased opinions on as "fact". I would rather have that cake job instead of being an MP and guarding nukes all day!
Before this season started, I figured the team would start slow, be close to .500 at the All Star Break, and then come on really strong in the second half. And even though it went pretty much exactly the way I thought it would, I'll admit, I lost a little bit of my faith at some point earlier this season. When Yao was injured, I'm ashamed to admit, I thought it was the end. This team is playing with a lot of heart, and I love it. As for the pundits... well, they're a bunch of lemmings, quite frankly.
It makes perfect sense. How can you take the best player off a team and expect them to do well? The Rockets have NO players who can create their own shot. Right now they are outhustling everyone, but in the playoffs everybody plays hard. Plus most of this streak came with Yao. They are playing as well as they can play right now. They are doing it every game. In the playoffs, this team doesn't have enough to win 4 out of 7 unless it's someone like New Orleans or if one of the other contenders loses a player to injury. We just don't have enough offense. Rafer is not going to play like this every night. Shane and Luther need others to create shots for them. THey can't even run a pick and roll. Scola and Landry are playing well, but when the game gets tight, they are still rookies and they are going to make mistakes. This is a very inspiring story of an overachieving team and I love every minute of it. That doesn't call for outsized espectations.
Well, McGrady can FOR SURE create his own shot. He is an all star you know. Also, Yao was around for the 8 game win streak. We are on 19 right now, which means that half was without Yao. That does not count for "almost all the win streak was with Yao". Don't underestimate, dude. I would rather have high hopes and just wait and see.
12 came with Yao. I know what Tmac can do, but can he overcome Kobe/Gasol/Odom or Duncan/Ginobili/Parker or Nash/Stodemire/Shaq. If you're a really good defensive team, you can really slow down the Rockets. If you force Tmac to give up the ball at the 3 point line, the other guys can't do anything, even 4 on 3. They can't dribble and drive to be able to take advantage of 4 on 3. Tmac needs to do what Hakeem did and play in the post, but the probem is Tmac doesn't have the physical strength to bully himself from the post to the hoop. His game is more perimeter oriented. The Rockets still don't have a legitimate post threat. Scola can be defended one on one, he will have problems scoring against bigger more athletic front court players. Also, we will be killed on the boards without Yao. Duncan, Gasol and Shaq will kill us. We have nobody over 6'8". People will leave Dikembe all by himself and Rick will be forced to not play Deke.
Soooo, I guess you are saying there is little to no hope. Hmmm, I guess we will see. I disagree, and thats okay. I believe we do have guy's who can do more than just shoot jumpers and lack the ability to drive to the basket. However, I thought I read that Yao went down during the 8 game win streak. Oh well, I do not get to watch to many Rockets games up here in Montana anyway. I have to wait till I become a civilian again in November to watch my guys play.
My honest take as to why we're so constantly overlooked..... Nobody takes us seriously because our two stars have yet to shed the playoff monkey and without Yao we're vulnerable to LA, SA, Utah, Dallas and Phoenix. Teams with multiple scoring threats while we continue to be led by T-Mac (whom they consider to be damaged goods) and guys like Rafer, Scola and Landry, players they consider to be unproven.
Now that is a very good point. I agree that they probably take into consideration that McGrady has had injury problems, hasn't been on a team that made it past the 1st round, and that our players are somewhat of an unknown. However, like I said before, we will see upon playoff time. Some people here, or there, or anywhere, and those sports "experts" may be eating crow...or maybe I will if I am wrong, haha. Hey, I'm just a Rockets fan all the way and I always believe they will win....isn't that the way it should be? I'm a realist too, but we have been on such a great streak and doing so well, the results speak for themselves.
I get upset too when it seems like the Rox are overlooked but then again I like it that people think of the Rox are the underdog which allows us to sneak up on some teams.
if we think it is not overrated, let us beat lakers,spurs,suns . I love this team ,but i think we should keep cool, this year i just want to enter the second round. BTW, nobody noticed carl landry is born in 1983? it is overrated too. he is older than any rookies this year!!!
I don't think most in the media are underrating us anymore. The Rockets can't be considered favorites to get to the championship round. Right now, they are overachieving against a relatively soft schedule. They are under-talented offensively, but they are making up for it with unbelievable focus and discipline, and attention to detail on the defensive end. That's can work pretty well for you in the middle of the regular season. But in the playoffs, all the contenders ramp up their intensity and focus and it becomes more about how good your best players are. So that's why, as good as we're playing right now, it will be a real challenge to advance far in the playoffs with this roster. Three weeks ago, I was optimistic that we could pull together after the devastating loss of Yao and continue to improve as a team. I thought we could put ourselves in a good position to get past the first round, and it would be a great accomplishment if we did so. I still feel that way, but we shouldn't let this incredible streak inflate our expectations. That wouldn't be fair to this group, and we'd just be setting up ourselves for a huge let down.
Yeah, well we should have low expectations either. I do not think this guys are at a disadvantage offensively. We have good role players who can put the ball into the bucket. What, we lose Yao then we don't have a chance. That makes absolutly no sense! I guess if the SUns lose Amare then they might as well be out. Maybe, if the Mavs lose Dirk then they will have no chance. I can see if you lose both stars then that is trouble, but we still have a really awesome team and alot to work with. These guys aren't scrubs! I think people buy to much into have a scorer or star at every position. I doesn't work that way folks.
Agreed. You won't find a bigger Rockets fan than myself, and I'm enjoying the HELL out of this streak, but.... Until we get out of the first round and make some noise, we dont deserve any extra media attention. I think we WILL make some noise in the playoffs....but that's what I thought last year too. And 2005.
i think everyone understands it would be a huge accomplishment just to make it out of the 1st round. Any thing further is gravy but when you compare us to other teams with similar records and teams with similar streaks its hard to not see them doing more.
