I think we've played our way out of 60 wins, but mid to high 50's still in play, and agreed, they were due for a slump like this. However...they've cratered defensively, and I'm not sure they get that back. The 3 point shooting should improve, but the defense likely won't.
]Jan 20 GSW --- L Jan 21 @Mem --- W Jan 23 @Bucks ---L Jan 25 @bos --- L Jan 27 @76ers --- W Jan 29 @Pacers --- L Jan 31 SAC Feb 2 ATL Feb 3 Bulls Feb 7 ORL Feb 9 @CHA Feb 11 PHX Feb 15 MIA I think if we can skate by with only one more loss before the asg we can still hit 60 wins. Realistically, I'm expecting 5-2 the rest of the way. Even then, the optimist in me believes 60 is possible. I think we can sweep 4 game home stand, and if we do I believe we will only lose 1
The slump is across the board. Even if a letdown was inevitable, the lineup has lacked certain players here and others there, so those who are left taking up the slack are that much more dead-legged. This morning when I went to pour milk into my oatmeal I saw Trevor Ariza's face looking at me from the carton.......and that's more than I've seen of him in two weeks of games. Naturally I don't blame Trevor. He's played well until recently and will come back around. Although if/when he does, it'll be in time for his name to appear in trade rumors. 5-2 would be nice to close this out before the ASG break. 4-3 would be tolerable, if we keep going like this. 3-4 and worse would be, "F**********................"
The schedule has been ridiculously congested, with constant travel over the last month. The defense and poor shooting could be a product of tired legs and general dog days malaise. Having said that, the February schedule is as charmin soft as you could ever get. 10 games, 8 at home (one road game being a quick trip to NO after the all star break), and plenty of rest days. If we don't go 8-2 over that stretch something is seriously wrong and they may be the mediocre team we all feared entering the season.
If they go worse than 5-2 in this stretch then we know we're in trouble. That's worst case scenario with the schedule we have to close out this stretch. And yeah, Ariza's regression is hurting, but Gordon's regression is the one that's killing us. We went from 2 star level players in December to 1 star level player in January. I'd also say that Capela has disappointed in his return to the lineup, but he's young and probably needs some time to get going again.
Well. Only 12 road games left. So there is that. Hopefully a little home cooking and sleeping in their own bed will freshen them up. Right now they are not a threat to anyone. Hopefully the reach down and give it everything they have over these next theee so they can reach that break between Chicago and Orlando. 3 days rest between. Starting with the Orlando game we will truly see where we are. Hopefully we come out and literally destroy Orlando because we have some much needed rest that requires no travel. If there is such thing as a schedule win, Orlando is it.
Has anyone's checked the schedule? We've played the most games in the NBA by far. We've played 51 games?!?! The only other team to play even 50 is the lakers. We've also played the most road games in the whole league. The rockets have played 2 or more games than every west team in the top 8 and 3 less than GS and 4 less than the Spurs. Clippers have also played 3 less and the jazz being the closest with 2 less. And then looking at the Cavs in the east, even played 10 more road games than them!!! Like wow who makes these schedules? Also we have played 3 more b2b games than the next closest which is the Spurs who have played 9 I think. Not an excuse because I hate excuses there for losers but our schedule to start the season and this month has been brutal. Not to mention the china trip which I admit was mutual from the NBA and the rockets but this team has been on the road for about 70% of its time since preseason. I understand the schedule will even out and it's prob a good thing we played so well for that 6-8 week stretch to get us to 31-9, That really gave us a big cushion. Imo rockets need to go 6-1 and really 7-0 to go into allstar break. Just in the since that they go into the break on a high not feeling good. Everyone gets almost a 2 week break (only 1 game in that span) come out after he break and crush the last 24 games. Maybe they can go 18-6 and get to the 60 win frame. My guess is if they can win the next 7 and go into the break at 42-16 the rockets will have a good shot at 60 wins but I do expect anything worse than 58 which would be good enough for the 3rd seed imo. All i are about is the 3rd seed, as long as we get that we have a realistic shot at getting to the wcf. 4 seed and at best we take GS to 6 games.
I don't agree the defense won't come back. I think they will be better than they were. I think we'll win 20 of our last 24 and in that stretch we will be a top 2 offense and a top 10 defense.
Even these 2 coming games will be tough. There's still only 1 day rest. I don't care how many we win, but I know we will secure 3rd, and maybe even 2nd if the Spurs stumble. There's no big difference between crushing 6th or 7th seed so I'm not that fussed about it.
You must really have faith in this team. Their defensive play has been terrible this entire month minus the Grizz game and the past what 4-5 games teams have shot over 50%
The offense should start to improve again now that our schedule begins to ease up. We really need our shooters to bounce back. Only 33% from deep in January.... I'll believe our defense can improve when I see it. Just not confident in our personnel for that area.
No I feel you, but I'm not as worried about Atlanta and Chicago b2b as I am Orlando. Thursday game with a game tomorrw on guess I think he may stay grounded, but after that Chicago game it's going to be party time. That weekend will be lit up as all hell. I suspect he will do a "mini bender" of partying Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Possibly even Monday. The game isn't until tuesday but I don't know how well he should recuperate by then. And by no means do I fault him. If I were him, that's exactly what I would be doing. Superbowl weekend, in my city, I'm having some good old partying.
I don't have special faith in them, I just looked at the schedule. And I know Ariza has been atrocious for the past 10 years when he doesn't rest. And Capela was out. Then Gordon was out. Then Anderson was out. And we had played a **** ton of road games and back to backs this month, and in addition to that it was an overwhelming number of games. We have played 4-5 more games than most teams, and more of our games have required flights. We've BARELY practiced this month, if at all. I really mean it when I say no NBA players this season will experience the exhaustion that this Rockets team is feeling right now. I doubt any of the 30 teams have a single stretch worse than our January. Then there's the silver lining, which is that the rest of the schedule is a joke so I am holding them accountable and expecting them to be better than they were in December barring injuries. I also happen to think we will acquire 1 or 2 average players to help our depth before the deadline. Things are looking up. Just these coming 2 games will decide the difference between breaking the franchise record or not. But most importantly, I think they will secure 3rd seed anyway.
This 6/7 home game stretch will be nice. Hopefully we can find our mojo during the early part of that span.
these couple of games we lost really gave us an idea what this team is made up of, when playoff comes and their shots are not falling, this team is going to fail, they don't have a switch that suddenly turning up the defense or finding other ways to win games when 3s are not falling
