The realist in me says there is no way a team under .500, especially one with the defensive issues that we have, can make noise in the playoffs. HOWEVAAAAA, there are a few things that make the fanatic in me cling onto hope: 1. Harden has rounded into form. He's tearing up defenses and has really cut down on the defensive lapses on the other end of the floor. He's dropping 30/8/8 over the past 15 or so games and is actively looking to set up his teammates for easy looks. 2. Dwight has been playing extremely well recently. He knows he has to do so in order to get that next contract. He's been dominant on the boards and is finishing as well as he ever has in a Houston uniform. Most importantly, he's cut down on the dumb fouls and techs. Despite not being the stout defender he once was, Dwight still causes teams to shoot less frequently at the hoop. If only our perimeter defense locked in and played with any semblance of consistency (like during the Portland game)... 3. This is the same roster as last year! With Thornton and Lawson, you had two moody guys who never figured out how to integrate into our offense. Now, you have the same dynamic as last year. It's Harden's ball and everyone else finds their spots around him. 4. DMO! He is a fantastic complement to both Harden and Dwight. That Harden-DMo pick and roll was a thing of beauty last year. He provides spacing, crisp passing, a second option when the offense stalls, and knows where to be on the defensive end (unlike TJones and this out-of-shape version of JSmoove). Very few teams in the league have two good post defenders. KEEP FEEDING whoever of him and Dwight that draws the weaker defender. Then RUN IT AGAIN! If his back injury doesn't flare up again (yes I know, a major contingency), he should be back into playing shape in the next few weeks, right in time for a stretch run to the playoffs. 5. The bottom half of the west is nothing special this year. Despite our ****iness, we're only 3.5 games out of the 6th seed. All it takes is us to string a few good games together and we're right in this thing. I don't care that it is more practical to tank and keep our lottery pick. I want to root for my team to win. We've had a potentially great duo get torn apart by injuries and accomplish literally nothing of significance for us. We watched years of asset accumulation and mediocrity. We watched a fan favorite give up a series-clinching three and then proceed to go to our biggest rivals, saw Bosh go back to MIA at the last second, and became the laughing stock of the league. And what did we do next - we fought and clawed through injuries to the WCF. #2 in the west. One of the greatest comebacks in NBA playoff history. We had something great to build on this year. It can't just crumble like this. I saw the way we fought last year. We weren't fools gold. I refuse to believe that we're just going to go out on a whimper like this. And until that clock hits 0, I'll keep watching and believing that this team has one last fight in 'em.
We have a shot to win it all with this team, but things have to start going our way at some point. A 22 game winning streak to end the season would be nice. Hell, make it a 38 game winning streak. Then everyone will forget "the unbelievable season" that the warriors had. **** yeah! Go Rockets! I'll always love you no matter what!!!! I never stopped and never will!
Anything can happen in the playoffs. It seems the Rockets are a playoff team, not a regular season team. If we somehow make it to the Western Conference Finals again, we will all be going effing crazy and will be clueless as to how ****ty the regular season was but will forget that in a heartbeat when we go deep in the playoffs. It's just a matter of time.
I agree with you - I too am still hopeful that they can turn things around. They are essentially the same group of guys as last year. Harden has been playing at an extremely high level for months now. Dwight has shown flashes, Ariza has shown flashes, Brewer is sucking less, Dmo will hopefully be able to stay healthy and will round into form in time for the playoffs. Bev has been ok. Smith needs to get back to being the player he was last year and Jones needs to stop sucking so bad. Hopefully, they can all get into a groove at the same time (for once) and while I'm still hopeful that this team can make some noise, we shouldn't forget that we have been saying ''all it takes is for us to string together a few good games'' since November. Not a whole lot of games left - they need to get it going NOW!!
Only hope is Harden recommitting and Morey finally getting the right players for this system and a coach who can stand on his own, but my feeling is we will hire a ****ty coach and chase superstars while great / good players get signed left and right. We will be left standing with our dicks in our hands, asking for anyone to just join us because we're a fun destination.
the only way we win this is by bringing back Jordan and Bugs Bunny, only they can save this looney tunes team <iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GIQn8pab8Vc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Great post. Im right with your line of thinking but I will admit I keep going back and forth on the lottery pick verse making the playoffs. I only want us to tank for about eight hours after a loss and then I get over it and have faith again. Lets see what happens now that we have the same roster as last year.
hahahaha, the savior is coming! <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Morning shootaround finishing up. <a href="https://t.co/CSGTN4yVka">pic.twitter.com/CSGTN4yVka</a></p>— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) <a href="https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets/status/705078720776634369">March 2, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I would rather the playoffs over another lottery ball that's in the very bottom of the lottery draft.
We are not making the playoffs. That last game is proof. Milwaukee is not a good team, has not been playing well, is not fighting for anything. There is no excuse for us to drop that game (especially with a chance to pull away from Utah knowing they are playing in Boston.) Before you tell yourself any excuse like Jabari was playing really well, or Giannis getting a triple double is a rarity, the fact is it happens against our team. Why? Because we have no discipline and are not tough enough to beat out Utah down the stretch. I'll take some bets.
