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[nbaradio]Ralph Sampson on the Houston Rockets' 56-win season in 2014-15: "They were lucky".

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by tinman, Apr 30, 2016.

  1. tinman

    tinman Contributing Member
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    <iframe width="100%" height="450" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/261573553&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false&amp;visual=true"></iframe>

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  2. OlajuwonFan81

    OlajuwonFan81 Member

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    Probably a little truth to that after this season's debacle.
     
  3. shastarocket

    shastarocket Contributing Member

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    Ironic how Sampson considers the 14-15 injury filled season "lucky"
     
  4. ThaShark316_28

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    It's pro sports.

    Of course they got LUCKY.
     
  5. bmd

    bmd Member

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    They weren't lucky at all to win 56 games last season.

    They wanted it bad and you could see it in their play. They were playing HARD all season.


    It's actually one of the reasons I think they sucked this season. They played so fricking hard last season that they burned themselves out and decided to rest on their laurels this season.
     
  6. saleem

    saleem Contributing Member

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    Yes, I think the Rockets actually overachieved to some extent in the last season, and then ran out of gas after sustaining injuries. That is not an excuse for the extremely poor performances in this season. They should been able to do a better job.
     
  7. shastarocket

    shastarocket Contributing Member

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    I'd argue that they got cocky and lazy as opposed to burning themselves out

    More often than not, they played like they deserved a return trip to the WCF as opposed to feeling like they needed to earn it.

    The FO and coaching staff were all enablers in this regard

    the culture is poisoned
     
  8. bmd

    bmd Member

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    I think it was both. After last season, they shut up their critics and they were very pleased with their own performance. Then they got Ty Lawson and they were expected to be among the elite in the NBA.

    I said before the season that they sound like they aren't taking it seriously enough ad their heads have gotten big and I was worried about the season. So I 100% agree with cockiness being part of it.

    But I think that satisfaction with last season led to the laziness and cockiness. They really busted their ass last season to achieve that, and they forgot that's what got them there.


    Hopefully the poor showing this year puts that chip back on their shoulder.
     
  9. tinman

    tinman Contributing Member
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    or harden took over the team, had mchale fired

    and teams figured out the rockets crappy offense scheme

    and dwight decided to check out cause he hates playing with harden

    and the other players weren't treated well

    remember dmo shouldn't even be playing in the playoffs, he should have been on the pistons
     
  10. ClutchCity3

    ClutchCity3 Member

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    I blame tinman, lives in the past and cursed our Rockets.
     
  11. JayGoogle

    JayGoogle Member

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    Honestly I think Dwight is and has been a huge part of the problem. Dwight didn't play much that year and the team got some good chemistry going, by the time he came back all he could was basically slide in and not mess a good thing up. Even he realized that.

    The Rockets went something like 6-1 without Dwight this year? Are we sure this was a coincidence? People will say small sample size and bad teams but when you are losing to the Nuggets, Nets, and Mavs bench WITH Dwight then I think that excuse goes out of the window.

    I guess we'll see this next season.
     
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  12. Patience

    Patience Contributing Member

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    Rockets got lucky Dwight missed half the season last year.
     
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  13. shastarocket

    shastarocket Contributing Member

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    I'm not going to argue with harden having a role in mchale's firing

    However, I will blame a ton on the overall defense regressing massively rather than fixating on the offense's supposed issues.

    As bad as Harden was last year, the team was a top defense as a whole.

    Perhaps Harden was worse defensively, I don't know. But what is known for sure is that the team could no overcome it.

    One of the most telling stats in between seasons is opponent catch-shoot 3pt%
     
  14. apollo33

    apollo33 Member

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    We beat bad teams by very small margins last year and had a losing record vs most contenders

    Our close wins against bad teams were almost always made possible by Harden doing historical stuff down the stretch. We weren't lucky, but we weren't that good either. There was no way Harden could reproduce those performances again this season, it's just unreasonable how clutch he was last season.

    Look at all the terrible teams we lost to this season, that was the difference between 56 wins and 41 wins.
     
  15. rocketsregle

    rocketsregle Contributing Member

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    Ha! Last season Dwight accepted a lesser role due to how much time he missed and not wanting to mess up the chemistry when he returned to the lineup. This season because he was injury free, he wasn't willing to sacrifice his ego and play any role other than superstar with post moves.
     
  16. Caesar

    Caesar Member

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    I said it all along they were lucky at the end of the season by getting that #2 seed with a rule that doesn't exist anymore in order to face a weak Mavs team and they were lucky in what was more of a choke job by the Clippers who would have never needed to be forced to game 6 and 7 if CP3 had played both the first 2 games. It was a fluke season and this season proved it.
     
  17. Newlin

    Newlin Member

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    I agree 100%. In order to win you really do have to play hard. I think Harden and company got tired of McHale saying play Harder. But, that's what it takes to win.
     
  18. tinman

    tinman Contributing Member
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    There's a leadership issue.
    That goes all the way up.
    Total leadership failure on all levels

    Toad smith tweeting crap about Barkley etc

    It's embarassing. Who's next moses malone on Sirius talking about the rockets?
     
  19. No Worries

    No Worries Contributing Member

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    No one has mistaken Ralph Sampson as a deep thinker.
     
  20. YaoMing#1

    YaoMing#1 Member

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    It's hard to call the 56 win team lucky when the season before won 54 games with the same two core pieces and the year before that won 45 games with a 23 years old James harden first year starting no dwight and all young players.

    Now if you want to call the WCF birth lucky, sure I can buy that because almost any time you go deep there's a little luck, some more than others but still luck involved.
     

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