I just checked the standings again. Rockets are comfortably 3rd in the West. Which standings are you looking at? Link please
Rockets are deservingly 3rd in the West. They are also not the same team as the one they were in December. Not even close. So I guess we'll see where they finish up.
You guys are fooling yourselves. The quality of play has dropped off one, maybe two full notches. They are no better than Utah or a healthy Clippers team. Let's sit and watch the rest of the seasn but this team is ill.
call me crazy but i'm cautiously optimistic that after the ASB we will back close to our december form. now can we do it for 4 games in the playoffs? whole different question...one which I am leaning in different direction.
No they aren't. Not that I'm expecting Rockets to be in the finals either. We are on a healthy Clippers level, then nobody else really challenges below those two, then its SA and then GS way ahead. In the east nobody looks like they could beat the Cavs in a 7 game series. If a few players get injured maybe the Raptors have what it takes...
No alternative facts here... Rockets are 3rd in the West. 1. Golden State: 46-9 2. San Antonio: 43-13 3. Houston: 40-18 4. LA Clippers: 34-21 5. Utah: 35-22 6.Memphis: 34-24 7. Oklahoma City: 31-25 8. Denver: 25-31 In the future, they may not be but currently they are. Since the start of the new year(January 1): Warriors: 18-4 Wizards: 17-5 Celtics: 17-5 Spurs: 16-7 Hawks: 15-8 Heat: 15-8 Clippers: 13-7 Rockets: 14-9 Cavs: 14-9 Jazz: 14-9 Pacers: 13-9 Grizzlies: 12-10 Pistons: 12-10 Mavs: 12-10 Sixers: 13-11 Bulls: 11-11 Nuggets: 11-12 Thunder: 11-12 TWolves: 11-13 Raptors: 11-14 Kings: 10-14 Blazers: 9-12 Pelicans: 9-13 Bucks: 9-14 Suns: 8-15 Lakers: 7-15 Knicks: 7-17 Magic: 6-18 Hornets: 5-17 Nets: 1-23
The writing was on the wall as the season is in midstream now. We are going NOWHERE with Anderson at the 4 and Dekker as his back-up. Fan don't want to hear it though. You need defense and consistent scoring at that 4 spot. And the back-up gotta give us more than what it is, currently. Its not gonna work. What the Rockets need to do is call Leslie Alexander and have a meeting to discuss Morey' heavy-hand involvment with the rotation, and the type of talents he's beinging in. There should have been RED FLAGS all over the place when the Rockets learned Morey was going after Ryan Anderson. It would have been okay to add him for depth off the bench but to make this guy our starting 4 and giving him 80 mil/4 years, and gauranteed those 4 years.....that should have been a RED FLAG, man! Anderson is NOT that kind of talent! And I can't, for the life of me, understand why nobody in the organization tried to stop Morey form his madman experience to slurp on these sturdy-types from the norm. There are so many holes on defense that even a Defensive Guru like Jeff Bzdelik wouldn't be able to fix. You can't make a career non-defender like Anderson who is popularly known as a blackhole on defense, into a great defender. His pick-and-roll defense is awful. He doesn't come out enough to stop the penetration dead in its track because he has no lateral quickness to recover back to his man in time to disrupt an entry-pass to the cutting-man. He just flung his arm out but stay with his man after a pick was set, and the guy with the ball have the whole inside court space to drive it in for a lay-up. And Anderson just stand there, star-gazing. ibaka would have went for a block, by contrast. Anderson is a weak 4-spot. And he will be exposed in the Playoffs, BIG TIME. And Morey telling the media how he don't want to mess up a good thing we got here. Like, wow dude....you such a dork if you think this squad is legit for a championship-run. Pfft. We gotta move Anderson fron the 4 and upgrade! We gotta replace Dekker at the back-up SF with an experience player like W. Chandler or someone with athelicism like K.J. You need guys like that to compete with the boys in the West, in the Playoffs. Morey should really be working a trade for those upgrades than thinking this squad is legit as is. Please!
Good thing the Rockets can still make the 2nd round by being the 5th best team in the West, provided that they stay in 3rd.
OP are you dumb? Rox are clearly 3rd best team in the West. What so mean regardless of spin? Ur the one doing the spinning here gtfo. This is what I'm talking about, Rockets were NEVER contenders yet you guys deluded yourselves into thinking we were one and are now being chicken little dipshits. How is a team with just Harden supposed to be a contender in the first place when up against GSW, SAS, CLE? Nobody said they would be contenders in fact prior to this season you lot were saying Rox would suck! Now suddenly we have a thread saying Rox are not even top 5 despite having the 3rd best record in the league.
Brewer sucks- dont need to expand Ariza sucks- old, 2nd most inconsistent player on our team and RYAN ANDERSON SUCKS- one dimensional, super horrible contract, and inconsistent I have been saying this consistently since almost the 2nd month into the season..... We need to make a change... all this BS fluff from Harden and MDA about loving this team and having enough to win... give me a break. We will lose easily to the Spurs and GS warriors... and might even be first round outs depending on who we play. I do not care if we are playing on house money and have overachieved. It makes no sense to waste a MVP year from Harden. Like, Toronto we need to be all in now. Its about time.... But I guess the latest I will put that at is this summer. Also, REDNATION, STOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP overvaluing Capela and Dekker.... they are not great.... nor will ever be great.... they are easily moveable pieces just like our subpar draft picks.... Stop with the delusion. Are we even watching the same games?
The Rockets are capable of beating any playoff team in the West other than Golden State.... by the same token, the Rockets are capable of losing to any playoff team in the West. It is going to come down to which teams are clicking come playoff time, health, adjustments and what moves are made at the break. Let's wait and see what how it all pans out. There is like a 90% chance that the Warriors or Cavs win the title anyway.