who else ..... yourrrrr... HOUSTON ROCKETS! http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/5-on-5-130325/nba-surprises-disappointments Which team has been the most pleasant surprise of the season? FOLLOW THE NBA ON ESPN Stay up to date with the latest NBA news, stories and analysis. Follow the NBA on ESPN on Twitter, Facebook and Google+: Twitter » Facebook » Google+ » J.A. Adande, ESPN.com: Houston Rockets. Not only did they add three new starters (not just new to the team, new to the role as full-time starters), they were without without head coach Kevin McHale for a month while he cared for his gravely ill daughter. Yet it all clicked. James Harden stepped into the role of a max contract guy, the team embraced a score-at-all-costs mentality and it has been a winning season. Matt Cianfrone, Roundball Mining Co.: Houston Rockets. Even after adding Harden right before the season started, the Rockets looked like a lottery team. Instead they are all but settled into the playoffs in a tough Western Conference, and are one of the most entertaining teams to watch in the league thanks to Harden playing at an incredibly high level. Jeremy Gordon, Brooklyn's Finest: Houston Rockets, who play like a statistician's fantasy: plenty of transition offense, free throws, corner 3s and undervalued assets they've managed to wring the most from. They're plain likable, too, with Harden and Jeremy Lin the league's most affable bros-in-arms. The best seems likely to come.
A few things I really like about the article posted by OP: -The main picture Spoiler -The Lakers getting the clean sweep for question #2 (Which team has been the biggest disappointment of the season?). -James Harden getting a vote for "Which player has been the most pleasant surprise of the season?" -and then there was this trade proposal in the comments: -and lastly, there was this as the top comment:
I really think rockets fans underestimate McHale as a coach.. Do you know how hard it is to take a group of guys who still have traces of boobie juice on their face and make them a legit playoff team in one season? And in the ****ing West? He has his weaknesses, but he knows how to get the maximum out of what he has, be it choosing the right system for this particular group, or helping young guys get more confident on court, whatever he's doing , he's doing a hell of a good job.
And we're doing all of this with a ton of available cap space. Seriously, who does that? Nobody does that.
I like that crew as well. Jackie Mac and Bob are somewhat interchangable in my mind. The Jay Mariotti fallout was perhaps my favorite moment involving a columnist/reporter as a sports fan... God I hated that guy.
showing my age: when tom penders got the ut job, mariotti's dumbass was on sporting news radio. he said that texas fired penders cause he was east coast and didn't fit the culture. i was there during penders year, i know how undisciplined those guys were first hand. my best friend's cousin is chris clack. i have been drinking with clack i have been at family events with chris clack, tom penders was a terrible coach.
Can/could you imagine a team like the Rox playing a team from like the 50's. Ive always wondered that.
Sometimes I think about when the Rockets might one day be noticed by the ESPN media, but then I realized that they'd probably end up being just the "evil villain" to the Lakers/Clippers contender hopes. Actually wiling to live with that.
Considering a team from the 50's would crap themselves at the thought of black players in the NBA, I'd say I like our chances.
That's almost as bad as watching the Sports Sunday show on SA tv last night. Until the final shot was shown, you'd thought the Spurs won. On the 6 o'clock news tonight, one station showed a clip of Manu complaining about Harden getting to the line 17 times. Now to be fair, he didn't say "flop" at all.:grin:
Hi all, I'll use this as my first post. Been a Rockets fans since 1991 and been lurking here for years. Even met some of you when some folks here got a Rockets skybox at the TC a few years back(went with an RL friend who is also a CF member) Anyways, I was stuck at a dealership this morning getting my tires changed and I watched Sportscenter on ESPN for 1hr and not a single mention of the Rockets game last night. I saw stories about NASCAR, Tiger Woods, March Madness, and the Miami Heat win streak, but no recap or highlight of Harden's buzzer beater. In fact it did not even show up on their Weekend's Best segment. Now to be fair, besides talking about the Heat win streak, I did not see a general NBA update during this time, but that Harden shot should have at least been a highlight.
