Great season so far... plenty of great games and big wins. Rockets' future looks bright with stud Beard, Dwight, and some very nice role players. The question at hand is the biggest win this season and these games are in the discussion IMO. POR- At home to clinch the season series, nationally televised if memory serves. Exciting game. Rockets came back and Harden hit a huge, clutch 3 send it into OT. Team showed heart and helped solidify Harden as being clutch. Great game. Spurs- Any game. Always great to beat them. The 2nd win stands out because it was Christmas. The 3rd we clinched to season series for the first time in a long time. We didn't have Harden and Spurs were missing more key players. Maybe the first game stands out because it set the standard. If you choose this option, feel free to state which game in particular if you like. IND- Complete beatdown after the first few minutes... on national TV. Rockets got retribution after the embarrassment at Fieldhouse earlier this season. MIA- Always nice to beat the champs. I discredit a little due to barely winning on the Heat's backend. Spurs whopped them days later both teams fully rested. Still could easily be argued as best win given the Champ angle. DAL- Last game in particular, but always good to beat them. Final game Mavs were backend, but they were home and Harden didn't play. We also clinched a tie in the series season for the first time in a while. OKC- Rockets avoid the sweep and finally beat that ass!!! OKC was backend, but they had the injury advantage. Beverley-Dwight > Westbrook-Perkins
In terms of the biggest win that also meant the most, I'd go with Portland at home in OT. It handed the Rockets the tiebreaker, gave them some breathing room in the standings that is now coming in really handy, and it was also an amazing and emotional comeback victory in what looked like a certain loss for most of the evening. Honorable mention: OKC at home - The Rockets were shorthanded, desperate for a win(and to avoid their first 4-game losing streak of the year), and home court advantage was slipping away. To win against a team they hadn't beaten all year had to be a big confidence and morale booster. Christmas Day in San Antonio - The Rockets weren't playing particularly well at the time, so this was a major shot in the arm for them. Plus it was their 2nd win in San Antonio this season and gave them confidence that they could compete with(and even dominate) the best in the west. Indiana at home - Probably the most fun win of the season. I haven't seen the Rockets explode offensively like that against a (supposedly)good team in a long time. Maybe not since that 140-126 win in Game 2 at Utah back in 1995. At Dallas - The Rockets were without Harden on the 2nd night of a B2B in an arena that has been more than a little unkind to them over the years. They nearly blew a 12-point lead in the last 2 minutes, but they held on and finally won in Dallas. Miami at home - This was a huge win that actually impacted the Heat more than us. It broke their 8-game winning streak and they've never really recovered since then.
The game against Portland was probably the most important and probably had the craziest finish. But the Indiana game was so much fun.
I'd say the Portland game. It was one of the first times that you saw them really dig in and fight from behind against a really good team. It was basically the line in the sand saying that they weren't just going to give up when the going got tough.
Yeah, I know. I'm going back a long way.:grin: But I remember watching that game and it was the most ridiculous offensive display I'd ever seen by a Rockets team, especially considering it was in an era of much lower scoring. Remember, they lost Game 1 on a last second drive by Stockton and they desperately needed a win or else they were done(this was back when the first round was only 5 games). And literally everyone on the Rockets stepped up that night. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pz81sdfv0dQ
I liked the Indiana game, things were really starting to click, we were healthy, at home, and put our neck on their throats. Harden took things to the next level that night and kept the pedal to the metal. The fans showed up. We kicked the best team (at that time) in the league out of our gym.
I liked that Spurs game on Christmas day. We came out, executed our game plan and withstood punch after punch from the West's best on national TV. It was the best game of the lineup that day. I liked the Portland game but felt we underachieved too much of the game to say that was our BEST win of the year.
I'd say Spurs I guess. Beat them at full strength on Christmas. The other wins I can't really take much from. Indiana and Miami were skidding/starting to skid, OKC didn't have Perkins to deal with Dwight, and Portland & Dallas aren't legit.
They didn't need Perkins to deal with Dwight he wasn't in the game. I thought the OKC game was impressive despite the injuries to starters on both teams. It was the blueprint of the defensive intensity we have to play to beat OKC and every other team in the playoffs. If We can play that same brand of defense with PBev and Dwight back, then we are gonna be extremely hard to beat. Injuries or not there is bad blood between OKC and HOU and every time they play they want to take each other hearts out for a multitude of reasons. It's definitely turning into a heated rivalry. Always a big win when the Rockets beat the Thunder.
I've liked the wins against the Spurs. All of them. What better Christmas present can you get than beating the Spurs? I worry our last meeting will be a revenge meeting on their part, but Pop probably wants to rest starters, so who knows.
Portland. Exciting crazy game. I was yelling pretty hard and I haven't done that in awhile for the Rockets (out of pure excitement and not of anger lol)
