The Rockets have the 4th best record in the NBA, and they aren't even clicking yet..

With fans like some of the posters on here, who needs enemies?

 

If Dwight comes back, the defense will improve. I am just trying to figure out how yet another GARM thread became an offshoot of the Fire McHale Thread.

 

They, like Houston, have also regressed pretty big on defense, but they don't have a Dwight Howard that could be coming back as reinforcements.

But that really wasn't my point. I'm just trying to show that all this "we only jack 3s and we will never win doing it" is just nonsense. Golden state takes a lot of 3s, sure they are a better shooting team, but they also supplement all those 3s with the same thing we supplement our offense with. Points in the paint and fast break points. It is a sound strategy.

The top 6 teams who rely on 3s for scoring the most are 6 of the best teams in the league. Rockets, Hawks, Blazers, Warriors, Clippers and Mavs.

 

4th best record is not indicative of how ready this team is to compete come playoff time.
neither how good this team is now.

Most people hang onto what Morey says (selectively I may add). Morey said something along the lines of point differential being a good indication of a contending team.

Something like "great teams avoid close games" and point differential could probably be a good stat to measure a contender.

We are +3.6 in point differential good for 9th in the league. What this tells me along with my eye test is that we are getting by a lot of close games purely because of James Harden's brilliance.

Will this continue in the playoffs? I sure hope so but the team seriously needs to find a way to get easy buckets when Harden is not doing everything.

 

Its great they aren't clicking on all cylinders yet. I would rather they start hitting their stride in Mid-April than now. All the rest of the regular season is about is continuing to cement the roles of Brewer and Smith, getting TJ to consistently produce, figure out the rotation with the new guys, getting Dwight back healthy, helping DMo/Ariza regain some confidence, and not running Harden into the ground.

The playoff teams are set in the west, it's just a matter of seeding and this year more than any, seeding matters less that how you are performing come playoff time. Every playoff team in the west would suprise no one by winning the conference (you can only say that for Chicago, Cleveland, and Atlanta in the East).

I'd love to go on a run and win the division and be the 2 seed but in reality, every series is going to be an uphill battle regardless of homecourt.

 

I'll update the Riley Ranking thread at the end of the month, and perhaps do it 'properly'

 

Absolutely correct. They just have not had any long periods of line-up stability...and the sooner D12 gets back the better.

Once this team hits its stride, if it ever is able to before this years playoffs, they can beat anyone in the NBA. There's no limit...but reaching that peak and sustaining it through 16 wins in the playoffs is easier said than done. The potential is there...realizing it, is another matter. I'm looking for that sense of urgency that must kick in very soon in order to hit that peak.

 

That's why I don't overreact with losses, like half the people on CF. We lose a game, or a player has a bad game and everyone overreacts, asking for trades, and lineup changes, yet we are still one of the best teams in the league.

 

Well, McHale is still learning the playbook and Morey is still trying to find a superstar but the good news is we have a long home stand coming up so Harden should be able to teach them a lot about those things and bring them up to speed.

 

What do you want me to say? I get that his is a make me feel better homer thread. But the truth is this is not a 4th seed team.

 

Did you read the game thread last night...during a win over the Twolves. My goodness, thrashing Harden, Smith, really any Rocket that was on the floor.

I never realized how poor our fans were until I started reading the game threads. Its depressing...and I question your "half the people" assessment as it seems to be more than that. Really depressing.

 

You hear this argument a lot. It sounds good, until you look at the stats and see that Aldridge shoots 35.2% from 10-15 feet, and Gasol shoots 43.3%.

 

So true.

We are a 3rd seed team.

 

We may be 4th in terms of actual standings, but we are clearly 30th in the hearts and minds of Rockets fans.

Beverley needs to go.
Ariza sucks.
McFail gonna Fail.
Morey should be fired.
Les is a terrible owner.
We should just give up.

Rockets fans will await the day we are 56-0 through 56 games with 56 blowouts to make sure we're on the right track.

 

Just give me home court in the first round, and then we'll see what lies ahead.

 

That's because Harden

And we could be better

 

look at the upcoming schedule lol.

 

Rockets won't be able to know what kind of team they have until when and if D12 comes back healthy. With only 26 games left, my guess is that the f/o will bring him back 7 to 10 games left to get in game condition.

If D12 comes back reasonably healthy, we gave as good as a chance to come out of the West this year. You have MVP, a star center in D12, and a very deep bench. A talented team like that can catch fire at any time and win it all.