Older Rockets fans how memorable has this season been?

I'm 18, and been watching since 2014. Gotta say, when we lost Parsons thought it might be all over. Now this season has been amazing.

#RFFL.

 

I'm 47 and I watched Moses play in a Rockets uniform. What I can tell you is that I took the great Rocket teams for granted. It just seemed that having a historic player like Hakeem was the norm, since that is what I grew up with. The 20 years since our last championship have taught me better. I'm very aware of what a rare player we have in Harden now. And I'm making a conscious effort to just enjoy watching him play. That said, it will be extremely disappointing if we don't make it out of the first round this year.

 

I'm 24 but have been watching religiously since 97 do I count?

 

Been a fan since they moved here from San Diego. Their road record this year and winning percentage in close games gives me hope.

 

This team reminds me more of the Moses Malone lead team than any other... Moses basically carried the team on his back, the same as James has done this year.

Also the playoffs were a mystery for the rockets back then and know knew what to expect.. Just like now...

T_Man

 

so at least for me - Excluding the 90s with hakeem and later on with Barkley here are at least to me my memorable seasons since 2000.

(the Hakeem years obviously were the most memorable because of the championships and always being in that contender talk)

08-09 - Injuries killed that team (yao, Deke, tmac) but took the eventual champs to 7 games - super deep team and guys who played with a lot of toughness and heart. I do believe if we had a full squad we could have won the championship that year. Landrry, Scola and Brooks came into their own and Morey's deal for Lowry. This team was deep from top to bottom with legitimate players at each position if healthy i mean:


Lowry/Brooks/Barry
TMac/Wafer
Artest/Battier
Scola/Landry/Cook
Yao/Deke/Hayes

So unfortunate

04-05 -- Tmac first year and Yao starting to come into his own. McGrady was beyond talented and getting a glimpse of what could have been the future was just amazing. Of course we know what happened next. The WBPS was also a favorite. Its a shame Sura just at that one good year with the team. What crippled that team was its depth- it amazing to think how Morey was able to transform this team to the depth 08-09 had in basically 2 seasons. What made the season memorable was how the Rockets were again being talked about as contenders and coming off of a great season for Tmac and Yao. The future was stellar. so many memorable regular season games too - 13 in 33, the dirk/tmac shootout, tmac vs lebron. yao behind the back dribble on breakaway dunk.

07-08 - 22 win streak - its a shame that Yao's career is going to be a huge 'what if' and injuries but this win streak was one of the greatest things I have witnessed from an NBA team. People forget the first 10 or so games the Rockets won by double digits which was also some sort of NBA record. Having to win the last 10 without Yao just out of blue spoke to this team's heart. It was a lot of fun to watch and you couldn't help but root for them. Similar to this season's team that was bang up all the time and relied on one star (tmac/harden) to carry the offensive load and focused on defense.


02-03 - Yao's rookie year -- just seeing him learn the whole nba culture and lifestyle with Francis and Cat. Having colin be his translator- all that was just a lot of fun. the first matchup against shaq.



This year I would say probably is more in line with the 04-05 season for me. Harden having a bunch of crazy memorable moments and we're starting to see what the future could hold for this team. The question mark will be Dwight - Yao's injuries were chronic and a result of his massive body frame. If Dwight's is not such then we still have a good size window to be contenders for the next several years. The injuries sucked big time but I believe it has instilled a toughness and edge in this team that we haven't seen in 08-09. Thats one thing I felt last year we didnt have and its one thing that I severely underrated as a big quality/characteristic a team should have. Adversity ramps up to a whole other level in the playoffs - and with how this season has gone there really isnt anything this team isnt ready for.

In the end where it falls in the course of all of this sadly will depend on how they perform in the playoffs. They should make it to the second round I feel, though it certainly will not be easy. If they defy odds and make it past the second round then it will be the most memorable season since 97

 

I've been following since 94.

things that stick out about this season for me are:

1) harden is the best rocket i've seen play since hakeem. tmac might have been more talented but tried less (settled for too many jumpers instead of attacking off the dribble). yao might have been more dominating but was taken out of the game when the defense would front the post. francis was VERY similar to james, but james is a super smart player and steve was a bonehead. it is an absolute pleasure watching james every night. a player like him comes along once every 10-20 years if youre lucky. some teams have waited longer in between MVP caliber players.

2) this is the most injured i've ever seen the team. that includes the yao/mac era.

3) this is the most a team has ever exceeded expectations since i've been a fan. after this summer i was prepared for the 7th, 8th seed, maybe missing playoffs.

4) DD said it best earlier in this thread. most years you have an idea of who you can and can't beat in the playoffs. i honestly think we can beat everyone but the warriors in the playoffs, and i think we can lose to anyone we play in the first round too.

5) i can't remember the last time they won the division title. there were a couple of years when they were 1 win away but always blew it down the stretch. it always seemed like they just didn't have the composer to actually win. this team i think has the best chance since the championship teams of division and post season success.

 

It's going to end up GREAT!

 

I've been watching this team since the early 70's ....

This season doesn't particularly remind me of any of the previous finals appearances , the team doesn't seem special like the those in 80 , 86 or 94. Something is missing ....

Harden has been special .... but I just don't feel like the team is anything but ordinary. Too many injuries & too many flaws , most notably a group of bigs that cant buy a FT , an offense that is just prone to mistakes - in bunches & a defense that comes and goes.

The win total has been nice , despite the injuries but I'm just not confident in the outcome even if they are up 15 against good teams.

 

Apart from us being swept by GS, I have LOVED this season. The reasons? We tied the season series with the Clips, we won the season series with the Mavs, we have 50+ wins while dealing with a crapload of injuries, Harden has improved defensively, offensively, AND as a leader, we took a bleh looking bench and turned it into Smith, Brewer, Terry etc, and this year we can play some D!

I mean seriously, our squad makes me happy...

Howard
TJones
Ariza
Harden
(Bev) Prig

and...

Dmo
Smith
Brewer
Terry
(insert whoever to PG)

Come playoff time... its really going to suck that we lost Bev. I think he's been enough now that jitters would be gone and he'd stop his crappy shooting streak, but realyl for his energy and defensive tenacity...it just bums me out. That being said, Prig protects the ball, sees the court better, is more patient and experienced... and can hit the open 3. He's not what we wanted to start, but he's not bad.

The backup PG situation blows, but what can we do? Anyways, Harden seems to do 70% of the ball-handling anyways.

I don't know what will happen in the playoffs, but I have an optimistic feeling. Its not 93-thru-95 optimistic, but it feels good. Sadly, I think next year is the special year. We can keep the core and stay healthy, and THAT will be the big step. This year we need to get passed the first round, and then we'll can grow.

 

brother you need to post more!

 

Have been a fan since '68. My dad exposed me to UH basketball as a youngster, and when SD drafted the Big E I became a Rockets fan. When they moved to Houston it was awesome! Even after they traded E for freakin Jack Marin in '72 I was hooked on the Rockets, and have been ever since.

All I can say is it's been very frustrating with all of the injuries this year, but it's also been awesome to watch them fight through it. It's pretty incredible they're fighting for the #2 seed after all of this.

Have a ton of memories over the yrs, but the biggest ones are made in the playoffs. Let's take care of business and lock down the #2 seed, and be ready to Rock 'N Roll in the playoffs!!!

 

I hope that fans are willing to give this team time to come together. It's the one element that this team needs most. Little tweaks can happen, but it takes time for teams to really learn each others games and how to play together in a maximum way.

I just fans won't be blinded by fools gold and be willing to ditch valuable members of this team for a "quick fix" style player like Carmello Anthony was during this off season.

Better to let this team gel and grow together.

 

Been following the Rox since the Twin Tower days of Sampson and Olajuwon. This has been a nice season and I'm proud of how the team has persevered and are an upper echelon type team despite all of the injuries. Harden is definitely the best player this franchise has had since Olajuwon. However, this team is still a big question mark to me because of the pg position, the coach, and a system that relies so heavily on 3s with no pure shooters on the roster. Also this is probably the worse free throw shooting team in the franchise's history. For these reasons, this team still doesn't compare to the glory years of this franchise. I'm just in a wait and see mode with this team at this point.

 

This is my thought as well .... They are just too inconsistent on both ends of the floor this season.

This kinda reminds me of watching the teams when Seattle gave them fits in the playoffs .... Hakeem going nuts and the rest of the team not doing much.

 

I'm 43 and like gifford1967 I've watched the Rockets going all the way back to Moses Malone. Regarding how memorable this season is compared to others will be impossible to determine until the end of the season. Almost all of the big moments that I've retained in my feeble brain over the years occurred during the playoffs or championships. Sampson's miracle shot to beat the Lakers, the heart break of losing to Larry Bird and the Celtics in the finals, the Rockets taking out the Clippers and going to seven games against Seattle in 92-93 to show their promise for the next year, Olajuwan winning the MVP in 93-94 and having the whole team accept the award, the birth of Clutch City coming from behind against Phoenix the first Championship Season, Sam Cassell's clutch 3 against the Knicks in the 93-94 finals, Olajuwan blocking John Stark's shot at the end of game six 93-94 finals, winning game seven against the Knicks and seeing Olajuwan sitting on the scorers table as chaos goes on around him, Mario Ellie's kiss of death against Phoenix in the 94-95 playoffs, Nick Anderson's missed free throws in game one of the 94-95 finals, Hakeem and Clyde embracing each other following the win in game four 94-95 championship.

With all that said, it has been a blast watching James Harden this year. Just like gifford1967 I don't take it for granted. When you have a player like Harden there is always the potential for something special to happen. I hope that this year will prove to be just as memorable as those Championship seasons 20 years ago. In just a few short weeks we will all find out.

 

Thought this was interesting.

Only 30 posts in 16 years for GimmeDaRock.
Over 40,000 posts for Tinman in same amount of time.

 

On Excitement Level:

1986 was the most exciting for me but I was young.
Then 1995, 1994, 1993.
Then it would be The Yao-Mac years when they were both healthy - the series against Dallas and the other one Against Utah. They seemed to have a shot.
Then this one - it's been a great year but I just don't think this team has as much chance to win it all so the excitement is a bit less.

 

I feel like I had more confidence heading into the 2009 postseason. McGrady had quit on the team and elected for microfracture surgery, but Yao was beasting, and the supporting cast of Battier, Artest, Brooks, Hayes, Scola, Lowry, Landry, Mutumbo coached by Adelman seemed poised for greatness. The majority of them had been together through the 22 win steak including the last part when Yao was hurt, they had an identity of team work and toughness.