The Houston Rockets will lose in the First Round of the Playoffs.

We need a center who can make free throws. McGee shoots around 60%.

 

Thank you! Not sure it will be heard. I tried saying the same thing (less assuredly) earlier.

 

with Mchale as head coach, Harden winning he MVP and the pelicans missing the playoffs is all you realistically ask for this year. I have no faith in mchale as head coach( he makes no adjustments)

 

Sadly OP is probably right, but most of the informed posters on here have been saying this for a while. Granted that Bev and Now Dmo being out really hurts us, but our style of play isn't really conducive to post season success. We play stagnant, disorganized, sloppy ball that gets magnified when the game slows down and ever possession counts.

We are MUCH better improved defensively than last year, both in terms of discipline and rotations, and I think that started with Harden.

 

Yeah. Similar to what lospollos stated.
The OP is right, but this was honestly the case the whole time. Anyone who thought we had a chance at a title or finals is clueless to the rest of the league.

At best, if we were fully healthy, we have a chance at advancing to the second round with the ideal matchup, which I guess was the Mavs.

Sucks, we really blew our chance last year against the Blazers. What a waste of a season. Waste of two seasons.

 

Even with all the excitement this team and Harden especially brought us this year, it's all for nothing cuz we all know how the story will go for James; he can't lead a team past the first round.

 

I agree with all those problems, but we've known about them for years. McHale will always get out coached by Popovich. And to his credit, Popovich figured out to let Kawhi play off Harden so when we pick and roll he gets matched up when it counts. No point in complaining "how" we lost when anyone who has watched the Rockets under McHale understands his downfalls. Like I said before, lets see how we respond. Friday will tell us a lot about this team (and possibly a lot about the Spurs).

 

lol at "informed"

Does everyone realize that 22/30(73.3333%)teams fail to make it out of the first round every year?

Saying a team won't make it out of the first round at the beginning of the season or halfway through or when it's almost playoff time isn't some grand achievement of foresight when the math behind it says it's highly likely a team won't make it out of the first round.

It's an easy call to be "right" on. And then these late injuries happen that make it even harder to advance, but those "informed" posters of course will say we would have lost even at full strength without any way of knowing for sure. Some people really are funny.

It's also interesting that I don't hear of any of these respected basketball writers have much or any of a gripe with our style of play when talking about our team and our chances to advance. Hell recently it seems that most of the guys have us and the clips as the 2 other teams that could really make some noise. Yet the informed are positive we have no shot.

Love to see what the informed have to say if we do advance this year.

 

Every champion was once a contender that refused to give up...

Something to think about, OP.

 

It will depend on who we play in the first round, I can see us beating Dallas MAYBE Portland anybody else? nah first round exit

 

I have no expectation either way so I won't be disappointed

I had championship aspirations when we signed Dwert, but I have no confidence left once I see how they actually play on the court

 

That's a ****ing depressing attitude to have for a team that's 53-25. Harden and Howard are NOT the problem. The problem is not having a semblance of consistency from the role players due to injury.

 

The Rockets offensive system is so easy to figure out. Any good team in a series knows what the Rockets are going to try and pull. Plus Rockets got 3 bigs that can't shoot freethrows for the life of them.

Defensively the Rockets are cute. They're good at defense but they do so many stupid things. Dwight constantly goaltending to "send" a message, Ariza and Smith flat out quitting sometimes and fouling just because they mad. Harden still isn't that great when his man is off the ball. You got fcking Jason Terry and Pablo playing defense at the point position.

 

Playoff Picture

I was hoping this would be our year. But with the injuries and the people we have plugged in, I'm just not feeling that optimistic at this point. We would be very luck if we make it out of the first round. I think the coach is doing all he knows how to do at this point, but I don't believe he's the guy that will get us to the next level, with all due respect. I think he has done a great job with the pieces that he has. We need a very good basketball minded coach, like a Popovich to get us there. There is not a lot of those guys around. We need a true point guard that can distribute, defend, and create his own shots. We also need three point specialist like the splash brothers at Golden State. It is crucial for us as a team to have more offense than James Harden. It is just too much pressure on him night in and night out to carry this team. He just can't do it by himself, although he tries. Harden is earning every dime of his money and some. We have got to look for more talent on both ends of the court.

 

We need to sign nate and get him at pg or backup and have prig sit.

He can ball and is a vet. Why not sign him for the rest of season

 

Let's not be so negative. I think the Rockets have absorbed a lot of negative karma the past ~17 or 18 years in the playoffs - from being on the other end of buzzer beaters to having a .500 or better record and NOT making the playoffs, etc. They are due for positive karma and we have peak James Harden on our side. Since Clutch City (oh sorry, it's been ClutchFans for like 12 years now!) was launched, the Rockets have gotten to the Conference Finals exactly once. How long ago was this site launched? Well Macarena was the #1 song in the US and Space Jam was still a few months away from being shown in theaters. I'm being positive this year, please join me.

 

In the playoffs Bev would up his defensive intensity. He will be missed. DMo is a nice option to have on offense; also its good to have a 7 footer to call upon. This sucks; but with Harden and Howard there is always a chance.

 

Member #8? That's legend status. Thanks for speaking the truth.

 

They're not losing the 1st rd if they play the Mavs, but that 2nd seed is not so easy. We will know tomorrow.

 

I really don't like the idea behind this thread. You can think we are going to lose all you want. But why broadcast it to die-hard Rockets fans. Do you want to be able to say "I told you so" if they do lose? Will it make you feel better if they do lose because you went on record predicting it? Will you be secretly hoping that they will lose so you will be right?