who would have thought? I know when I first saw the schedule I thought November would be one of our toughest months. its nice to see us at 10-5 considering we havent play great basketball yet, and Bonzi hasnt stepped on the court for meaningful PT. Speaking of Bonzi, I dont understand the hate thats going on in here about him. I dont give a rip if he is a little over weight, i dont give a rip if he has a bad attitude, i dont give a rip about his reputation....THE GUY CAN HELP THIS TEAM! JVG needs to get off his high-horse and play him. V-Span, Luther, whoever....NONE of them can bring what Bonzi brings to the game. Size, Defense, post-up game, rebounding, etc. The one thing that is pissing me off this season.....Rafer Alston is a GUNNER! He is Steve Francis without a good jumper, and without the athletism. He is exactly what JVG doesnt want (shoot 1st, pass 2nd). I dont care if McGrady goes 2-13 sometimes, but Rafer? HELL NO! He needs to learn when his shot isnt falling early that he needs to be a play-maker, instead of gunning up every shot, and forcing McGrady to be the play-maker.
I think Dallas wasn't quite themselves at the beginning of the season. Not sure if we would have beatem them had they been playing like how they are right now, back then. But a win is a win.. I'm enjoying this record.
That's just stupid. I guess you won't be happy unless we go 82-0 this year, right? You beat the teams you're supposed to beat, establish a home-court advantage (6-1), and go .500 on the road.....all the while you're not even playing your best basketball, your #1 scorer is in the midst of a shooting slump, and your #3 scorer hasn't even seen the court yet. And you're still on pace to win 57 games. Some people will never be happy.
Not when they were in the middle of a slump. Same goes with our victory over the Heat. This month's record taken in context just shows the Rockets are at best an above-average team that can beat mediocre or scrub teams on fairly consistent basis, but not yet be able to strike a dent in the armor of elite teams.
I'll gladly take 10-5 for November. They should've won that Spurs game, but otherwise they took care of business like they were supposed to.
Let me summarize this. You're ok so far with 10-5 but you don't like Rafer and you DO like Bonzi. One think you need to learn about team sport is discipline and commitment. If you show up to a training camp with 20 lbs overweight and defy your coach by not showing up to a roadgame because you're not fit, you don't have a shot in this league. Except there's a desperate team who needs desperate players like Bonzi. Rafer made some winning shots in the previous games. If he miss some open shots then it's just not his day. If we attempted 38 shots last night, it's a coaching problem for not recognizing the pattern and failed to make necessary adjustments.
Dallas had the same personnel in game two that they have today. Prior to Houston they lost ONE game in a row (not quite the "middle of a slump"). Perhaps it was the Houston game that put them in their "slump". The fact is, Houston convincingly trounced an 11-4 team that was 0-1 at the time. Dallas had their full contingent of players and was not playing a back-to-back.
Our 5 losses: Wed 1 @ Utah L 97-107 Sun 5 @ NO/Oklahoma City L 90-96 Tue 14 San Antonio L 84-92 Sat 18 @ Detroit L 92-104 Wed 29 @ Phoenix L 91-102 4 on the road, 1 on at home. All of these teams are above .500 (and were when the beat us). All of these teams have stellar home records save San Antonio at 4-3, but then again they are 7-2 on the road. Beating the good teams are what contenders do and we may just not be there yet but we are taking care of business, hanging tough with contenders and beating the teams we should beat. This *is* progress. We can only get better from here. Enjoy it.
They werent quite themselves? No one was hurt for them and they have been playing together for years now. It was and still is a good win against a good team. We also beat Miami that had a healthy Shaq playing for them. That was a great win. There are young teams all around the NBA that are capable of winning. Thats why you see teams like the Bobcats go into San Antonio and win. Memphis beat Denver recently, and the Trailblazers beat the Nets a few games ago.
You made your point on the "slump" part. But I wouldn't expect 1) Jason Terry to have another terrible game; 2) Alston to have another perfect game; and 3), Yao to shoot the lights out the same way he did in that game.
Im sure if somone made a thread for "End Of Nov. Record" Everyone would have been excited about a 10-5 record yet now that we are here no one seems to appreciate it...
First off very happy with our record. 10-5 is great. IMO. As for Bonzi, play time is earned in practice. Your sending the wrong message to the team if you play a over weight guy with a bad attitude while sporting a winning 10-5 recording. He's not T-Mac or Yao. He new to the team and has to earn his spot in the rotation. Having said that if we were 5-10, I'm sure he'll be playing now =)
i'll take the 10-5 november. it's just that i hope: -JVG realizes that he needs to draw up more offensive plays than just inside-outside dumps. It works perfectly when the perimeter guys are hitting, but when they aren't...well y'all have seen it. -McGrady needs to realize he needs to score. I applaud him for acknowledging that he can't put up 30 a night anymore and his passing is better than ever, but that doesn't give him the excuse to coast (and he has been) in games. Something or someone needs to light that fire from under his ass and get us the TMac that plays with that I'll-score-on-you-in-10-different-ways intensity and take over the game when Yao sits out. -Our perimeter guys just shoot the ball. Sure some (Alston) shoots too much but you don't score if you don't shoot. I'm not promoting Rafer to chuck more, but I've seen too many times guys that SHOULD be shooting (Padgett, Head, Spanoulis, Novak) when they're open, don't. These my own personal gripes from the games I've watched. The Rockets can be a very VERY good team (the fact that they can put together a 3rd quarter like they did against Phoenix says a lot). I'm hoping it's growing pains and that they'll finally gel as the season goes by.
10 -5 is a good start, but it worries me that the Rockets have had to expend so much energy after only 15 games. Every game is a grind-it-out style. Every game has come down to the wire. The starters are all playing nearly 40 minutes a game. Players are starting to get banged up already (Mcgrady, Hayes, Snyder, Howard, etc.). If the season continues to go the way it’s been going, I don’t see how the players can maintain the energy level that they have been playing at. I fear they may be “blowing their load” a little too early.
