Hello fellow Rockets fans...after tonights win i went through some of the threads that have been started recently, some suggesting tanking the season, some calling for Van Gundy's firing, some asking whether a Rockets comeback this season would be tougher than the Astros run, some asking if there is hope or no hope...afterwards i went to espn's nba standings and i realized we are only 3 1/2 games out of the 8th spot and just 6 games back of the 6th spot in the west. Truth is, we have the best chance of any team to make a run. No other team has endured the injuries we have, no other team in that group has players of Yao's and T-mac's caliber who can carry a team through major stretches of games and command double teams on a nightly basis in order to be contained somewhat. I would actually love to see this team be able to grab the 6th seed in the west because i feel whatever team becomes the third seed will not be half as good as we are when healthy. If you look at Minny, Seattle, Golden state, and Utah, none of those teams put fear in your heart...as fans we still have plenty of reasons to be optimistic. God willing if we are able to get healthy relatively soon (anderson and barry back within two weeks and yao back in 3-4 weeks) then we could make a serious run not only for the playoffs, but for the 6th seed, which could be a blessing in disguise....what do you guys think?
Well this is a critical stretch while Yao is out, the team can't play less than .500 ball until Yao returns by the All-Star break. If we play .500 ball our record at the break will be 17W 24L and if we play at around the .650 clip we have been with a Yao/T-Mac lineup then our 2nd half record will be 27/14 for a combined season record of 44/38 probably good enough for the 7/8 seed in this years playoffs. If the team is able to play above .600 without Yao, it would be a great sign that we have the talent to get the 4/5 seed and get to the second round. If we suffer another 5 game losing streak before the ASG then I would consider mailing in the season by not rushing Yao's recuperaton and holding him out until April to ensure a lottery pick.
Reasons to be optimism... The West seems 'weak' this season.. other than the top 4 teams, all teams look inconsistent and vulnerable. Top 4 teams im my opinion are: Spurs - Deep and talented team!!! Mavs - Same as Spurs, depp but less talented! Suns - Who needs Amare? As long as Nash is there, they are on pace to win 50! Grizzlies - Suprised team! Never thought they are this good! But with Stoudmaire out for season, we will see how they response. Definitely needs another guard as Bobby Jackson is old and injured to be happened. Other teams like... Clippers - been exposed completely recently Warriors - same as clippers Utah - Waiting for Kirilenko to injured and they will screw up again! Wolves - Guess KG is not a franchise player, according to some fans here, since he cant carry his team to playoffs.... Sonics - Will a new coach save their season?? I doubt it! Lakers - They are in playoff race only because of injuries to the Rockets and Nuggets Nuggets - Camby and Martin, the most fragile frontcourt ever??? Kings - Shareef Abdul Rahim is making Tinman looks like GOD! Hornets - Suprising good! But i dont think good enuff to make the playoff! Portland - ................ From what i see, the west is wild opened now for the 4-8 seeds! As long as the Rockets can keep close that's 3-4 games out of the 8 seeds before aeveryone comes back. There's still chance for the playoffs... Reason not to be optimism... Even a blow out win over the Wizards, the rockets perimeter defense still sucks!!!!
This win had little to nothing to do with The Wizards defense (okay the weak D had a little to do with it but allow me to bring my point home). We struggled against poor defenses this season. The difference is simple - more paerts to work with. With Stro coming into his own lately, Rafer back, The 3rd adding spark from the bench, Wesley hitting his shots consistently and just the general feeling of having healthy players is the key and this will help propel us to the 7-game winning streak I am talking about. Anderson and Barry will be back soon and will be injected into this machine gradually. Now if Sura comes back that will be a bonus. And of course the big man will be back healthier by the end of the month. Bigbodymoe, I am with you on this one - when many fair weather/heartless fans were screaming "fire on the mountain" true fans stayed focus on the big picture. The standings do not lie and if anyone has watched enough NBA ball you will know that making up 5 games in the loss column is a piss especially if you have a team like ours even without Yao for a short period. This is a great time to be a Houston rockets fan. Believe it.
Right on fellas. I wish Clutch would make a garm just for the pissin an moanin fans so the true fans wouldn't have to read all their crap. BELIEVE!!
It would be great to grab that 6th spot to be able to play the Northwest winner. God that division is rivaling the Atlantic for the worst Division ever!
Can we go 35-18 the rest of the way? Need a 10 game win streak bad! If we can beat Cleveland tomorrow, hmmmmm.....
Sorry, but Washington's complete lack of defense had everything to do with it last night. Washington made the same mistake a few teams the last few games have made which is that they chose not to double McGrady at all. I don't understand this strategy and still don't. The other thing that helped last night was that this team had a complete lack of bigs. We will continue to struggle against teams with legitimate bigs. I am glad our offense looked good last night, but I want to see it work against a team with some sort of defense. Watch the Cleveland game and see if our offense looks as good. Watch the Denver game too. Heck, even watch Toronto too as they at least have Chris Bosh down low and a legitimate center. I understand the euphoria of winning finally last night. And we should be excited, but one win against a team that we match up extremely well agaisnt and has no idea how to spell defense doesn't get me too excited. We still have a long way to go.
The only problem with being optimistic is that Yao is still out for quite a while. And he's going to take time to get back into game shape. Besides, is this REALLY even a .500 ballclub without him? So far the results say no. I realize that we have even more injuries beyond Yao. But it will take time even for them to be all back. And we don't have that many games left. I don't want us to tank the season or anything. But unless we can play like we did against Washington consistently, this is still a crappy season.
This season will be crappy, no matter what; simply because of the injuries we've had. No other team has: 1. had the massive amount of injuries 2. played with 3, 4 or 5 starters out or 3. had their 2 star players together as ofter as the Rockets. Get everyone healthy & this team will still be the juggernaught we thought it would be. The only problem is we won't be as high in the playoff positioning as we wanted. we'll be fine as long as we finish higher than 8th. I only fear the Spurs.
huh....i guess you hit me with a little french...heres some back Vous avez besoin d'utiliser la toilette ?
ahhh thanks for enlightening me....i wasnt familiar with such a thing....webster works just fine for me and my pharmaceutical studies
....This....has been bookmarked! Had me cracking up at the examples for QFT. I can just imagine the examples for other words.
Another reason to be optimistic is that T-Mac's athleticism is back. He looked like the T-Mac of old out there against the Wizards, unlike in any other game this season (far as I can remember).
