That's interesting bmd. In effect we are just not takin care of business against bad teams this year. Our record versus tier 1's is actually better than last year. So bizarre.
The big difference is that we used to own the East but now we're mediocre at best against East teams. Could it be because we're "not the same team as last year"?
Good post. And it makes a real clear point. We have nothing to look forward to this season unless Morey unloads a pile of these guys and shakes this roster up big time.
Thanks for checking on this. Very interesting how last season the Rockets took care of business on the bottom teams. How it should be, if you are a good team. That "competitive spirit." Shake up some of the role players and add Thibs. Could do wonders for the team in the future.
Yep - my big frustration with Houston this year is that they don't win the games they're supposed to win. I don't mind them losing to the Warriors, or the Clippers in OT on a back to back, etc... But they lose winnable games.
Yep, I remember last year we beat up on the bad teams. That's why we had good overall teams stats. But we got blown out by the top teams quite a few times.
Tier 1(.600-1.000): Golden State(0-3), San Antonio(1-3), Cleveland(1-1), Oklahoma City(2-2), Toronto(2-0), LA Clippers(2-2) 8-11 Tier 2(.400-.599): Atlanta(0-2), Boston(1-1), Miami(1-1), Charlotte(1-1), Memphis(2-2), Indiana(1-1), Deroit(0-2), Portland(2-2), Dallas(2-1), Utah(2-2), Chicago(0-2), (Houston), Washington(1-1), Orlando(1-1), Milwaukee(1-1), Denver(0-3), Sacramento(2-1) 17-24 Tier 3(.000-.399): New York(1-1), New Orleans(3-1), Minnesota(2-0), Brooklyn(0-2), Phoenix(2-0), LA Lakers(3-0), Philadelphia(2-0) 13-4 3 games left vs. 'tier 3' teams 2 games left vs. 'teir 2' teams Spoiler <PRE> Place Conference Division All-Star Margin Month Rk Team Overall Home Road E W A C SE NW P SW Pre Post ≤3 ≥10 Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr 18 Houston Rockets 38-39 21-17 17-22 13-17 25-22 6-4 3-7 4-6 8-9 9-6 8-7 27-28 11-11 5-7 11-18 0-2 7-9 9-7 9-7 4-6 8-8 1-0</PRE>
We are the same as last year against the top so that shows why we are not that different from last year. We were still not elite last year. We are playing worse agains the mediocre and bad teams this year, that seems to be the major difference which is defense. Should've beaten the Jazz & Chicago at home, that would've made this all more bearable though..
The young guys bring the energy and "The Energy" been sitting on the bench. The starters are mechanical and tired. Bring in the energy like you did yesterday JB. "We didn't bring the energy tonight" slogan all year long...there remedy to this tired BS repeat slogan after losses might be the crew your not using efficiently every night sitting on the bench. Hope you learned a lesson last night. Either way, looking forward to a head coach next year
What this tells me is that this is an effort thing. The players take it easy when they aren't playing a top team. When they play the top teams, they do give effort and they do have a very similar record against the top teams as they did last year. They beat the bad teams just because the bad teams are so bad. But the mediocre teams they do not get up to play. They don't give the effort, and those mediocre teams are good enough to steal wins from them when they don't put forth the effort. What this team lacks this year is the hunger they had last season. Last season they gave effort because they were hungry. They got to the WCF and just took it easy this year. That's what I think. Because I felt the same way as a fan. I was completely satisfied with the outcome of last season, and felt the team proved a lot. I didn't feel the team this year had something to prove, and so I wasn't as emotionally involved in watching the games this season as I was last season. The players are human, and I'm sure they felt a similar way.
If the analysis is true here (we play fine against good teams) then our record in the playoffs should be fine, no, since we are only playing good teams. The trouble will be getting high enough to not be playing GSW or SAS first round.
We don't play fine against top teams. We are below .500 against them, 5-5 at home, 3-6 on the road. That means the chances of getting past first round are not very good.
And this could've been easily resolved by expanding the bench and CONSISTENTLY playing better defenders more minutes like Capela and McDaniels.
I think that suggest inconsistency and internal struggle not based on competition. Basically the talent isn't being utilized properly.
If we beat the Mavs, it's practically a shoe-in. We'd have the tie breaker against both the Jazz and Mavs, they play each other and they both play tough schedules where as we have a cakewalk after the Mavs game. Rockets: @ Mavs vs. Suns vs. Lakers @ T'wolves vs. Kings Jazz: vs. Spurs vs. Clippers @ Nuggets vs. Mavs @ Lakers Mavs: vs. Rockets vs. Grizzlies @ Clippers @ Jazz vs. Spurs The Mavs have to play 5 playoff teams. Ouch. We don't have to play any playoff teams because the Mavs are going bye bye.
