Just want to see how many optimistic fans are out there. 48 wins can be realistic if the Rox CAN play consistently like they've done since Moochie was dumped. 50 or 52 wins would be a dream come true for most fans!!
I hoped the Rockets would win between 45-50 games coming into this season. You figure if they'd just beat the crappy teams this year(which they've done so far), that would be a realistic goal. I agree. February is a joke. Tons of home games, and most of them against bad teams. Hell, even January isn't that tough. Sure, they're on the road a lot this month, but it's mostly against the East(who they're 10-3 against). If the Rockets can fatten up on the weak competition between now and the end of February, they could potentially have 35 or 36 wins heading into March. From that point on, reaching 48 wins wouldn't be out of the question.
As inconsistent as the Rockets are this season, I'm just GLAD that they're only 5.5 games out of first place in the Midwest Division and 6.5 games out of first in the Western Conference. It could be a heck of a whole lot worse had this been another season. Say...2000 or 2001. Btw, the Mavericks barely escaped one in New York tonight. So they're only .5 of a game ahead of the Rockets.
After a horribly inconsistent stretch, the Rockets are on pace to win 46 games. If they don't do better than that, the team should be blown up and started over.
According to espn.com power rankings: "Van Gundy needn't worry about being sent back to TNT, as he joked the other day. But in this West, as inconsistent as his Rockets are, missing the playoffs is a serious possibility."
Shall we continue this exercise of fortune telling again? Better to do it while we're winning. I'd say the Rox played better without Mooch. 48 wins in sight!!!!!
If you double their record right now, that would make them 44 - 32 with six games remaining. 48 wins is definitely doable. I think play will improve during the second half, and they will reach 50.
Can we just get on a winning streak for now, please? I don't care if we are facing Minny next or whatever the schedule is. I am so tired of winning one, losing one, winning two, losing two... by winning streak I mean 6 or more.
This point of the season is great gauge to see where this team is headed compared to last years team. Remember around this time last year the Rockets were 23-15 and the talk of town after they beat the Lakers on TNT, that game hyped as Yao and Shaqs first showdown and the Francis went off for 44 to lead us to an overtime win. But right after that the Rockets caved in an went on bad losing streak and they never amounted to what we were expecting them to after that big win. So lets see if this years Rockets can break away at this point of the season after these 38 or so games and not fall back down and never really get up again like last years Rockets did around this same time of the season last year.
42 wins max, and that's only if everyone stays healthy. Throw in one injury - doesn't even have to be a team leader - and the excuses(and losses) will flow like fine wine. I hope I'm wrong, but 4 1/2 years of proof otherwise is hard to overlook. -VL
