Now that we pulled off an extremely hard road win, similar to LA, can the Rockets keep it together and win against lesser opponents? @Orlando: Anything can happen with Tmac on the court. They beat Philly tonight on the road and the law of averages will be in their favor due to their horific start to the season. @Miami: Rockets always seem to play down to the level of the Heat. Miami is pretty banged up, so this one might be the easiest of the two. Not as much hype surrounding the van gundy v. van gundy matchup. When was the last time the Rockets were 10 games over .500? I think it was Hakeem's last year as a rocket, but not sure. So, loyal Rockets fans.. what do the rockets need to do to secure these two wins and come home 10 games over .500 to play the queens?
Yes we have to win these two games because I'm not too sure about the Kings. Memphis is playing incredible and they just one tonights game...they are scaring me! Denver, Memphis, and Houston will be fighting for the 6,7,8 spots
We've been doing a good job against sh-t teams all year. I don't see these games as particularly challenging. Orlando is abysmal...they make the knicks look good; same with Miami. The only crap teams that we have lost to is Toronto, really, and that was double OT, and maybe the Sonics or Blazers, though the blazers are a tough team in the Rose Garden. We are much better this year against bad teams. Look at last year, we lost both games to an absolutely pitiful Knicks team...this year its 2-0 against a better, but still not so good, Knick team.
easy win by 15+. tmac shoots 9 for 25. 6 rox in double figures. look for grant's lady deathstrike move, slashing yao's right arm this time limiting him to 10 points and 10 rebs. jim and francis have a field day... both with 20+. rox win by 10. i see another four or five in a row for some reason.
Well, other than outscoring the opponents, the rox need to control tmac to beat orlando. Van Gundy likes to double team star players to get the ball out of there hands, and in doing so that tests the defensive rotation of the rox. I think the rox will be able to hold down orlando's secondary players, juwan howard, grilicek, keith bogans, and gooden. The only issue is a mental let down after such a big win, but it looks like the team is maturing so a let down is less likely hopefully than in the past. As for miami, just play strong defense like we have been, limit the penetration by rafer alston, and some physical play on lamar odom and the rox should be fine. again the argument for a let down, but again maturity seems to have found the rox as of late, and that works against a let down. Also, steve should be able to control these games b/c tyron lue/rod strickland and rafer alston aren't known as defensive studs. Yao also should be able to handle orlando's big men b/c they aren't the small quick kind, andrew declercq pretty much sucks. Brian Grant is the type of big man yao handles well, wide and slow so he can set up on the block and use him, also if he flashes to the hoop when he starts on the weak side he should be able to beat grant down the lane.
imho, Rox owns Magic. This trend will continue. Heat can limit Yao, but not the others. Two wins if players keep their intensity. KH
I like the positive attitudes.. it just seems that every time we think the team turns the corner, they blow easy games. I want them to prove me wrong.
Yeah I'm going to be a negative b*stard right now just so the Rockets prove me wrong. I hope they do, the underachieving playing down to the other team's level losers GO ROCKETS! I'm making that sacrifice for you!
Of course the Rockets will lose those games! Does anyone really doubt it? Here the Rockets have a chance to take a leap into the realm of the good teams, and they have two of the worst teams in history up next. They will feel entitled to winning, and won't put forth their best effort in either game. McGrady will McBeat the McRockets once again, and Eddie Jones will undoubtedly score over 35. This will be a week of pain for us all.
Both Orlando and Miami had horrible starts in the beginning of the season. They actually have been playing better since then, especially Miami. Miami is now only 2 games out of a playoff spot. I know it's in the Leastern conference but considering their 0-7 start, that's a pretty big turnaround. They also just blew out the Nets 85-64.
I said it in another thread, these next 3 games can make a HUGE difference for us. If we can beat the Heat and Magic, then beat the Kings at (our)home we're on our way to a wonderful season challenging for 5th spot. However, I worry about the Heat game. Odom has been playing PF, rebounding at an AMAZING rate (despite so-so shooting) and I don't think we can match his quickness at the spot. Maybe if Weatherspoon and Cato rough him up? I am confident we can take the Magic and Kings games, btu I worry that Odom will put 35/12/8 on us and win that game for them. Grant is a damn good defender while Mobley and EJ will take each other out of the game. Can Francis keep up with a MUCH quicker PG? Yes, Rafer Alston is a super super quick PG, and guess what? It has ntohing to do with his streetballing, the guy has an excellent asst/to ratio. The key is JJ, can he win that game for us? I really hope so.
Franchise2001, Put easy in quotes.... Another Big Test: The "Easy" Games. Thinking they were going to be "easy" is what got us in trouble in the first place. Those "bad" teams get exited about playing the Rox. And they prepare! That's why we underestimate them.
The key to winning those two easy games, is to simple give the ball to Yao Ming. They (orlando & miami) have no good centers to keep up with Yao. If Yao is not on his game, it's going to be a tuff battle. That's just what i think.
If the Rockets "smoke" these two stiffs, I'm a believer. I'm close right now, but not quite there. We have been taken on the roller-coaster before. It is time to put together a streak; roll over Florida, stun the Kings, and keep on going.
statistics are one funny thing : i noticed that when Rockets score more then them opponents, they won...
