They don’t have much to work with though. They can of course shop Beal around. But what they can get back and how much they can improve remain to be seen. Remember KD will be one year older too.
I agree with this assessment. Unfortunately, Phoenix's schedule doesn't get difficult until after the ASB, so I doubt they trade, but it is good for our pick. Their schedule is brutal down the stretch and I doubt they are in the play-offs.
On defense, Jabari and Tari hurt in the non-starter minutes as Amen is playing fewer minutes without the starters. I'm not completely sure why the starting lineup's defense has gone away with adding Amen for Jabari. Sure, Jabari's rebounding is a loss (but Amen isn't a bad defensive rebounder), but Rockets are having bigger issues with rotations on closeouts and not tagging rollers. Hoping it is just a chemistry thing that will work itself out with more play together. Rockets have a 98% chance of making playoffs without going to the Playins per ESPN's BPI model. It was about 90% 6-7 games ago, IIRC. I'm not quite as high as ESPN is on those odds, but the Rockets have been more likely than not a playoff team for a while.
Come on. At this point not finishing in the top 6 would be a total disappointment. We would have to lose more than half our games (last season #7 had 47 wins). We do need Tari and Jabari back though.
6-3 so far, with one postponement. Pretty, pretty good. But the next eight look to be tough. Six of the games are on the road, ending with a pair of back-to-back road games against Boston and Memphis. @Denver 8:00 PM Thu, Jan 16 @Sacramento 9:00 PM Sat, Jan 18 @Portland 9:00 PM Mon, Jan 20 vsDetroit 1:00 PM Wed, Jan 22 vsCleveland 7:00 PM Sat, Jan 25 @Cleveland 6:30 PM Mon, Jan 27 @Boston 6:30 PM Thu, Jan 30 @Memphis 6:30 PM Fri, Jan 31
Last 4 games is a tough stretch. First 4 games is one tough team, a playin West team, a playin east team, and roadkill...in other words, a very normal stretch.
Damn that's rough. I would be happy with 3 wins to be honest and hope we're still close to 2nd seed at that point. That would be sufficient, anything more a bonus. If Jalen Green manages to keep this up though, who knows 5 might be possible. I feel like we can upset the Cavs one game too.
7-3 so far. Assuming no big upsets or an equal number of upsets each way, Rockets record will likely range from 10-8 to 12-6 for this 18-game stretch now. Starting to think my 10-8 may have been pessimistic.
If Jalen stays hot we MIGHT lose 2 more games this month. Split with Cleveland. 1 loss to either Boston or Memphis. They need to beat the Kings, then we dominate the rest of January. If Sengun can get his act together, this stretch of games will be easy.
Hope you are right. I still don't think we are on the Celtics level. I haven't seen a single Cavs game, but their record would indicate they will be a problem. Tari being back would help, because this schedule is going to be exhausting. I think Sengun will struggle from fatigue by the time we get to the last 4 games. Dillon is also showing some signs of slowing down. I even think Amen will struggle with fatigue a bit those last 4 games. He's never played these kind of minutes before and to compete with those teams we will need 40 mins a night from him.
You need to update this schedule. Atlanta is now Jan 28th. also, how did your dates get so jacked up? Here:
If Jalen plays great through this stretch even Bobby will have to admit that he is the real deal. If he plays great in half the games, the rest of us will be convinced.
Bobby will never admit anything. He’s a textbook narcissist - insecure and always moving the argument to make sure he’s “never wrong,” and resorting to childish crap when he has nothing else. You are wasting your time thinking about him. And I just wasted my time typing about him. Shame on me.
