Rockets -- Road to Western Con Finals 2025 -- Poll/updates

History is not kind to young players in the playoffs, i would expect it to take at least 2 postseasons before the rockets are real contenders.

 

Just had to come in to comment on the thread title: the Con Finals. Lol

Maybe these boys are the finest con artists there is. They fooled us into believing they are a legit team now.

 

It's possible, but pretty unlikely. If I were a betting man I'd lay money on us getting bounced in the semis. Too little playoff experience in the rotation.

 

I'm an ******* and I don't give a **** that I am

My friend asked me if I could stop Ime from cheating on his fiance & stop KPJ from beating his gf, would I? If it meant never getting Ime and still having KPJ on the roster.

I said "**** them hoes"

Disgusting I know, but we 2nd in the West baby!!!

 

https://www.nba.com/news/power-rankings-2024-25-week-15

Power Rankings, Week 15: Thunder reign as Rockets bump Cavs for No. 2 spot




#2 Houston Rockets

HOUSTON ROCKETSLast Week:3↑
Record: 30-14

OffRtg: 114.4 (9) DefRtg: 108.4 (4) NetRtg: +6.1 (6) Pace: 99.2 (18)

The Rockets remain in second place in the West, having swept their two games against the best team in the East.

Three takeaways

• The two wins over the Cavs were different, though 3-point shooting (28-for-62, 45%) was critical in both, with Fred VanVleet hitting a pair of triples down the stretch on Wednesday. The Rockets blew double-digit, fourth-quarter leads in both, only to escape with wins with those VanVleet 3-pointers, a big tip-dunk from Amen Thompson on Saturday and Darius Garland missing free throws after an ill-advised foul from Tari Eason. The Rockets are 10-4 in clutch games over the last nine weeks, even though they haven’t shot particularly well from the field with the score within five in the last five minutes.

• Thompson recorded his second career triple-double (23, 14 and 10) on Saturday, also acting as the primary defender on Donovan Mitchell. The Rockets’ starting lineup (with Thompson) has been outscored by 10.3 points per 100 possessions in its 144 minutes over the 11 games since Jabari Smith Jr.’s hand injury. However, it was mostly the starters (and a little bit of Eason) on the floor down the stretch of the two games against Cleveland.

• The win in Cleveland was a rest-advantage game for the Rockets, with the Cavs having played in Philadelphia the night before. The Rockets themselves have the league’s biggest differential between their record with rest (27-9) and their record in the second games of back-to-backs (3-5).

With their postponed game in Atlanta rescheduled for Tuesday, the Rockets have four back-to-backs between now and the All-Star break. The win in Cleveland was the start of a stretch where they’re playing eight of nine on the road, currently one of eight teams with a better record on the road (15-6) than they have at home (15-7).

Week 15: @ BOS, @ ATL, @ MEM, vs. BKN

 

I'll wait until I see what trades we make at the deadline.

 

No, not this year.

As good as we have played... we still have a lot to fix and get better at.

Also we still need one more piece. Green has not become that.....YET.

 

Jalen looks like he is going to eat Donovans head.

 

"why not" was very tempting but I chose to be a pessimistic b****. I still think our lack of experience will make things harder for us. We'd have to be very lucky to reach the WCF this year. However, the team is progressing beautifully and things could get quite interesting next year.

 

F%$k history. F%$k experience.

I'm starting to believe.

We're nearly 60% through the season and on a good night are arguably equal to or better than any team in the league except OKC.

I'm getting '86 vibes from these guys; Dream and Jim Peterson were sophs, and Ralph, Wiggins, McCray, and Ehlo were in year 3. Lou Lloyd was in year 5, and we had a couple of savvy vets (Lucas and Reid) to keep everything stable.

Like that '86 team, it's a bunch of kids who are a year ahead of schedule, and so far nobody has proven to them that they don't belong in the WC Finals.

 

The Western Con men Finals.

 

Honestly, I am not sure the Rockets would make it out of the first round. Regular season record is nice but we’ve had so many scoring droughts and fourth quarter collapses. Once the defense tightens up in the playoffs, we are going to struggle big time.

 

WCF appearance confirmed! Make a post to make it official dawg.

On a more serious note, Rox are 10-4 in the clutch. Yeah they collapse but they also put away the opponent in the end. Having faced and solved collapses and scoring droughts they are more equipped for the playoffs than the MDA teams of the past that breeze thru the regular season and then get owned in the playoffs. Yeah defensed tighten in the playoffs..thats literally what the Rox are facing now thats why they collapse and have tight games. Its good experience and preparation for them and they end up winning so thats a good omen for the future.

I dont see Rox beating OKC but everyone else seems to be fair game in the West. Kings might also be bad matchup but lets see the seedings first.

 

We need a year for the refs to catch up to us. It will be tough making the conference finals without that ref respect--and we have Dillon. Still, maybe we are so good we can overcome that.

 

We can do this.
People seem to forget that Fred and Ime have some legit Finals experience.

 

Why not ..... as long as they can avoid OKC in the first two rounds.

This is the team that none of the other playoff teams want to face in a 7 game series. They can win on any given night with their defense & rebounding .... and if Jalen is hot, they are real hard to beat.