I can’t stand when people talk down on us like we’re guaranteed to get bounced in the first round just because we’re young and “inexperienced.” Sure, anything can happen—but let’s not act like we haven’t seen young teams outplay and outwork these so-called veteran squads in recent years. One thing that doesn’t lie is how solid our defense is. We are hungry and I’m ready for us to shock the world! Keep disrespecting us because it will only fuel the fire!
At minimum I'm hoping for a 1st rd win in 5 games and a Game 7 in the 2nd rd, win or lose .. Not too much to ask
If you’re another team, would you rather play the rockets who have zero playoff experience and zero stars or play jokic/luka/curry?
Fans of other teams don’t seem to realize this: Rockets don’t just have a Plan A — they have Plans B, C, and even D. What makes this possible is that the Rockets have truly special players. Let me be very clear: if Tari hadn’t spent most of last year injured, the Rockets could have made the Playoffs even then — either directly or via the play-in (and they probably would’ve had a first-round exit). But not this year. Just remember last night’s game. This team scored 125 points against a team like OKC. Şengün and Jalen combined for 65. Who scored the remaining 60? Plans B, C, and D did. First of all, we have the Terror Twins. They were active last night — absolutely incredible talent on both ends of the floor. This year we also have Steven Adams. As a Turk, I’ve always seen Australians as good-spirited, mission men. Adams is exactly that. He’s also a pillar of experience. The one who really dominated Chet and Hartenstein last night wasn’t Şengün — it was Adams. With his veteran savvy, he made a huge impact. When Rockets went with the triple-big lineup with Adams, Şengün, and Jabari (yes, Jabari is a big — a true big man), the one who solved the spacing issue was Adams. He crushed the opposing team in the paint. Jabari is turning into a beast. The guy is just gifted. He has an incredible body. If another Olajuwon is ever going to rise from this team, the best candidate isn’t Şengün — it’s Jabari. Dillon is playing like he’s in his prime. He fires up the team when needed. I’ve lost count of how many times he’s unlocked the offense when the team struggled to score this season. We were hard on Jalen last year. He used to kill the ball movement and had tunnel vision. But all of that seems to have prepared him for this season. Now he has great court vision — Playoff-level. He’s scoring for himself and creating for others. What used to be FVV-Şengün pick-and-rolls last year are now often Jalen-Şengün pick-and-rolls. As a Şengün fan, here’s my take: Amen is the real anchor of this team. You could replace Jalen with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and you’d be fine. You could replace Şengün with Jokic, and sure, you’d upgrade. But I honestly don’t know who you could bring in to replace Amen. The guy is lightning. One moment he’s on the floor — next second, he’s blocking a shot. This year he’s attacking the rim with way more strength, too. When Şengün was drafted, he was like a potato chip. Last summer, the coaching staff focused on strength instead of shooting. Now Şengün is muscular. You can tell from his rebounding and how effective his shoulder bumps are against opponents. But because he hasn’t fully adapted to this new muscle mass, his shot has suffered. Still, for a transition year, he’s done a solid job. He has no Playoff experience, but he does have professional tournament experience from Turkey. That’ll come in handy in the Playoffs. I didn't speak about FVV. Because he will speak in the Play-offs himself as the real veteran of this team. This year, I do not expect a first-round exit for the Rockets.
I can see some of the reasoning with lack of experience, poor 4th quarters, Ime generally poor offensive coach and lack of a go to guy. However, they completely ignore how much trouble defensively we can cause with multiple excellent defenders we can throw at their star guys and how wearing that will be over a series and also Jalen is sneakily actually becoming the guy for us. My main concerns now is FVV's poor form and Ime's insistence on playing him big minutes and can we come of up with some offensive sets when teams defensively grind us and Ime's solution isn't DB and FVV hero ball.
Unless we get the Wolves or Grizzlies, there’s no shame and no guaranteed wins since all are more star studded, battle tested and experienced teams. Obviously in any series we are not a cake walk and could beat anyone, but regardless we’ve overachieved already.
Adams Yeni Zelandalı olmalı. Alpi de çok olgun olduğundan play offlarda yine normal oyununu oynayacağını düşünüyorum. Sadece serbest atışları %70 gibi atsın ve 10 - 10 cm'den kaçırmasın yeter. Asıl sınav Jalen'in ve Amen'in olacak.
My bad. You’re right — Adams is from New Zealand. And you’re also right that Alpi needs to work on his shooting. But we’re going to see this kind of stuff for another 2–3 years. Players usually settle into full brain-body coordination around age 24–25. And it’ll take another 2–3 years to reach their physical prime as well. That said, my point remains: Rockets already have many options in their pocket. They are not a first-round exit team.
I hope this ends better than UT's 1990 Shock the Nation tour https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_Texas_Longhorns_football_team
That's an interesting question. No team in the west thinks they're about to come smack us around right?
My guess is teams will be so happy to face the rockets they will take us lightly, increasing our chances to steal a game early. Definitely beneficial.
