I have watched every Rockets game this season and am very very happy about the way they play recently. And it just seems that they are getting better and better. Right now they are playing ridiculously good. Yao has become a formidable force inside. Deke is super backing up Yao. TMac is a mismatch for any team in the league. The role players (Wesley, Barry, Padgett) are hitting jumpers. Wesley plays steady D against the best perimeter players of the opposing teams. Sura makes up his lack of passing ability by hustle and boards. Maybe I am high......but I seriously see that we can ball with anyone in the league if the role players can hit the open jumpers.
I'd say we have a legit chance to beat any nba team in a 7 game series. But, let's see how we are after this brutal March schedule coming up. I love the way we are playing, it's fun to watch and i am just amazed that these are the Rockets! I'm so used to clanking open jumpers, dribbling off feet out of bounds, passing to players on the bench or the coach, having more turnovers than assist, seeing the same excuses game after game... This brand of ball we are playing now i have not seen since the red and gold!!!
I'm not getting too excited. Everytime I do, they suck balls. I say if we beat the Spurs 6 more times this season, we are contenders.
The fact is that the Rockets are simply playing better and better as a team and that's scary to each opponents in the league. The scariest thing is that the Yao & TMac tandem only scratched the surface of its potential so far. When they truly gel, watch out.
They've definitely gelled... and may still get better with this bunch... but in the end, they may not have enough talent surrounding Yao and T-Mac (mainly a fast PF)... yet.
As a team, Rockets are doing very well now. To be a contender, Chemistry between T-mac and Yao is far away from that between Shark and Kobe. We'll see, to winn more game in March, we need more chemistry between the DUO.
this is true, but lately we have put away the teams we are suppose to beat and we have been playing pretty well against good teams. in the beginning of the season was rough, but i am feeling an astrolike season!
Speaking of a fast PF, man tyson chandler would look good in a rockets uniform. He's a beast on the boards (20 boards!) and that would cover for yao a lot. Only badside is that he's still incredibly raw as an offensive player and has no outside jumpshot. If only there were more elton brand's in the world...
I don't know about us being contenders but this team has a lot of character. I was thinking about all the criticism the Rockets seem to get. We picked up Tracy McGrady in the off season and everyone was talking about us winning a championship. So of course we could not live up to those expectations and we got off to a bad start. The Rockets seem to be a magnet for criticism. We are criticized for being too old. Our center is constantly being criticised despite putting up solid numbers. Tracy McGrady is constantly being criticised for his last season in Olando. Yet despite all these criticisms we are playing great team basketball and this is the most I have cared about the Rockets in years. This team has character. I don't expect them to win a championship, but it is certainly a pleasure to watch them this season and see how they do.
Any basketball analyst will tell you that the key to becoming an elite basketball is 1. Beating the teams you are supposed to. 2. Protecting home court. and lastly 3. Becoming a very good road team. We are getting that first one down and we're excelling at #2 lately. I would say we're doing very well right now.
We are now equally close to Sacramento, the #4 seed as we are to Minnesota, the #9 seed - 4 games in either direction. We're on pace for 47-48 wins now, which would be a step up from 45 wins last year. If we go 21-11, we reach 50 wins. As for the scheduling argument, our 5 game win streak has come against teams with either .500+ records, or on the road against against teams with .550+ home records. This team is just playing extremely well right now. Two days after the team says they need to keep up the offense, but bring back their defensive intensity, they hold the Bulls to under 37%, while shooting 50% and scoring 105 against the leading FG% defense, and 4th best points allowed in the NBA. I like how Skiles is happy with the job they did on TMac in a game he has 24 points, 9 assists, and 0 turnovers.
