Rockets just not good enough

Nice post DD. Our need for quicker guards was clearly exposed by Dallas. Most teams couldn't play us that hard...I mean, Dallas was our worst possible 1st round match-up. I think we beat any other team...even Spurs (because TD wasn't full strength).

I still like our crew. Losing JHow sucked! Lets get a good backup PF and we need one quick/long guard in the mold of Josh Howard (but he's an a-hole), and we'll be set. An upgrade at PG wouldn't be bad either but not necessary if we keep Sura/James healthy for one more season.

 

DD,

Agreed. We got about all we could out of TMac, Yao and a surrounding cast of players with heart, grit, and smarts, but limited athleticism.

Watching JVG mold this cobbled-together team to a 51 win season was really incredible. But, more than anything, this team was fun to watch because they played the game the way it's meant to be played.

I, for one, don't think there's any more blood in the turnip.

We've got off season options and opportunities to upgrade. I'm bummed about last night, but excited about what the future can be now that the foundation is in place.

D R

 

All things considered, it was a successful season. After a slow start and adding pieces on the fly Sura (when he got healthy), Barry, Wesley, James, losing key pieces like Howard and still winning 51 games, that's some success. Everyone thought it would take a year for McGrady and Yao to really start to click together and they seem to be ahead of the curve. Great duos have to face some adversity, so this should only make them stronger. Now, we need to add some speed and athleticism on the perimeter and some beef up front and I think the Rockets would be a legit title contender next year.

 

Dallas was a good team to exploit your remarks.

 

I agree with DaDakota.

 

We played up to our max effort and potential, what can I say? Dallas is a superior team with TONS of talent. I HONESTLY can say that I don't see any team beating Dallas in a 7 game series besides the Spurs. They would stomp any Eastern Conf team, I have no question in my mind about that.

You know what, the playoffs are all about matchups and you will likely go as far as the opponents you face. We couldn't face a worse matchup than Dallas, but we played with pride and determination.

We got unlucky and ended up 5th and faced a top 3 team in the league right now. We play the Sonics or even the Suns, we would have won. We just got unlucky and frew these guys in the first round. It is kinda sad that two of the top 5 teams in the league had to play in the first round, and an inferior team like the Sonics got an easy way to the next round. But those are the cards we were dealt.

 

DaDakota's on the mark, and Dallas Rocket sums it up for me.

I'll add that I hope we can take some of these vets who worked so hard for us this year on the ride next year. Would it be too much to ask to be fortunate enough to replace only our baggage with the young legs and PF?

 

I am sad.

 

I am sad too, but like DD also rather happy.

There is nothing like a tough 7-game series for finding out what your players are made of, and I really really like what I saw from T-Mac and Yao. They have proven to me that they truly are championship caliber, and that makes me very happy.

 

Seriously, this team was fun to watch...it was a fun season.


In fact, it was one of the funnest seasons as a Rockets fan I would have to say. Not since 1986 have we had the pleasure of watching a young up and comping team.

The 1994 team wasn't fun, that was a nail-biting tense series about getting a monkey off of our backs.

The 1995 season was fun though. Ok, so this is the funnest season in 10 years. Great characters, great chemistry, and an awesome future.....you can see the future heart of a champion in these guys...

 

Well, it was a tough loss. I didn't expect to get blown out by 40, but at least we took a 58-win team to 7 games. We should of closed it out in 4 games, but we just couldn't contain the leads in the 4th quarter. We contained their star PF and we played them w/o our starting PF. Overall, it was a good fight by us.

I'm glad for this offseason, we'll be getting rid of players that's just taking up space (Ward, Braggs, Baker, and Moochie) and getting extra cap space w/ Maloney's salary coming off the books.

With all that, maybe we can get:

- a quality PF to replace or combo w/ Howard
- a good 1st rounder (no player that we can just ship off to Europe)
- trade a player or two to bring in some firepower off the bench
- and put some steroids into Yao's upper body - he needs to get those little Chinese arms stronger so he won't get muscled underneath by small forwards and guards.

Oh, and another thing, I think Yao really needs to learn how to box out instead of jumping over the defender to grab a rebound. I saw that a lot during the series.

GO ROCKETS!

 

Of course Dallas was the more talented and athletic team going into this series but we still missed a few chances to win this series.

I fully accept that Dallas is superior but I am bothered by using that as an excuse for us not winning it. We played great but I don't think we played to our max effort. Our defense became lax and our shooters were inconsistent in games 3 and 4 and we missed too many free throws in game 5. We correct those and the series is over before we even get to game 7.

As the 95 Rox showed us having a more talented and athletic roster doesn't guarentee playoff series wins because every team those Rox faced were far more talented than the Rox. Going into the Championships on paper it should've been a Magic sweep with the younger and more athletic Magic outrunning and outmuscling the Rox.

This team and our stars played great overall but over a 7 game series any lapse get magnified.

 

Yea definitely. That's one of Yao's greatest and most consistent weakness as a rebounder. He's so used to being the tallest guy (which he is) that he likes to rebound over people as opposed to boxing a guy out. When waiting for a rebound, he runs BEHIND the other center to wait for a rebound. That's just poor fundamentals.

 

This series really exposed some role players for what they are.

After seeing this series, I'd like to see a replacement for Padgett because he is a liability defensively, and when he is not hitting his shot, he's worthless. he's just not tough enough.

But the biggest concern is that he seemed to tighten up in the playoffs, and we need role players that can handle the pressure.

 

Remember the put-back dunk by Dampier during last night's game? Yao was completely behind him and Dampier had his way to grab the rebound and dunk it back home. It made me embarassed to see Yao's training go to waste - thanks to that ******* Patrick Ewing.

 

There are several Dallas bench players who could start for the Rockets IMHO - so though I bummed our season is over I know this is the beginning not the end.

We really needed another big scorer at PF -- Howard would have made a big difference out there so that's something to keep in mind.

I'm really impressed with the moves we made this year - so I have have a great deal of confidence we will plug up some holes and make a strong run next season.

A player like Nene' would be really nice for next season...