I second that comment. While I hated watching last nights game against the Pistons, it's not the end of the world.
Yeah, not big deal, just like a marathon, you dont do a sprint and run very fast in the begining to be the leader, you start slow and then you pick up speed, and in the final you give a sprint to finish in 1st place.
You know for all the things that have gone wrong for the Rockets did anyone notice how the Rockets kept two very good teams in San Antonio and Detroit under 90 points. I say thats very good defense with a hobbled T Mac and poor shooting by our guards. We have seen the worst that this team can do, these are professional athletes they will not continue to shoot in the low 30% and once our guards start shooting a higher clip, T Mac gets better and the schedule lightens up dont be suprised to see the Rockets win five or six in a row.
What a disgrace to the organization, 3-6 and a whopping 4 games out of the top seed!!! Dont know if we will ever regain face.
If T-Mac's back is not fully recovered, this could be a long season for Rockets. I watched the game between Mavs and Pistons, it doesn't look good for Rockets. Mavs' offense is very efficient and their defense is underrated. It's not an exaggeration to say the current Rockets roster is lacking in talent and depth. The entire team can only ride on 1.5 healthy superstars' back for so long. I am definitely inclined to let T-Mac nurture his nagging injuries and rehabilitate for as long as he needs to. It could be a good opportunity for JVG to discover some new talents which may have been hidden or suppressed. Also let Yao to assert himself to be a true warrior, both aggressive and intelligent. The acquisitions we had in the summer have been disappointing thus far. I am not giving up on them completely, but we have yet seen one breakout game from any of the three. As of now, the Rockets are missing too many pieces: a good 3-point shooter, a tough defender at the power forward position, a point guard who can run the offense efficiently, and someone who routinely slashs into opponents' defense to score or dish out. Probably nobody has more pressure than JVG, and I am willing to cut him some slack due to T-Mac's freaking accident. But at the same time, I hope JVG can show us he is the kind of coach who has what it takes to keep the team together and make it at least respected in the league.
unfortunately our upcoming schedule looks pretty rough... Sun, Nov 20 at Indiana 7:00 pm Tue, Nov 22 at Dallas 8:30 pm Wed, Nov 23 Phoenix 7:30 pm Fri, Nov 25 at Memphis 8:00 pm Sat, Nov 26 Chicago 8:30 pm i don't think we've been playing badly of late though so hopefully we get it together.
Very true. IMO, I think that IS an exaggeration. If EVERY player except Yao wasn't shooting well below their carrer averages, things would look much different. They obviously are having trouble adjusting so give them time. Yao has been incredible so far. If we had Yao of LAST year, we'd be a laughing stock right now. We have several good shooters. Problem is they are all in a slump. If they were shooting their career averages, we'd probably have 3 more wins by now. JHow + Stro aren't embarassing themselves. Brad Miller 18 pts PJ Brown 18 pts (who was just hot that night...sometimes that happens) Dwight Howard 12 pts Haslem 8 pts J Collins 2 pts LaFrenze 32 pts (who also just had a hot night) Garnett 25 pts (unstoppable by anybody) Duncan 19 pts (we can live w/ this) R Wallace 14 pts The Boston game is the only # I'm not happy about but he got those shots from the 3pt line. It isn't like LaFrenze was "overpowering" anybody. Well, PJ Brown going off for 18 sucked but JVG had them rotate off him. Rafer's production so far: Pts/TO's/Assists 8/1/2 15/1/2 8/4/9 3/1/5 3/0/6 5/1/1 13/1/3 2/3/3 DNP He only one game w/ more than 3 TOs...in that game he had 9 assists. His assist average would be MUCH higher <drum roll please> if our guards were shooting their career averages. I am NOT disappointed w/ Rafer's efficiency. He is not bad and when he is adjusted to JVG, he'll be even better. Well, that is why we brought in DA and I admit he is disappointing. I hope it is just an adjustment period (like TMac last season) but I'm not too impressed yet. But I'll give him more time. Also, Sura coming back should help. He did it last season so I still beleive he can do it this season too with a better squad (at least on paper).
The team is in disarray and not having T-Mac in the lineup will only increase the problems. A big part of the disarray is that the rotation outside of the C and SF position is in constant flux, nobody outside of T-Mac and Yao have staked a claim to their position. I would be OK with a team that had a set rotation but seemed out of sync, making an occasional bad pass or not sharing the ball. But when you have a situation like the present Rox where nobody is playing well and nobody is the clear choice to claim the starters position and the bulk of the minutes at three positions it spells trouble. I hope I am wrong but this team might not have the horses it thought it had at the start of the season to get us to the next level
our upcoming schedule looks tough...... we might be 3-11.....indiana, dallas, phoenix, memphis, chicago....yikes....these ain't scrub teams, all playoff teams..... clutchcity will go ape bananas if this 3-11 record occurs.
Put down the knife! I said nothing of the sort. What I did say was that there exist deficiencies at the guard and forward positions that have yet to be addressed. Said deficiencies have been dogging this team for some time now and until these deficiencies are properly addressed, the Rockets will continue to be an up and down team. In my mind it's a question of HOW to do just that: continue to trade for/pick up the Alstons, Swifts or to take a different tack. When you look at the rosters of the teams ahead of them in the West, the one thing that jumps out is that these teams have good to very good young players on their rosters making sizable contributions that they have drafted. Not so for the Rockets who have only Yao & Head to show for their past 5 drafts. That creates a big hole in their roster that they have been trying to fill for some time now. I simply don't believe that you can address this deficiency through trades and free agent signings - at some point, you have to draft and find better players. The Rockets are what they are. They are not an elite team nor should they be considered a true contender. They are merely a first round playoff team and after spending 4 straight years in the NBA Lottery, that's not a bad place to be. As I posted earlier: this situation has yet to play itself out and there's a lot of basketball yet to be played.
it's a damn shame...some newcomers just don't seem to fit in yet..but I think we're heading the right way now that T-Mac is back..we just need to get a good chemistry and I want Stro to start...at least try him!
