But dont forget they didnt have odom for any of them. course whenever i talk to my laker friends they always say: "we beat you guys twice without odom" but they all forget to mention that we did not have mcgrady the first two games and then yao the second game. either way i honestly believe that this rocket team is better than the lakers based on the fact that they do hustle and play great defense night in and out to give them a shot at winning every game. like someone said earlier i dont think there was a single game this year where the team went into the fourth quarter down by more than 10 points they've always been close actually the first laker game but then they rallied to cut it to two (could have/should have tied) outside of that the most lethargic i've seen the rockets play this season was in Portland when they lost by 2 on a final minute layup by roy and in the first half of the first game against phoenix rest of the games the effort was there, some nights (dallas/phoenix) the talent just wasnt.
bonzi=odom so they cancell each other out since we didnt have him either and he is not even at full strength yet
I dont like the lakers but odom is a hell of a lot better than bonzi the only thing is odom's "fire" he just seems to be very complacent and uncompetitive at times
Well.... funny you said that.... until now I also completely can't comprehend how the Rockets have gotten so much better (recordwise at least) since last season. The cast is the same... Mutombo, Howard, Mac, Yao, Rafer, Luther... the coach is the same JVG.... the only big difference is Battier.... so the question is does Battier actually bring that much impact?
Both the Lakers and Rockets have talent and are contenders. The difference is the Lakers are driven by ego, the Rockets are driven by heart, that's why the Lakers play well against good teams but not against the bad teams.... Kobe is about ego, not heart
The Rockets are a far better team when they are 100% healthy. We even beat the Lakers without Yao playing. The Lakers are over rated and outside of Kobe and Odom they don't have much. Houston will pass them for good here soon and will be facing of with Utah to find out who gets that 4th seed in the West. Go Rockets!!!
Well part of the cast is the same but you have Battier, Hayes is playing consistantly this year, Tmac is healthy, and Bonzi is rounding into shape and providing an impact. So in some regards its the same cast but in others it is not. Go Rockets!!!
The three division winners are guaranteed top 4 seeds. Given that, passing Utah cannot put the Rockets in the 4th seed. Only finishing behind Utah but ahead of San Antonio would give that spot to the Rox.
With what appears to be about the best team-specific stat, point diff, they're 9th. Prob quite a bit worse than they think they are.
It does help to have better record than the Jazz, because we would have the home court advantage in that case even though they will be 4th seed and we'll be 5.
they are starting to fade. props to DD for calling it. take away thier win against the C's (who haven't won in a month) and they would look even worse right now. there is starting to be a big difference between the upper, middle, and lower playoff teams in the west. -the mavs and suns are 6+ games in front of anyone else. -the spurs, jazz, rox, and lakers are all within 3 games of eachother with the spurs 1.5 games a head and the lakers 1.5 games behind the two middle teams. -then the rest of the west is at least 4 GB. as the rockets work on thier health and continue to rise, the lakers will fall due to schedule and the jazz (not that it helps the rox) will slip due to injury. the match between the rox and spurs will be exciting down the stretch. if we passed them we would play the lakers in the first round (most likely). JVG VS. big chief triangle II !!
I've always said the Lakers were soft... a team full of pansies. The way the Rockets manhandled them really had me questioning their manhood/toughness. The only excuse was that they didn't have Lamar Odom... but then you stop and think, "Lamar Odom? Toughness?? hahahaha." You make a game physical, hit your easy shots, and play solid defense, and the Lakers will go down faster than any cheap hooker on sunset.
Well it helps the rockets if we end up matched-up against them in the playoffs but have the better record. Then we'd get home court advantage in the first round.
