Rockets need 28 wins to make a good run at the playoffs. Is this team good enough to do that, I think so. Francis is a full fledged point guard. Anderson is doing the dirty work (which is everything). Williams is starting to make his shots and some key plays (bone head is out of the guys system). Mobley is very streaky, a big question mark to a contender. Hakeem is a huge defensive presence, however his scoring touch is around the corner. Thomas may be the real deal. So you see, a 28 and 15 record for the rest of the season is not too bad off.
Vince, I do like your optimism about the Rockets this season. I think I'd agree with you ... ... except: 1. The Rockets will NOT go 28-15, since there are 44, not 43, games left. 2. They are now 14-24, and adding 28 wins would total 42 wins, which is about .500 for the season. I'm not being discouraging, but the wild West is very likely to kick someone with only .500 out of the playoffs picture. The good things are: 1. Can we not agree that Stevie is maturing game after game? 2. Not to mention our post-up power in Kenny Thomas; 3. Hakeem is not 100% yet; 4. Carlos and Kelvin are still injured; 5. After all we still beat the so-called-one-of-the-best-in-the-NBA Portland TrailBlazers. Then does it prove a point about our optimism? A note on the TrailBlazers game: Though we hit some crucial free throws down the stretch, can we hit something more than 57% FT??? If we had hit those free throws, the game would have been a lot easier. Well, maybe the Rockets like to make games more exciting. Refer to the Dallas game, and you'd know what I'm talking about.
Rocketabilty said: <snip> A note on the TrailBlazers game: Though we hit some crucial free throws down the stretch, can we hit something more than 57% FT??? If we had hit those free throws, the game would have been a lot easier. </snip> The Rox shooting has me puzzled as well. Ordinarily you would consider a team that shot 56% on 3's to be a good shooting team. On the other hand, we only shot 45% or on 2's. It seems the closer they get to the hoop the less they make. What's going on? Is this a confidence issue or a practice one? I think a lot of it is that our poor free throw shooters are being intentionally fouled. <Bullard doesn't spend a lot of time at the line> I think this team has the capability of consistently putting one or more of its opponents in foul trouble. Maybe that would cut down on the number of intentional fouls, thereby improving our shooting %. Just a thought...
