Steve Francis Era Rockets Question

We were 45-37 the '01 season and went undefeated aganst the central. We were 26-4 against the east! Finished 9th seed. I think that is the best record to not make the playoffs ever.
Will most likely be beated by this years 9th place team though.
To make it worse, the rox finished 9th with a 43-39 record in '03. The Francis era teams could have been a great if they had been in the east.

 

I think 1 other team shut out a division.

 

this was from an old thread when we were currently 14-0 against the Central

http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=9571

and that years Rockets, at 45-37, are still the best team that didnt make the playoffs, which will most definitely be passed by this year's 9th seed...

 

just want to point out that there is no such thing as a "9th seed." We usually call them the 14th position lottery team.

carry on

 

can you believe Dallas is only 2 and a half games out of the 14th place lottery team position?

no, i think 9th seed will do just fine, thanks

 

yet people still be hatin on stevie

 

From what I remember and believe, the thing that hurt Francis's game and the Rockets offense during the Francis era was the illegal defense/zone defense rule change. Before that the Rockets were really hard to defend agains, because Rudy would just iso either Mobley or Francis.

 

His last playoff year he did everything he could to win for us. he averaged very very close to a triple double if i remember right (something like 20-8-8). I was actually really made about the T-Mac trade when it went down because I thought he was a ballhog. In retrospect to how the players went we made the right move.

 

...and no such word as "beated."

 

I actually had this discussion with someone the other day, and it was about who was the best team not to make it to playoffs it was two-timer by the Suns (of 71-72, 72-73), They managed to win 48 (58%) and 49 (59%) games back to back and failed to make the playoffs in both seasons. This is the only time in league history that a team did not make the playoffs with such high winning percentage...also this is when the NBA only allowed four teams from each conference to make the playoffs. So that is another thing to consider.

 

ERROR:

the 48 wins were in 70-71, 49 wins were in 71-72

 

I believe there were some 50 W teams that didn't make the playoffs, Nuggets or Warrios can be new ones too.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3306635

the 45-37 Rockets are the best team to miss the playoffs since the 16 team playoff system was introduced in 83-84

 

what i want to know is has any team who won 67 games failed to make it to the second round.

 

ROTFLMAO..........................

 

When there were 8 teams in front of you which are better, so did we consider it the best team? I m not hating on Francis but you missed the playoffs simply because you are not good enough! Case closed!

 

i dont think anyone is disagreeing with you. by best, they have the best record of any team to miss the playoffs since the 16 team format was introduced.
this is a fact.

its a dubious claim, and will be another factoid after the year is over.

but this season specifically, it does make a difference when you look at the 8 teams in the East vs. the 8 teams in the West which will play in late April.

Denver, or Golden State, or Dallas, will have to watch a far inferior team play in the East while they are on summer vacation.

 

he played all right but committed a lot of turnovers which was what was his downfall.

 

That rule change ruined Francis and Rudy, for that matter. Neither one could ever recover. Mobley who was a better shooter and defender managed to maintain a respectible career.

For me the most frustrating thing about Stevie is he could NOT execute a fastbreak to save his freaking life ...well that and the 22 second foot-off-the-ball turnover.

I hope he recovers from his surgery and can play a role for us next season.