We definitely didn't tank. We were genuinely bad from start to finish. And the number of fouls they were calling was giving me a migraine, not to mention our nonexistent defense.
You are over thinking this. Adelman is resting his players, the Nuggets desperately needed this game and the game was in Denver. It's not a big mystery why they lost. Do you really think a team with Yao, Battier and Bobby Jackson is going to go on the road and pull a victory in these circumstances?
neither uta or sas are going to tank because phoenix is also in the equation: if uta beats hou and sas beats uta then: 1 LAL 57 2 NOH 56 3 SAS 56 4 UTA 54 5 HOU 55 6 PHX 55 if uta beats hou and uta beats sas then: 1LAL 57 NOH 56 UTA 55 PHX 55 SAS 55 HOU 55
in either scenario hou meets utah and sas plays phx. If uta loses to sas then hou has hca over utah. if sas loses to uta then phx has hca over sas. i do not think a scenario exists where sas will meet houston in the playoffs if hou finishes with 55 or more wins.
Everything was attrocious. It's like their defense knew our plays and expected them with blocks. There was no movement or crisp passes. The offensive rebounding was gone, and the fearlessness going into the paint shown against Phoenix wasn't there. This was definitely a game for the dark ages.
In reality, I have been concerned about the Rocket's mindset ever since they clinched a playoff spot. They began talking about resting injuries and getting playoff ready. The focus was off of doing everything possible to eek out the best playoff position. They started to sound like winning was secondary. That's why I was really surprised by the Phoenix win. But it is obvious that are tired of the regular season and they got what they deserved tonight. Winning tomorrow will be a tall order (though we are one of the only teams that have won in Utah this year). If T-Mac really shows up with anything other than another 7-20 jump shooting night and a quiet fade into the night, I will be surprised.
The loss was disgusting for me, sitting in the front row. But I gotta ask, did anyone see and my mom sporting our ROckets jerseys during the game? Some houston camera man filmed us...let me know if we looked like douchebags with beer. Cod
I heard about Adelman wanting to rest the starters, especially McGrady, but I don't think they really wanted to lose this game. I really hope they show up tomorrow. A win in Utah will give us great momentum going into the playoffs.
I don't buy the conspiracy theories, so I am not saying they wanted to lose this game. I am just saying they didn't want to win it bad enough to make the necessary effort. Look, as impressive as they were against Phoenix (and they were that), they were just as disgusting tonight. I am not usually a doomsday kind of guy (and I never say "automatic loss" like someone did on this board befor the Suns game), but I am not feeling good about tomorrow. The Rockets blew it big tonight and they are foolish for it.
No, if it were that simple we would have lost by a few points in 4th. We were annihilated. It doesn't take a conspiracy theory to explain it.
Well of course we were outplayed, because the Nuggets actually tried, whereas the Rockets sort of went through the motions. DD
SOUL DESTROYING!!! I had expected so much more from a playoff team. Not sure I can go through it again on Monday Night, I am just too old !!
I read a few posts and I just want to tell you that I saw no tanking just bad basketball and it almost made me ill to watch it.
Well, then, that's more disconcerting than purposefully tanking. I think it is somewhere in between just getting outplayed and not trying. I believe we would have really liked to win, if Denver just would have handed it to us. Unfortunately, they were cooperating, and so we shrugged our shoulders, bent over, and took our spanking. It was absolutely pitiful effort, so let's not make any excuses for them. Also, it isn't the end of the world either, yet. The apocalypse begins when we open the playoffs in Utah!
I like that scenario at least we don't have to travel far if we play the spurs in the 1st round.I think that would be a good 7 game series. I pick the Rockets in 6.
You are incorrect. See link to check on the scenarios. If the Jazz beat the Rockets, they can still face the Rockets in the 1st round (and most likely with homecourt). bottom of the page: http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=144705&page=20&pp=20
