I got my hopes up during the 22. I thought they would get past the 1st round. But landing a series versus the Jazz is the worse matchup we could've gotten. So, see you next year!
I expected the team to at least get past the first round.... But damn can't we be finally healthly? Can't Tracy and Yao play together for the whole season?
I didn't feel that we could beat the Jazz without Yao. Losing Rafer obviously makes things harder. I thought we might be able to win 2 games with a healthy team minus Yao. Getting swept would be disappointing but I can live with it as long as we fight it out to the end. I felt a 1st round exit was most likely without Yao. The only team that I felt the Rockets had a chance of beating was the Nuggets.
the difference between the rockets and the jazz in terms of record is not that much. you are seriously underestimating how bad of a matchup the jazz are for the rockets, especially a depleted rockets team. simply put, the jazz are the worst matchup for the rockets in the west. second would be new orleans.
completely in agreement here. I just feel a lot of those people who say they believe that we will tie in utah dont have a clear view of reality. Nothing wrong with that, but I just hope no more trade Tmac for Manu this kind of crap pop up if we get swept.
before Yao went down: HIGH expectations for title after Yao went down: NO expectations for playoffs after 22 game streak: High expectations to pass first round after regular season: Some expectations to pass first round after game 1: Little expecations to pass first round after game 2: No expectations to pass first round
i had the Jazz winning 4-1 before i learned of Rafer's abscence for two games. funny thing about it is, had the rockets known they were going to be w/o rafer for two games, it would have been better not to have HCA, so he coulda missed the first two road games and been back when the team came home. the rockets could have beaten the nuggets, and would have made a good series with dallas or (yes I'm going to say it) LA. The matchups with LA are a rockets fan's dream come true, although I think LA would still win it in the end.
My prediction was Jazz in 6 games. But that was before I heard Rafer would be missing the first 2 games. But I still thought the Rockets could pull off a split at home. Were they going to win a championship without Yao? Of course not. Were they going to the Western Conference Finals without the guy? Highly unlikely. Could they have won a playoff series? I don't think that was too far-fetched considering they had home court advantage. Against the odds, yes. But not completely outside the realm of possibility. My biggest concern the last couple months after Yao went down more than anything else was free throw shooting. We got away with it in the regular season, but it came back and bit us in the ass in Game 2.
When we were matched up with Utah I had a bad feeling. When Rafer, Battier, McGrady and Landry all got banged up right before season's end I got a REALLY bad feeling.
I thought Landry would have more of an impact. I was way off there. Obviously he plays much better with Yao Ming on the floor.
landry is still not right. he wont be until he's had a chance to really rehab his knee and strengthen it up for next year. on top of that, don't forget that he reall, really is not wanting to tear up his knee (which I would guess is ~80% based on what I've heard) when he's on a one year contract. pretty much, if he gets seriously hurt by playing on one-and-a-half knees in this series, he's screwed financially.
NO, I'm not. I wasn't born yesterday. I have watched a lot of basketball. I have played a lot of basketball. I understand what the Rockets are up against, and I still expected at least 1 win. I agree. I was rooting for a Suns match up myself.
My "expectation" goes back to Game 7 of last year's playoffs. Said it many times since... If any 2 of 3 of Battier, Alston and Hayes play starter minutes, they're another 1st round exit. Yao was never part of my equation. But I did not think they'd get swept which seems like a possibility.
Aren't we going to be the first team to win 19+ and not win a championship? Aw man, so much negative publicity. Again, this will tarnish T-Mac's reputation. I feel bad for him...Kinda
After Yao went down, making playoff is big enough an achievement in West conference this year. By getting home court advantage Rockets alreay over-achieved. Of course I don't expect a sweep by Utah if Alston is healthy. Anyway, this season is not a failure, it's something to build on.
Battier, Alston and Hayes are not real problems, injury is. If both Yao and Alston are healthy, I think Rockets will beat Utah.
After Yao went down, i said Utah was not our best match up and i wished we would not meet them in the first. But everyone else or most people on this board almost castrated me in writing for daring to suggest that Utah was better than us, to them Utah was the perfect matchup and this would be the best time to inflict revenge. What i failed to understand is why anyone in his right mind who saw us lose with Yao to the same Utah team would expect us to win without Yao especially since Utah had one of the best pgs in the league and the whole team had been together longer while the Rockets had several new parts. Honestly, i didn't expect us to get out of the first round against Utah, and the blame is not entirely on TMAC, the odds are heavily stacked against him and the man must be heavily plagued by bad luck. BUT I DID NOT EXPECT TO BE SWEPT FROM THE FIRST ROUND, ESPECIALLY NOT BY UTAH WHEN WE POSSESS THE HOME COURT ADVANTAGE Even Steve Francis and the 03-04 team won one game without homecourt advantage
But you never know, TMAC has stated several times that he prefers playing away from home and the rockets were one of the 4 teams to win Utah at home. So again you never know, but knowing my hero TMac, the chances of that happening are backpain x lousy teammates x 4th quarter x 100% pick and roll
