excluding the opening game we've lost every game following 1 day rest (2 games) between games. We've won every game (2 games) with 2 days rest between games. I was thinking coincidence but you would have to be blind not to see the team operate better offensively with the extra day of prep. Without the extra day we played out of control and with no flow for large parts of the game. we scored 82,84 on 1 day rest but 94,95 on two days rest. And then you consider the walking wounded(almost everyone) or the old(deke) and I really think is plain to see, that extra day is pure gold for those guys. Now, does this mean we win game 6 and lose game 7? Let's win game 6 and I'll take my chances for game 7
i think more than prep they just simply need rest and time to heal. this team is really beat up. shane, rafer, tmac.
There could be a lot of coincidence in this statistics. However, the number of days of rest could have a significant bearing on the Rockets success in playoff games. In fact, the one thing that I worried about the most is the health condition of the Rockts players, from Tmac to Rafer, Battier, Landry, etc. If all Rockets are healthy, and have "fresh legs" under them, this team can beat Jazz for sure.
I thought about this yesterday, and I too realized it would cause us to lose game 7 if the trend holds up. Someone should look at our record (since Yao went out, I guess) to see if the trend holds up in the regular season as well. Also look at the difference between home and road. I would, but I've got a real busy day at work today.
If we stump the Jazz, nothing will stop us after that, because these players are going to be very excited and feeling good about themselves.
2 days rest really helps the rox for sure given the injury problems. i think we can still do well with 1 day rest though. remember we didnt have rafer to run the offensive flow in game 2, which we almost won.
i will do anyyyyything for the rockets to win this series. i dont care if we get swept by the lakers in the next round..but just pleaseeeeeee win this series.
if we win game 6, one day of rest on game 7 is enough for us to beat them, it's home court and our fans are there to give them boost.
from the time yao went down, through game 5, the rockets are: 16-8 in games where they have 1 day off or less. 5-2 in games where they had 2 or more days off. (slightly better W%, on much smaller sample size). looking at after the streak ended in the boston game through game 5 the rockets are: 8-7 in games where they have 1 day off or less. 3-2 in games where they had 2 days off or more. (better W%, again much smaller sample size). ---------------------- looking ahead to game 6, i decided to check out how the rockets have done on the road against teams with winning records, after 2 days or more rest. since the streak ended the rockets are just 1-1 (well the small sample size could've been predicted thanks to how specific the search criteria is). the loss coming to the spurs. the win coming in game 4 to the jazz. since the streak ended, on the road against winning teams with 1 day off or less, the rockets are 2-6. statistically, the stats don't prove anything worth while due to small sample size. however, the rockets win % is higher with 2 days off or more. keep in mind that most teams probably have better winning %'s with more days off. and what about the jazz record against winning teams at home with 2 or more days off? i bet that's a pretty good record too.
I do think it is prep b/c arguably nobody is better at game-to-game adjustment than the monocle. He's especially better than Sloan in this respect. Has to help for Game 6. Sloan will be trying to figure out the McGrady-post stuff, and the Monocle will already be hitting the Jazzholes with new wrinkles.
Tmac's splits in terms of days of rest (regular season): http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/splits?playerId=532 As you can see, he gets rusty from extra days of rest, but I think the playoffs is a totally different beast, so take it for what its worth...
