I see that most of you are freaking out about What has happened to the team with injuries....so lets recap 1. Tmac CLAIMS he is healthy and ready to go...I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say he will average 21 ppg 4.5 rpg 6 apg rest of the way. I feel I am being fair. 2. Ron Artest should be back soon and I expect him to average around 17 ppg 5 rpg 3 apg. 3. We have been plagued with injuries. Well most of you feel the sky is falling so I thought I'd go deeper. We are not a first half of the season team and our record shows. 2007-2008 @ 41 games: 22-19 2006-2007 @ 41 games: 25-16 2005-2006 @ 41 games: 15-26 2004-2005 @ 41 games: 22-19 This year @ 41 games: 25-16 We have tied the best record @ the midway point in the past 4 years. Conclusion: During the regular season, we will be fine. We will finish with 50+ wins and probably be anywhere from 2-5 seed. Our team will click and hopefully we go on a 10+ game winning streak. However, everyone is worried about the regular season. Even with our problems we are on the right track. COme playoff time it is a whole other story. All of my stats and arguements go down the drain in playoff time because the team that wants it more gets it. No stat exists that measures that so we will have to wait and see if this team has what it takes. Until then, please stop complaining after every game!
i agree.... for some reason, with players like Yao, Battier, TMAC, and Artest, the team is destined to make the playoffs. now with artest, lets get passed the first round!
I was thinking about this when I checked the standings this morning. Seems like we're much worse than 25-16 right now. Here are some teams that currently have worse records than us: Detroit Miami (with a healthy DWade) Atlanta (same as us) Utah Phoenix dallas But..... To play devils advocate, I can understand why some people are freaking out. Some of us are really tired of hearing about how the regular season doesn't matter. This team hasn't been out of the 1st round in a DECADE so I can at least understand the frustration. Some of us are tired of the same ol' "wait until we get healthy!!" mantra. We hear it every single year, but it never seems to happen.
but complaining is what 99% of this board does best. they are all about extremes, we are playing great omg we are going to be champions, we lose 1 game omg we suck trade tmac trade everyone.
I can't speak for all the other complainers, but for me, I am dissappointed with where the team is record wise. I am tired of sneaking in at number 4 or 5, and then facing an opponent that is about equal in stature to the Rockets. There is a reason that most champions come from the 1-3 spots in the conference, they have by far the easiest road to the championship. If this team had come out and played hard, I could easily see them being a couple of games back of the Lakers and at first place in the division instead of 3 games back in the loss column. I am dissappointed in the record to date, and hope they make up ground, but I would rather come out like gang busters and take the league by the throat like the first Rockets championship team did. This having to do it the hard way, makes it....well....harder....and for a team that has had zero playoff success and a ton of injuries, they need a break in the first round to get their sea legs so to speak. I hope that makes sense. DD
One game at a time....It's been looking better recently. It will look even better when we finally have our full roster. There is no reason we can't be a top team in the west this year.
Just got to wonder what the ride of the 3rd will be like. Hopefully we will be discussing it in June. DD
I think the record would be 3-4 games better if Adelman had made better decisions on who finishes games and with 4th quarter play-calling. His stubbornness and misplaced loyalties continue to bother me. He needs to be more innovative and to think outside of his box. Playoff matchups are important but I'm more concerned with team chemistry and health than seeding. McGrady and Artest need to be at full strength soon and they need to join the program on offense instead of playing outside of it 95% of the time. Isolations are OK sometimes but the steady diet of them from Tracy has to stop. Ron moves without the ball and often beats up his defender trying to get post position, which is good because he usually makes his defender work hard. Tracy should learn something from that. At the same time, Ron isos too much himself, but teammates don't automatically give him the ball every single time on offense like Tracy. If both guys get healthy soon and blend in with the team, the Rockets will be dangerous. To be a real Finals contender, they have to get another PG. The Rafer/AB combo just isn't good enough. They need to make the equivalent of the 2005 Mike James trade. Then you can make a case the Rockets are as good as the Lakers. Without PG help, the best the Rockets will probably do is make the 2nd round.
We had faith in that team because we were coming off a championship. This year's team is coming off it's 11th straight year of not making is past the 1st round of the playoffs.
i was thinking this two weeks back when we lost the first 3 games of January.... was lazy and never looked it up. thanks
