i f#ckin love it... lowry has improved dramatically... the only knock on his game?? makin his own shot... now hes doing just that... the other knock?? well hes not clutch... hes proving that wrong... he has really put us on his back and carrys this team...
Hard to believe that this team with so many apparent weaknesses keeps winning. But the Rockets have: - Excellent defenders at the 1 & 3 spots. - Very good offensive players at the 1, 2, & 4. - A deep bench - A coaching staff that has motivated these guys to play hard all the time. It's been exciting to watch. If KMart and Scola can get back to what they were doing last year, this team can do even better.
You gotta give credit to McHale and his coaching staff as well. For all the flack he's gotten, he's been able to push these guys and motivate them. He might not be the best at X's and O's but he sure has the personality and old school mindset that gets the job done.
2011 vs 2012 per game: minutes: 32.5 vs 32.5 minutes pts: 23.4 vs 18.1 fg: 6.9/15.8 for .436 vs 6.1/14.0 for .432 3fg: 2.2/5.7 for .383 vs 2.1/5.7 for .364 reb: 3.3 vs 2.8 ast: 2.5 vs 2.6 to: 2.3 vs 1.7 And really the key to his inconsistency, to me atleast, can be contributed to this last one. FT: 7.4/8.4 for .888 vs 3.9/4.4 for .882 He hasn't changed, the officiating has. Less free throws leads to some wild inconsistency, but nothing has really changed. Still a great shooter who is weak but improving on D.
Rockets history isn't as bright as you think. At 58.8%, if we actually keep pace for an entire season, would rank us at #12 of 44 overall seasons in Rockets history. It's better than more than half the seasons in which Hakeem was still a factor for the team.
Lowry was known for being clutch a season back. Just struggled a bit this season cause he was taking too many 3s at one point.
Guys calling the Lakers Mavs game on ESPN right now are giving the Rockets some love. Sounds like JVG?
Lowry was great and How about that fourth quarter for Martin, I like the way he steps up in the fourth and makes shots.
A lot of those 3's were because the offense was breaking down and he had to shoot before the shot clock went off.
The way I see it. Going into the all star break we can be no worse than 1.5 games back of the 3rd seed. Clips lose tonight and its only 1 game back of Dallas, who we have yet to play, for that 3 seed. Not bad.
We are about as "so-so" this year as the Lakers at this point in the season. I think we have all conceded that this season is a wash to a certain extent. The difference is that quite a few folks around here were advocating for developing a losing mentality this season instead of a winning mentality. I like the route that the Rockets have taken, which is to continue to develop a culture of hard work and hustle. This is only going to help the team during the off-season and draft where we have sufficient assets to climb in the draft if necessary. Or make some waves in free agency. Meanwhile - kudos to the organization from the top to the bottom as I am enjoying the team *this* season which is something that I'm not sure I would have thought possible a few months back.
The losses to Minny and Warriors hurt us bad. Otherwise we could have been top 3 now. But I am still awesomely pleased with the teams effort.
Proud of our boys... Anyone know what our best winning percentage was last season? How many games above .500 did we get? I remember we always floated around that mark.
The team is better than most expected, especially considering a new coaching staff with no training camp and only 2 preseason games. Also with the extra distraction of the trade Stern cancelled. That being said this is about the pace they were playing at for the 2nd half of last season and aren't serious contenders to win it all at this point. It will be interesting to see what the trade deadline brings. Lowry had about a 2 and a half week stretch of playing inconsistant and below all star level, but seems to have bounced back from that.
