I'm not joking, Rockets should be determined to be CHAMPION this season

Dream, Shaq, and Duncan made it to the finals in their second year so anything is possible. What do this guys have in common. They were all big men drafted #1. Yao will definitely make some noise this year.

 

Good call on the age factor, but we're still talking about a player who has gone on record as saying he shouldn't have to practice with his team. A superstar that doesn't believe in practice? I really wish more players would take note of how hard the guys like Jordan, Magic and Bird practised. Not to mention all the greats before them. I honestly believe Iverson will be washed up by 30 and I hate saying that, because I really love watching him play. It's great fun watching him attack the basket just to get literally swatted to the ground then get back up and attack the basket again, but unfortunately, his work ethic is lacking. I don't question his desire to win though, so possibly once it gets to the point he can't always beat people with his speed he'll start working hard to adjust his game. who knows.

Front court- still the slowest I've ever seen.
Point guard- Still Snow.
Bench- Still weak with the exception of McKie.

In closing, they're decent in the East but I don't think they could beat the Kings, Mavericks, Spurs, Rockets or Lakers in a best of seven and they might not even be able to beat the Trail Blazers or Seattle Supersonics in a best of 7.

Again, I've no respect and I had no respect BEFORE the rockets played them on saturday.

 

Granted. the Pacers are my favorite team, but I would love to see a Pacers/Rockets finals.

I think the matchups are intrigueing from all the starters to the first two guys off the bench. You have marquee players to attract a national audience, young stud players on both teams with universal appeal and extremely loyal fan bases.

That being said, I agree about what
rocketfan said:

Rocket's remind me of the Pacers last year, severly unerachieving. I look at Maurice and wonder what's wrong with him. Eddie puts up good stats, but he looks lost defensively. I must admt, Yao is pleasantly surprising me, but overall, this team is waaaay to talented to play as it does.

Maybe a few years of paying their dues, a second round spanking by Kings, or a Spurs squad, might give you guys the inner fire/anger to take it to the next level.

 

Championship already im in. But im not sure how the Lakers and Kings will take it.

 

Jm, here is what you and a lot of other fans don't seem to understand. Just because a player plays hard, does not mean he is an effective player. Just because Kevin Willis is a "hard working veteran" doesn't mean he was an effective player.

Kevin was always inconsistent with the Rockets. The only consistency Kevin brought to the Rockets was playing hard. But that does not make up for his hort arms, and his extremely overrated jump-hook, and his dirty cheap shots that always had the referees using laser beams on him.

In the past I have provided evidence, but that was before you registered here.

Here is why Kevin Willis hurt the Rockets. Go back and Watch the 1997 west finals against the Jazz, especially the games in Salt Lake City.

In the games in SLC, Kevin Willis played the worst basketball of any player I have ever seen in my 10 plus years of watching the NBA. He could not hit any shots, played bad defense, and believe it or nor, gave out a lot of cheap shots. I mean, Greg Foster took "Small Kev" to school.

What was even worse was that Kevin compounded his own problems and shortcomings by getting technical fouls as well. Thus giving more momentum to the Jazz and their fans. Willis's moronic actions caused the referee's to eyeball him like crazy, which mean't he became a fouling machine.

Of My 10+ years of watching the Rockets, Kevin Willis is by far the least smartest Rocket I have ever seen.

Whether you like to believe this or not, Kevin Willis was single-handedly the biggest reason the Rockets lost to the Jazz in the 1997 Western Conference Finals. The other "small reason" was the Rockets point guard play.

I said before the this season that the Spurs would not a be a serious contender because they picked up Kevin Willis. I was so pumped when he went to the Spurs. Right now the Spurs are as inconsistent as they have ever been in the Tim Duncan era.

 

rockets will win the championship when the knicks get lebron james in the lottery and they face off in the nba finals. knicks vs rockets. deja vu all over again.

 

Well, maybe we should DREAM about championship this year when we can play as well as the Mavs.

 

Mavs won't win crap this year. Their style works well in the regular season, but won't work in the playoffs. Playoff basketball is about slowing the game down to a grinding halt and Dallas isn't used to playing like this and will choke. However there is a first for everything.

 

I don't recall the Nets reaching the finals using slow halfcourt basketball.

The Mavs couldn't play defense. That's why they lost last year. They had no problem scoring with their style.

I think thle Mavs match up well against the Rockets. Offensively they have more weapons, Nash, Finley, Dirk and Nick can all score. Also, their scoring doesn't rely on post up play. They can win by popping up jumpers all night long. That's important because that negates Yao's ability to shut down the middle.

There is a first time on everything, but that's not saying much. Until the Rockets proved they can win a playoff series, it's way too early to talk about the title.

 

Out of the top four teams in the West, Dallas is the team we match up the best with. That is why we split the series with them last year even though we sucked ass. Dallas has no one to stop our guards. Actually they no one to stop any of our players. The only position they are better than us is what ever position Dirk is playing. We beat them or at least negate them at every other position.

If you look at the first game this year. We did pretty well until Yao got tired and that was when Dallas was playing their best basketball of the season and while we were just starting to get it together as a team and Cat was playing on two bum ankles. Also, the game was in Dallas.

Dallas is talking title even though they have won exactly one playoff series against the wolves who have never won a playoff series.

 

The Nets played in the East, which sucked last year. They could not have made top 4 in the West, and would have went out in the first round.

Not only were the Western Conference finals the real NBA finals, the Western Conference semi-finals were the real NBA semi-finals.

 

I have also started letting myself dream of this scenario as well.

The team has made strides lately that have exceeded my expectations. Why stop where we are now? This team should continue to get better.

It's a tossup in the West this season. I don't think the Lakers are a lock. Maybe I will feel differently in April but for now there are a half-dozen teams that could make a run at the Title. That Houston is or may be one of them is fantastic. I love this game.

 

True, they couldn't stop our gaurds. Who do we have to stop Nash and Nowitski then?

The Mavs didn't win 14 straight games last year. The Mavs this year is much better than last year's. The Rockets have gotten better too, but not to the point of winning 14 straight games yet.

Good point. Never hurt to add Yao Rocks comments. One thing for sure though, the playoffs are much, much more intense. If Yao's stamina doesn't improve, he might not last more than 25 minutes in a playoff game. Whether Yao burns out in the end of the season is another question mark.

When you are playing the way the Mavs do you have the right to talk about anything. The current Rockets never won a single playoff game and we are talking about championship. Ironic huh?

OK. We beat some tough teams recently and the team is heading to the right direction, but planning on a championship in Yao's rookie year and Steve's first playoff experience? There is a reason that Dream and Sampson went to the finals in the second year, and Duncan/Robinson won the title in the second year. We beat a shorthanded Kings without their starting point guard while Peja shot 1-7 - don't count on him repeating that in the playoffs - and we think it's time to beat all the powerhouses in a series. Not to say it's entirely impossible. Just way too early to tell.

 

Too soon, too soon, too soon. Yao will hit the rookie wall eventually, what happens then? Which one of our pf's can we count on in crunch time? What Moochie will show up? Too many questions to win anything at this time, be patient.

 

You have forgotten that the Mavs beat the Jazz as well. And the Jazz have (unfortunately) won a playoff series or two.

IMHO, the NBA game is changing and slowing things down may go the way of the old (pre-NBA zone) illegal defense. The Kings, Nets, and Mavs may dispell the "slow down" myth.

Don't believe me? Take Shaq out for this season with an injury and the Lakers clearly wouldn't make the playoffs. With Shaq out, would you bet your house that an uptempo team wouldn't win the 2002-2003 championship?

 

Well, assuming we play as well as we have been recently, we should do reasonably well in the playoffs.
For now, forget about the Lakers, Kings, and maybe Mavs.
The other Western teams are easily beatable because of the way we matchup with them.

 

You are probably right, Steve is in his 4th year and in the recent past no team leader with that little experience has taken a team to the Championship.
The Dream was in his tenth year before he got a NBA Championship, MJ his 7th, ShaQ his 8th. Robinson his 10th, but Magic Johnson lead the Lakers to a Chamionship as a rookie....so Im not giving up on the Rockets yet.............

 

BELIEVE! in the signature.

 

If the Rockets don't make the Finals, which is very likely, then I hope either the Kings or the Mavs play against the Nets.

I am not a fan of any of these teams. But I like their style. You know pro sports teams are copycats. If one of these teams are successful, everybody will copy their style. That's how I want the NBA to look like.