Currently the rockets are 5-12 against the west and 11-2 against the east. Their record against the west is only better than the hornets in the west. The rockets play 30 games against the east and 52 against the west. If they continue this pace they will win between 40-41 games. Why do the rockets struggle so much with west teams. The west is better, but they shouldn't be worse the kings when playing western conference teams.
I don't think you can draw any real conclusions until the end of the season. The Kings may have played the worst of the West, while the Rockets may have played the best of the West. The way the schedule is structured can also play a role. Have the Rockets played a lot of back to back games against the West, but not the East?
The Rockets Strength of Schedule is also 4th in the NBA, or 4 out of 15 Western Conference teams. That will even itself out over the season. Playing SA 3 times and OKC 2 times will tend to skew your conference record.
We also played a number of West teams during our first month when the offense, defense and coaching were a complete mess. I would bet that if we had the 2 x Portland games now, if they went to OT they wouldn't take them both. I suspect we'd blow them out in Regulation to be honest. So part of it is the East is just weak. Part of it is this team is still a work in progress. Expect improving results over time. :grin:
Denver had 22 road games though, Rockets just 12. Denver is very good at home(9-1). Lakers are better and will end up with better record than Rockets. It's going to be tough battle for 8th spot with Minnesota, Utah and Dallas.
It's pretty simple actually if you look at which Western teams we played: - Spurs 3x - Lakers 2x - Thunder 2x - Grizzlies 2x - Blazers 2x - Mavericks 1x - Nuggets 1x - Wolves 1x - Hornets 1x - Jazz 2x That is 9 games vs. Spurs, Lakers, Thunder & Grizzlies are all top level teams that we can maybe beat one game but in a series, no way. Outside of the Lakers - who are better than their record indicated - that is top 5 in the West. In my opinion, it should be no suprise that we are 2-7 against top teams. There are 2 games against two teams that are below .500 and we should be able to beat in the Mavs & Hornets. We split these games, 1-1 The rest, 6 games, are against teams that are equal or slightly better or worse than us in the Nuggets, Jazz, Wolves & Blazers. We are 2-4 and had a real shot in winning both Blazers games that we in fact should've won. The Denver game we were still learning and the Jazz are still tough at home. So what does this all mean? Take away the top teams and we are 3-4 against teams that we should win 75-80% of the time if we want to be taken seriously. As explained, we lost winnable games and while that is a concern, the overall record against the West should not be a surprise since we are the youngest team. That can beat LA & Memphis, and be in the game against the Spurs, is a positive sign but it's not fair to expect them to have a winning record against that kind of talent and experience.
Yes, Denver's had a much tougher time than us. I didn't say we had the toughest schedule, just one of the tougher ones. Also, Denver is A LOT BETTER than the Rockets talent wise. It would be very surprising if we end the season with a better record.
But what does it mean when the Rockets also have a better record in the Eastern conference at 12-2 than any Eastern Conference team? Golden State is the only team with a better EC record at 13-2.
Sums it up pretty nicely. The West plays similar pace, can guard transition pretty well, has better home teams, more powerhouses, high altitude in Colorado and Utah. And we are start clicking right now. Wait till we get to play teams like the Suns, Kings, Hornets more.
I just wanted to add these somewhere in the forum. Not even sure if they belong here (but I tried to make them as relevant as possible. :grin Spoiler NBA’s Christmas Day sneakers http://nba.si.com/2012/12/26/nba-ch...ant-kevin-durant-dwight-howard/?sct=uk_bf2_a3 WEST Kevin Durant Spoiler Russell Westbrook Spoiler Blake Griffin Spoiler Chris Paul Spoiler Kobe Bryant (low front heel) Spoiler Steve Nash (low front heel) Spoiler Dwight Howard Spoiler Pau Gasol Spoiler James Harden Spoiler Jeremy Lin (low front heel) Spoiler JaVale McGee Spoiler EAST Rajon Rondo Spoiler Paul Pierce Spoiler Deron Williams Spoiler Gerald Wallace Spoiler Carmelo Anthony Spoiler Lebron James Spoiler Dwyane Wade Spoiler Joakim Noah Spoiler
The most teams in the West are younger, stronger and faster then most East teams. Makes it harder to combat although they are starting to get there.
It's a rivalry, yeah. The East coast has Biggie, Nas, Method Man, 50 cent...but then again the West coast has Snoop and Pac. It's hard to know where the Rockets stand until we see Chandler Parsons in the next rap battle. realposting: Beating the East is barely a big deal even to other Eastern Conference teams. That conference got no reason to live.
1. It is a fallacy to assume that the Rockets will continue to do well against Eastern teams and struggle against Western teams to the same degree. There is nothing inherent in the nature of the conference that makes it a better or worse matchup for the Rockets (or any other team). For example, HOU has lost 5 games to SAS and OKC, it doesn't mean that SAC and PHX are also tough matchups. 2. The opponents in the 17 Western Conference games played by HOU in 2012 are quite different than the opponents to be played in their remaining 35 Western Conference games. For example, 5 out of these 17 games were played against the top 2 teams in the Conference, OKC and SAS and none will be against bottom-dwelling PHX and SAC. Only 2 out of HOU's remaining 35 Western Conference games will be played against OKC and SAS and 7 out of the 35 will be against PHX and SAC. Overall, the weighted winning % of HOU's opponents in its first 17 Western Conf. games is 58.2%. For HOU's remaining 35 Western Conference games, the weighted winning % of the opponents is only 51.2%. The Rockets will be playing very different Western Conference teams. 3. Also, one big factor the apparent "split" is how games happen to be scheduled. For example, only 2 out of the 14 games HOU played against Eastern Teams have come on the 2nd half of back-to-back. On the other hand, 6 out of the 17 games HOU played against Western Teams have come on the 2nd half of back-to-back. Also, the Rockets played Eastern teams only 5 times on the road and 9 times at home. They played Western teams 8 times on the road and 9 times at home. Given that home games, and games not on the 2nd half of back-to-back are generally easier, it is apparent that, even disregarding of opponent quality, HOU has played the Eastern teams on more friendly scheduling terms than it has played the Western teams. 3. FWIW, HOU's Eastern opponents in 2012 (14 games) have a weighted average win% of 50.0%. Their upcoming Eastern opponents (16 games) have a weighed average win % of 41.2%. Overall, HOU's 2012 opponents (31 games) have a weighted average win % of 54.5%. Their upcoming opponents (51 games) have a weighted average win % of 48.4%. Now, opponent win% is only a rough measure of opponent quality (point differential is a better measurement in than win%), but it should work well enough in the aggregate and either measure would show that HOU's 2012 games have had more difficult opponents than their 2013 games, regardless of we are talking just games against Western teams, games against Eastern teams or on an overall basis.
