None of those games are "sure losses". Tough games, yes, especially when on the road... but still winnable.
Doubt they will even come close to making the playoffs if they were in the West. In fact, i probably think only MIA and IND will make the playoffs if they were in the west, though IND only have low chances of being the 8th seed. The gap between the east and the west is so big its so unfair an eastern team will get home court advantage throughout playoffs.
Not that 60 wins matters, but I can't believe the Rockets have never done that with all the success they have had.
That's a great point on home court. Maybe finals home court should be based on East-West match-up record for all teams. Or, perhaps head-to-head or some combination of the two.
OKC, SA and Miami are not "sure loses". Having said that, I don't think it is very likely the Rockets win 60 games. I had them at 55 before the season and I still think they will be in that neighborhood .... 56 or 57 seems very probable, as a 4th seed. Regardless, it has been a very good year for the Rockets. Harden has become closer to being a legitimate, year in and out top 5 player you can ride down the stretch.
Personally, I just want a top-4 seed with an eye on avoiding OKC in the 2nd round. I want Harden and Parsons rested towards the end of the season due to how many minutes they play. I think health is more important at this point than extra seeding. The west is so tough there are no easy 1st round matchups.
not looking and counting on the number of Ws - but just who is in front of the Rockets - they are in third right now and 2 games behind OKC -- so lets get the 2nd place first and then focus on getting first place and so forth. If they can beat OKC tomorrow and trim that gap to 1 game -- watch out
I had them at 61.5. Sadly that is not likely to happen. Losing their third best player for two months will do that to predictions.
I predicted 53-57 wins a couple of weeks ago. I still think we will end up in that range. We aren't going to beat all those bad teams, and the next three will be tough.
60 win means nothing if we won't go further in the playoffs. I will take playoff success over regular season success. Of course, it's possible we have both.
60 wins was unthinkable for the most part at any point in the season. It's still UNLIKELY. But for the first time, it's actually possible. Will it happen? Probably not. But if we go 2-1 this week, it goes from unlikely to - heck there's a real chance we could do it. And I don't care who you are, if this team wins 60 games, that's going to be an incredible feat. Only 63 teams have won 60+ games in a season in NBA history. Of those, only 7 did not make it to the conference finals. A team wins 60 games, and it's nearly a sure bet they will play in the conference finals! So yeah, it's a big deal. Rather win the division? We finish the season with 60 wins and we'll likely be the number 1 seed in the west. It's a long shot, but if we go 2-1 this week, it's doable.
Troubling? You find it troubling that I think they will lose to the two time defending champs, the favorites to come out of the west, and the second favorites out of the west who have 4 rings? Like you said, it's more about you being a homer. My prediction isn't troubling at all. I'm also not sure how it's pessimistic. We're talking about being rich or richer here. I basically implied we'd only win about 58 games. Times have changed a lot, if that's not having faith in your team... Perhaps it would help if I had said those are "sure losses" or those are likely losses...it's not like I'll be rooting against them just to prove a prediction...
Quote of the thread right there. Taking 1 game at a time, as mentioned so often, is the approach to success.
perhaps you should have.. saying its a sure loss is just wrong particularly against a team we are 3-0 against and you dont have to be a homer to know that just wait and see what the odds for those games will be I bet you they will not indicate that those games will be sure loses (rockets might even be favorites in some of them) also for the record I am a homer and I love it
