And I feel many Rockets fans are not giving the Blazers any credit. They were one of the best teams in the league earlier in the year and ended up falling back a bit after OKC and the Spurs strung together a bunch of wins. Then Aldridge got hurt and that set them back even more. The Blazers are a very very good team.
I don't see the improvement in the postseason. The Rockets had home court advantage, a healthier, better roster, and an easier opponent. And the outcome was exactly the same. Every other team that lost in the West in the first round had a pretty good excuse. Memphis had a hobbled Conley and suspended Randolph. Golden State was missing Bogut. And Dallas was an aging team and the 8th seed. And obviously all 3 were the underdogs. Yet they still managed to extend their series to 7 games. The Rockets couldn't even do that.
I don't let sports outcomes get to me as much as I did during my younger days. It's hard to take it as seriously when you have so much on your plate (family, career, etc.) vs. when you were single with no obligations to anyone but yourself. But man....this one HURT. Probably my most depressing sports moment since stockton's buzzer beater. It was a dark cloud over an otherwise GREAT weekend with my family.
Optimism here.... ...that's good. My feelings exactly. Whatever our expectations for the team were this season (after the euphoria of landing Dwight Howard), they needed to be tempered with some realization that the team was still a little ways away from where it hopes to be. This is a star-player driven league, and the Rockets have two stars in Howard and James Harden. Interestingly, it's because of trying to find a way to create a synergy between the two of them (so that there isn't this dance that seemed to happen in the Trailblazer series, where they each took turns while everyone else stood around), that jacked up what we all thought we could expect from the team this season. Progress is hard to gauge, because winning is winning, after all. But I think, overall, a lot of progress has been made with the Rockets. This was a young team (in age, and in familiarity with one another), despite both Howard and Harden's playoff experience. They needed to create a core of players that could be relied upon consistently, so that a team identity could be formed. There is still the idea of settling "whose team it is" between Howard and Harden, to me. Howard wants to improve his low-post game. Harden needs to learn to look to score in other ways. I always thought that either a facilitator and/or a definitive offensive system would help with that. I get a lot of the rancor surrounding Kevin McHale. Even though it wasn't stated by anyone in the organization, the expectation was to at least advance to the second round of the playoffs by most of our fan base. A young (and largely inexperienced) team such as ours needs to be able to develop chemistry with one another. But perhaps more than anything else, they need to be pointed in the right direction in order for that to happen. I'm willing to concede, at least for the time-being, that this season was as much a feeling out process for McHale as it was for the rest of the team. Even though Dwight Howard is in the midst of his prime and that time should not be needlessly wasted, there is some room for the team to grow. The good news is that Howard and Harden are here for the next few seasons. The core is nearly here. But the tricky part is figuring out how they can play together, and filling out a roster around the both of them. Tough way to end a promising season. But it's going to be fun to see where this goes. P.S. : I've seen other posters here "swear off" the Rockets for one reason or the other plenty of times before. I wouldn't worry about it a whole lot. If it didn't hurt so much, it wouldn't be love, would it?
I'm with you here. That Stockton shot was a kick to the groin. This was bad but the sting didn't last quite as long. Probably because less was at stake combined with what you already referenced. Perspective. It still sucks though.
You know what the most suck about the 1st round exist? 1. The fact that we have home court 2. The fact that we should have never lost 1 game let alone 2 at home. 3. The fact that we should have secured game #4 as well 4. The fact that we match up well with the Spurs. We have a great path and i think the best path in the NBA Playoffs. We don't have to go through the Thunder yet. This team should not have lost the series, that is a FACT!! That is the most disappointing part no matter how you slice it. If we lost by double digests or if we didn't have a chance against Portland, then that's okay. But we play dumb basketball in some of the games. That facts alone is what's HURT!!
The results were not the same. The Rockets should have been swept last year. They got lucky Westbrook went down. This year, they should have won this series. Last year the Rockets were much closer to being a team not deserving of a playoff spot. This year the Rockets were much closer to being a 2nd round playoff team.
The Rockets were also pretty banged up themselves last year in the playoffs. Lin basically missed that entire series, and Delfino went down after Game 4. Obviously they improved in the regular season by going from 45 wins to 54. But I disagree about them being much closer to being a 2nd round playoff team. They lost in 6 games just like a year ago. And as for them nearly being swept a year ago, guess what? They were nearly swept THIS year too. If Troy Daniels doesn't hit that three, this series would've ended last Sunday. I just don't see the improvement in the postseason that others are seeing. What did the Rockets show us in the Portland series that makes you think heading into 2014-15 they're just a few roster tweaks away from competing with the likes of the Spurs, Thunder, Clippers, and yes, even the Blazers?
Go back and look at it the shot clock did not start when he got the ball. He had extra time actually take a shot instead of just flicking in up there like DFish did against the Spurs.
I know the clock didn't start on time. But it doesn't take 0.9 seconds to get a shot off. And I timed it myself several from the moment he caught the ball to the moment it left his hands. It took 0.53 seconds. He had time to spare.
Fun fact, Bull gets to vote for ROY! http://www.nba.com/media/050514-2013-14-ROY-Carter-Williams-Votes.pdf Bill and Clyde do not, haha
Exactly how I feel. I got over it Sunday afternoon when I was busy with family. As for the depression I felt that night, the last time I felt so sick was when Lidge gave up the homerun to Pujols in the 9th inning not allowing us to advance to the WS that night. Sickening feeling.
Remember how the seating turned out great for us? Best case scenario? Portland - should be easy. Then Spurs who we beat 4 out of 4 times. Then either the Clipper or Thunder, which we likely were not going to get pass. So 2nd round was min and WCF wasn't out of the question. So of course it stings. I just need to see one major improvement next year (that is totally doable and in our control) for us to get into the high 50s and even 60 win. Harden defense and consistent effort.
