Face it, folks, the Clippers are just better at NBA than the Rockets are

Nothing wrong with making a prediction based on analysis that ends up not coming to fruition. Most people don't even have the backbone to do that on an anonymous message board, but they're quick to troll those who do. Nobody is 100% correct when making predictions. If the Rockets are competitve against the Warriors, which they haven't been all season (I know the team wasn't the same and/or healthy), then you can consider them legit contenders. But if they get eliminated the same way Memphis did, then they're not contenders.

 

This is all so wrong and biased it feels like they are reading off a script written by Sir Charles:

Better by polling -
Here we have 2 'natl sportswriters' actually advocating American-Idol-style voting to declare the 'better team' versus on-court results
Glad neither had a say in determining the new CFB Playoff system

Fatigue as deciding factor -
Hey Blake ... if I remember correctly, didn't you get an extended rest mid-season while hurt as CP3 carried your team to #3 seed playing all 82 games?
And didn't CP3 himself get almost a week off to rest MID-SERIES while his hammy healed?

I actually just found an updated definition from Webster's for "Carrying a team on his back" - see James Hardens' entire 81-game 2014-15 regular season with teammates who combined to miss more games than any team in the league
And while the Clippers were suffering a collapse for the ages at the end of G6, wasn't it Dwight Howard who played ALL 24 minutes of the 2nd half???
... what a joke

Bench/roster inferiority -
Is there anyone else but the Clippers (as a team) to blame for this, and specifically coach/GM Doc Rivers?
Who forced the 'better' team to trade away up-and-coming superstar Bledsoe for JJ Redick and Jared Dudley?
Who forced the 'better' team to sign Spencer Hawes to MLE?
Who forced the 'better' team to trade away supersub Dudley + 1rd pick to the Bucks for nothing?
Who forced the 'better' team to let Collison walk in FA and replace him with Farmar and coaches' son?
They are acting like those actions are not a direct result of the 'better' teams' own personnel decisions, while giving no credit whatsoever to the masterful job Morey did of building a great roster on the fly after losing his supposed '3rd star' in RFA

Fake division defense -
Maybe the stupidest part of the whole thing, which is saying quite a bit
Our SW division was 2nd in history to have all 5 teams make the playoffs ... so well over half the entire WC playoff field was from our 'fake' division
Meanwhile their 'real' PAC division was 2 good teams ... and 3 lotto teams including 2 of the 3 worst in the entire conference
I seriously think that dumbass Lowe honestly believes the Rockets play in the NW division ... he sure is describing them like the Blazers


This is all nonsense ... very similar to that coming from our own fans here
If Ramona and Lowe are on your side in any argument, please first make sure everyone involved are certain in which division the Houston Rockets reside

 

I had the exact same reaction when I heard Lowe say this. Makes no sense from a guy who usually knows what he's talking about.

 

You're right and that was my initial point. Regardless of how you break it down, division winners or those with the better conference record, each of those has its flaws.

And aside from that, it's just a weird time to bring up that argument, as it could be used in any series ever. Plus when you tack on that the Rockets played in probably the toughest division of all time, it's painfully disingenuous to try and discredit them by saying that they were fortunate enough to get home court in an arbitrary way.

Barely a two cent discussion from ESPN. Par for the course for their standards though.

 

Milos, I just tried to explain how complicated the question of "better" is, and how all of us absorbed/incorporated the changing manifestations of the two teams as the series unfolded. And then you come back at me with a lament that I'm "locked into a static perception," "resistant to change," and "failing to "allow for new data." You lace that with a lecture about how "learning is a fool's only hope for a cure" and how you "hope I never reach an age where I no longer have the capacity or desire to learn something new and adjust my thinking accordingly."

It's like you had this speech ready about how you represent the idea of learning, and anyone who disagrees with you is stuck in the past, and you just went ahead and delivered that speech without regard to what I said. You're creating a squabble where there ain't one.

As for quitting/playing harder, all I'm saying there is that we stood and fought late in the 3rd and in the 4th of Game 6, as opposed to consistent effort. We put ourselves in a hole 4 times in this series through lack of intensity. That includes Game 6. Fortunately, we got our act together at the end of that game.

 

i sporadically read this thread but y'all are some fools, cause this dude had the foresight of logical expectations are some of y'all still wanted to be in the doldrums about being down 3-1.

 

That's what happens when you lose Simmons!

 

There are only 4 teams left out of 30. If you are in that list then you are a contender. I don't know why this is still subject to debate.

 

If he gets his masters in english and teaches the whole world proper english, will that change the fact that you were wrong with your prediction?

 

HA.

HAHA

No, we simply believe... and we were right

 

KWAME DA KLOWN! Back to **** on the Rockets in their moment of triumph,

Unfotunately for you my dear friend, **** rolls downhill, even to the Henderson Nevada hidey hole where you've been since about 1:45 AM EST last Thursday night while the rest of us celebrated.

hahahahahaha

Acceptance! ahahaha

Yohohoohahaooaoa perception

Just incredible. Keep f-ng that chicken bro.

 

Wait, now we're demanding confessions from everyone who thought, after the first few games, that we'd lose the series?

Dude, that's gonna be a REALLY long line. You and BabySeal and a couple of other angels can stand to one side and accept our apologies.

As for me:
https://twitter.com/saletan/status/600066733207101441

 

I think we have to separate the serial negativists (e.g. the OP and Kwame) from people who were just rationally analyzing our matchup, the teams odd flaws, and the series (tons of other people, including me). Is that too much to ask?

I guess so.

 

Its about owning up. All of us here wont lose a single penny when we end up being wrong. The only thing that has any worth in this forum is each individual's reputation. It's really easy, just type "I was wrong" .

Some of us embrace the team concept even though we are not really part of the team and part of that is no quit attitude. If you want expect your team to do great, the least you can do is NOT quit on them.

 

Very much this. I tried to stress this in another thread.

There is a difference between thinking the team would lose and actually subconsciously rooting for them to lose so you could post the nah-nah-nah boo boo grave dancing threads on clutchfans. Carl, Kwame, cheke, etc. went from trying to be objective to just hating Morey so much that they wanted the team to lose so they could be right. That's the type of poster that deserves whatever scorn they get. You look at Carl for example, he still won't even say the Rockets are contenders, still says Clippers were better, etc. "Playoffs aren't over." "OH yeah? Let's see what they do in the next round!"

If you thought the Rockets would lose at some point this series? I've got no beef with that.

 

Honestly, it's hard to really put that label on this situation. We were the #2 seed in the Western Conference going into the postseason and Southwest Division Champions. We had the same record as the Clippers. Sure, Vegas favored the Clippers winning the series, and by the Webster definition we were underdogs for that simple fact alone. However, we were by far and away not a 'dark horse', nor do I believe that we 'upset' the Clippers. Did we falter in the first 4 games? Sure, but I don't believe luck or variance had much to do with the outcome of the series. We simply played with the belief that we could win the series, moreso than the Los Angeles Clippers. Lesser teams would have folded in the fourth quarter of game 6.

 

At some point posters need to be held accountable for their consistently terrible opinions.

 

When I have ever said that I want the Rockets to lose? Stop making stuff up. You're the same guy that said that Josh Smith was garbage while people like me were saying he was a game changer.

 

Guys like Kwame get exposed during tough times and their fandom or lack thereof should be exposed.

They say they're realists. I say they're miserable "fans" that would rather have our team lose to be proven right.


See sig. Been there for a minute now.

 

My man ... you, me, Herrera and basically the entire NBA world were on the exact same page after GM4
I could have written the exact same post at the exact same time Carl did, and I've been dreading the Clips in a playoff series for the past 3+ yrs
If you added up the past 1000 consecutive days, my answer to "best" team among these 2 would have been an immediate "Clippers" without any hesitation for 995 of those days, just like yours I assume


The only problem I have is with you, CH, Lowe, Ramona or anyone else still clinging to this perception that has clearly become out-dated
I just want you and the rest of Clutch City to get on board, because there's still more than enough haters on the other side doubting Houston

Let the rest of the world predict 5 games and out in the WCF and continue dumping shade on top of OUR team ...
We're smarter than that now because of what we witnessed in the ONLY 3 games this series in which anything could be decided, which the Rockets happened to win consecutively and convincingly

Sometimes the past becomes instantly irrelevant in light of new discoveries
I'm no longer interested in what I thought about these 2 teams 2 year ago, or 3 months ago, or even 5 days ago ... because The Times They Are a-Changin'
Sometimes progress comes in quantum leaps, not baby steps
I feel I just witnessed 3 straight quantum leaps forward for this team in terms of potential and expectations .. to the point where they have figuratively and literally left the Clippers in their dust

Daryl Morey has based his entire team-building philosophy off of 1 basic 'mantra' that I agree with completely:
The DATA drives the model ... don't let the MODEL skew the data

As you gather more factual information, your analysis becomes more refined, your conclusions become smarter, and ultimately you become more accurate in modeling the future
If you insist on remaining rigid, and begin rationalizing contradictory data to 'fit' your model, you inevitably drift further and further from the truth

Overwhelming NEW information from Games 5-7 has changed my Rockets model for the rest of this season and going forward ... that is, UNTIL new overwhelming evidence to the contrary is presented
Nothing I have seen to date tells me this team is BETTER than GS
But I've seen enough to laugh at the fools assuming our current BEST is only good for 1 win in the WCF

As you mentioned, a huge part of the fun of being a sports fan is the role of victorious underdog ... the US vs THEM mentality that the hated thrive upon
All I'm wondering is why now, even after games 5-7, do you insist on being with THEM instead of US?

You don't ever want to be on the same side of the fence as clowns like Ramona and Skip ....
- They laughed when we moved a starting PG, in the middle of a playoff run, for some bench scrub named Kyle Lowry
- They mocked when we refused to bottom out in lotto hell, instead collecting assets and maintaining flexibility to be in the position to pounce when a franchise player hit the trade market
- They scoffed when we had the audacity to assume a star like Dwight Howard would ever come to Houston to form a superstar duo upon which a legit contender could be built
- They taunted when we missed on Bosh, lost Parsons and replaced him with Ariza, yet still had the gall to talk of championship PURSUIT in preseason

They laugh because they only see the obvious .. what HAS happened
They lack the foresight or interest to see the unclear ... what IS to come

Whose laughing now Memphis?
OKC?
LA?
Miami?
Dallas?
If they're still laughing, it's from the stands

Please ... just join US
WE are on the Morey side, the SMARTER side, where perception of the masses takes a very distant back seat to the reality determined by what's happening right in front of us