A win is a win. I cannot remember the last time that we played 3 OT games in a 4 game span, and came out with wins in all those OT games. At least these tight games prepare us for the PO, I guess. And also it's nice to see the Rockets grind out these wins regularly.
I'm actually worried about our defense. Remember in the early-middle of the season when we'd hold all sorts of teams under 75? Just doesn't seem to happen anymore. Two reasons, I think: 1. Teams have figured out that JVG's sagging scheme leaves 3 point shooters *wide* open. 2. We've got a small rotation and it's tired.
The Good: OTs are valuable experiences that our team needs. Especially the ability to grind it out at the end. Most playoff games are hard fought close games. These OTs give the rockets a taste of playoff intensity. The Bad: Excessive amount of long games at the end of the season can wear out players both physically and mentally. Not to mention Van Gundy's 8-man rotation is tough on our starters. However, it's good to see JVG is giving boki some much needed play time. Hopefully, boki can help the team out when playoff comes.
It's sad that we are having so many OT games, but winning in OT shows that the team knows how to be clutch and win the game when it counts. AND....they were wins(3 of them).
It's good that the OT was triggered by the Rockets this time but usually other teams get the Rockets into OT
The bad is that ought to be blowing these teams out. Toronto and Milwaukee especially. We're more talented, we're bigger, we play harder. We're just not always smarter and we have lapses.
good question. Obviously we are happy to win those games. I mean a win is a win. But how do we get ourselves in that position in the first place? We should have beat those teams by the third quarter. Untill we learn to put teams away, we have no chance in the playoffs. We can blow a lead against the Bucks missing two of their best players or a Toronto team that can't make the playoffs in the increadibly weak East, and still come back to win. But if we do that against the Lakers, Spurs, Wolves, et al, we are going down!
Most of the damage done on Rox defense is when Yao and Cato's not in the game....Even the Bucks annoucers conceded that when the Bucks turned over the ball 5 straight times, it is because of Yao.
Struggling to beat weaker teams is not a good sign, but learning to win the close ones is good experience for the playoffs. Coming from behind to win builds a team's confidence and creates a "never quit" attitude. This team has gone from "unwatchable" to "entertaining" and that is good. They have been involved in some very exciting games this season, a step in the right direction from a marketing standpoint.
Agreed with what you said above....Even struggling against the weak teams speak volumes about the Rockets, the weak teams obviously believe the Rox are are an elite team and always get up for them.
However, look at our brutal schedule (first list) for the remainder of the season as compared to Portland (second list): 73 Mon. Mar. 29 8:30 p.m. ET Timberwolves 74 Thu. Apr. 1 10:30 p.m. ET at Lakers 75 Fri. Apr. 2 9:00 p.m. ET at Nuggets 76 Sun. Apr. 4 1:00 p.m. ET Kings 77 Tue. Apr. 6 10:30 p.m. ET at Warriors 78 Wed. Apr. 7 10:30 p.m. ET at Clippers 79 Fri. Apr. 9 8:30 p.m. ET Nuggets 80 Sat. Apr. 10 9:00 p.m. ET at Jazz 81 Mon. Apr. 12 10:00 p.m. ET at SuperSonics 82 Wed. Apr. 14 9:30 p.m. ET Mavericks 74 Mon. Mar. 29 7:30 p.m. ET at Knicks 75 Wed. Mar. 31 7:00 p.m. ET at Celtics 76 Thu. Apr. 1 7:00 p.m. ET at 76ers 77 Sat. Apr. 3 10:00 p.m. ET Hornets 78 Tue. Apr. 6 10:00 p.m. ET at Lakers 79 Wed. Apr. 7 10:00 p.m. ET Warriors 80 Fri. Apr. 9 8:00 p.m. ET at Spurs 81 Sat. Apr. 10 9:00 p.m. ET at Nuggets 82 Mon. Apr. 12 10:00 p.m. ET Spurs 83 Wed. Apr. 14 10:00 p.m. ET Lakers We have better records than the Clippers, Warriors, Nuggets, Jazz and Sonics. However, the Sonics seem to have our number.
ummm, no they didn't. they mentioned the rockets had gotten more aggressive on defense and considering our guards were forcing all the steals it would be pretty hard to say it was because of yao. of course, yao not being in the game isn't just limited to now and doesn't explain the D getting worse. the tired theory could definitely play into it, though it wouldn't explain why our offense has started scoring more. it seems that our D and offense have progressed/regressed at the same rate for a negligible difference. we seem to play a little bit more uptempo and a little more opened up and that leads to points for you and your opponent. it seems to me point differential is usually related to talent differential no matter what style you play and i think the increase in offense and defensive points speaks to that. also, it seems cato has been seeing less and less time (especially now that he's injured obviously) and of course him teaming with yao in the middle was a huge reason our D was so damn good and also a reason our offense was so bad. i would much rather score 5 more a game and give up 5 more a game than go back to the way we used to play. not being able to score is no way to win.
i think is good that will help us in the play off, is the same with the buzzer beaters shots because that is big time plays and if we knock down this big time jumpers right now in play off would be like drink water from a glass in the other hand the defense is poor and the others teams are passing the ball better (playing smart) in my opinion the way i see the defense and how i play we have to be one or two seconds ahead of the offensive player and thinking in the posible move and the consequense on that play that is what ours players don't understand sometimes or many times in a zone D the man who need to be in every places have to be the guards thats why a zone guard can't be scoring because they use all his energy in trying to find a way to score (thats why sometimes we leave open shots and then the threeeee staring to knock them down because of the good ball movement that bring us to the power fowards who can shot the threees like san antonio, dallas, sacramento, seattle and lakers in other hand we can call the others team lucky of getting the shots down maybe i left some points my bad I M H O
