We lost at least 6 games we should have one easily. And maybe one or two that we should have lost. Still we have a lot of work to do.
Well this is the first season of Harden and Howard so the range of win differences can't be exact or precise. After this season and barring any significant change, predictions for Rockets wins can be more exact, you know? You get a better idea of the team. I had 58 wins as a best case scenario. Howard fits in almost immediately, not many to no major injuries or prolonged shooting slumps. 52 wins is not worst case scenario but average to below average. Like what we are seeing now with shooting slumps, Howard not finding his place quite yet, etc. Worst case scenario would be anything in the 40 wins.
I've said it elsewhere. The Rockets can beat weak teams with no problem. They are mediocre (9-10) against winning teams. That just means that they are a middle of the pack kind of team in the playoffs, 1st or 2nd round exit. Injuries? Last season, Lin was hurt in the first half of the season. We didn't get Beverley until midway through. Harden was hurt toward the end. Jones hasn't developed. Not to mention the WHOLE TEAM needed to gel, not just Howard. Asik? We got Dwight freaking Howard to replace him. Wasn't that the MAJOR coup for the season? 52 wins prediction is about right. Not exactly a downer. But we are not any better than it should be.
The Rockets have 23 games left against the Western Conference.... The Rockets played 24 games against the Western Conference in the first half..... Next argument?
I'm sorry this Rox team does not deserve any excuses. Its hard to make excuses for a team with no passion, pride, consistent effort and no heart. After last nights debacle, they deserve much criticism. I keep saying our two best players have played most of the games this year so they should still be winning a lot of these embarrassing games they have been losing. That debacle they pulled off last night was hard to do, just like losing 14 straight like the Texans is hard to do. Losses like last night show ultimate ineptness and lack of direction which again points to leadership or lack thereof. This organization after last night should be utterly embarrassed.
52 wins seems like the typical jvg, fuhrer days... i want 72!!! face it guys, us playing to the level of competition is nothing new. we have a heritage of doing things that way since before the championship years and through the championship years. What I would want from our head coach is to learn from his defeats.
And we are the 4th youngest team in the league... with our key players locked in for a few more years WITH options to make additions/moves. Frankly, I have a hard time finding two teams with a brighter future than we have*. Even the Heat could lose it ALL after this season (not likely). *Golden State does not have a brighter future than us.
Calm the **** down. It's January and it's the first year these guys have played together and they've almost all been injured at one point. Wer the Pacers as good as they are this year last year?
The Rockets have lost to LAL, PHI, UTH, PHX, SAC x 2, and ATL ....... I don't know that I would say they beat weak teams no problems. Hell they have lost to Dallas x2, Indy x2, LAC, POR, and OKC x 2..... Indy is just a bad match up, they are hitting on all cylinders and are the rare team that is playing like a TEAM. The last few years together has really helped them maximize what they have as a group. Dallas has beaten us twice, but I don't think they are as good as the Rockets. Rockets have split with Portland. It is very unlikely the Blazers hit 3's at the rate they are in the second half of the season. OKC has gotten Houston on the second night of back to backs. Losing to them is no surprise, they are on pace for 60 wins. So really, other than INDY there has been no one where you say "we have no chance, none". The Rockets with either better health or more depth could have 28-29 wins easily.... but you can wish and one hand and **** in the other.
Good point. Consider 2 games vs MIA for increased schedule strength. Rockets should be better 2nd half due to increased chemistry and hopefully better health. We shall see.
I'm not going to calm the **** down because I know the team can do better. Did the Pacers have two "so called" top ten players on their team last year or this year? George is definitely a top ten player. I don't consider Harden or Howard right now top ten players. They are very good but I feel they need a good coach to help them be great. Anyway, this team keeps outdoing themselves with embarrassing losses and I just feel the excuses at this point are not deserved. They take no pride and are not even trying to improve on the things they need to improve on (consistent effort on defense, incorporating Howard in offense and setting him up in favorable positions down low for easier baskets, etc.) Nights like last night is the reason they brought Dwight here for, when they go cold from the outside.The Rox are not coming close to improving in these areas which is not good.
Gotta disagree (bold). 1st off, 2004-05 (first T-Mac/Yao year) was the first non-Shaq year for LAL. SA was really it out in the west. A bunch of teams that THOUGHT they were Batman, came off looking like Robin (PHX, DAL, Utah, HOU; even Seattle had a little run where they "gave the Spurs fits".) Nice, but to be quite honest, that Rocket team massively underachieved. Only squad that had a legit shot at beating SA was 1st round fodder (us) Give credit to DAL for doing it when one of SA's GREAT years. About that double team thing: These days, why double a wing player? All you are going to do is play right into the offense's hands.
Indiana has kept the same group of players together for the last few years. Last year the Pacers were 25-16 at the half way point, even though they played in the Eastern Conference. They finished 52-30.
Vogel is a better coach than McHale and they have a system and have direction. Its easier to evolve as a team when you have a foundation/system. The Rox right now at times wins on talent and talent alone. They have no real system and it showed in that debacle of a second half last night. This team has no identity. Its hard to evolve if you have no foundation to evolve from.
Roxans I've changed my mind. Screw patience. Morey can't wait until 2015 to add a star. The time to strike is now. I've come around on the PG position. An upgrade there is priority number one. Second, a backup for Dwight. If the players acquired kill the cap, so be it. don't waste prime years hoping that you can lure a specific player down the road. Never pass up a chance to get better.
The heat had the same problem 3 seasons ago. It takes time. It takes fighting wars together in the playoffs. It doesn't just happen.
We're seeing spurts, about 1 quarter at a time, of really good play preceded and followed by complete garbage. It looks to me like a team with talent that hasn't figured things out yet; they don't adjust when the other team adjusts. It takes time playing together to figure that stuff out. A quarter where we scored 41 followed by a quarter where we scored 10 is terrible in the present, but not necessarily a bad sign for the future.
I agree with this. 26-15 wouldn't be bad for our team, but we could EASILYhave a 30-plus win record if we didn't make some boneheaded plays down the stretch or play to the level of the competition. The first Lakers game, the two losses vs Dallas, and yesterday come to mind. Not to metion all the losses to other inferior opponents (Kings twice, Hawks, Sixers, Jazz). If we had won just 6 of those 9 extremely winnable games to make us 32-9, may make the difference between the 6 and 3rd seed in the West. Not saying we're winning we're going to win 60 games (but we're all hopeful, I don't think we've played that many east teams), but this team needs to find some sort of consistency and identity because there simply is NONE.
