I agree with the sentiment behind this thread. Adelman said at the beginning of last year, don't judge the team by November and December, but by how they are playing in February and March. I think we all remember last February and March. I would say the same thing is true this year. Could we have won that game... absolutely. Was it a great learning experience for the team... absolutely. Can we beat this Celtics team? Yes we most definitely can.
yes there is... ...and.. there is a big difference in being wet and being dry... the point of stating obvious facts is..? and how did your mind translate that into me being chicken little...?
It's not the loss, it's the way we lost that causes concern. Don't forget, these same Celtics have been one of the most atrocious road teams in the NBA. They just got blasted out by a relatively average Indiana team. Their road record in last years playoffs were 3 and 9. They suck on the road.
Thank you for your post!!! THis is exactly how i feel. Im really thankful that it was such a good game. id almost take a close loss to a good team over a blowout against a bad team. hellava game
I hate visiting this forum after we lose a game. There are always a million "abandon-all-hope" or "blow-up-the-ship" threads from fans who have little faith in this team. But I got the faith. HOUSTON ROCKETS >>> BOSTON CELTICS!
Yeah i agree with you. Last season when the celts ended our 22 game winning streak, we got blown out by them at home. We were only able to keep up with them for half of the game. After that, they outscored us badly in the second half of that game. This time around, it was a different story. We pushed them to the wire and almost stole this one. If Yao just made ONE or TWO more of those easy lay-ups, we'll be watching overtime right now. Regardless of the results, i see a drastic improvement from last year. No doubt we are going to the second round!
BUMP Geeze everyone is going on a mass suicide. Hello? We were without Battier? Unquestionably one of the best defenders in the league and the guy who makes open 3s as well as hold our defense together. Hello? McGrady was injured? Despite sucking, we only lost by 2. McGrady did all these things on one leg, and Allen wouldn't be having such a good time when Battier's around. Our offense is still only meshing, so is the chemistry. It is after all the fourth season game.
78 games to go, Some people just give up too early. Much easier to whine and give up, rather than endure and have faith.
Totally agreed, this Rockets is only 4 games old whereas the Celtic is 1 season and 4 games old. Celtics played together a year so it makes a lot of difference. we are still work in progress. anyway im glad they put up a good fight right to the end. i truly hope we beat them at the Garden. i hate watching Celt games only cos the game is usually over by half time especially last year. i bet Yao will redeem himself in the next game, whoever's gonna guard him...be prepared for some vengeance!!
We could've won this game if it wasn't for yao missed dunk and rafer's T . That's 3 pts to force an overtime. Yao wasn't himself after 3 silly fouls and why did rick insert rafer in the 4th quarter when the celtics can't stop AB? Rafer is the cancer of our core. If you can't penatrate, make layups, or shoot a wide up 3,what position does he actually play out there? OMG we need size in the center position after yao go out. Too many and O rebounds given to the celtics after a good stop.
that's bs. last year we lost to boston and we said we had no yao nor artest. now? we had no battier? are your freaking serious? but whatever makes you happy i guess.
Good thread, we will learn from this loss and demolish them in the playoffs . This team is learning everyday and will get better. I know we were so close, but we rather peak at the right time towards the playoffs.
I'm not that happy. The Rockets offense still doesn't look very good to me, even though we replaced Battier with Artest and have an improved bench. The Celtics clicked right away last year -- why should we be struggling? I'm starting to lose hope that we'll ever be a very good offensive team. The guys have had over a year to get it, and they still haven't. The Rockets felt that they need to be a top defensive team, and a top 10 offensive team to be a legitimate contender. They'll be solid on defense, but will they ever be anything more than middle-of-the-pack on offense? If Rafer can't even hit 35% of his shots, forget it.
I am just as excited as the next guy with the potential of this Rocket's team, but I am not blind to their warts either. Let's not pat ourselves on the back too much over a loss. Yes, Battier will be back and that will be an improvement. Yes, Yao will not play that bad, probably ever again. McGrady is still hurt and, hopefully, he will play better on defense. This is only the Celtics 4th game too. They also lost a game, so it's not out of the question that they will be playing better by the end of the year as well. To be a champion or successful in anything you do you must have an attitude of continuous improvement. This means taking an honest assessment of your weaknesses and seeking to improve on them. In my opinion, this team has 2 weaknesses that will need to be addressed before we will get past the Lakers and Celtics (which I believe we can do!): 1. We must get bigger inside. We will not be able to beat the Lakers and Celtics in playoff style basketball without a legit backup center or a another large pf. We will get killed by second chance opportunities just like last night and just the way the Celtics brutalized LA last year. If Dorsey isn't the answer we need to find one. 2. Rafer will have to revert to last year's form shooting the ball or he must be benched. Don't ask me how to bench him or get a replacement, but you can't win a championship if teams can leave one guy open without fear. Brooks is great off the bench, but as a combo they are still not champion caliber point guards.
Didn't they put up 99 points on the #1 defense in the league? Given we gave up 103 In one of my previous post though, the offense is stagnant. We survive almost on talent alone. *If* we can pair up that talent with a smooth running offense...look out.
...but do you take out tracy and watch the offense suffer? i would agree if you just take out Rafer and play big but i don't think Adleman wants to do that. I thought the bolded part was hilarious...but i get what you're saying. I just noticed that Barry and Artest do alot of the same things that Battier did and they contribute more on offense, a net gain. With Tracy/Artest you get much more offense with a little less D. Any lineup including Battier will involve us tapering off on offense. I don't think you can play Artest and Shane together because neither of them have the passing/handles to create for others. So its either Shane/Tracy or Shane/Barry and i think any lineup involving just Artest/Barry/Tracy is better than those two.
i was very impressed the rockets came back from a 16 point deficit against the defending champ. im pretty sure the rockets of last few years would not be able to accomplish that.
