Chuck/ESPN/people: Westbrook definitely MVP man, look, without him? That team is trash. 15 win team. 9 wins. They don't win a single game man. Westbrook IS that team. He plays 1 on 5. Without Durant?! Just goes to show how great he is and how lucky the Thunder are to have him. MVP for sure, don't even debate it. 30 seconds later: Chuck/ESPN/people: Rockets don't scare not nobody man. Not nobody. Look the Thunder have some pieces around Westbrook and they match up good with the Rockets who don't play not no defense. Taj Gibson, new guy but he's a player. Oladipo can score, Roberson one of the top defenders in the league so it's gonna be a close series. FOH with that two sided logic b****assbitches. Sweep incoming. Surly-Russ-face incoming. Hesitant compliments to the Rockets incoming.
For those that are saying "if you take away the 3, you're done" - look at the back to back against Denver. First game, they took away the 3, the Rockets come away with a win. Second game, Rockets adjusted and found ways to get better looks. You can argue it's Denver, a non-playoff team, but that was still a team playing for something and played their butts off. In a 7-game series, anything can happen. While this team does live and die by the 3, D'Antoni has proven that he's much better at makng adjustments than good ol' Milk-hair.
Its a good sign, Barkley is fun but terrible at predictions. Probably due to a lack of wrinkles in the cortex that cause him to have diminished cortical area. Yao was never going to score 30 points, Golden State was never going to win a championship, and of course the Rockets don't scare anyone, even though Popovich has stated otherwise.
I respect the competition but the thunder arent world beaters. They got blown out by the suns and struggled against a lot of poor teams. Rockets lost to warriors, a 13-3 hot blazers team, clippers and pistons with their jv squad. Relax and let it play out. Im leaning towards rockete in six
Can someone with photochop skills make a thing for me/us? So like, silhouette of the beard, rocket red glowing eyes and the tag line "Be afRaid" Rocket R logo R of course Maybe one without but one with a broom too, for when this sweep happens.
The Rockets style of play makes them highly volatile but when they are locked in they give good defensive effort. Yeah, I said it, they are good defensively when motivated. The problem is the offense comes and goes. If they are good defensively and bombing away they can beat anyone. If they have long cold spells offensively then they don't score enough to win, regardless of defensive effort.
This is a misconception. In alot of the games against top competition and even against average teams the 3's were not falling and we either manage to keep it close (GSW games and SAS games) or win games. The beauty of the Rockets offense is that even if the 3's aren't falling, the pace allows for a lot more possessions and more scoring opportunities to offset not hitting 3's. it's what makes this team dangerous. The only thing that hurts the Rockets is the defense. We stink on that end.
Sports media opinions scare the hell out of me. These fools are paid and so damn incompetent and biased so I just ignore all pre-game and half-time "analysis." I prefer when they just make fun of each other and make me laugh then try to analyze or "teach" me something.
Arent we like 11th in defense since beverley came back? Im not saying we are good defensively but having a lot of possessions and speeding up the pace also gives the other team a lot of possessions which can make our defense look worse than what it is at times. I say we are average on defense.
First off there are no "secrets" in the NBA after 82 games. Every head coach and staff knows what every other team is trying to do and what it takes to stop them. The issue is EXECUTION. The really good teams still execute when defenses attempt to stop them. So the idea that the Rockets secret recipe has been discovered is irrelevant. Further, the Rockets don't just shoot threes. They also penetrate well, run the break and score well inside. Essentially the Rockets attempt to maximize the most efficient shots, which is what half the league is doing. Second, the Rockets are not a bad rebounding team. In fact they are overall one of the top 10 rebounding teams in the league. The Rockets are very similar to Golden State when it comes to rebounding the ball. The teams at the top of the rebounding differential are OKC, Denver, Utah, Chicago and Detroit. The Rockets rebound the ball fine when you consider how dependent they are on outside shooting. Concerning undisciplined and turnovers? OKC turns the ball over more than the Rockets on fewer posessions. The Rockets turn it over with the same frequency that the Warriors do. Further, the Thunder's assist to turnover ratio is substantially worse than the Rockets. Defensively the Rockets are not as elite as they need to be, to be favored against the Warriors or Spurs, but they are not "bad", they are in the middle of the pack; which is where the Thunder are rated. As far as the Rockets needing to "prove something"; what exactly have the Thunder proven? Nothing..... the Clippers? That this same group chokes in the playoffs? Really only the Spurs and Warriors have proven anything in the West, and only the Cavs have in the East. So 4 teams have proven something? Sounds like Chuck being Chuck.
That goes for every single team in the playoffs other than the Warriors and Cavs in round 1. Even the Grizzlies aren't scared of the Spurs. So it really isn't saying much. Everyone knows that there are two teams that are a cut above everyone else, and are expected to meet in the finals.
That's a pretty ridiculous statement. THREE teams have been definitively ahead of EVERYONE else this season and Houston is one of them. They probably are not on SA or GS's level, but they are a CLEAR step ahead of the rest of the NBA. They may not get out of the 2nd round since they have to play SA, but there is no doubt in my mind that they are the 3rd best team in the league
Man, you really nailed it. In one conversation our team is "STACKED!" and in another they're "scrappy overachievers". Of course, the 2nd one is the more true one, especially compared to actual preseason predictions.
IF we are hitting our shots and playing hard, we are a tough team to beat. Barkley watches like 2 games all year.
but, but,,,playoff defense. Every team in the NBA steps up their playoff intensity and defense, except for the Rockets, apparently. We've seen the Rockets step up defense, and become almost unbeatable. But nah, it will never happen in the playoffs. They will continue playing exactly the same, while everyone else steps it up a notch.
