Hey I'd be happy is if we just made the playoffs this year. Let's see if Francis, Yao etc. raise their game in the playoffs like Hakeem. I would LOVE another championship but I can take it one step at a time. Defense wins and we have that going for us.
Not to be Nitpicky BUT..... We got the Choke City moniker after blowing a 20 point 4th quarter lead in game 2 at home to the Suns to go down 0-2 in the series, we then won the next 2 on THEIR home floor to even it up....and went to Clutch city. The next year we were down 3-1 without Clyde and won in Phoenix and then in Houston and then Mario's kiss of death in game 7 in Phoenix..... Just like to get my history right.... DD
Maybe he's in better shape. He's puttin' the hurt on teams now. Last season, he was the guy getting busted up. I've got my fingers crossed about the "wall" too. That was uppermost in my mind during the off season... what happens when his lack of time off catches up with him? Well, I'm going to be optimistic. I think he's in much better shape and, although he'll probably still have some stretches when he's "off", I think he's going to play through them and pick it back up. Great players do that, and he's been showing us more than a flash of what he's capable of the last two weeks. Besides, February is Leap Year this year. Maybe it's a sign.
Every year the rockets make the playoffs I build a Rocket Shrine in my house for the druation. It's been too long since the last shrine.
I'm trying to keep the faith but I'll wait until April before I testify at the house of Rox. Some things to watch out for. In the West things are very tight, it seems like lately almost every Midwest Division team is on a winning streak. We've already lost two to Memphis, two to Seattle, one to Dallas and split with Denver. Those teams will probably be fighting us all the way to the end of the season for the playoffs. We had two great wins over the T-Wolves and Lakers but other than that have been pummelled by the best in the West and we will have a brutal schedule in April. Have the Rox turned a corner? In my heart I think so but my head says wait til April. I think we'll make the playoffs but Championship? Not this year. Of course I've been known to wrong and I will happily accept the Rox proving me totally wrong.
Inevitably, Yao will be shut down tonight. But SF and MoT should have a good night. It will more than likely be close, but I see us edging out a W
Actually, we blew a big 4th qrt lead in the first game too. But to be historically accurate, the city part of 'Choke City' references the fact that no Houston team can keep a lead in a big game with the Oilers and Astro's also loosing big games in recent memory. Oilers/Buffalo game where we blew a 34 point lead which I beleive is still the biggest crater job in NFL history. And the 86' Astro/Met NL Central series when the stros had a 3-run lead in the 9th and lost the game in overtime killing their chances for a world-series appearance. BTW, it also happed in 1980 too. Both of those events are still nationally renowned as huge 'choke' jobs assocated w/ the city of Houston. So when the Rox were poised to blow huge leads again and complete the trifecta (baseball, football and basketball) of crushing the fan's hopes in Houston, that is how newspaper headline 'Choke City' was born.
I tried to tell ya'll earlier in the season, the Rockets need to change their slogan to "Believe Again," instead of the "Be Big' crap. Go Rockets.
INEVITABLE?! no way, jose, yr going to eat those words. Yao is 7'5" and grant is 6'9" if the refs keep the action between the 2 Cs honest and Yao continues his performance as of late, then Yao Ming will have open shots all night. yao is going to score around 26 points tonight.
I'm with the original poster of this thread. This team is definitely developing chemistry. Even the other night, when Weatherspoon came in, he did a good job for 17 minutes. He drew some charges and played solid defense. We seem to have the role players. I hope that the starters will continue to hustle, play defense and most importantly play within their roles on the team (no 15 footers from Cato, please). What forwards in this league are actually paid in correlation to their contribution. Look at Rasheed's contract. He is astronomically paid, and all he does is jack up 3s. At least our forwards are producing. And they are giving positives to the Rockets team. Don't look back and look at the big contracts; that was management's decision then. Instead look at the pieces we have now and use them.
Ummmmmmmmm. Were you talking to yourself here? I'm sorry you were wrong, I'd rather them win, but I couldn't resist the dig.
This game was a minor bump in the road. It rermind us that when our other players arent hitting...and Yao is rendered ineffective by an aggressive defender..we arent as good as we can be. They better be working their butts off tryin to find ways to combat these problems if we are to continue to improve. I still believe...unless we fall apart after this...which I dont think will happen.
Believe it once more, the Rockets are going to the lottery! The Rockets are so easy to shut down, it's laughable. Swarm Yao and make the outside shooters beat you. Some dumbass team like Orlando comes along and single covers Yao every once in a while and gives Rockets fans false hope...
