Elite teams sometimes lose to bad teams, but elite teams will usually end up as a top 3 seed. However, good teams also lose to bad teams, they also lose to elite teams. The rockets lost to the Jazz. Are they a good team or an elite team? We don't know yet, we will have to see what their final record is.
You're the one that compared our current Rockets team to a Miami team that has already won 2 championships. To compare an already proven Miami heat team to the Rockets is what doesn't make any sense. When you say "it's just one game" for Miami, it's much different than "it's just one game" for the unproven Rockets. You know Miami will bring it on when playoff time comes around, we have no idea if the Rockets can do the same... Of course those teams you listed didn't know they were championship teams, but they did have a previous history of winning. That wasn't the argument anyway. Spurs, (Kobe)Lakers, Miami, Championship teams. Teams THAT HAVE WON CHAMPIONSHIPS, know who they are. A bad loss is not as big a deal; the confidence is all ready there.
I use the following argument. Because Miami, a superior team, will from time to time lose to bad teams, then it stands to reason not to get upset about the Rockets, a lesser team than Miami, doing the same. Of course assuming they still have a great overall record, which they currently do. You used the "Because Miami is a champion therefore it doesn't matter if they lose to bad teams" argument. Which is the opposite. You're implying that because they're better than the Rockets, they should be okay with losing to bad teams. That's the part that makes no sense.
sigh. Miami is a proven Championship team. losing to a bad team is not that big a deal because they know what they are capable of and losing to a bad teams wont happen often. Rockets are unproven and have already lost 4 times to inferior talent. I guess I should just ask how many times should they lose to inferior talent before it is OK to be upset? is there a point in the season when being upset at a bad loss becomes less irrational?
Miami is intentionally coasting for a greater good that is likely awaiting them over the horizon. They have earned the right and benefit of the doubt to do so as back-to-back champions... The Rockets' immediate future is uncertain, but they're categorized as unproven 'potential contenders'... Not as young up-and-comers of 'potential talent'... One of their main two cornerstones is a 27-going-on-28 year old that relies heavily on his athleticism - the ONLY new addition to a team that reached the playoffs just the previous season by scoring points in buckets... Both aren't strangers to postseason high-pressure competition... They haven't earned the right or benefit of the doubt to lose to inferiorly talented teams.... They lack a lot of things the Heat have, and talent and playoff experience isn't one of them... The thing that annoys most Rockets fans is the what they're missing are intangible essentials that can be so easily addressed but yet go so easily overlooked or made excuses for... Several of their victories follow the same pattern found in several of their losses... Defensive lapses, indecisiveness, confusion of roles and overestimation/underestimation-of-individual-ability-and-or-role induced turnovers, unorganized play, R&R approach consistently playing out like Read & Revert... All indicating a serious lack of an actual game-plan, direction, accountability, adjustments, steady rotations/substitutions and steady leadership which supposedly are our coach's "strength" and the reason why we should be so content with him... But, apparently, now in the sport of basketball we should ignore everything that's so palpably evident to our eyes in almost every 2nd half, and almost every 4th quarter... and only measure a team's problems to the extent of 'the numbers' degree of acceptability... It's all just a matter of experience, isn't it? Maturity, all naturally comes with the passing of time... How about all the knuckleheads that have played through this league, and some heralded superstars like Allen Iverson that never "got it" when it came to winning it all...? Some players have epiphanies - a select few. Some never get it. Some just need the steady supply of guidance and direction, the feeling of reliable and respectably competent organization and leadership early and often in their careers in order to succeed... But, I guess I'm talking out of my ass, since the numbers say coaching is mostly inconsequential to the outcome of a game...
A lot of Rockets fans here weren't fans when we had great teams so they have no idea what a great team looks like from day to day. This is a great team but it's a young team and an inexperienced team. It's a bit similar to the Rockets pre 1994. I'm a firm believer that a team must experience failure in the playoffs before they're ready to be champions. I think that's what this season is for.... hopefully. All of the man pieces of this team outside of Dwight are like 24, 25 years old. It takes time together.
The difference is that Miami KNOWS that they are a championship team and that they are going to get a top 2 seed in the East. They have SHOWN that they can "turn it on" in the play offs and win a championship. And their losses to inferior teams are more often due to Intentionally coasting/resting players or the other team just shooting lights out all night despite being defended well. Houston hasn't accomplished anything with this team. They haven't proven they are capable of "turning it on", or even get a top 4 seed. And when they're losing to inferior teams sometimes it's because the other team is shooting lights out (76ers and Anderson's ridiculous circus shots), but just as often because the Rockets didn't show up ready to play. Being in the West, Houston does not have the Luxury to NOT show up against inferior teams. Yes, they're sometimes going to lose to a bad team as a bad team can play above their ability from time to time. However, that's not what happened in Utah. In Utah the Rockets didn't show up to play. They played like utter crap for most of the game and showed poor effort and lapses in focus throughout the game. And Harden is getting particular focus because his lack of effort on the defensive end happens FAR more often than the rest of the roster. Yes, there was poor effort across the team and throughout the 48 minutes, but it's not very many games you can point to a player like Beverley and note a complete lack of effort on a possession. We're NOT Miami or the Spurs, so when we lose to inferior competition we don't get the same benefit of the doubt, especially when the effort is poor. For a young and upcoming team that is fighting for a top 4 seed, we don't get the luxury of a pass. We have to fight for every win to get a seed. The Spurs and Miami? They fight for a top 2 or top 3 seed, but they KNOW that they'll get that seed, and that regardless of being 1, 2 or 3 seed that they have a legitimate shot at winning the championship. Unlike the Spurs and Miami, we NEED every single win we can get. Utah didn't beat us, we beat ourselves. This is why this loss is different.
I learnt from the Fire McHale thread that meh doesn't have the ability to understand why a Rockets team is so different to a Championship Miami team. He seems to think a loss is a loss no matter who you are and what circumstances your team is in. The sooner you ignore him the sooner your blood pressure levels will go down.
Morey uses these games as data for how he can continue to improve the team. We need a back-up center if we trade Asik (Thorpe said we will be legit as long as we have Asik. If we trade him, it depends on who we get back.) Morey can also use Asik to set us up for that 3rd star or to shore up our perimeter defense. I'm sure Morey has done all the permutations.
Am I the only one who got annoyed by Henry Abbott's constant eye blinking? I liked what he said, but the guy couldn't stop blinking his eyes! I was starting to fall into a deep trance, luckily my bladder came to the rescue and brought me back to reality... ....... ....... .......
Loving most of the replies to this. It's amazing how knee-jerk most of the reactions on this site are. The first year of the LBJ/Heat Era, they started off 10-8, including losses to Orlando, Indiana, and New Orleans (when they were all bad). Teams take time to mesh, chemistry doesn't happen overnight. Sure, we sometimes play down to our opponents, but the fact that we have been in (and should have won) most every game shows me that once we learn how to close teams out (often the last thing to click for a new team) we will be legitimate contenders.
They had a lot more changes to their roster than Houston has this year... part of which was including to whole new major players to their starting five... both being their previous team's go-to weapon... trying to mesh with the Heat's already established superstar... More irrelevant comparisons to the Heat...
The Rockes need a wing player who can closeout better on the corner threes. The whole team sucks at that. They gambel to much on the skip pass which leaves the corners with wide open looks. We simply lack an intelligent defender in that regard.
The Bulls are gearing up tp blow that team apart and get a lotto pick. They are not wining a title anytime soon with the current overpaid squad and most likely will be looking at a team that can compete once Rose returns next season. I think they will sooner then later will blow this team up. Boozer is to overpaid to move, but Deng and co will be looked at.
I've actually wondered if there's some numbers on that one, because Miami does the same thing all the time (take a look at Singler's 3's today, they were from cheating like that, one where Lebron gave him about 20 feet of space, lol). It can cost you games, it did them today, but I wonder if more often than not it wins games.
It's been killing us all season. The Clippers game in Los Angeles we got exposed really badly. The Lakers game Meeks was getting wide open looks and the Philly game was the same story. The problem is defensive breakdowns. You have guys who stay off their men to gambel on either doubling the post defenders but get exposed with the quick skip pass or guys just to lazy to close out quicker.
