I'm not too worried about the Clips with Paul being out for a couple months. The Rockets would have to really struggle the rest of the way to drop below the 3rd seed. Like I said, February will determine their fate. If they sweep(or come close to it) that month like they should, they'll build a big enough cushion to hold off the Clips and Jazz.
we are what the record says we are, not an elite team but a good enough team to compete in the playoffs, recent struggle is probably related to tired legs and injury, hey, everyone has 82 games in the same span of time, everybody will go through tough stretches, it's just part of the regular season
The Rockets ceiling is getting bounced out in the second round. I know all of you love D'Antoni now, but come playoff time where every offense is under a microscope he will get exposed. Defense and rebounding wins because it remains consistent. The Warriors had excellent 2 way defensive players and schemes when they won and the Cavs have the best defensive player in the league. He is still a great coach, but this team does not have the defensive players to hang. The Bucks dropped 127 points on us last night, most coming in the 4th where teams tighten up and grind it out. The Rockets a regular season team, no matter how great their offense can be, just like the Suns. Teams are scouting much more by mid season and they have learned what works against the Rockets from each other. And once they get those stops they get out and score. Easy buckets are the reward for playing good defense. That's why defense wins. It makes everything easy.
I don't think they've peaked, but rather that they just hit an inevitable slump for a variety of reasons. It's rare that any team blows through the entire season without experiencing a rough patch. Better now than in April or May. Still plenty of time to push through this and get things back up to full speed before the playoffs start.
Yes, we peaked during when we had a soft schedule, now we are struggling when our schedule is the hardest. This probably happens to all NBA teams.
1) We do play at a top-5 pace and we had a tougher-than-usual schedule thus far (in terms of the number of games and the road-heavy start). 2) We are more dependent on our star than any team outside of OKC 3) We've had a handful of recent ailments, with Capela's injury, and EG/Anderson missing games 4) We play the highest-variance style in NBA history I think all the signs pointed to us slowing down at some point, or at least having a rough patch. I personally felt like we were playing closer to our "max-level" in December than any other team, which can be a good thing (in that we learn that we can do it and know what we did to do it once playoff time approaches), or obviously a bad thing (the "peak-early" critique). I think of the 4 points above, #1 will obviously sort itself out and #3 is uncontrollable. #4 is a give/take strategy that our Franchise has bought into fully, and we avoided the 8-38 nights from deep during December because there were very few nights where 2+ of our 4 shooters were off. We've run into that recently, with tired legs and injuries, and the natural ebb/flow of shooting. #2 is the one that we need to address. I'm not sure who is out there in the trade market that could take a burden off of Harden, allowing Gordon to be the more natural third option. But I do think we need to make a move. I like the idea of making a move for Millsap or Ibaka (the latter not helping as much in terms of getting a 2nd option), if their value dips low enough.
Right now, second round exit is most likely- although we can't even rule out how tough the first round might end up being if we end up matched against Utah, Memphis or even the OKC Westbrooks. But sure, getting bounced in the second round is probably the most likely scenario. However, our ceiling is higher than that for sure.We have the capability to explode on offense and could surprise anyone. Not even to mention that our team might change at the trade deadline and we could improve our defense/rebounding. Not saying it's likely, but we could. And of course if we stay healthy but other team or teams have injuries to key players can make a big difference as well. When we are talking about the team's ceiling, we aren't saying what we think is the most likely scenario or anything, but saying the highest we could expect if everything went right and the ball bounced in our favor. I don't think anyone is saying that we should expect to win the Finals or even make the WCF, but I do think we have seen that this team has the potential to be very good and has even exceeded our expectations all season. In fact, you could even say that our ceiling is 'through the roof'.
I'm thoroughly concerned with our defense though, however, I think getting Clint back up to normal will help. He definitely provides rim protection. Dekker needs to get tougher in the post, playing the 4 as a starter or backup. James has to play at a faster rate, he brings the ball up to slow, which allows the defense to set.
Rockets play at 4th highest pace in the league, and their pace is higher with Harden on the floor than it is with him off the floor.
Teams go through rough patches... especially when injury and fatigue due to a ridiculous schedule catch up with you. This team has had 12 b2b's already. The team only has 2 more b2b's the whole season. We've played 49 games while other teams have played 43 (heat only 42). It's been rough. We also have a home heavy schedule only having played 22 of the first 48 at home.
The Rockets lack the defense, rebounding and size to be successful in the playoffs. Offense has never been the reason why a team won a chip. It was that defensive play that made it possible/made it happen. Offense is scouted in the playoffs. I doubt you read past that first line. Offense is fun in the regular season and it can even get you 70 wins.
Oh and as good as the Warriors were on both sides of the floor when they won the 15 chip I just wanna say Holiday, Conley, Irving, Love , and a Rockets team that got lucky against an injured Clippers team who barely came out alive from a 7 game series against the Spurs.
And Rockets beating Memphis the number 3 defensive team while play good defense isn't use to argue that they are capable to compete? Reason we lost yesterday was rebounding and bench production. Hardens turnovers were a problem as well but not having a rebounder and getting nothing out of the bench in the 2 quarter was a major problem that without fixing those, Harden could have 0 turnovers and we would still lose this game.
I did read past the first line. And while I agree that defense, rebounding, size and even depth are all problems, I just don't think that they are so bad that they are 100% for sure going to doom this team to a first or second round exit. Our opinions are obviously different, but if we are talking about ceiling then I think there is a chance we could go farther than that. Not saying that we will, but that we are good enough to have a chance. Especially since we may be able to address a little bit of those issues at the trade deadline.
The schedule, rockets receiving league-wide praise led to ALL teams gearing up to beat the rockets (target on back)EG, RA, & CC in and out and back in the roster has disrupted our mojo. Once CC gets his legs back and EG and RA get consistent pt - we will be BACK. The only thing we have to fear is having nights where only harden can score while EVERYONE else ***** their diaper. I don't anticipate too many of those games. Basically - stay healthy and success will follow.
The Grizz are 2-1 against on on the season. In a playoff series they would put Harden, Anderson, Gordon and Capela under a microscope. They would stay attached to Capela on the roll so he can't catch lobs. They would let Harden go 1 on 1 with Allen and other guys and if he gets 30 then so be it. But they would stay tight and deny our shooters. It would require Harden to get 45-50 points against some of the best defenders in the league 4x to have a chance. You guys are underestimating how much teams scout offenses in the regular season vs in the playoffs. Against a team with weak defense at the 2 then teams would have to help on Harden, and other guys would have to go off (which they should bc they would get open looks).
