Did you know? The Rockets are 1-4 in games in which Juwan Howard has not played this season, 7-14 in games he did not start. link Let's say that Howard misses the next sixteen games. What will the ROX win/loss record be during that time seeing that they are 1-4 with him out. 22 Tue Miami 24 Thu Cleveland 25 Fri at New Orleans 27 Sun at San Antonio 28 Mon at Utah 30 Wed at Portland 1 Fri New Orleans 3 Sun Phoenix 5 Tue at Golden State 7 Thu at LA Lakers 9 Sat at Phoenix 11 Mon at Seattle 13 Wed Memphis 16 Sat Denver 18 Mon LA Clippers 20 Wed Seattle
It just shows how much we need a good/decent 4 in the NBA in order to survive. Or at least a good rebounding 4. When Juwan Howard was rebounding/positioning & boxing out well, we did great. Where can we find that?
especially if you are playing in the Western Conf, which is full of very good PFs (Garnett, Duncan, Nowitzki, Brand, K-Mart, Amare, etc.) In the off-season, anything less than a young, solid scoring/rebounding/defending 4 will be a disappointment for the Rockets. We REALLY need someone to help Yao out and plug the interior.
Due to injury, we knew how important Sura was, and now we know how important Juwon is... Looks like our two franchise young guns just can't carry the load too much. If all the role players are indispensable, then we have to question our franchise players really "franchise players"... Well, of course they are. But Yao and Mac better start stepping it up and acting like it. Starting a losing streak every time a role player goes down isn't a good sign.
this shows that bball is a team sport and the rockets are not deep enough to lose a starter. but i believe they'll adjust giving time.
You can also throw out the stat that we are 30-5 in games in which we "out rebound" our opponent. 30-5! That pretty much says it all.
Franchise players don't mean jack on ANY team (not just Rockets) if they are not perfectly complemented with role players that feed off them and add to the team's success. Seriously, tell me some of the most memorable moments in Rocket's championship runs, weren't a good chunk of them by role players? Would the 94-95 Rockets have won jack without the contribution of the Sam Cassells, Robert Horrys, and Mario Elies? What about the Lakers' team that won three rings? Who won half those close playoff games for them? I think I remember Fisher, Fox, and Horry dropping shots for them in the 4th quarter and winning games for them. That is just the nature of the NBA. That is why even great players are, in reality, just really good role players, because everyone has a role to play in the team, and real champions are the ones who figure out how to get the most out of each player, while at the same time the players would fully accept their roles.
I thought that was an irresponsibly misleading statistic for the paper to cite. The reason we're 7-14 in games he didn't start is because most of those games were at the beginning of the season before the team had pulled itself together. Sura was injured; McGrady wasn't assertive; we didn't have Wesley, Barry or James; Ward was our starting PG. To say our record was so poor because of who was playing PF when we had all these other problems is dishonest. The minutes Howard did play at the beginning of the season, he sucked too.
Ok... but we are 1 - 2 since his knee injury and that is with a team that was playing as good as anyone in basketball. What do you say to that?
I say 3 games won't give you a statistically valid set. Moreover, we lost those games from the 3 spot, not the 4.
I agree that three games do not give us a complete statistically valid set. But they are an indication. The remaining sixteen games will be a true indication of JH's importance to the team.
I'd agree with that. Howard's importance will likely be indicated by our record in the remaining games. If we suck from here on out, I've likely underestimated Howard's contributions.
Hold the phone! We're 39-0 When we outscore our opponents in games!!!!! Seriously, the PF spot is obviously our weak link, and losing Juwan after he's been giving us the only decent production at the 4 spot we've had all year is a blow. The only way we don't struggle (0.500 or below) without him is if Yao starts playing like a wrecking crew. Evan
See, here's the thing. You're only as good as your weakest link, right? When your starting lineup's weakest link is Juwan Howard, you're in good shape. When your starting lineup's weakest link is the Spoonman, you have problems.
Did you know... Yao and Shaq are now tied in head-to-head matchups, with each winning 4 games against the other
