while i think you're right, it helps that our schedule gets significantly softer as this team *hopefully* is really hitting it's stride.
What happens if it is the other way round after this month? Panic? No panic? Yao Ming spoke of his worry and concerns when the team suffered that long losing streak of 6, and said he was not too much concerned about the new coach, the new systems, the game plan/tactics or about himself. All he worried is the win/loss ratio of the team, cos he understood that this team still required time for gelling and building chemistry; and if the team keeps losing games that they should win then they will be digging out too big a hole for them to climb out later in the season.
Should we really be sad? I mean, what if we get the 3 seed, and the #6 seed end up being the Warriors? The playoffs are all about matchups. If we're healthy, there are some teams we could beat that may or may not have a higher record than us like the Spurs or Nuggets. Similarly, if we have to play the Warriors, Mavs, or Jazz, it might be one and done again. We haven't faced the Hornets yet, so we'll see if we're a good matchup with them this year with a new system and coach. They matched up well with us last year for sure. The fortune of getting favorable matchups is a very underrated factor in the NBA playoffs and NCAA tournament. Lets face it, if we had to face the Sonics in either the 1993-94 or 1994-95 season, we might get swept! It happened the next year, which then forced us to take action with the Barkley trade.
Wed, Dec 05 Memphis @ Houston Fri, Dec 07 Houston @ New Jersey Sun, Dec 09 Houston @ Toronto Mon, Dec 10 Houston @ Philadelphia Wed, Dec 12 Detroit @ Houston Sat, Dec 15 Dallas @ Houston Wed, Dec 19 Orlando @ Houston Thu, Dec 20 Houston @ Denver Sat, Dec 22 Houston @ Chicago Sun, Dec 23 Houston @ Detroit Fri, Dec 28 Houston @ Memphis Sat, Dec 29 Toronto @ Houston Mon, Dec 31 Golden State @ Houston So "9-4" logic appears to be they sweep a home and away with MEM, lose to DAL and ORL and split the home and away with both DET and TOR while beating everyone else. The "everyone else" including 4 road wins vs NJN, PHI, DEN, & CHI. Color me skeptical. The Grizzlies have lost 4 games by 3 points or less. GS started ultra-slowly (injury to S. Jackson) but is 6-3 on the road. DEN is 8-2 at home and the Bulls have athletes and a PG which are two conditions that always seem to bother the Rockets. Miss just one game in the "prediction" and it's 8-5. Back the 8-5 up with @ BOS and @ ORL and the 15 game stretch becomes 8-7. The potential is then 17-16 on Jan 5. 33 games or 40% of the season completed at this point. HCA is likely around 66.7% or 55 wins. That means 38-11 from Jan 5th on. All this and near perfect health for BOTH Yao and TMac. I guess the "good" news is Adelman still has time to get better offensive players on the court at the same time, some of the firepower brought in can start to meet expectations and Morey has a chance to...well, 2 out of 3 ain't bad.
Bulls haven't had much success against the Rockets in recent times. They've only managed a win in the past 4 seasons and that win came two seasons ago.
I am not very confident on the 9-4 prediction after the unexpected losses to Memphis and Sacremento. I don't think I will predict anything at the moment.
http://www.nba.com/standings/team_record_comparison/conferenceNew_Std_Cnf.html Might wanna strive for better than 9-4...the teams in front of us aren't losing and the hole we've dug is getting deeper and deeper.
I agree with kwng. This team right now is an enigma. You don't know which team will show up. It seems like when we win, it's down to superhuman efforts from both Tmac and Yao, and when we lose, it's cuz the opponent found some way to contain them. Maybe once in a while you'll see the likes of Scola or James hitting double figures. But that's it. You can't even predict if Tmac will get 30 or be held to the teens in scoring, or if Yao will get a double-double with 20+ and 10 or have 12 and 6 turnovers.
Utah just lost to Sacramento last night. The same Sacramento team we lost to. It's a little to early to turn into debbie downer. The Rockets have lost some games to teams they shouldn't have - Memphis, Sacramento as prime examples. But they've also had a ridiculous schedule to start out, and aside from a blown win against Dallas, have a solid record against the top teams in the league. No T-Mac for 2.5 games, too. The team still has issues, no doubt. But it's schedule keeps getting softer, which should help.
If the team wants to be in the mix of top 4 team in the West 9-4 will not do it. I will predict as being a fanatic and pick 13-0.
Wed, Dec 05 Memphis @ Houston W Fri, Dec 07 Houston @ New Jersey W Sun, Dec 09 Houston @ Toronto L Mon, Dec 10 Houston @ Philadelphia W Wed, Dec 12 Detroit @ Houston L Sat, Dec 15 Dallas @ Houston L Wed, Dec 19 Orlando @ Houston L Thu, Dec 20 Houston @ Denver L Sat, Dec 22 Houston @ Chicago W Sun, Dec 23 Houston @ Detroit L Fri, Dec 28 Houston @ Memphis L Sat, Dec 29 Toronto @ Houston W Mon, Dec 31 Golden State @ Houston L Maybe i'm being pessimistic, but at this rate, i think 5-8 is more likely..
Yeah, people keep talking about the schedule getting softer...but they apparently aren't looking past the next 4 games.
i think it i did get softer compared to 2 games against suns, spurs, mavs, lakers, 1 against jazz, denver. If its like early season prediction this team should rock all those teams.... but what their doing now, i hardly doubt it
Wed, Dec 05 Memphis @ Houston - W Fri, Dec 07 Houston @ New Jersey - W Sun, Dec 09 Houston @ Toronto - W Mon, Dec 10 Houston @ Philadelphia - W Wed, Dec 12 Detroit @ Houston - W Sat, Dec 15 Dallas @ Houston - W Wed, Dec 19 Orlando @ Houston - W Thu, Dec 20 Houston @ Denver - L Sat, Dec 22 Houston @ Chicago - L Sun, Dec 23 Houston @ Detroit - L Fri, Dec 28 Houston @ Memphis - W Sat, Dec 29 Toronto @ Houston - W Mon, Dec 31 Golden State @ Houston -L 9-4 seems right to me...
It sure is wishful thinking to hope that we might face the Spurs or Nuggets in Round 1, if you believe that we would lose against anyone else. The Western conference is hard as nails, and if we want to get out of the first round then we'd better just keep our heads down and do the best we can without regards to who we play. If we can't beat 5 out of the 8 teams we could possibly match up with (Phoenix, Dallas, Utah, GS, New Orleans) then we don't deserve to pass the first round anyways.
