Well, I hate to rain on the parade, but a lot of posters here are being unrealistic about winning the first round. Yao is out: thank God for Scola but his free throw shooting is less than desirable; Landry is injured and even when he gets back his leaping ability is severely impaired; Hayes (no offense) and Luther (no defense) are still too short; Shane Battier is hurt; T-Mc can't shoot because of his shoulder injury; Rafer is out and will be slowed by his groin injury when he does return; Bobby Jackson's legs are suspect; and Deke, well, thank God he is an ageless wonder. Brooks is too green, and no one except T-Mc will pass to "Threefer" Novak on a consistent basis so his offense stays on the shelf. No, I am not optimistic, but that does not deter me from passionately rooting for the Rockets.
I think the shoulder injury is his excuse for not getting out the first round. He seems to have good shooting motion based on what I have seen. To me I see a guy that has given up.
isn't that amazing we feel that way for the first time and unlike any other year. Maybe this is the one when he delivers
as badly as i want to beat the ever-living piss outta the ******* jazz, i have absolutely no faith in our ability to beat the jazz. none whatsoever. and i have even less faith in tmac's shot right now. nevermind the fact that we have our starting PG out for at least a week, battier injured, bjax injured, and a less than 100% landry. it's the eternal pessimist in me.
I am usually a pessimist around here, but... -We did have a 20+ game winning streak with a mix of players go down. -We have home court and the Jazz are the worst WC playoff road team -We didn't draw the impossibly difficult for us to match up with Spurs or Suns. All things considered 6 weeks ago, this is the best possible scenario. I think the Rockets have a well over 50/50 chance to get it to game 6 (keep it respectable), and not that far from below a 50/50 chance to take the series. By the way Vegas has it about 2-1 Jazz. Only the Mavs, Suns and Wizards are viewed as tougher dogs in their series.
I have been pessimistic about this team's chances as well....basically since we traded away Horry and Cassell......in fact I was so disgusted with last year's team that I barely even watched the series against the jazz......I couldn't wait for the front office to make changes... That being said, there is something about this '07-'08 team that is not easily explainable.... They have an aging superstar who's been inconsistent as can be... A rag-tag assortment of marginal guards and power forwards.... A slew of unproven rookies + Novak... A first year coach who still hasn't even been able to implement his full system... A 40 something year old center who can only play about 20min a game... And a starting SF who can make 3's but is otherwise very limited offensively... And yet somehow, they win.... Much like with speculation and investing, the reasons and the how don't matter.......you just have to trust the tape and the final score at the closing bell... So all I can do at this point is trust that this team has something special and just wait for the answers on how and why to come later.......So for the first time in 12 years, I actually believe that this team will find a way to win...
Pippendagimp, I agree. It is much more exciting to see a team play better than the sum or their parts, than watch a team that should be better than they play. 1st time in a long time one can say the Rockets are playing better than the sum of their parts.
