The Rockets have a decent shot, but the West is stupid deep right now. Looking at the 3-6 seeds, it's most likely going to be Houston, Clippers, GSW and Portland/Suns. Would *anyone* be shocked if Houston got past the first round to the WCF? Any more shocked if they got knocked out in the 1st round? Let me put it a different way, would *anyone* be completely shocked if Houston, GSW or the Clippers were in the WCF? THAT's how deep the West is right now. Right now, just about anyone can beat anyone. Clippers, Rockets, Portland and the Suns all have top 10 offenses that can beat anyone just about any given night. GSW just misses the cut with the #11 ranked offense. Rockets, GSW, and the Clippers *ALSO* have legitimate top 10 defenses. Portland just misses the cut with the #11 defense by TS%. Even the Suns have the #16 ranked defense. So decidedly average, but not exactly terrible either. http://www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/true-shooting-percentage http://www.teamrankings.com/nba/team-stat/shooting-defense-category Just be happy that the Rockets are legitimately in the mix. Match ups, coaching and a lot of good timing and luck will be needed to get to the WCF, but this year that's true for just about anyone not named the Spurs or Thunder. And even the Spurs and Thunder aren't locks for the WCF in my opinion. There's just WAY too many very good teams in the West.
Yeah throw Canaan and Daniels out there in the playoffs fresh off their stint in D league..... smart move "wise man"
The Rockets fans have a lot to be thankful for. Morey completely tore down the roster in the summer of 2012. The Rockets have a legitimate shot at the chip in 2014. Amazing. The coaching staff has been incredible. Just fantastic. They have so far this season: Fixed the defense. Integrated Howard into the offense. He is starting to play like the Orlando Superman. Fixed Jones and D-Mo. That in itself is amazing. Driven down even further the number of inefficient mid-ranged shots. They are slowly bringing in the rookies. Limited the number of time wasting Harden isolation's. Gotten Asik back into the fold. In the playoffs Asik will be an incredibly important piece. Allowed the team to develop an identity, cohesion, and fostered a team first mentality. Successfully convinced Harden to play defense. And we fans should be thankful for the players. Morey and the coaching staff are not ever on the floor.
I agree with torocan. The Rockets could go all the way to the WCF. They could also lose in the first round just as likely. The West is a jungle. Anything can happen. It is not a coincidence that our defense has improved a lot after Asik has come back and Harden has been more committed.
There's good teams, but the only ones that would really give the Rockets problems are OKC (seem to have our number so far), Clips (seem to have our number so far), and Spurs (whom we've beat this season, but who know how to pull it together come playoff time)... And the Rockets' toughest opponent: The Rockets. Consistency, cutting down turnovers, sharing the ball, playing great team defense. The team seems to be on auto-pilot right now, in a good way, but strategies and such change in the playoffs, so, we'll see.
As Morey forecast and Howard echoed the team learned about itself the first half of the season and started to really gel around the ASB. If they win their next three games (improbable I know) people will be talking juggernaut.
I don't know about you guys but I having this feeling of excitement. We can take on any team, even the Thunder and Clippers. The Rockets that the Thunder faced in the beginning of the season are no more, this is a completely new team.
Only teams Rockets haven't beaten this season Clippers and OKC. I am not convince Rockets can win it all unless they manage at least one convincing win against them.
IMO, all of the latest success and playing with confidence is due to one thing and one thing only. The return of Omer Asik.
I was the guy who posted the thread hoping that Morey was not actually going to trade Asik in December and was ridiculed for it. I'm glad I was right. Asik is important to this team and will be HUGE in the playoffs for us.
OKC, Clippers and GSW. Those are the 3 teams I would like to avoid. The rest we should beat in a 7-game series.
Morey was never going to trade Asik. But to please Asik and his agent he put him out on the trade market asking an arm and a leg for him. I thought that was obvious.
Sorry, I think we're at least one star away from having a shot. We need to get a third star because that's what Miami did. Signed, Joe Clutchfan I look forward to the small lineup in the playoffs. Remember last year when McHale started Delfino at PF and forced OKC to change their lineup. A #1 seed changed their starting lineup to matchup better with an 8 seed. This year I'd like to see Parsons/Hamilton at the 3/4. This is Miami's main starting lineup, with Battier and LBJ. But the Rockets have Howard instead of Bosh and Battier is limited at this stage of his career. I'm hoping the small lineup can compensate for the inexperience at the 4 spot that has me worried. I also think the "must have 3 stars" people look dumber by the day.
