I want to know who still thinks we cannot be top 4 in the West.

You are so optimistic!!! Thats what I like about you.

However, even the elite teams sometimes have bad games and poor stretches. I would be absolutely shocked and floored if we didnt have any for the rest of the season. In fact, Im sure we will. This team is far from perfect and is still trying to find its chemistry and indentity.

 

That's exactly why we will be ahead of your beloved Spurs. They just don't have an upside like we do. We have so much room for improvement and growth. They have Tim Duncan - period...

 

The only way trying to contain Yao would be constant double-team, which will leave other team members wild open. Also, when Steve drive to basket, they have to double-team him, which will leave Yao wide-open for a dunk or offensive rebound.

 

Why is it that you think that I just love the Spurs and wanna diss the Rockets?

Hmmm.

We have had many stinkers. Portlant, Denver, LA Clippers, the 1st Seattle game, the Sacramento game. Be objective here. We have had great games and poor games. Its all about consistancy. What team is going to show up on any given tonight? Thats all I am saying. The same thing goes for SA. They have had games where there shooters did well and others where they stunk it up.

Overall, its just to early in the season to predict where these two teams will end up for sure. Lets talk some more after the break. Maybe then Ill concede.

 

Not true at all. Dallas didnt stop him via the double. They stopped him with a nice zone. I predict other teams will do the same to limit his touches.

With regards to Steve driving and getting doubled, the problem is, he doesnt always recognize when Yao is open. Steve is still not consistant with regards to his dishes.

The rest of this season will be an adjustment period for both players.

 

I dont think ANYONE has an answer for any of those guys..but the Rockets did pretty well against Duncan and Robinson, it seems. Thats with KT coming off a broken thumb, MoT still working his way back and EddieG experiencing growing pains.
We will see about Shaq soon..but NO ONE matches up with him.

 

codell, all the things you said is true. But remember Rockets just started to put offensive focus on Yao against the Spurs game. Dallas denied Ming the ball in the 2nd half only because the team never practiced giving Ming the ball. They guards tried a few times and then gave up. With Ming's height, agility, and soft touch, there is no way that any team can consisantly deny him the ball, without double-teaming. Shaq/Malone/Dream never really had problem not getting the ball.

 

DearRock and ricerocket,

You have a lot of optimism which is good considering how negative people can get from time to time on this board. However, I still feel it is WAY too early to annoint this team as top 4 in the West. I think its important to evaluate how Mobley fits into the offense and if that improves the team overall or hurts it. Since Mobley has been out, the defense has actually improved in terms of FG% against (.418 against is tremendous). This could be attributed to a lot of things ie. Hawkins is a better defender, the players are helping each other out more, almost anything. This is why I want to see how the team plays on both sides of the ball with Mobley back for a length of time before automatically saying this team will be top 4.

There are two sides to every coin. For instance, Mobley may improve our offense, but our defense may lapse some. Cuttino may adjust his game and compile more assists, but that may result in him creating more turnovers (this has been happening btw). There are just a huge amount of questions that need to be answered with this team. I think 40-50 games into the season we can make a better judgement, its just too early now.

 

The way Dallas did it was with an undersized, over achieving power forward, he fronted Yao and it appeared Yao was too tired to shake him.

 

That was funny.


BTW, there are 6 teams within 2.5 games of the Rockets right now excluding the Lakers. Coming up we have the Hornets, Sixers, and Kings. We all know the Kings are gonna drop kick us and if we lose one of those other games we could go from having the 3rd best record to the 8th best record. All of a sudden this board will go from oh we're a top 4 seed to get riddy Rudy the world is ending. If we're in the top 4 at the all-star break then it'll be serious but right now it doesn't mean too much.

 

Fronting Ming maybe the best way to deny him the ball. My point is after Ming and teammates practiced and improved giving the ball to Ming, he won't be denied easily like he was in the 2nd half of Dallas game. Rudy knows how to do this. Dream played it this way most of his carea. and I never remember any centers not being able to get the ball, especially the one as tall as Ming.

 

As I said early on, we probably won't get to 50 wins this season. A sub 50 win team does not make top 4 in the playoffs.

Calculating what the other teams will do based on their current record is irrelevant because the good teams will win their games. Their records will be reflective of that.

I don't look for the Rox to play signifantly better than they are now, in terms of Win/Loss. They may have a win streak but they'll counter that w/ a losing streak. We are too young and thus not consitent enough to pull out a 60 win season.

But we can get 45-50 wins and then surprise people in the playoffs. We'll see.

 

That's the key. Consistency. We haven't strung 4 wins in a row since Dream was still on this team. We won't be able to break the top 6 until we can start putting some winning streaks together, and we beat all the teams we're supposed to beat.

Here's how I see it:
1. Dallas
2. Sacramento
3. San Antonio
4. Seattle
5. L.A. Lakers
6. Minnesota
7. Houston Rockets
8. Anyone except Utah

I hope I'm wrong, though, 'cause I don't want to pull Sacramento in the 1st round of the playoffs unless they continue to get plagued by injuries. Why are we talking about playoffs before we even hit the all star break anyway?!?

 

Dont be so ready to give up the Kings game...They are 6wins 5 losses on the road. In their last two they lost to the Wolves by 16, and beat Denver by only two, They have bad games on the road too...

 

Then why did you bet SA would finish 5 games better than the Rocks? I'm ready for that concession post...

They stopped him? 30 points and 16 rebounds... Or did they just choose their poison, force the ball into somebody else's hand, and the rest of the Rockets didn't respond?