well, if went 20-7 against that schedule, it wouldn't be hard nor impressive. We could lose to pretty much every tough team, a few not so tough team, and just beat up on the easier ones to get there. Also, I think it's premature to judge this team. Everyone's expectations to start this season were just far too hyped-up. Things are changing, and there are signs of results. Finally, i am certain this team will make the playoff games and barring injuries, we'll win 50 games. Consider these facts: We have played the hardest schedule of any team in the NBA, and we got through it nearly at .500. We've played Utah, SA twice, Dallas twice, Golden State, Orlando, Detroit twice, Phoenix, L.A. twice, Denver twice, Toronto. That's more then half our games have been against the league's top 10 teams. Finally, consider the injury issues of T-mac, the new offense that the team clearly struggled to buy into and execute, the recent emergence of Scola and Brooks as contributers, the improving offense, Luther Head's resurrection from the dead, and combine that with Battier finally shaking off his slump and Bonzi being a bright spot - and it becomes harder to understand why you feel this way. This team is going to be much better then last years team. But people are finding their roles, and consider this - recent championship teams didn't start their runs remarkably. San Antonio's first full season championship - they struggled mightily in the first half of the season. Same was true for Detroit - a team that wasn't impressive until the second half. I know people talk about chemistry, leadership, and believing in each other as more pop psychology and soundbites for post championship interviews...but this right now is the stuff that these guys have to build. It seems that the guys have refound some confidence and are slowly getting into the flow. I think Yao has been struggling as well and that will come around. I'm not surprised we have struggled, of course, I didn't buy into all the hype when we got Scola and James - I knew Scola would take time, and I didn't think James would be much of an upgrade over Alston. But I do now believe that Adelman was a good choice as coach and will indeed make us into a much more offensively productive team. The ugly offense you folks are seeing isn't the results of Adelman or the players....it's the players holding a crutch for last years offense which they have grown comfortable with. I am pretty sure things will work out. 50 wins sure.
I'm sure that's what Memphis, Miami, Milwaukee, Utah(twice), Golden State, Dentver, New Orleans, Toronto, Denvere and Seattle thought when they saw the Odenless Trailblazer on their schedule This is impressive especially if you consider that you become a target with 5 or more wins as your opponent wants to go on record as "ending the streak". If the blazers can put on a streak, so can the rockets..heck even if they go 8-2 or 9-1 over 10 games (w/ 2 short streaks) I'm good with that too. Those who think the rockets can't do this are jaded and have a loser mentality. The schedule is not a cake-walk, but certainly looks favorable for turning this around, putting some Ws together and building confidence.
The Houston Chronicle is reporting that T-Mac will probably be out for around a week and will miss three or four games with a sore knee.
14-0 is being pretty optimistic ... knowing this teams past history and how we play against scrub teams ... i think we will be 10-4 or 11-3 at best... dont worry im not hating on the rockets just being a lil more realistic
