Honestly the only team on that list that I think will give us problems is okc because they seam to blow us out more than we beat them once
vs. Miami W vs. Toronto L @ Portland L @ Denver W vs. Portland W @ Orlando W vs. Utah W @ Boston L vs. Oklahoma City L vs. New Orleans L We'll win some games we're not supposed to, and lose some games we should have won. 5-5....I'll take that tbh. Pugs
We are catching the Hornets, Nuggets, and Blazers on cold streaks. Camby is supposed to be out with an ankle injury for a bit, hopefully missing both games against us. The Hornets have looked really awful lately. The Magic were playing poorly but seem to have turned it around the last couple of games. I'm not convinced it will last. We always play the OKC Thieves tough at home. It'll be a tough stretch, but there are some favorable linings in those ten games. I'm hoping for at least 5, maybe as many as 7 wins. It would be nice for tie break purposes to take the Hornet, Blazer, and Nugget games.
I agree. 5-5 is expected... 7-3 would be real nice though. :grin: It will be a real test of where we are at as a team.
I know our guys will compete, build upon the wins, learn from the losses, get better after each game, and hopefully come out of this stretch with a little confidence and swagger. If we can still be in th 8th spot or higher after the NOH game, it will be a fun ride to the end of the season. I know soon after NOH we got the Spurs here in San Anotnio cuz i got tickets behind the Rockets' bench :grin:
19-0 from now to end of Jan. 24 game winning streak which ends due to rick adelman being sick for Rockets vs Lakers game.
we'll definitely win 4, probably win 5, and have a decent shot at winning 6. 3 would be disappointing, and 7 would be eye-opening.
with the last 3 games against awful teams (Washington, LAC, and SAC) being settled in the last 5 minutes or so, i'm definitely nervous about this stretch. Glad we could close out but alarmed that these teams actually presented a challenge. that said we are definitely on a decent roll. with AB progressing slowly but surely and the prospect of Twill getting into the rotation, i am hopeful we will make a good showing. this is where the rubber meets the road and i believe our play during this stretch will have a big impact on whether we use Yao + other assets for a star and a playoff run, or whether we start selling off assets for draft picks and young talent.
I would love to see anything over 6 w's, but having just bearly escaped with w's vs scrub teams is not very reassuring.I'm hopeful for 4-5 w's.
I'm going to be optimistic and predict an above .500 record. I figure we have Brooks back to almost 100% so we are a firm middle of the pack team, those types of teams are always competitive against the contenders. Certain matchups you want to play Brooks more and others you want to play Lowry. Even though we can only play the two of them 48 minutes (unless we play both at the same time), being able to adjust based on offensive or defensive matchups will really help us out. This Heat game will be really interesting IMO. Even though we are a .500 team, we seem to have the type of roster that can they can't just completely dominate. Battier has given James fits before. I'm sure Lowry/Lee can somewhat keep up with Wade. Scola and Hayes can defend the pick and roll well. It will still be an uphill battle, but I don't think we get blown out.
This stretch is so overrated. The only truly tough teams in that stretch are Miami and Boston. Arguably OKC, too. None of them are unbeatable, though. Even before we started putting all these wins together, we were playing competitively against some great teams. We'll be fine. And if by some chance we're not, we were probably never a serious team to begin with.
Just because we are playing a team above .500 does not mean its an automatic loss. The rockets are playing great team basketball right now, as good as any team in the nba. I think we can win every one of those games!
vs. MiamiL vs. TorontoW @ PortlandW @ DenverW vs. PortlandW @ OrlandoW vs. UtahL @ BostonL vs. Oklahoma CityL vs. New OrleansW Portland/Denver/Toronto/New Orleans will be cake. We lose to Utah, Boston and Oklahoma City, but we steal one in Orlando. Dwight doesn't have the post moves to score on Chuck, and they no longer have a stretch four to abuse Scola like Rashard lewis did last game. Brooks/Lowry/Lee/Martin have a field day against the marginal perimeter defense. 21-19
Guess we'll see. I'm confident about my predictions, but am willing to eat crow any time the rockets defy my expectations.
