Every game for the Rockets is important right now of course. However, the games over the next week or so is vital. Coming up: Today (January 21st): vs. Seattle Supersonics January 23rd: @ Seattle Supersonics January 25th: @ Portland Trailblazers January 27th: vs. Utah Jazz January 29th: vs. Golden State Warriors These are all WINNABLE games. And more importantly, Portland and Golden State are virtually tied for the 7th and 8th seeds, while Utah is 9th. The Rockets can make up some ground if they go 4-1 or 5-0 during this stretch. Current Standings as of Jan. 21 (12:45am) 7. Portland - 4.5 8. Golden State - 4.5 ------------ 9. Utah - 6.0 10. Houston - 7.5
as our years motto goes....ITS TIME...its time for the rockets to play like we all expected them too and it starts now with these upcoming games and hopefully making up crucial ground here before the all star break....i feel we are going to go at least 4-1 and show other teams that we are not to be taken lightly
not if our role players can keep up their play. we MUST play scola and landry A LOT v. the warriors (no hayes). tmac will continue to trust his teammates and we'll show how great we can be. it's time for hayes to take a back seat. he was great for us. but we've found a more offensive and athletic version of him in landry.
Agreed. The Rockets are out of second chances. They better get this right if they still want to be a playoff relevant team. Good thread.
VS GS yes but Landry will get schooled by most PF in the NBA, he is not good enough defensibly to contain great PF yet. Hayes will continue starting and playing part of the 3rd quarter. Landry will get more minutes most with Scola as a center. RA will play part of the 3rd quarter with the 3 rookies Scola, Landry and Brooks. Dekeme will see almost no minutes unless Yao is in foul trouble and a guy like Curry or Shaq, BIG centers are playing. With T-Mac back Hayes will be ok T-Mac will find him for easy layups. Having now 3 players a the 4/back up 5, with different type games, will give RA flexibility to play the guys he feels will help him win. But I think for now on Scola will get the majority of the PT, and finish the 4th quarter, where teams really double and tipple team Yao.
And they will continue to own us, because Adelman is unwilling to make in game adjustments down the stretch. Nelly will exploit that.
In order to match the Warrior's quickness,I think both Landry and Hayes should have play a lot.Yao should get more rest.
It's funny, until the Warriors beat Dallas last year, I always remember us matching up well against them since Yao was just able to flat out dominate on the offensive end. I mean, the two teams are completely different, so even though they can exploit Yao on the defensive end, shouldn't it just be a matter of who forces their style better upon the other team? A.k.a. imposing your will on the game. The past two performances this year I think have come about from preconceived notions and fears about trying to adapt to their game when all along we had success in the past just dismissing them as not being able to play ours.
I think GSW is a team that can flat out score. They score more than 100pts almost in every game and it is very difficult to stop their perimeter offense which they are very strong at. They also have several players especially Baron Davies that can drive and penetrate. To beat them we need to score big as well which we are not good at. Hence, we need to grab all those offensive and defensive rebounds while work and hope towards a poor shooting night from them. I think somehow think we need Landry and a good PG (I know we don't have one). I thought Francis did quite well against them before he fell on his tailbone in the game against them. Forget the old GSW where we usually beat them. The old GSW has an often injured Baron and they do not aggresively front Yao. The GSW last year and this year starts to front/double and triple like a pack of wolves.
Today (January 21st): vs. Seattle Supersonics - W January 23rd: @ Seattle Supersonics - W January 25th: @ Portland Trailblazers - W January 27th: vs. Utah Jazz - L (maybe a W if tracy is back in the swing of things) January 29th: vs. Golden State Warriors - L
portland is very tough at home, but i think we can do it...hell, we HAVE TO. if want into the playoffs we dont have any games to throw away against teams we can catch.
This is amazing and just shows you how unpredictable this game really is. I never imagined that I'd be alive to see the day that we'd be fearing a team like Portland. A season ago, Portland would've been considered an automatic W.
I was watching some show on NBAtv that was talking about Portland and why they went on such a tear. Imagine having a team full of Scola, Landry and Brooks type players. Because that's what they are. Most of the core of that team is 22-24 years old. Lots of team chemistry because they are all close to the same stage in their careers and they are athletic to boot. They have a few players with some experience, but the majority of them are learning together.
i have faith in the rockets and i think they can win these, 5-0 would put us right back in this..ITS TIME
