This is going to be the toughest stretch of the season...it's too bad we don't have the services of Yao in this tough stretch. Either way, I won't judge our guys as long as they give it their all...that's all I can ask of them.
Why do you think "we can forget about" beating SA without Yao? We already beat the holy living crap out of SA without T-Mac, and that was on THEIR home floor, AND with Yao contributing very little in the second half. If we could do that, we sure as hell can beat them without Yao and with a healthy T-Mac. Do I think we will? No. But it's stupid to rule it out as a possibility.
Here's Jonathan Feigan's latest blog entry which also talks about the upcoming schedule. I say BRING IT, BABY! http://blogs.chron.com/nba/2007/01/the_going_gets_tough.html
this team plays thier best with thier backs to the wall. they tend to lack killer instinct (being proactive about having to elevate your play for a specific moment or game), but they do well when it's obvious that the situation calls for elevated play. this month, without yao, definitely calls for such effort. i tihnk they all know it and will be able to finish the month 7-7. however, since i think the last 3 games of this month will be wins and so was the first game of the month that only leaves 3 wins for this stretch. 3-7 until portland would make me happy, sadly.
Personally, I think it has less to do with his stamina than the inability or unwillingness to get him the ball. I'm in Austin now, so I don't get to watch many of the games live - I watch the play by play on Rockets.com though. It's not uncommon for Yao to only get 4 touches in the second half, after putting up 20 points in the first.
Him not getting the ball has a lot to do with his stamina. It's hard work getting good post position near the basket, particuarly late in games when the other team has a better feel for what you're trying to do offensively.
I have to disagree with the poster who said that without yao the back to backs don't hurt us as much. Juwan and Mt. Mutumbo are old, and not acclimated to the sudden increase in minutes or demand of production/activity. Our front court waking up stiff and sore and having to play game after game (7 in 10 days I believe) will hurt us. There is a reason JVG keeps inserting Novak (unfortunately not for his production yet..), as he mentioned in the 610 interview, he is trying to lower Juwan's minutes. We don't have a backup for Mutumbo besides Hayes. Therefore, we are running a 3 man rotation which is doing a great job thus far, but factors such age, lack of ability, and being foul prone, will hurt us in more than one of these games.
well it was a HUGE win tonight. if we can go 1-1 on the minny/chi back to back then we will be off to a nice start on the murder's row stretch. after playing how we did tonight it makes 5-5 on this run more realistic. LET'S GO ROCKETS!
After tonight's game, I think the Rox is going to at least break even on this stretch. You would be concerned of the offense with Yao out of the lineup. But right now the Rox looks great! Tonight, TMac and Deke were unreal. Though I know they won't, especially Deke won't sustain this level of performance during this tough stretch, but remember, Howard and Head did not show too much tonight. I am sure they are going to show on the road. Snyder may start to contribute in the middle of the stretch, Bonzi may catch the tail. Hopefully Novak is going to take more and make more shots. I am very optimistic now!
we need one of our role players to STEP UP BIG TIME every single game along with the current Tmac to be able to have a good chance at winning (always willing to state the obvious)
well...these games need to be played sometime sooner or later..LETS GO ROCKETS!!! we beat the jazz..so my guess...7-3
A good start to a brutal schedule with the impressive win over the Jazz. Tomorrow we have a road game against the wolves, certainly winnable - and certainly losable. Then a tough tough road game against Chicago on Monday....they are 14-3 at home and we'll be walking in there on the 2nd end of a back to back. So far the tally is 1-0. I still stand that if this team goes 6-4 without Wells, Yao, and Synder, we've done extremely well. Anything beter than that leaves a lot to be excited for. And anyone who suggests we don't need Yao anymore needs to go watch playoffs tapes from the last 15 years.
We have started a tough ten game stretch and we're 1-0 with the win over (the Jazz)...just 9 more to go and 5-4 or 6-3 would be great until we face Portland. I hope Synder can start playing himself back in shape. We will miss the size at the 4 & 5 esp if we get in foul trouble. I think we at least split the first two beginning tomorrow and go from there. I really like us at home against LA, PHX and Denver (I'm going to call that 3-0 Yes including a win against the Suns). On the road, I'll call it 3-3 (6-3 overall) which puts us at 27-15. Then we come back home for 5 very winable games so that will be 32-15 to end the month!!! Not bad at all with a great February schedule with only 4 road games and 8 at home. Hang in there Rockets and take it One at a Time!!!
If we can just remain competitive through this stretch and pull a 5-4 record out of it, we'll be sitting at 26-16. Even a losing record of 4-5 gives us 25-17 coming home for Portland. Consider that, by that time, we will have played 6 more road games than home games on the season (giving us a home-friendly schedule the rest of the way), and I'd feel pretty damn good about this team! All of that w/o Yao (and Bonzi and Snyder for at least part of that stretch) would be impressive. Anything better would be downright amazing! When Yao went down, and Tracy still out, I thought our season was going down the tubes. I was sure we were screwed. It's a damn good thing we won these last 5 games -- we'll need the cushion. Even if we lose most of the games (say 2-7) we'll still be afloat at 23-19 -- 4 games over .500 The way we're playing right now... well Tracy said it best, "you're at my mercy." I don't fear any team.
With Tmac averaging 30+ points on all win with 44pts against the best rebounding team and one of the best defensive team in the league the Utah Jazz, I really think that we have a shot to minimize the lost as long as the defensive intensity and the compliment producers like Head, Alston, battier and Howard will pick up their game, got no fear baby! Not to mention, Mutombo has got to take the same meal he had before last nights game! the guy was phenomenum! GO ROCKETS!
Early part of the schedule is do-able, especially considering the fact that Chicago has been 3-9 against Western opponents this year. These games are going to be close, and could go either way, but we got take them if we are to state our claim for the championship. That last 4-5 games looks just downright brutal though. Dallas, Spurs, Suns, and Melo-Back Nuggets? We should be happy with 2-3.
