Tue 8 - (home) Orlando W(2-1) Thu 10 - @ Miami L(2-2) Sat 12 - @ New Jersey W(3-2) Sun 13 - @ Boston W(4-2) Tue 15 - @ Minnesota W(5-2) Thu 17 - @ San Antonio L(5-3) Fri 18 - (home) Detriot L(5-4) Sun 20 - @ Indiana L(5-5) Tue 22 - @ Dallas L(5-6) Without T-Mac, those 7 game road trip is going to be very tough. I will be pretty satisfy if we could come up with just 3 win out of the 7 road games. Assuming that we beat Orlando, we would still be in good shape with a 5-6 record after the Dallas game considering the scedule gets easier after that...of course I'm hoping we could do a lot better.
Brutal schedule, WITH TMAC! Without him, well, if they play like they did against the Hornets, they will lose all of them. This team will either go from Boys to Men, or the Rockets will have a worse start than last year.
If you can take something positive from this it's that the Rockets might go through their worst stretch at the beginning of the season. Two three games in four nights WITH TRAVEL during that road trip.
I think the road trip is a good thing as it will show the character of the team. Will they come out with that "me against the world" attitude or will they be the lazy "we're champions b/c we are very good on paper" attitude? I think they will come out with the proper attitude and pull some of those tough ones out. Really good teams usually play better on the road b/c they come out more focused and intense. T-Mac being out may be a blessing in disguise b/c it will give time to others who wouldn't get PT with T-Mac there and hopefully build confidence and experience to them. I'd rather him miss 2 weeks now than in April and May. I am alittle more optimistic than you are and think they will do better. Let's hope I am right. Tue 8 - (home) Orlando W(2-1) Thu 10 - @ Miami W(3-1) Sat 12 - @ New Jersey L(3-2) Sun 13 - @ Boston W(4-2) Tue 15 - @ Minnesota W(5-2) Thu 17 - @ San Antonio L(5-3) Fri 18 - (home) Detriot W(6-3) Sun 20 - @ Indiana L(6-4) Tue 22 - @ Dallas L(6-5) They can beat Miami. I hate Toine and Jayson Williams is inconsistent. The New Jersey game will be tough b/c they are going to run run run. We should beat Boston and Minnesota. San Antone is going to be very tough and Detroit can be beat especially here at home. Indian and Dallas will probably be L's because the pacers are loaded and artest won't have to guard anyone like he would have had to if Mac was there so he will be free to score more.
Rox will lose all the games because nobody else could be a consistent scorer after Yao. Teams are going to pack the lane and dare Rox players to shoot jumpers.
orlando, NJ, boston, mini. if we are lucky, we will win those games. i still have my doubt about orlando, NJ, and mini. boston looks easy though, but that's what i said about the hornets. best case: 4-5 worst case: 2-7. only because if we play hard we can still be a good team. this reminds me of last year when we started 6-11. we made 2 trades (wesley and barry) then got mj at the deadline. i think we might see a trade coming in the next 15 games. maybe wesley for a backup PG.
