I am very doubtful the Rockets will make the playoffs. I am predicting a 41-41 record (if they pick up their game) , and I don't think that will get you in the playoffs in the West. The Rockets just don't look good, even when they win. The starting lineup is so untalented, they have to play their hearts out to break even. Last season is starting to look like the exception instead of the norm. Frankly, I was amazed they won 52 games last year. They won't even get close to that this year.
Ok maybe not 62 wins haha. But look at the standings in the West and tell me who is completely and unequivocally out of reach. No one is on pace for 60 wins. Phoenix has the highest winning pct at .700, which interpolates to 57 wins.
I'm not completely sold on Portland yet -- they're still very young and could slip on any number of banana peels. I question Denver's ability to keep it together personality-wise. Golden State could be a problem, especially because like the Rox, they've played a road-heavy schedule thus far. The main thing, though, is that we're only a 4-game win streak (by us) and a 4-game losing streak (by them) away from catching any of those teams. Assuming the Lakers take their likely drop, the only other teams that are more than 4 games ahead of us are the Suns, Mavs, Hornets and Spurs. That's not impossible ground to make up if we hit a hot streak. (I know, BIG if, but I think we will.)
I believe the Rockets will still make the playoffs. I don't think all 7 teams listed are more solid than the rox.
I really think the Rockets are gonna need to get to 10 games over before they can even consider the playoffs a possibility. There seems to be a lot of quality teams this year, more so than in previous years, which is gonna make it even harder to lock a spot. But I think if they can manage to get to 10+ over they'll be ok. Right now they're 2 games over; put together a couple of more winning streaks and they're seriously in the playoff picture. Not very difficult to imagine.
You can say the same thing about the Nuggets, Trailblazers, Jazz, and Warriors. All of them will have to get 10+ games to consider the playoffs. That leaves 5 teams that should consider the playoffs a possibility. The last 3 spots are up in the air.
If you want to bet on other team's injury, then the Rockets have high probability than any other team with TMac & Yao ( remember last year?). So injuries should not be taken into the equation when make your prediction. One thing people tend to forget is that this team should play better with season goes on, that's a given with the new coach/system. They are on a pace to a 42/40 season right now, should be a few more wins with the expected better play from here on, and I expect them to end up win ~46 game as a 7th seed.
I think it's a bit early to worry too much about the playoffs right now. We'll know more once the All-star break comes along.
The title is bad. I think there is a decent chance the Rockets will get in. We are not that far off from the 8th and we are playing better now. Plus our schedule is getting easier.
At least, u can post some problems and say we would be out of playoffs if we could not solve these problems. But look at ur post, nothing about rox, just possiblity of the playoffs list and some analysis of other teams this is not the nba fans or analysis forum, its rox fans forum, i don't know wats your purpose to post this. tell us this season is over or destory ppl's confidence?
I would rather the entire roster try hard, get some good wins. If we do get into playoffs, then great. As Mt. Mutombo really needs a ring. If we do not get into the playoffs, at least the players will have some trading values. Anything can happen, the talent gap between teams is very very small. The rox get a good run some where, or a couple 5-6 winning streak. As long as rox can get at least 43-45 wins, we should be in the playoffs, and that is only 2-4 games above .500. As the jazz is not playing all that well this season, maybe its a good thing that rox are not seeded that high. As the match up between rox and jazz is just bad.
i'd prefer to match up against the spurs in the first round than most of the other teams in the playoffs.
To win 50 games, we will have to go 29-13. To win 52 games, we will have to go 31-11. Do you want to rethink that?
The Warriors didn't have Davis and Richardson much of the 1st half of the season. They also traded for Jackson and Harrington midway through the season. After those moves, they took off. I guarantee you the Warriors finish ahead of the Rockets. Regarding Chris Paul and his injuries, you can't make generalizations about a guy who hasn't even completed his third season as a pro. He may be an iron man for all we know. Too early to say he ALWAYS gets injured. I guarantee you the Hornets finish ahead of the Rockets.
21 vs Sea 23 at Sea 25 at Por 27 vs Uta 29 vs GS 1 at Ind 2 at Mil 4 at Min 7 vs Cle 9 vs Atl 11 vs Por 13 vs Sac 19 at Cle 21 vs Mia 22 at NO 24 vs Chi 26 vs Was 29 vs Mem Looking at that end of January and February shedule, I think it is possible. I know this is the NBA and to quote JVG, "any team can win on any given night," but if we are a legit contender, then we should be able to handle business in that month! If we can go on a crazy roll, which we are definitely capable of, we can battle it out in March when the schedule gets a little tougher again!
This is the most reasonable optimistic outlook so far. I still say no way we make the playoffs. Too much talent in the West.
50 wins isn't that hard to conceive of. If we can manage .500 ball against the top 10-12 teams in the NBa we only need to go 20-4 against the weaker remnants - by far most of which is below .500 To put that in other terms, we need to go 5-1 against the crappy teams. We've done that thus far - we won 5 in a row (one of which was against a good team in Orlando) and then lost to philly. but looking back over the schedule in jan we're about .500 against the top teams and 80 percent against the bottom feeders. 50 games is simply to maintain the pace we are doing right now. we need to sweep out seatle and at the very least win one against portland-gs-nola, and if we win 2 well then we're definitely on track. from there to the all-star break we may very well sweep those games leaving us at 8-10 games above .500.
