61-21. I really don't mind if they go 55/27 or something as long as they can get one of the top 3 seeds, I am happy. You really don't wanna be stuck as a middle seed (4th/5th) and play 3 good teams to finals, a basically 1st round bye (vs. a Lakers team or something) would be perfection!
Will, i guarantee u dat mavs will not win 49 games this season! btw, color fonts are permitted in here right?!
I said 55 wins in another thread, but it really depends on how bad the NBA is this season. Last year it was pretty bad and we managed to get 52 with injuries. I'd say 50-52 again.
Last season we won 52 games. This season Tracy and Yao Ming will be managed with better care than ever before so I expect at least 70 games playing from both of them. JVG expected too much from them. Scola is going to help us win most of the close games which we lost last season. Our depth is going to enable us to pace ourselves throughthe season a la Spurs. This season we will have positive coaching and positive facial expressions which will help us win that last games when we play 5 games in 7 nights and exhausted, every one is ready to throw in the towel. So that will be 82/7X 3.5=41 52-41=11 52+11=63 07/08..................63 wins and 19 down the tube
The franchise record for regular season wins was 58 set in the 1993-94 season. That Rocket team started off the season going 22-1, then went 36-23 the rest of the way before winning their first of two NBA Championships. I find it difficult to think that this Rocket team will match or exceed that record simply because they're playing in a tough conference, with the likes of the Dallas Mavericks, the San Antonio Spurs, and the Phoenix Suns. We should also not forget about what the Utah Jazz can do as well. It is possible that no one will reach 60 wins this season in the Western Conference simply because you have five top teams in the league (the Rockets and the other four teams I just mentioned) that are pretty evenly matched.
61 as Hollinger says, despite ~10 or so missed games from Tracy and a maybe one or two from Yao. We'll be treated to some Rockets circa 2001 when T-mac is out.
55-27. We may get off to a slow start due to that brutal November schedule but it's not about how you start but how you finish
64 - 18, #1 seed in West, best record in the league 16-5, We go undefeated in the 1st two rounds of the playoffs, and go the distance (or 6 games) with Suns or Spurs (whoever wins that series). We sweep our 1st and 2nd round opponents and look very dominant. We have classic series with the Celtics and win 6 or 7 games. Next we considered one of the best teams of the new millenium....next to 2000 Lakers.
55-27 I'm still not sure whether the chemistry is gonna be right this year. Adelman's system looks good but whether it's gonna work with all these players is still a question. Anyway, Rockets is going to be better than last year.
i'm calling 70 wins. they're better than last year's versions of Dallas (offensively or defensively) or Phoenix (definitely defensively and possibly even offensively). i'm even including the possibility that one of either T-Mac or Yao misses a significant number of games. although i think that both will play 70+. better (assumed) health this year from Yao and T-Mac will add about 4+ wins to the games they missed last year. improved utilization of 111 will also add about 4+ wins to the games they lost while playing together last year. improved roster/depth/talent adds yet another 5 or so wins throughout the season, particularly against teams over .500 and back-to-backs. the weakened West: Utah lost Fisher and AK-47 wants to be traded, San Antonio's getting older but not deeper, Portland lost Oden (injury) and Randolph, Minnesota lost KG, Dallas didn't improve at all, Phoenix might trade Marion, Clippers lost Brand and Livingston to injury, Seattle lost Ray Allen and Lewis, Golden State lost Jason Richardson, the northwest and pacific divisions are going to be really bad; more easier games should add about 4 or so wins to last season's total. so a net gain of about 18 games leads to 70 wins.
