While I understand that winning goes a long way, that wasn't necessarily my point... At the beginning of the season, and probably still until recently for me, this group was a bunch of strangers put together on the court. A lot of people blamed JVG for getting rid of their favorite players, even today people say they can't connect with them because the only ones they know are Yao and Taylor. But I was talking about more than their play on the court, it's their mannerisms that I love. Like someone mentioned, I love Sura's toughness, it's really unbelievable. I love seeing Wesley fill the lanes on the fast break -- we actually CONVERT 2 on 1's now.. go figure! I love having reserves who won't play for 5 games, won't say a word, and then when they get called upon come in the game and contribute. It's a common phrase, "always stay ready" -- but how many people actually do it? Watching Padgett go from pine rider to crunch time player, it says a lot about his character. Same thing can be said for Weatherspoon, he's come in this past week and given us some huge baskets. I'm an out-of-town Rockets fan, but I catch every national tv game, every one of Rockets2k torrent's, and ESPN (if we win). Outside of video, I try to catch all the quotes about the game -- and the players are really growing on me. Just reading what they're saying, from making fun of one another, to giving compliments and credit to one another, to reading off what JVG told them to say p) -- it seems like we're finally a team that gets "it". Finally. I know a lot of people think that this is all coming up because of the five game winning streak, but my feelings won't change even if we lose the next 3. Rocket games are fun to watch now, and it's fun to see our team getting along and rooting for one another. It was fun watching us struggle, and seeing people fill up a historic thread over JVG before the season was even half way done. Well, what made it fun was watching the thread slowly die, and having 1 or 2 still bringing it up every week or so. It even dropped a star this past week!
One can follow this team because they are trying and seem like good guys for the most part. But lets not get carried away with JVG. He is not a fan favorite and if he doesn't win a championship soon he will be gone in 2 or 3 years and will not be thought of as a legendary Rocket but rather a fading memory lost in the junkyard of failed coaches.
For me, it has been easy to connect with Yao, TMac, Sura, and Deke. Recently, I have felt a lot better about Padgett and Wesley. Barry is easy to like also. I really hope Deke resigns here for a couple years and Barry too. If they do, I think this is the core that we will grow even closer to the next few years. The rest will be added in the next 2 years and probably Barry and Deke will retire. All of those guys are guys that we can find reasons to cheer for because of their hustle and desire to win.
