At the start of the season, I felt the Rockets should be disappointed if they did not make the playoffs. After 20 games, I felt they should be shooting for a home court in the playoffs. Now I think they may have already blown it. Here are the standings: <pre>1 Dallas 42 12 2 San Antonio 37 17 3 Sacramento 38 18 4 Portland 35 18 5 Minnesota 34 21 6 Utah 32 22 7 Phoenix 30 24 8 Houston 28 25 LA Lakers 28 25 ------------------------------ 10 Golden State 24 30 11 Seattle 22 30 12 LA Clippers 18 34 13 Memphis 16 36 14 Denver 12 43 </pre> As you can see, we're tied with the Lakers for the last playoff spot. Anyone seriously thing the Lakers will not make the playoffs? That means we will need to pass Phoenix or Utah to make it. (The good news, of course, is that we're just four games out of 5th place.) The problem is, we have a tough schedule coming up, with 16 of our last 29 on the road, including six "red eye" games where they play a game, then play the next night in a different city. As I see it, we have 13 games at home, where we're 19-9 (.679), so we should win 9 of those. We're just 9-16 (.360) on the road, so we'll probably win just 6 of those. That makes our final record 43-39. Anyone else think that's not good enough in the West? USA Today wrote that we should not be disappointed if we miss the playoffs, since we need another lottery level player to compete for the championship. I think that's a crock, and our talent level is pretty good. I think we should be seriously pissed if the Rockets blow this season and don't make the playoffs. But unless we pick up our play on the road, I don't see how we can do it.
I thought we already discussed this... I'm pretty sure the number of optimists has dwindled to single digits now...
i still believe. the rockets last two games have been EXTREMELY encouraging to me. game 1, against the lakers, was soooo encouraging to see the rockets make a concerted effort to get yao ming the ball as much as humanly possible. it was equally gratifying to see that he cared enough to be dejected on the bench after the game. no hoopin' and hollerin' or bullsh*ttin' afterwards...that man cares! and i think he KNEW that if he had stayed, the rockets would have won.. game 2, against the suns, was some more of the same thing versus the lakers, plus the ball movement was outstanding. never mind glen rice's shooting. i haven't seen pure ball movement like that from the rockets ALL SEASON LONG. if we can keep this level of play up, we'll beat more than half of the road teams we have left. fortunately, imo, we have a tough schedule. the softies of the league get overlooked by us consistently. this, imo, is attributable to our youth. however, we do focus on the bigger named teams and tend to bring our "A" game. well, that's what's coming down the turnpike - bigger named teams. i think this is the time we do our growth as YAO'S team - which is our future.
Come on man, we have Glen back. Our consistency of playing well in games will continue to grow with him in as another shooter. We'll probably win 10 of those home games,, and 11 of those 16 road games. We'll be in the playoffs as a 7th seed.
The Lakers will find their way into the playoffs. Rockets hope is to beat out the Suns or Utah. They probably won't catch anyone else.
I think we will make because I think Phoenix is ready to implode. If you don't count that 10 game streak they had, they just plain sucked. Stoudamire has been figure out for the most part (he can only go to his right.) We should have a 3-0 series lead on them if we didn't miss those free throws. If we play .500 ball from here on out we should make it in the 8th spot. Plus we have more game with them in the laptop.
With the Lakers it is all about health. I am going to assume they make the playoffs even though the Shaq/Kobe health status will dictate this. If they are healthy they are in. The 8th playoff spot is all about the battle with the Rockets and the Suns. No question here. They are the two most inexperienced teams and the two teams that will have the most trouble putting together winning streaks. Utah, Minny and LA are all experienced and will probably not fall apart and get caught in losing streaks. The Rockets' bad loses most recently to the Cavs and Heat are tough ones. Especially considering the tough road schedule ahead. The one bright spot for the Rockets is they are 2-1 in the Suns series and if they can beat them again will gain the tie breaker if the Suns and Rockets have the same record at the end of the year. That win against the Suns the other night was huge. And for that matter, the Rockets have a 2-1 edge on the Lakers. To be honest I am 50/50 on whether the Rockets can beat out the Suns for the final spot. I am hopeful however. Chris
I don't know why, but lately I am a little more optimistic that the Rockets will sneak into the playoffs. I was very heartened by the Rockets game against the Lakers. The team tried to go through Yao and kept getting him the ball. They did the same against the Suns. I think the Suns might just fall to the 9th spot. I'm hoping, anyway. Of course I'm also hoping for the Lakers to have health problems with their two stars, but....we shall see.
I think we make it, as the 7th seed. I see Phoenix nosediving out of the playoffs and LA getting the 8th seed.
Phoenix's defense was just miserable last game...and at a home game. Had you read the Phoenix papers, those guys are reading like they are frustrated and not sure.
Yeah, the Phoenix papers were pretty brutal on the Suns effort in the all important Rockets game. As a Rockets fan I can relate! lol Chris
