The whole team is like that it's sad when Dwight Howard is your most mature player and that showed itself to be true by his play in the playoffs. Lenard lol he needs to practicing to be better than Nicolas Batum.
Poor Dmo, Mchale is ruining his life off the court now by making fake accounts to mess with him. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Nice work Facebook ... Someone creat fake account and Facebook close my profile ... What a joke ...</p>— Donatas Motiejunas (@DonatasMot) <a href="https://twitter.com/DonatasMot/statuses/478854976127913984">June 17, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
HELP JUSTIFY ROCKETS TWITTER ARROGANCE!!! <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Help justify our arrogance and vote for us to win the <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA">@nba</a> Social Media Award for Team Social MVP. RT this or Tweet using <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23MVPTeamHOU&src=hash">#MVPTeamHOU</a></p>— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) <a href="https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets/statuses/480467906753335296">June 21, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
How is that sad? Dwight may joke around off the court, but he's nothing less than locked in when the game is on the line and the guy practices a hell of a lot too. What is truly sad is that joking around and smiling equates to be a loser, joker, or lazy player... If you are not a sociopath like Kobe or Jordan you are not working hard enough? Not playing hard enough?
Tim Duncan, Dirk, Lebron, Wade these guys understand what it takes to win it all but not only that they know what it takes to lead. Guess what! They are not Kobe and Jordan either. The rockets are the youngest team in the league a lot of the BS is expected but to think they could win it all with the current mind state they were in this past year was foolish. Dwight is growing still can't ignore that and he did great last year and will continue to do better but we need more than him on this team to start maturing more and that's just the truth. Point blank period.
This team did not lose due to lack of effort or lack of "heart". I guess LeBron lost in 2007, 2011, and 2014 because he had on and off years of joking around? Did he suddenly catch some fun-sapping virus in 2012 and 2013? You don't see KD, Westbrook, or Ibaka screwing around. They have passion, they put in the work. No titles. We got beat, Blazers were severely underrated here and now people are starting to blame the same things the Lakers fans blamed because they ran out of excuses.
It takes you being locked in mind, body, soul and spirit. As a team from coaching on down to the players we were not on one accord deeply enough. Lack of leadership on the coaching and player levels. A lot of that is in terms of taking the game on both sides of the floor seriously enough. You need that and it does take a lot of heart but that's just one thing. Guys are going to live their lives and do what they do but it doesn't negate the fact that to win it all it takes discipline in areas that aren't necessarily comfortable for everyone's personality because everyone has a different personality and within all these different personalities each person/player has to make a uncomfortable sacrifice for the team as a whole to be champions. Takes maturity and we are still growing up.
Come on man that is just a pile of horse ****. You are romanticizing things. Its probably the one thing I would agree with Mark Cuban on, people love making excuses like "heart", wanting it more, etc. Maybe we got unlucky (definitely), maybe we got outcoached (definitely), maybe their guys are more talented than our guys (nope). Heart? That is something that can never be measured and players are awarded those traits after the fact to affirm their confirmation biases. I think the word you might be searching for is discipline and if so I agree with you. Sticking with the gameplan, being locked in on game strategy, making the best play for the team rather than the best play for your stats. If you are talking about "mind, heart, body, and soul" then you are romanticizing things and I just can't agree with you there. The only thing you need to be on "one accord" about is the gameplan, strategically. That, we failed because we have an incompetent coach. Then we need to be on "one accord" about effort and intensity. Maybe Harden slipped up, but the rest of the team was battling out there. After that its just pure talent dominating games. Our guys missed shots they would normally make (Harden, Parsons) and Dwight played above his level the entire series. So did Lillard and Aldridge. We got outcoached, maybe we got outhustled, most importantly we just got unlucky. Portland hit their stride, we were in a slump. Heart, effort, wanting it more, blah. Buzzwords. Gibberish. There is nothing you can do if Lillard is just hoisting up tough threes and making them. Same goes for Aldridge and the fact he can't miss a midrange shot against us.
The coach is a big factor but the coach is just one part. Mchale needs to be better which I pointed out but the players have to show up during the big moments of close games especially the later you get into rounds within the playoffs. Our team hasn't been there in a while and there's a lot of reasons you can point to and coaching is one big one but not everything. The truth either comforts or offends and you reap what you sow in the game of life and basketball. If you work hard or smart enough your unlucky becomes lucky your choke jobs become clutch jobs... we seen that in 94/95. Two players on the rockets have been to the finals who are suppose to be leaders on this team. Portland's two star players didn't have that experience. You can look at things and make excuses for losing like coaching which we did get outcoached but there are definitely other ways we got outplayed that was unacceptable. Gotta charge that to the game and get better/do better/prepare better. Then your excuses will turn into championship type results.
It was only one year since we got a contending team. Does the team have to get better? Yes, obviously but I think its way too early to start fingerpointing at maturity and lack of leadership. Like I said, we were one Lillard buzzer beater away from game seven, and had we advanced we'd have been eliminated by the Spurs and would have felt a lot better about ourselves. I just think there's a lot of unnecessary finger pointing because we got upset. People acting like we need drastic changes, but really that series was honestly a coin flip. There is nothing wrong with the team, our maturity, or our focus. We played hard, we got unlucky and our shots didn't fall and Portland went on a hot streak. None of this will matter in about two weeks though. LeBron or Melo will drastically change the outlook of this team.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Reason 10 we should win <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23MVPTeamHOU&src=hash">#MVPTeamHOU</a> - We're up against <a href="https://twitter.com/trailblazers">@trailblazers</a> & any vengeance (no matter how small) would be cathartic. RT to vote.</p>— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) <a href="https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets/statuses/480483107246592000">June 21, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>How'd that go? <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23MVPTeamHOU&src=hash">#MVPTeamHOU</a> RT <a href="https://twitter.com/trailblazers">@trailblazers</a>: <a href="https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets">@HoustonRockets</a> We were busy in the second round.</p>— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) <a href="https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets/statuses/480484511923175425">June 21, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> Shots Fired!
Just read this... ROCKETS AND TRAILBLAZERS GET FEISTY ON TWITTER http://dimemag.com/2014/06/rockets-trail-blazers-get-feisty-twitter/ The NBA places a greater emphasis on social media than any professional sports league in the world. A few days back, the league released voting results – by fans, of course – for the 2014 Social Media Awards. Kyrie Irving and Blake Griffin are among the biggest winners so far, taking home awards for ‘Best Vine/Video‘ and ‘Best Hashtag,’ respectively. The winner of ‘Team Social MVP’ has yet to be announced, however, recently leading to pointed Twitter barbs from two of the esteemed nominees. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Reason 10 we should win <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23MVPTeamHOU&src=hash">#MVPTeamHOU</a> - We're up against <a href="https://twitter.com/trailblazers">@trailblazers</a> & any vengeance (no matter how small) would be cathartic. RT to vote.</p>— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) <a href="https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets/statuses/480483107246592000">June 21, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> That’s actually pretty harmless from the Houston Rockets. Publicly pining for vengeance in the form of a social media award against the team that ousted you in the playoffs is hardly incendiary. The Portland Trailblazers are just sensitive, apparently. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets">@HoustonRockets</a> We were busy in the second round. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23MVPTeamPOR&src=hash">#MVPTeamPOR</a></p>— Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) <a href="https://twitter.com/trailblazers/statuses/480483493495857152">June 21, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> hots thrown! Why they were is anyone’s guess. Maybe the Blazers were just itching for some competitive fire after being so easily tossed aside by the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Semifinals? The Rockets took advantage of that possibility in their counter-punch. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>How'd that go? <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23MVPTeamHOU&src=hash">#MVPTeamHOU</a> RT <a href="https://twitter.com/trailblazers">@trailblazers</a>: <a href="https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets">@HoustonRockets</a> We were busy in the second round.</p>— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) <a href="https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets/statuses/480484511923175425">June 21, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> Eh. That’s a swing-and-miss by Houston from our perspective. Chiding the team that ended your season for losing to the eventual NBA Champions? Weak. James Harden defense-type weak. Obviously, this is all in good fun. That teams feel comfortable trading barbs on social media like this is good exposure for the league and adds to meaningless offseason fodder. Still, these jabs are a reminder of just how epic a series the Rockets and Blazers played in the first round of the 2014 playoffs. We can’t wait to see them go at it again next season.
Portland throwing shots for no reason. What a pathetic and insecure team. It was just harmless fun and then they get all butthurt. Pathetic franchise, pathetic fans, pathetic team that will be cherishing a 2nd round exit for the next ten years as they inevitably fade into mediocrity.
the person in charge of their twitter is a turd. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>.<a href="https://twitter.com/Pacers">@Pacers</a> So, see you guys in June? <a href="http://t.co/6m6VUkIbXZ">pic.twitter.com/6m6VUkIbXZ</a></p>— Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) <a href="https://twitter.com/trailblazers/statuses/425388809644437504">January 20, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
