Contrary to recent perception, the Rockets are beating bad teams and not so successful against good teams. They are 7-9 against teams with .500 record or better and 9-4 against teams below .500. Of course, I want them to beat everybody. But if I had to choose between beating good team while losing to bad teams or the other way around, I'd choose beating good team any day. If we are successful against good teams, we know we can beat anybody. This is especially important comes playoffs time. If we are successful only against weak teams, then there is always the doubt whether we can really play with the big boys. What do you think?
Easy, I think thats a great stat. You should beat the lesser teams and try to steal a few against the better teams. Id say we are somewhat on track with where we should be. Those records are a reflection of our single, biggest problem: consistency
Even though 9-4 sounds allright, losing to bad teams at all is pretty unforgivable. Imagine if we were 11-2 or 12-1 against bad teams. we'd be at the top of the Western Conference. That's what distinguishes the good teams from the great teams. Mediocre teams beat teams they should lose to and lose to teams they should beat.
****Newsflash****Newsflash****Newsflash****Newsflash**** Most teams in the league beat the "bad teams", that is why they are called "bad teams".
Red Glare, I hear you. There's a lot of sentiment here lately saying that we are beating the good teams but "play down to the bad teams' level." I am pointing out that that is really not true. We only lost to 3 bad teams: Clippers, Grizzlies and Knicks. Also, the Lakers lost to the last place team of every division last year. Everybody knew the Lakers were the most dominant team in the league.
It's supposed to be that way. But my problem with the Rox is that they have lost games that they had control of and should have won. The games were: Nov. 15 @ Phoenix Nov. 24 @ LA Clippers Nov. 26@ Portland Dec. 13 @ Memphis Dec. 14 vs. LA Clippers Dec. 23 vs. Utah Now, had the Rox put these games away (like they should've) their record would stand at 22-7, making them the 2nd seed in the West. Now think about that!
Truth, Every team loses some of those games. Remember Dallas blew the game at LA? The fact that the Rockets lose many close games shows that they lack poise. In fact, I think that's the most fundamental problem with them. Notice that they are capable of executing good offense. But when they miss a few open shots, or when they are in tight games down the stretch, they often panick. Then one of those guys will try to take things into his own hands and starts playing 1 on 5 ball. If they can keep their poise, stick to the offense, they can beat anybody. I think poise comes from experience and experience comes from age. They being a young team does have something to do with losing those games.
