[Sports Illustrated] Rockets suddenly in prime playoff position

I hadn't watched a game in a while. I was pleasantly surprised. I agree Lowery sure did not look below avearage last night. He has always been a favorite of mine.

I did want to see Thabeet.

 

Lowry has been underrated by Rockets fans for so long. What do you expect from a writer?

In NBA, guys who fills up box scores gets overrated, who does things contruibutes to winning gets underrated. Many fans are stilling considering AB a better player than Lowry to this day.

 

Lowry average or below average? Really? He's the leader of this elite offense.

Other than that, great analysis.

 

Corrected. I think there as been enough of a pro-Lowry group that they deserve not to be included in this statement.

 

Uhhh.. super low.

out of these 7 teams, 4 will make playoffs: Noh, portland, denver, memphis, utah, phx, houston

Utah and Phoenix are most likely the ones that will not make it.

Utah because they have been so bad lately that it's impossible to imagine them even going .500 and they have decently tougher schedule than us.

Phoenix because they are to play 13 road games - us 8. They are to play 16 games against .500 or better, we 11. Phx plays 10 games against top 8 teams (top 4 from each) and we play only 5.

Memphis has somewhat as easy schedule as us, but the problem for them is that they can easily get on a losing streak because of having tough games while missing Gay. I believe they will 3-4 in next 7, while we will go 5-2... 1 game difference with 13 games to go. So yeah, I think we can beat them...

There is more chance of PHX and MEM both missing it rather than making it.

The other 3 teams: Denver, Portland and NOH have really tough schedule... Portland has toughest. NOH been playing terrible lately. No one knows how will Denver play rest of them (I expect them to be just fine).

 

Why do we want Memphis to make the playoffs? I thought the pick's not until 2013. I would love to tie Memphis for eighth since we've got the tie-breaker. Muahaha.

 

top of your head, is he in the top 15 of starting point guards in the league. im gonna bet not. not a knock on him, but pgs are so deep in the league.

 

Give the Rockets some F-ing credit...

This is why we never tank and push for the playoffs...just to hear stuff like this article and this video !!!

GO ROCKETS !!!!

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When it comes to passing, defense, and rebounding, he is Top 10. But his scoring is obviously not.

 

especially with the young guys getting playoff experience.

 

Good article (except for the Kyle part). I'm really glad to see Adelman get some props.

I don't think he has a clue yet what the team he has currently is, but the whole coaching staff has done a great job since the trades.

I hope Adelman doesn't retire (his assistants are coaching for their lives) and I think last night he made a statement with his rotation and about this team.

That performance last night was reminiscent of the team that won 22 games in a row. But that was without Yao (11 games there) and TMac playing at a high level.

I want the team to succeed, but the playoffs... I'm just really proud of the team and I genuinely like our players.

 

Tanking affects you more- negatively (with huge risk of haunting team esteem in the future), than trying to do all you can with what you've got; right here, right now.

 

Don't understand the Lowry negativity. Dude is a flat out bull dawg, a winner. Watched his postgame interview last night. His and Hayes' leadership intangible that Shane always got credit for, is going to come out big time the last part of this season.

I truly hate the position we are in. You always want to win, be in the playoffs. But I don't see any way to win a playoff series unless we could miraculously get to the 5 seed, which is, for all practical purposes, impossible. But we are rolling and really it would be terrible to stop the momentum, which is what we really need to do to maximize our opportunities to make this team better next year and have a better chance at a championship in the coming years. At the same time, it is truly too late to tank too. We're not going to win the lottery or get top 3 except for an extreme stroke of luck.

 

I think he wanted Memphis to make it because of Battier.

 

I kind of disagree there.

San Antonio has been great for most of this season, but they haven't been unbeatable... and considering how old most of that team is, they could wear down by the end of the year. Pretty unlikely, but definitely possible.

Dallas would be a tough match-up, but let's face it... we've all seen Dallas in the playoffs. They are always beatable.

The Lakers... yeah, that would be a damn near impossible matchup to overcome.

 

I dont mind Lowry being called a below average point guard. I like our little secret.

 

Thabeet was brought in as a filler in getting a #1 pick for Battier more than anything else.
The Rockets probably dont pick up the option to the final year of his contract 2012-13. ($6.471M) It simply removes their cap flexability in doing so.

Dont count on him doing much , he may be gone before the start of next season , he may be gone at the deadline but dont count on the Rockets exercising that option. (they may renounce their rights then sign him to a smaller FA deal)

 

He is on point on a lot of things. For example: Martin's lack of ability to navigate screens. He does get screened off quite a bit. Last night, he did, too, though Portland's guys missed a lot of open shots.

One good thing Martin does nowadays, though, is getting deflections and steals. He's kind of good at them with his quickness.

About Lowry: He sure looks good recently. But there are a lot of good PGs (Kidd, Nash, CP, Deron W., Parker, Billups, Westbrook, Rose, Rondo are just some of the names that came into mind who are either clearly better than Lowry and there are others (Andre Miller, Ty Lawson, Wall, etc.) who can be said to be just as good or better). in the league, so it's not wrong to say he's average-ish among starting PGs.

 

WE WINNING A CHAMPIONSHIP THIS YEAR!!!!

 

There was this team we had a while back that was on the outside looking in...

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So it's not really impossible, just improbable.