It has been so long since I have seen the Rockets blowout their opponents as many times as they have thus far in the season. A question for you old timers. When was the last season we had this many blowouts by the midway point?
Off the top of the head, maybe 96-97. I think we did have a nice 9 game win streak in 99, but i can't recall if those were blowouts or not.
Yep...96-97, the year we were cheated out of the NBA finals matchup with the Bulls. That was the last year we were truly dominant, much like this year. You just get the feeling that we won't blow games any more (although it happens as with any team). It's a nice sort of confidence.
I have been thinking the same thing. I haven't been able to relax and just sit around grinning during so many Rockets games in a long time. I would say the last time I felt so at ease during a season was probably 93-94. 96-97 was good too, but honestly our style of play was not terribly pretty that year, and the chemistry was not as good as it is so far this year. That, and our uniforms were so hideous back then that it was difficult to properly enjoy the games. Even if the Rockets had won the championship in 97, there would have been an asterisk because the Rockets wore clown suits that year instead of proper NBA uniforms.
How sweet would it be to rip off 10 or 12 wins in a row and keep doing it the way we have been. Eleven brings us to the end of Febuary and then March starts with 3 tough games (denver, san antonio clevland) Of those next 10 only at dallas looks to be one that is gonna take alot (we will handle them in Houston)
It's groovy that we aren't blowing those huge leads, like we were earlier in the season, but keeping them in a lot of games. Thus the blowouts. The team is figuring out what it takes to win. (excepting the Hornets game!) You don't let up. When you have the other team down, put a firm foot on it's neck.
Good thread. The Rockets this year are breaking our time-honored team tradition of usually playing down to our opponents level. This happened even during the championship years with Rudy. One of my main concerns in the 94/95 playoffs was the heavy minutes our regulars played during the season because they rarely put teams away. Not to say we don't have some stinkers this season, but the blowouts are a welcome change from the Rocket norm.
Teams with 20 pt or more wins Rockets - 10 Spurs - 9 Suns - 8 Mavs - 5 Bulls - 5 Heat - 4 It's probably some more, but I have to go to work.
Cool stat, Jerry. This season has definitely been a lot of fun to watch. I knew it would be a special season before it started, and all of these blowouts are making me believe that much more. The Steve Francis era was always stressful because the team had so much potential, but they would more often than not take the lesser teams too lightly. You would have to worry about each and every game, even though lots should have been gimmies. With this years team, you don't have to worry about too many games. I expect them to win every game, and it's always a bit surprising to me when they lose. I think they're just that good. The Rockets are playing great, and I expect to see them at 40-18 by the end of the month.
Wow! I figured the Suns would lead that category given their overall point differential. The Mavs actually have a ton of 1-point wins.
Here is my list of the Rockets Texas size whooping - 12 total Dal Win 107-76 Mia Win 94-72 Cle Win 81-63 GS Win 118-90 Cha Win 92-62 SA Win 97-78 NJ Win 96-71 Atl Win 94-68 LAL Win 102-77 Por Win 99-69 Phi Win 105-84 Min Win 105-77
Nice list. And 10 of the 12 wins saw us holding the other team below 80 points. We've become a damned good defensive team, obviously, but we scored very well in all those games. Our defense keeps us in games... our offence, when it's clicking, blows them out.
Conversely, what's the worst loss we've had this year as far as point differential? If I'm not mistaken, it's either Dallas or Detroit (13 point losses). Not bad.
Where did you find those stats? How many times have we been blown out? I wish the rockets could close games like the spurs used to. They always seemed to shine in crunch time.
On top of this good news, Billy also tied NBA record by shooting 1,000% from free throw line in 28 point win!
