The Rockets are 11-9 and 7th in the west, but they've had an incredibly difficult strength of schedule thus far. They've played 11 games, but only 1 against the East (as opposed to Denver with 9 of 20 against the East, and Phoenix, with 10 of 20 against the East), and that one against Atlanta. On top of that, they've played 12 of their 20 games on the road (as opposed to say, the Lakers, who've played only 4 of their 18 on the road). ESPN has an "RPI" ranking, which puts the Rockets at 6th, and notes their strength of schedule as third most difficult. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/stats/rpi?season=2010&sortColumn=rpi Point? The Rockets are actually doing even better then the current record suggest, whereas a Dallas and Phoenix and Denver should theoretically cool off. Just seemed like every game we've played so far has been against a decent or really good team..usually on the road, too.
Meanwhile, the Lakers are in the midst of a stretch where they play 14 of 16 games at home, with only one back-to-back in that entire stretch. Not quite on topic, but I just wanted to point that out.
Rockets no doubt had a tough schedule, and played very well on the road, beat teams they are supposed to beat every time. But they haven' really beat strong opponents on a consistent base yet. Against top teams Lakers, Dallas,Atlanta,Portland, Phoenix, the record is 2-7. Against winning teams, 5-8. Still look like a mediocre team to me.
In those 7 losses to the top teams, the Rockets led for the majority of the games in at least 4 of them. I think they've competed pretty well against them.
No doubt about it. We have been tough and never really given up, The game against Dallas was brutal, but we have competed well against all the teams. I am proud of those guys out there playing hard night in and night out, that is what a team should be, It's unfortunate it is with out Yao or T-mac and we can't be up there competing with the Lakers and Nuggets right now, but Id take my chances on this team no matter who they play on any given night.
Yeah, only a couple of blowouts. What this team has accomplished is pretty amazing. If you want to blow the Rockets out, you are going to have to hit just about everything you throw up.
I really Hate that word "mediocre" when it comes to describing a team like the Rockets.. I would use the word extraordinary before I use the word mediocre.. And I wouldn't.. But we are closer to that word than yours.
Well, the coach did an amazing job, the GM did an amazing job, the players also did an amazing job, played with heart, played almost to their max ability, played beyond everybody's expectation, yet, the record is still mediocre. They competed against top team really hard, yet still came up short most of the time, that really sound a mediocre team to me. If you talk about effort only, they are extraordinary.
I have trouble believing a mediocre team wins at LA or at Utah. Especially not one who was involved in play-off series with those teams recently.
Great teams usually win if they led for the majority of the game. Rockets had tough time against some bad teams too but they pulled away in 4th quarter or even last minute. Think about it, the fact everybody seems to be happy about 11-9 record shows expectation is really low here, people wouldn't be happy if they feel Rockets should be a very good team.
And if $40M wasnt sitting in street clothes on the bench an 11-9 record would be a cause for concern. But as good as the Rockets have played with their two franchise players in street clothes any fan would feel great about the team.
They lost to LA at home too. Both games were without Gasol. And Utah had a terrible start, went 2-4 with 2 home losses to Rockets and Kings. If a team can't beat top teams at all, that is a bad team. Any mediocre team can beat any top team on any given night, but they can't beat top teams consistently, that is how current Rockets is doing.
That $40M will keep sitting for a while. I don't think Rockets with healthy Tmac and Yao is mediocre,that's a championship contender. But current team is mediocre. It is actually quite unbelievable for a team without there top 2 players to be mediocre in NBA. I'm not criticizing the team at all, they played out of their minds.
No, that's not criticize. I was just stating the fact, not ready to raise my expectation above mediocre yet. It is better to see them play above my expectation than to see them play below that.
Looks like a backhanded compliment to say they played out of their minds, but are still a mediocre team.
Well, yeah. I thought the Rockets would win 42 games this year, and that was with McGrady being a factor. For them to go 11-9 through a very difficult stretch, without McGrady, has exceeded my expectations. I can't complain about it.
