The REAL problem is a cartoon character: Underdog! <BR> That's right, Underdog. More specifically, the Rockets are no longer underdogs. This team relishes the role of underdog. When nobody outside of the locker room thinks they have a chance, they play MUCH harder. With expectations high this year, they are simply not putting forth the required effort. It's as simple as that. All this talk about needing a superstar, or Brooks/Budinger/Hill not being good enough yet, or Yao/Battier/Miller not being as good as they used to be, or 2Pat needing to see the court, or the rotation not being tight enough, or comfort food (sorry, DD!) are just smokescreens. If a sustained effort had been there, we'd be anywhere from 2-2 to 4-0. The lack of effort shows up the most on the defensive end. We're a talented enough team offensively to coast sometimes, but defensively, if there's not maximum effort, we're hosed. Under Adelman, this team's brightest moments have been as underdogs: the Streak (especially after Yao went down), the playoff series against Portland, and nearly knocking the Lakers out of the playoffs (again after Yao went down). The silver lining behind all this is that the fastest way to become underdogs, short of a major injury, is to suck your way to a sh!tty record. Mission accomplished, Rockets -- you're once again underdogs. Now man up and start kicking some ass again. <BR>
Most media picked us to be a very low seed or not make the playoffs. If that's not enough to motivate these guys, then maybe it is time to make some trades.
I was debating on posting something similar to this, and I agree. I'd call it more, I don't think we can take anyone by surprise anymore. Everyone saw how hard we played last year regardless of injuries and are taking us that much more serious now. However, I think this raises the concern, if we need to play at full tilt now just to make it a 2-2 to 4-0 record, then we are just not good enough. We do need some eventual changes (namely getting a better SF) to truly reach our potential.
there is a significant lack of effort on the defensive end. this lack of effort manifests itself in our opp at rim percentages and opp field goal 15+ feet away percentages. Our defense, and causally our record, would be significantly better if there was more effort. want to see an exception to the lack of effort, an exception that has epitomized the underdog effort mentality for the past two years on this roster? luis scola. effort. hustle. no quit.
vBulletin Message You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to topfive again. Agreed. Lack of effort conistently. Superstar talent is probably needed for a title run, but not regular season wins. It's time guys man up.
exactly, if we were 3-1 or higher, most of all the people wouldnt complain aout the defense, or about a specific player.
