Dont feel bad for the fans, which is the same as feeling sorry for yourself, feel bad for these guys who go out every night and play their ass off. I too, take my hat off to them. They have 3 (maybe even 4, although a stretch) all star caliber players on their team. We have 1. Yet we are still in this series and im not counting them out just yet thats for sure. All that goes down to is effort. We have no right to be in the position we are in. Hell we dont even have a right to be in the playoffs after everyone said we wouldnt make it when yao went down, yet we fans are still clinging onto hope for a playoff miracle built on nothing but effort.
This Rocket Team is Great . . . . I BAM about them but I just know they could do better some of these things that are killing us are rookie mistakes and mental lapses more than anything Utah is not beating this team . . .Refs and the team itself are beating them Rocket River Utah is not more talented than the Rockets
You're either blind or stupid for making that statement. Let's just hope you're being a homer, but even then that's just a flat out dumb statement to make. The "rookie mistakes" and "dumb mistakes' come with the territory of "not enough talent/experienced talent". If you have a Robert Horry or Sam Cassell in their primes at every position on the court, then you immediately increase the team's IQ and you don't have to worry about average players making average decisions on the court.
Thank god for the postive threads. With all the hating from their own fans, the Rockets might as well have just met overall expectations when Yao went down and not made the playoffs On another note, someone needs to get DW out of Utah. Wtih a team full of pansies and floppers, DW sticks out like a sore thumb. He is the only Utah player who hasn't flopped or whined this series. Dude just goes out and plays. Would hate to see him buy in to the Utah culture.
Your kidding yourself if you think a Houston team minus Yao and, to a much lesser extent Francis, is more talented then a Utah team that has 3 all star calibre players in Boozer, Williams and Okur as well as a very talented, Kirilenko, not to mention Korver coming off the bench!
I agree about the effort. The team is playing hard and I think a lot of these players are the types of guys that can be on a championship team. Landry, Scola, Rafer, Battier, Mutombo... this is the type of supporting cast that can be big time. I think Tracy is a big problem though. I don't believe in him anymore as a leader and I suspect the team has its doubts as well. He's too fragile physically and mentally. You can see against a hard working team like Utah, they make Tracy quit trying to get the ball. Kirilenko plays about 5 seconds of deny and Tracy just stops trying. It's embarrassing when your star player is made to give up by players who aren't nearly as talented. They outwork him for position and he'll settle for either not getting the ball or for a jumper.
I do appreciate the display of effort, but why does it feel like an award for perfect attendance rather than an A?
even taking into account the jazz being 0/14 on 3's, it really was beyond belief we were in this game. they went up 16 and we somehow fought back, they were up 9 with about 1:20 to go and we needed one more rebound to possibly win (that'll haunt us for a while). this team wasn't winning a title this year, all they could do is bust their ass, try to get in the playoffs, which they did by a wide margin, and give it their all against a better team in the playoffs. unfortunately, the better team was also a bad matchup, so it's even more amazing how well we're sticking in, putting up one of the better fights in the playoffs so far this year. i was thinking during the game that we were just holding it together with heart, determination, hustle, and defense. and it was just not quite enough. probably won't be enough in game 5. yeah it sucks we miss all our ft's and tmac and rafer shoot 15-43 (16-53 with bj included), but we do what we can with flawed players who just have to get by with effort. in a way, we hurt ourselves with our effort b/c we win more than we should in the regular season and then go up against teams who are all trying hard in the playoffs and expectation are too hight. i mean how in holy hell did this team win 22 games in a row? there is no rational explanation given this roster. but they did it with inhuman effort and amazing consistency. unfortunately, that isn't all you need in the playoffs, but trying is about all you can ask for from your team.
He isnt the leader of this team though and he has accepted that and has given that responsibility to Yao. Unfortunately our true LEADER has been injured for 30 odd games or so, and Tmac has had to step back into the role of leader. That isnt as easy as it sounds.
I am proud of this team tonight I am proud of this team tonight Despite the loss, I am really proud of the character shown by this team tonight. Down by 16 in the 3rd, fought back. Down by 9 in less than 2 minutes, fought back. Gimpy legs, bad shoulders, bad knees, missing tooth, no problem. How about that block by Battier on Okur and Battier landed on him! I really enjoying watching this series so far. There is no quitting in our guys, unlike the Les Sun and Sans Nuggets. Keep them together, with Yao coming back in full force next year, the rest of league watch out.
man this team does have heart...........i know the jazz are good but they are not blowing us out if we had yao i think we could have taken this series in a heart beat........they jazz are only winning by a margin of 7 points......that means the jazz suck if they are beating us with single margin victories without our best player.......for all you t-mac haters t-mac was 2 assist shy of a triple double..........what more do expect except for his free throws........the whole team is missing free throws.......only if the rockets could have hit those free throws we could have won this series by now.
I concur. And I cannot agree with blaming RA in the no Deke sub for the final "play." I cannot blame him for being an observer for 2 seconds. He's human. Plenty of other missed shots and obviously bad calls lost this game. As far as that goes the "block" that Bozzer had on Carl earlier in the game was way more of a foul than the phantom called when Okur decided to flail and fall under his own power once he saw that the ball would be out on him, giving Houston possession down only 2 points. Furthermore, Korver was out-of-bounds when another phantom foul was called just before the whole fiasco. An otherwise somewhat fairly called game in which I could not complain much about the calls just got totally gift wrapped late. I am soooooooo sick of out-of-bounds "no calls" beating this latest logo bearing team... from Finley in Dallas to today (again). The sideline does not get watched in the NBA for some reason it seems. All of that said... I still cannot get over the fact the Rockets do not have Yao, and could very easily be up 3-1, and yet the media seems to forget that aspect and makes it seem as though Utah is unbeatable. Houston has a real never say die attitude that many, including Utah, are overlooking. Should Houston lose the series, Utah is in for a real surprise playing an otherwise healthy Laker squad. I am seriously hoping (aren't we all) for a game 5 win at home, and for a -league-best- third win in Utah this season to force game 7. I believe we can all witness a miracle... because no one expects it.
We are going to take game 5. And I could care less at this point if we win the series. I'd be ashamed to be a Jazz fan right now. A team that has been plagued with injuries from top to bottom and who hasn't had it's starting PG for 50% of the series or it's starting C for the entire series...and they EASILY could be down 3-1 right now if not for a few calls/boards. How can you NOT be proud of this team. How nervous do you think that ENTIRE arena was tonight watching a CRIPPLED team nearly take TWO games from their home court? Seriously. We took one and could have easily taken it tonight. I'M FINE WITH THAT!
The Rockets will be a force next season. This team is special in that they never gave up the game and always try best to fight back.
Isn't this the same effort that prevented us from getting Brandon Roy and kept us from making significant upgrades? Honestly i don't blame anyone on this team for our failures. We have proven that riding a couple stars and effort can get you into the playoffs, maybe even home court, but you need a talented team to succeed. Some of our guys wouldn't get PT on the freakin Hawks. I was looking foward to the rockets trading one of their main guys to get some more offense but I'm afraid that if we trade one our few guys that can score or create scoring we'll be less talented, which is hard to fathom.
I don't understand the hate. We missed a stack of free throws the most glaring from T-mac. But realistically, our squad is banged up. Lets just look past our no 1 and 2 players. Everyone on this team has massive questions about them. There are three rookies, a guy thats 42 YO, a Shane Battier on one leg, Rafer on a injured hamstring, and Landry recovering from a bung knee. We've had a slew of bad luck guys, and honestly in my heart I feel if Yao was here this year, this playoffs will be ours for the taking. Flawed roster or not we are competitive in all those games from hustle alone. Just look at the guy who killed us last year. How is he playing. Honestly I love the effort
love the thread as i was thinking of making a similar one. i am very proud of this team, especially the last 2 games. the injuries, playing in against one of the better teams, with one of the rowdiest fan base and not getting a fair game from the refs... and still competing and right there till the end. i am not satisfied but still very proud. its not like we are that far off from being up in the series. we have not played close to our best basketball, but make a few more free throws and its a completely different series. oh and btw, it is a little easier to lose when you see the potential, the fire, the heart and the play coming from landry.
These Rockets are special in that it doesn't know what quit is. They had no business being in this game and yet they scrapped, scratched and fought until the end. If it was possible to win a game on heart alone, we would.
