Patience is fine when the Rockets do this every season and then put it together in January. There is nothing to worry about. And really, what can we do? The problem is more the offensive flow. Its not like we are missing wide open shots all the time. Its a chemistry/energy thing.
And that explains why we always end up with a bad matchup in the 1st round leading to us not getting out the 1st round. Yes November games count just as much as the games in March and April.
You realize you are talking about 4 loses here right? let's repeat that. FOUR losses. To whom? Celtics, Lakers, Blazers, and now San Antonio. I don't care if they are short handed - they are at home and they have TIm Duncun. They can win on any given night. Two of those loses happened in the final seconds. Only one was decisive. Sorry, you folks are being a bit ridiculous. Ridiculous. Whining about a few loses is going to do what? What exactly? Talk about loser mentality. You want to throw out the whole team make lots of changes already - after 4 loses???? Hmmmm, wow - that doesn't sound to bright to me. I seem to recall a team that had 4 loses before it even had 4 wins and that team won like 60-something and went to the NBA finals just a few years back. Only a fool would not give this time to simmer and see how it develops. You don't rock the boat at the first sign of trouble. There are problems, but you have to give the team a chance...geez! Even the Lakers lost to the Pistons tonight, you don't see Lakers fans going crazy. Well, that might be because this is a Rockets board, but folks, just chill man. If you are going to be like this after every loss.... I've been a Rockets fan for well over 20 years - through crappy loser seasons, and through championship seasons. Don't whine about 4 loses. Please.
While I understand your viewpoint. However... 1) It is a bit worrisome when coming out of preseason the team does not show any of the passion, effort, focus & determination you look for in a contender. While the Spurs team we just played has a a lot injuries and young players, they exhibited all these 4 qualities which is why you know the Spurs will still be a team to reckon with when healthy and gelling come April-June. 2) Last year, the #1 seed to #6 were separated by 2 losses. Not two April losses or two post-All star break losses. Two overall losses. If we did not lose to Memphis and Philadelphia (the 1st time, not the epic collapse game). We would have played Denver/Dallas instead of Utah...pretty big difference those two games made that were played in Nov and Dec.
Actually, I think you're talking about the Mavs. And that year they got ousted in the first round by the 8th seed. It really isn't about wins/losses at this point. The Rockets don't look good. They look pretty bad, actually. Especially on offense. And who are these players you said they're missing? Shane Battier and Dikembe Mutombo -- not exactly offensive juggernauts. It doesn't matter that McGrady is played at 80% or whatever it is, this team with this talent level should not be this bad on offense. I'm sure they'll improve as the season progresses and Adelman figures out how to mesh the talents better, but it's annoying that they couldn't figure this out early. These are veteran players after all. Why does it always have to be such a struggle with this group to understand how to effectively play as a team on offense?
None of those 4 previous teams as they were constructed at the time they were in the playoffs (sans injuries) were good enough. Big difference between not being good enough and underacheiving. I would say if anything the teams of the past 4 years overacheived.
If we don't have a major injury - we'll be right there. Western Conference Finals baby. I guarantee it. Now, I rarely am that optimistic if you know my history on this board. But last year in Decemeber, I said we'd win 50 games, and we did. And we're going to go to the WCF this season - if we can stay healthy. That's the only if. So folks chill. Teams get better by having set-backs and facing adversity. It's all part of the process for the Houston Rockets.
Although our stars are not consistent right now, they have showed they still can play great. After 15 games, they will be fine!
Good post. There's a reason the trade deadline is in February. It's a LONG season with plenty of time to gel and if necessary make a transaction or two. Look, we play out West. We're not going to be like the Celtics from last year and click on all cylinders right away. Give it some time and if that approach doesn't work then you worry about making changes. In the meantime: stash the panic button, people.
Funny considering we played with Battier hurt and Alston missing two games, with Yao also out. Still want to act like winning those two extra games and playing Dallas would have meant we would have advanced? The key here is this. WE ARE OVER .500. You see I am not lindly confident. I am realistically confident that out downfalls at the moment will improve when Battier enters the starting line-up and we re-sign Deke. Shot blocking will improve, as will our rebounding and spacing on offense. Our bench production will also improve as Brooks will also have Ron Artest on the floor with him. You guys watch Artest's game improve when he is the number one option on the floor. As I've posted before look at the Laker's between now and last season. A role player goes into the starting line-up and a talented player who needs the ball in his hands, who struggled the blend in with Kobe and Gasol becomes the 6th man.
ai, well, i'd rather them start slow than them playing like **** in april... so let them gel, maybe we suffer horrible losses (like tonight), but when jan and feb come, we will start get hot
there are enough reasonable worries to go around. why yao is under-performing? coming back from injury? new offense? chemistry issues with ron? maybe a bit of all? i don't care how injured, sick or "not-completely-healed" mcgrady is, there is absolutely no freaking reason to have a few games in a row where a max player scores 2, 3 or 5 pts on a lot of shots. physically he's likely not 100%, but he sure doesn't appear to be THAT "not 100%". - what happened there? what happens when battier comes back? why ron is missing a lot shots? why we can beat a full strength suns handily only to lost to a spurs team in pre-season form? what is it that has been soooooo hard to get a grip in adelman's offense? etc. no, championships ain't won in november. but a win or a loss has exactly the same weight when it counts in the end. had we won one more game or 2 last season, we would've been the #1 seed in the playoffs. everything could've been very different.
This is just so true , our team isn't very good right now , we should have been 7-2 right now instead of 5-4. But we will be good , I know we will.
Also, patienc is you have done your best but your opponent is just better than you. For the Rox performance tonight, I don't see they have done their best, especially in the 4th quarter. When they had a lead of 14 ponts, they just played like they had already won. This is unacceptable to Rox fans.
