2012-2013 after Jan. didn't even include all the 9point wins where they had control the whole game. we say we have the best bench ever. but I think we lack the firepowoer but have more guys that would grind it out now. IDK but numbers dont lie cha 109-95 GSW 140-109 BKN 119-106 Jazz 125-80 NO 100-82 lakers 125-112 no 104-92 sac 121-100 sac112-102 clippers 98-81 (no harden) cavs 116-78 suns 111-81 dallas 136-103
"What the hell I look like Blowing out some dude .. . . In front of my wife and kids. . . I'm from Harlem . . in Harlem we blow ourselves . .. . " #TweetLikeDameDash Rocket River
Seriously - This team does have not play well with the lead they get more careless and loose. They start being more high risk and going for the spectacular When things get close and tense. . .they start to shine again most times They feel they can turn it off and on .. . .and so far they have more often than not Rocket River
We often take big leads, but this team has just this disturbing tendency to go in full r****d mode when we get that big lead.
Yet that team finished with only 45 wins. About 10 less than this team will finish with. That team was one of the most dynamic offensive teams in the league, and not good at all on defense. The balance of shooting around Harden/Lin/Parsons was pretty spectacular at their peak when compared to this years team which shoots alot more, but shoots a lower percentage. Also the team wasn't really that much less talented and balanced as this years team before the mid-season trades that sent out the stretch 4's. And a healthy Omer all season long probably outweighs Dwight for 1/3 of the season. Having a constant rim protector/rebounder all year really helps win the games you are supposed to win. Offensive rebounds can keep poor offensive teams in games as we have seen in many games this year when Dwight was out, and we had D-Mo playing the 5. So I think we are downplaying how good and balanced that team was a bit. It was better than anticipated, and while I hate to say this, maybe Carl was right about moving Patterson and Morris (who was underrated that year as a stretch 4) IF IT IS TRUE that they could have been moved later on that summer to sign Dwight. The big difference in that team from a win total perspective IMO is James Harden who is a much, much better player. The West is tougher, and on paper they really should be one of those teams that wins about the same rate as a team like Phoenix, but James Harden's growth has enabled this team to win games they probably would have lost two years ago. Maybe they had more blowouts, but they also got blown out more. Having a much better Harden has kept the Rockets hanging around those games they have no business winning. Now he needs some help as we get into the playoffs.
So it is extremely rare that we get blowout wins, even against terrible teams at home, yet we're going to blow out the defending champions on the road while they are fighting for playoff positioning? Not saying it's impossible, just not following the logic.
Well, then he's calling his team a bad one and/or is willing to accept that their play meets his own definition of mediocrity. They don't avoid close games. I'm really starting to believe that point differential IS a good predictor of team performance, because good teams try to lay the hammer down for four quarters every game.
I think Morey is smart enough to know what he said applies to the team he built but also realizes why their point differential isn't where he'd like it to be. He would point to: -injuries most obviously & Dwight's down year -Not a clear 2nd or 3rd option -3 point shooting % not where it was projected to be -lopsided roster w/ weak PG production So yeah the reason why Morey is still going to be active in trying to get guys like Bosh, Dragic, etc. points pretty clearly towards Morey himself knowing this is true that his team is winning games they probably shouldn't be because of one player, but his overall TEAM really isn't on that elite level he would like due to a couple of factors. Point being- I don't think Morey is satisfied entirely with the job he has done. However that doesn't mean that Morey isn't still excited about getting an MVP season out of Harden, and isn't thrilled about where his team is going into playoffs with about as good of a chance as more than half of the playoff pack.
if we had a healthy dwight, dmo, jones, and beverley playing every game, i bet there would be more blowouts. without those guys, just be happy we are pulling out victories that we probably shouldn't be getting. mostly due to harden playing like the MVP. we are putting teams away in close games. that's more important. we'll be playing mostly close games all playoffs.
Whats crazy is I remember last year was so fun to keep up with because there seemed to be so many games where the Rockets would be winning by 30+ during the game. Actually...I remember doing this on possible 2 times against the Warriors? I vaguely remember those games getting quite chippy. On the flip side of that we seemed to get blown out as just as many games as we blew other teams. This is most likely due to our team being an offensive juggernaut last year and if the shots were not falling then we were in serious trouble. This year we aren't utterly annihilating teams but we are taking care of business against the teams we should be beating. Our leads typically reach 10+ and then the starters sit and have to regain the lead or fight for the win at the end. An equally crazy season as last year.
Injuries are the major cause of a lack of blow outs. Quality bench players are moved into the starting line up and guys who wouldn't normally play, get rotation bench minutes.
It's because we don't play the game for 48 minutes like the Spurs are tonight. I don't wanna hear anything about injuries, because even the worst teams in the league blow teams out occasionally. I'm watching Howard and Smith not even jump for rebounds. Are they tired?? Maybe so since they only had 2.5 days off.
