They play consistent. Their home stats are virtually identical to their road stats. Home (10-3)- 13 gms, 113.3 ppg, 47.6 rpg, 26.1 apg, .467 fg%, .382 3pt%, A/T 1.7 Road (12-5)- 17 gms, 112.8 ppg, 43.1 rpg, 25.1 apg, .467 fg%, .376 3pt%, A/T 1.7 This is the mark of a team that isn't just lucky but knows how to play well together and not let the crowd get to them. It will be interesting to see how this team continues to improve as the season goes on. I'm thinking 2nd round is a certainty and depending on if they play GS in that round or not could make it much further than that.
I think you have to repeat that in the following season(s) to call ourself a 'Road team'. I see us heading toward the right direction.
The problem here, man is that the Rockets don't really have a great home court advantage. The TC crowds are usually half empty when the games start and later filled with corporate shills who don't really care about the outcome when the game gets going. The Rockets essentially play 82 road games each year, so they should be good on the road by now. This is dudes biggest complaint with Les and the Rockets, actually. When the Rockets used to play at the Summit we had good crowds and loud Rockets fans who filled most of the seats. Now, we have non fans who fill most of the seats which isn't good, but then again I guess somebody has to pay for Ryan Andersons $20 contract.
The Summit only had good crowds post second championship. They were drawing 9,000 fans in some games as late as the first championship season. They failed to sell out a 2nd round playoff game vs the Suns the first championship season. Also, had they not traded for Barkley and then signed Pippen, there's a good chance the sellout streak would have ended a year or two earlier than it did.
But, the crowds were noisy no matter how many were there because the stands were filled with people who actually cared about the team. Toyota center just feels like a mortuary in comparison and pretty much always has. Also, I disagree with you on the post 2nd championship thing, man. That arena was noisy even before the Rockets won the first ship. Going back to the 80's and Akeem/Sampson years.
Man I'm glad you said it. My wife is a spurs fan and she doesn't really pay attention when I'm watching rockets games but EVERY GAME she's like, "why is the arena so empty when you guys have a good team, that embarrassing". Even when there's a great play the majority of the crowd doesn't even react besides a clap....
