I just found how horrible rox is agains teas in the Mid west division. Rox just got 3-7 in division and 10-12 in conference. 3 wins are against Memphis, Utah, Denver. Except Denver, Rox never got any upset game against other division teams. Even Memphis got 4-5 in division and Utah got 50% winning percentage with 5-5. I feel like if Rox can't overcome such a ewakness against teams in their own division, there's not much chance that they can go to playoff. Even if they do, it's gonna be hard game to win for Rox... Do you guys know why Rox can't win against those team like SA, Dal, Min?
Last year, the Rockets went 4-0 against Denver and 3-1 against Memphis. This year, they are fighting to go 2-2 against each. The entire Western Conference improved this year.
We play in the toughest Division in the league! not an excuse but anyway, I wouldn't be that concerned with the division record as much as the conference record. 10-12 can and should be improved.
Actually, we haven't even beaten Memphis yet. Those 3 victories are Utah twice and Denver in the opener.
Do you even know how good any of these teams are?? We wont' be able to beat them on a consistent basis until the whole team improves, that improvement isn't here right now.
How many reasons do you need? Here's a few. I could probably think of dozens. 1) It was David Robinson instead of Hakeem Olajuwon who had back problems during the 1996-97 season. Since the Spurs won 20 games, they got Duncan. Since the Rockets won 57 games, they got Roderick Rhodes. 2) After 11 straight trips to the Lottery, including winning a grand total of 49 games in the two seasons the Rockets were World Champs, Dallas took a risk and drafted a relatively unknown Euro named Dirk Nowitski. Nowitski wowed the NBA in his 1st season with an 8.2 ppg scoring average. The Mavericks used some of the many Lottery picks they had in the first half of their 11 year Lottery run to trade with PHX. In 1998, they landed a relatively unknown backup PG named Steve Nash in a trade for Martin Muursepp, Bubba Wells, Pat Garrity and a 1999 1st round pick. At the time, Nash had been averaging single digit ppg. One of the many Mavs Lottery picks was Jason Kidd. Kidd was traded to PHX along with Tony Dumas and Loren Meyer for Michael Finley, Sam Cassell and 12 yr vet A.C. Green in Jan. 1997. In spite of 2 hugely successful playoff runs, the Mavs continued to tinker with their team to the point where they currently have an identical record as Rockets with 2 more WC wins. 3) The Minnesota Timberwolves joind the NBA in 1989-90. Over their first 6 seasons, their average record was 23-59. In the 1995 Lottery, the TWolves passed on such names as Bryant Reeves, Damon Stoudamire, Shawn Respert, Ed O'Bannon, Kurt Thomas, Gary Trent, Cherokee Parks, Corliss Williamson, Eric Williams, Brent Barry, Alan Henderson, Bob Sura, Theo Ratliff and Michael Finley (21st overall) to pick HS'er Kevin Garnett. The TWolves managed to win 26 games in Garnett's rookie season and 40 in his second as his ppg avg. leaped to 17. Over the past 6 seasons, the TWolves have won 50+ games 3 times, 47 once and 45 once. They have never, ever made it out of the 1st round of the playoffs. The regualr season series between the Garnett TWolves and the Rockets stands at 14-17 while the Rockets swept the TWolves in 96-97 playoffs 3-0 to even the all-time at 17 apiece. 4) While Hakeem Olajuwon and company were highly competitive, the SAC Kings did not have a single winning season from 1984-85 through 1997-98. In May of 1998, the Kings took a risk on a player who was regarded as a major headcase and traded Mitch Richmond and Otis Thorpe for Chris Webber. After sharing the Charlotte Hornets center position with Matt Geiger in 1997-98, the 10.4 ppg / 8.1 rpg Divac signed as a FA with Sacramento in 1998. Also joining the Kings in 1998 was 1st round pick Peja Stojakovic who managed to wow the league with 8.4 ppg and 11.9 ppg in his first two seasons. Four years out of the playoffs seems like an eternity, but the Mavs and Kings needed 10-15 years of false starts, numerous bad trades, bad Lottery picks and some risks (Webber and Dirk) before a payoff. Had Robinson's back been injured a year earlier, the Spurs would have taken Iverson, Camby, Abdur-Rahim or Marbury. Had Robinson's back been injured a year later, the Spurs would have taken Olowokandi, Bibby, LaFrentz, Jamison or Vince Carter. None of these players is in the same league as Duncan. The short answer to your question is...building an elite team takes persistance, dedication, patience and a strong dose of luck.
The negativity in this thread is amazing. The Rockets play in the toughest division in basketball. That has absolutely no bearing on the overall level of play of the team. Pile up enough wins, and we'll get in the playoffs. That looks highly likely. The fact that the Rockets have a very, very mediocre record against good teams just shows that they're not contenders for the title yet. Something everyone knew from the start.
This is exactly why the Rockets won't make the playoffs. They're just bottom feeding on the weak teams. Against Dallas, SA, Minnesota, Sacramento, and the Lakers, they're 1-5, only score 79 per game and give up almost 90...Horrible... The least we can expect against the top teams is a little effort...
You know, the Rockets could lose every one of those games against every one of those teams... and still make the playoffs without breaking the sweat if they beat the lousy and mediocre teams. If this were pre-Wild Card baseball... I might care.
...and I'm sure the Rockets will win EVERY SINGLE game against the rest of the league. Let's say the Rockets DO lose the rest of the games against those five teams, that's 14 more losses. That means the Rockets would have to go 26-9 in the other games just to even get to 45 wins, which isn't even a guarantee of a playoff spot in the first place. Hell, I haven't even brought up the Nuggets (most improved team in the league), or Seattle, which has already beaten us twice...
True, but those stats tell you that even if they did slip (key word being slip) into the playoffs, they won't win a single game. I get it that the west is tough, but that is not an excuse for mediocrity. This team does have the potential to win a lot of games though (albeit in an extremely ugly fashion) witht he kind of defense they are playing. They just need to become an average offensive team. Right now they are a pathetic offensive team.
Very true. But I doubt we're going to lose the rest against the teams you mentioned either . I'm just playing down the significance of not doing well against a few select teams. The first few posts made a great deal out of the fact that we were losing to teams in our division. In the NBA, that doesn't really matter. All in all... if the Rockets go, say... .750 against the teams they "should" beat... I bet they'll be fine in terms of reaching this season's goals.
