Though I'm seriously hoping that Rockets can crush the Mavs this season, the numbers aren't looking very good right now... I devised a quick historical index measure to predict win/losses, and i was surprised by a number of things. 1) the teams the rockets lost to were not bad teams at all, but in fact rank in the top 10 in the NBA right now according to this index. 2) defense seems to play a bigger role than offense in generating wins... unless you've got a salary-cap inflated offense like dallas... here's the measure real quick: Houston 8th ranked defense and 22nd ranked offense Team Performance Index = 8+22 = 30 Defense/Offense (Pts allowed/scored ranking) TPI = Defense rank + Offense rank (the smaller the number the better) LOSSES Indiana 7th/7th = 14 Seattle 6th/11th = 17 Phoenix 2nd/28th = 30, lost by one point WINS Denver 3rd/29th = 32 Toronto 20th/24th = 44 Golden State 27th/5th = 32 Portland 10th/23rd = 33 Lakers 16th/21st = 37 UPCOMING Cleveland 18th/26th = 44 Dallas 11th/2nd = 13 But bear in mind that this is a historical index, and of course, history is never a perfect indicator for the future. Hence the term "UPSET". I predict that history holds sway TONIGHT, but I smell an UPSET on Thursday! Go Rockets!
would be interesting to see how that stat plays out thru the season.... either way we need this win tonight against cleveland because it is gonna be tough to get a win against dollass. and it would be nice to be two games over .500 thru 10 games but hey im hoping for 7 - 3
