<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The feeling was wonderful then. Everything was in place. Everyone was healthy. The Rockets felt unbeatable. They arrived in Oakland last month riding three road wins, each more complete than the one before, over the SuperSonics, Suns and Kings. Bob Sura had returned from his back injury, putting the Rockets' rotation in place for the first time. They were speaking of championship contention, and it seemed a legitimate possibility. "That was a beautiful time, wasn't it?" guard Mike James said. "We were moving that ball. The ball was going in the basket. Everybody was running down the court smiling. "We're going to get back there. There are ups and downs in this game. The strong survive in this game. That's what makes the OK good and the good great. Even through tough times, you just have to keep at it." When the Rockets return to Oakland tonight, the feeling will be much different. These are the tough times, with shots rattling rims and bodies aching. And instead of speaking of chasing a championship, Rockets players have joined coach Jeff Van Gundy in speaking of simply securing a place in the playoffs. "We're at the crossroads," Sura said. "We have eight (regular-season) games left, and we have to win four or five of them. It's time to lay it on the line."</div> <div align="center">Link</div> It's good to see that the Rockets have not gotten complacent and taken a playoff spot for granted. They know that Denver is right on their heels and Minnesota is within reach of knocking Houston out of the playoffs. The Rockets are getting ready to give it their all and secure a playoff spot and avoiding the Spurs in the first round of the playoffs.
Right now with way the Twolves are playing winning 4 more games is the quota to get into the playoffs at least. The Rockets have 8 games remaining. The game against the Warriors is one of the 4 possible winnable games but is the hardest one. It's a good thing the Grizzlies and the Nuggets still has 2 games against each other so either one of them might take a seat back, especially the Grizzlies who have the toughest schedule remaining. Twolves and the Nuggets have good schedule ahead of them. Right now it will be a fight between the Rockets,Twolves and Grizzlies for the 2 remaining playoff spots. Btw Howard is serving his fourth week of rest and conditioning. I hope he might be back next week to prime himself for the playoffs(cross-fingers for us).
Good to hear the news on Howard. His return might significantly boost the team's confidence and get us rolling for the playoffs. This road trip might just make or break our season. If we can just win 3 out of our remaining 8 games, it would mean that Minnesota would have to win all their games to tie us. If we win four games, we're in the playoffs for sure. However, if we want to hold on to sixth spot in the playoffs, it looks like we have to win at least 3 out of 4 on this road trip, which makes winning tonight's game a must.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Btw Howard is serving his fourth week of rest and conditioning. I hope he might be back next week to prime himself for the playoffs(cross-fingers for us).</div> I saw a post on CF, where someone had run into Howard, and said he was a nice guy.. blah, blah, blah.. Anyways, when he was asked about his injury, he said he wasn't too sure, but he was feeling better. He said he should be ready sometime by our first playoff series. I'm hoping before, though. Even though we have old people, thank God they have enough experience to get back on track. It all starts tonight with Golden State. I think Denver wins the two games against Memphis, but whenever we play them, that game will be pivotal. We can win all of our games remaining, even though we might lose to Seattle and Phoenix, I would expect us to beat a Shard-less Sonic team. Phoenix, the Rockets should be looking for some revenge. So maybe we could go 8-2 for the month, but I think 7-3 is a better prediction.
I'm actually glad that the Rockets are going through this little spin...I remember Hubie Brown saying during the Sacramento game that they were going thru a honeymoon and the real test would be when they had to face some adversity...I'm willing to go thru 3 or 4 more losses if it means getting us more focused and intense for the playoffs...
sometimes the rockets are like this, they lose a couple and win big later on.. most second half of the season they were down 3 and they won against some of the best teams. all we could do is cross our fingers and hope they do well remainder of the season and even better during the playoffs
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">I'm actually glad that the Rockets are going through this little spin...I remember Hubie Brown saying during the Sacramento game that they were going thru a honeymoon and the real test would be when they had to face some adversity...I'm willing to go thru 3 or 4 more losses if it means getting us more focused and intense for the playoffs...</div> Problem is, if we go through three or four more losses, we're most likely going to lose the sixth playoff spot to Denver. When that happens, we'll be paired up with San Antonio, who will definitely slaughter us in the playoffs. Keep in mind the only reasons why Houston won two games was because of a miracle and San Antonio was having a huge shooting slump.
