Since it is almost the all-star break I was wondering where you guys think the rockets will finish up this season. Personaly the way they are playing I think they will take the five seed in the west away from Sacramento. Probaly play dallas in the first round and have a good shot at winning that one.
<font color="red">First things first: Welcome to JBB!</font> As for our record, I doubt we have what it takes to finish in the top 5. Memphis is neck-to-neck with us and they are on a roll too since Fratello took over as coach. We also have a very hard March schedule where we play 11 away games, including two road trips. It will be very hard to pull through next month with a winning percentage close to our current one. I see us finishing the season with 43-49 wins, and a sixth or seventh finish in the West, good enough to get us a ticket to get beaten by the Suns or Sonics, two teams that we always have trouble against.
Welcome! Well like Trip said, we have a ton of tough games in the coming months. We actually got it off easy in the earlier months but couldn't really get it together in time to give us that great of a record. Instead, we really started meshing around January which gave us the record that we have right now. So, I think we'll finish around 48 wins- maybe a little better than the previous season's record. However, I think we'll definitely make the Sixth spot in the playoffs. I have a lot of faith in this team and I actually think they'll be able to beat out Memphis. Houston's chemistry has been going great and it really seems that they are clicking as a team now. However, Trip we haven't even played the Sonics this season so how would you know whether or not Houston will lose to them in the first round? Houston is a totally different team from last year, and hey this year Houston beat the Spurs twice already. All bets are off.
Seattle gave us a lot of problems last season. I believe they won the season series at 3-1. We tend to struggle against teams that can light it up from downtown, because our constant double-teaming leads to many open three pointers by the opponents. Vladimir Radmanovic has always been hard for us to handle, and the Sonics are an even better perimeter team this year than they were last year. They also have two of the best rebounders in the league in Danny Fortson and Reggie Evans, who can easily kill any chances of us getting points off second chances. Jerome James is also a big body who has the ability to successfully stop Yao.
I think we're a different team now- differently structured. I actually don't think we'll do that horrible against them, maybe 2-2 record? Houston has a nice perimeter game now- Wesley, Barry, Padgett, and McGrady can all hit the three so they should be able to keep up with Seattle. However, I'm not really going that strongly with my opinion, it can all change whether or not they have a good shooting night or bad. In addition to that, most of the players that were signed or traded for are great defenders, such as Barry, Padgett, Wesley, Bowen, Weatherspoon, and Sura. If Van Gundy plays Weatherspoon more against Seattle (which I think he would cause he used him against Garnett to help rebound) it should definitely help Houston's inside defense. Oh yeah, Howard's rebounding skills have really picked up as well (although I don't think he can beat Fortson or Evans), but I think his offense skills should come in handy. Yao has been mainly shooting up jumpers right now, which seems to be working, so Fortson and Evans shouldn't give him much drouble since he doesn't play inside that much anyways. Plus, if McGrady gets out of his shooting slump, it should be a huge threat for Seattle. If he plays aggressively, which I think he will because of the prescense of another star player like Ray Allen or Rashard Lewis, McGrady can completely change the game. If he plays with heart, no one can guard him effectively. Its a pretty big if though. All I'm saying is there's too many undetermined factors to say whether or not Houston will crash and burn against Seattle. We'll see, we'll see.
man i dont know much about basketball just goign by what i see but i dont see why the rockets cant take seattle, were talking about a different team this year from last year, even though i do aggree seattle is a hard opponent to beat with their perimeter shooting, but i really dont see why we cant beat seattle we just gotta contest their shots and do good offensively as well.. but thats just my 2 cents what do you guys think?
The sonics are just like the suns and the way they slaughtered us, i doubt we have much hope against them. I really regret buying games to the one coming on tuesday. We have the toughest schedule in the leauge from now on. 4 vs seattle, 2 in SA, 3 vs Suns, and 1 more vs the heat just to name the worst. the rockets will probably end up in 6th or 7th. It doesnt look like we are making any changes so probably like 45-37
I think the Rockets will eventually settle into the 7th or 8th spot. Memphis has an easier schedule and they'll probably starting playing even better when the get fully healthy. There's going to be a battle between the Rockets, Wolves, Lakers, and Nuggets for the last two spots, in my opinion. I'll guess that we win 46 games this year.
According to the Power Rankings on ESPN.com, which have the Rockets ranked #6 in the league this week, mentions that according to their research team the Rockets have THE hardest remaining schedule in the entire league. If they play .500 ball for the remainder of the season, they'll go 15-15 and end with 46 wins. I expect them to play slightly over .500 the rest of the way, so I'll go with 48 wins and a #7 seeding.
I predict a 46 to 48 wins for the Rockets getting either the 6th or 7th spot. If they do finish the 6th spot chances are they gonna face the Sonics. Worst against the Suns if they finish 7th assuming the Spurs gets the top seed. Adding some insights on the Rockets-Sonics discussion. I think they'll gonna split this season with a 2-2 record. Last year the Rockets have a hard time containing Lewis at SF position. A 6"10 SF towering over 6"6 JJ. This time we can match evenly in terms of speed and defense with TMac guarding Lewis. Howard will fare well against Radmanovic in terms of point production compared to Cato's worst outside shooting. Howard has also the speed to match. Containing Allen will be our primary concern. Though they have advantage at shooting guard position we do have advantage against the center position. We know that the Sonics have good rebounding in Evans and Fortson so do the Rockets in Motumbo,Howard,Weatherspoon and Yao. If Fortson tends to play dirty we have Motumbo to counter him. Lastly if the Rockets get lucky in the playoffs the farthest that they can go is on the second round. Though a trade for a good player will help.
Welcome to JBB madmax I don't really mind how we do this season, because I'm mroe concerned with the future. A 1st round knockout isn't too bad for a team in the rebuilding stage. It may actually be better for us to come in 8th seed and play the Spurs. What do you tihink? I'll go with the flow of things ad predict 47 wins for the season. It may actually be better for us to comei n 8th seed and play the Spurs.
Welcome to JBB! I think we've been doing well so far and have gotten ourselves a good run. We're going for an 8 game winning streak as we speak so I think we've been doing pretty well since the teams we have beaten arent too bad. Hopefully we'll keep the streak going. If this keeps up, I'm pretty sure we'll get at least 45 wins this season but our upcoming games dont look too good. As long as we have a reasonable record through those games I cant see why we cant make a solid run in the playoffs.
By the way welcome to JBB! We all know that the Rockets will have one of the toughest schedule ahead especially this coming March. But I still believe that they are capable of taking a win against the West Elite teams. If you observe closely in the current NBA season there a lots of games won by the underdogs. Sometimes overconfidence on part of the Top teams leads to a loss. Though the Rockets has been one of the victims like being swept out by the Bobcats. Anything is possible for the Rockets to overcome a great team. They should look back against their 2 wins over the Spurs and be inspired by that game. For sure the Spurs might not want to face them in the first round.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting blueracer:</div><div class="quote_post">By the way welcome to JBB! We all know that the Rockets will have one of the toughest schedule ahead especially this coming March. But I still believe that they are capable of taking a win against the West Elite teams. If you observe closely in the current NBA season there a lots of games won by the underdogs. Sometimes overconfidence on part of the Top teams leads to a loss. Though the Rockets has been one of the victims like being swept out by the Bobcats. Anything is possible for the Rockets to overcome a great team. They should look back against their 2 wins over the Spurs and be inspired by that game. For sure the Spurs might not want to face them in the first round.</div> You bring up a great point. We've had two wins against the Spurs, although one was more a miracle. However, we have at least shown that we could hang with them. I doubt though that Houston could defeat San Antonio four times in seven games. Sure, we have beaten them this season, but they are just that much better than us. We could give them a big scare though, maybe just like what we did against the Lakers last year.
With the way the Kings have been playing It wouldn't surprise me If the Rockets finished in 5th place come end of the season. The Kings seem to be slipping fast and their schedule isn't that easy either. Houston really are one main piece away from contending for a championship and thats at the forward spot.
If we can get the fifth spot, the Rockets would definitely be in luck. We've done really well against Dallas, and although we were blown out once at home, the team was able to push the Mavs down to the wire in Dallas, one we lost in overtime and the other we won. We have proven that we can run with Dallas, and their type of run-n-gun offense can be countered by our own similar-type offense.
I don't know. I'm actually kind of expecting Sacramento to pick up from where they started and go back to winning. However, it would actually be pretty close to Houston. Both teams have similar schedules, in terms of tough teams, and Houston has been on the upswing while Sacramento has been on the downfall. Many of their players are either injured or suspended for a few games so it would seem that Houston has the advantage right now. If we do make the fifth spot, we have a much better chance of making it to the second round. Although Dallas is a great team, Houston has shown it has the ability to play powerful offense with them in the run and gun strategy. Oh well, we'll see how this all pans out in the end.
