The Rockets...

[Court_vision]

These guys deserve their own thread...to be singled out.

What the hell is going on? They are terrible.

How does a team with T-Mac, Yao and Ron lose to the Spurs without Parker and Manu?

T-Mac has been terrible this season in most games. Injured?

What's going on................

[ex carrabba fan]

Tmac is injured.. he's going to struggle to be able to carry the team alone.. he still needs surgery in the Summer.

As far as Artest, from the games I've watched, he's been horrible offensively [pun intended]. He's shooting 31% I just checked. Flat out terrible.

As far as tonight I didn't watch the game so I have no comment, I see they only lost by 2.

[Fiasco West]

They just don't play hard every night. The team that wants to win will win a good percent of the time...they pretty much had the game won up by 14 and I turned to watch the Celts game...turn back Rockets up by 1, Tmac forces up two shots...Spurs up by one...they go on to win it.

I mean they are not terrible. So far IMO they have lost two games they should have won...against the Blazers, and tonight...the other two losses against the Lakers and Celts. Still see them as a top 4 team in the west, they just started off with a tough schedule and hopefully later down the road when their schedule eases up, they will win the games their supposed to. That is all it really comes down to.

[Court_vision]

Quote: Originally Posted by Fiasco West

They just don't play hard every night. .

That's what I don't understand. They should be humiliated losing to this Spurs team.

I am still not sold on Ron being on the team. In theory, he's the perfect fit.

In reality...he's a volcano waiting to erupt. As Carrabba says, his offense has been woeful...but Mac and Yao are not natural leaders and you wonder if there's anyone on the team who will be able to tell him so / keep him under controlf if (when) he goes off mentally.

[TMagic]

I don't know man. I don't know.

As a Rockets fan, it is frustrating as hell.

I think one of the biggest things is that our three stars have been way too inconsistent so far.

With other teams' stars, you almost know that they're going to bring it. You know Kobe is gonna do his thing. You know Paul is gonna bring it game in and game out. You know LeBron is going to punish.

But, with our stars, you just don't know. T-Mac can go for 30+ points then go for 10. Same with Yao. And same with Artest. You just don't know if they are going to have a good game or not. You can't predict at all how well they are going to play.

You just never know what you are going to get out of ANY of them from game to game. Our top players, our stars, are too damn inconsistent. That makes the team inconsistent as a whole.

With other teams, they know what they are going to get from their star, and the teams success is mostly contingent on the play of those around them. The play of their role players.

It's not like that with the Rockets at all.

[Fiasco West]

Quote: Originally Posted by Court_vision

That's what I don't understand. They should be humiliated losing to this Spurs team. I am still not sold on Ron being on the team. In theory, he's the perfect fit. In reality...he's a volcano waiting to erupt. As Carrabba says, his offense has been woeful...but Mac and Yao are not natural leaders and you wonder if there's anyone on the team who will be able to tell him so / keep him under controlf if (when) he goes off mentally.

You're right man. I'm pissed honestly that we lost. I don't even understand it...I turned to the Celts game thinkgin "Well, expected i'll turn back to see the last few mins..." I don't have no idea how we let a lead like that go, only thing I'm guessing is Spurs wanted it more.

They should have beat both the Blazers and Spurs. No disrespect to the Blazers, good young team with TONS of potential and the Spurs are just hurt now...but we lost both of these games by a combined 3 points, we should be 7-2 right now, I just feel that if our guys played 4qtrs we would be 7-2 with no disrespect to the other teams.

The only reason I say we're sleeping on teams and underestimating teams is because...we played the Thunder and Grizz close until mid 4th qtr... yet we turn around and beat teams like the Suns and played the Celts tough.

So we are right now 3-2 against teams we should beat. These teams are Thunder,Grizz,Clips, Blazers, and Spurs w/o Manu and Parker.

2-2 against teams that are tough matchups, which include Mavs, Celts, Lakers, and Suns.

To me it's just a lack of effort man. I think we go in against these teams and underestimate them. If we play the Hornets close 2morrow, it just goes to my theory that we do underestimate teams.

Also IDK why Tmac was trying to take those shots when we were down 1, as the commentators mentioned...he was cold that night so why is he forcing crucial clutch shots...especially when Ron had it going in the 2nd half, 14 pts in the 2nd half and showed no signs of slowing down. IDK why we just didn't get Ron going to the rim, instead we have Tmac taking shots against Bowen in crucial minutes of the game.

[23]

LOL CV you start one of these every year.

Ive said it before and will again, even though its early.

Its time to seperate Yao and Tmac. They don't play well together... other than the pick and roll, they dont play off of eachother well. I just dont see it, and Ron hasnt done jack since the game in Dallas.

Tmac is still recovering from knee surgery, so its understandable to a degree that he doesnt have his lift or anything, and so is Yao but he gets punked by midgets, and looks like he could care less about grabbing a rebound.

Ron is in a funk. I know its still early but i dont like the makeup of this team.

No athletic players, undersized big men, the same streetball PG that they cant seem to replace even though he's terrible, and no real backup for tmac.

That = tmac and yao playing too many minutes night in and out, overused, too many inefficient games, and basically the team trusts in too many scrub players like Chuck Hayes and one dimensional players who choke under pressure like Luther Head.

[Court_vision]

Quote: Originally Posted by KDRE_OS

LOL CV you start one of these every year. Ive said it before and will again, even though its early. Its time to seperate Yao and Tmac. They don't play well together... other than the pick and roll, they dont play off of eachother well. I just dont see it, and Ron hasnt done jack since the game in Dallas. Tmac is still recovering from knee surgery, so its understandable to a degree that he doesnt have his lift or anything, and so is Yao but he gets punked by midgets, and looks like he could care less about grabbing a rebound. Ron is in a funk. I know its still early but i dont like the makeup of this team. No athletic players, undersized big men, the same streetball PG that they cant seem to replace even though he's terrible, and no real backup for tmac. That = tmac and yao playing too many minutes night in and out, overused, too many inefficient games, and basically the team trusts in too many scrub players like Chuck Hayes and one dimensional players who choke under pressure like Luther Head.

These guys seem to underperform for large stretches every year...that's why I post I guess I am still caught up in the whole Rudy T / Dream "Heart of a champion" era...where the team was famous for playing against the odds all the time.

I agree Yao and Mac don't seem to balance. I don't know the answer. Yao would have amazing trade value, especially if sent to the EC.

Mac likely doesn't have much value due to his injuries / back problems. It would be the biggest risk in franchise history if they traded Yao.

[fsulw]

You don't trade Yao. They should have traded T-Mac a long time ago. He has no backbone he is not a superstar that is going to take you anywhere. You can't win when 2 of your top players are soft as hell and fragile to go with it. That is why Artest is here for this year to add toughness to the team. Yao is a great center but he needs a better player than T-mac to play with. T-mac has no trade value so we are stuck with him.

[Fiasco West]

Yeah...we are not trading Yao. Main reason is the NBA is still a business.

But, it's still way too early to say this is the same old rockets team. This is a team that will be judged in the playoffs and not the regular season.

Don't get me wrong they should be playing better but comeon now. Pacers whooped the Celts and every night you have a team that should win a game on paper but doesn't. If teams won eveyr game they should, you'd have a lot of 62+ win teams throughout the history of the NBA. Just some nights, the better team comes out expecting the lesser team to roll over and that doesn't happen.

The Rockets should have known better to underestimate the heart of a champion though...i'm sure that quote is somewhere in their lockeroom.

I mean you really learn about a team when their back is against the wall, this team is 2.5 games out of first. So we don't know much about it and a lot of Rox fans are already hitting the panic button.

Sure you go through the years and some people say they choke in the playoffs...but I remember the 2 playoff series they even had a chance at winning went to 7 games, last season their back was against the wall and they pulled out 22 wins in row.