UPDATE: Link added, starts at 1:01:07 mark (Rockets discussion in general starts at 58:30) https://art19.com/shows/the-bill-simmons-podcast/episodes/a649a342-9ccf-4682-b37a-db5547dc0f71 ----------------- Bill Simmons on his last podcast with Zach Lowe, rants about the Rockets home crowd for a few minutes. Interesting to think what are you guys thinking of it: #about the 1 hour mark on the podcast. Simmons: "Houston have a top 3 worst crowd." Lowe: "Wow! Really?" Simmons: "I dont like the energy at all. I dont think the crowd effects the game at all. They seem bored. I need more from the Houston crowd. If you gonna have the 2nd best team in the leauge, step it up Houston! Cmon! I know you have it in you. You had great crowds in the Hakeem era." Lowe: "Wow" Simmons: "Have you watched any Rockets game and thought- 'Wow, the crowd was really winning this game for them. Never! Never happened! Thats since the Hakeem era. Hakeem era they had great crowds. I want to see great Houston crowds again". What do you guys think? Does Simmons have a point?
this should also be considered when ranking players for best ever or best now in NBA... harden would be much more impactful and higher ranked player if coached by a goat coach and playing in front of an awesome home crowd
he's probably right. but also of note is that any national coverage of this team it typically negative. even when they dole out any compliments, without fail it comes is a backhanded way with a "but...." attached
The crowd is a lot better in the second half than the first half but they been dull long before harden came to town.
Toyota Center has too much stuff going on that won't allow the crowd to organically get involved. I personally don't need to hear a chant or music on every damn possession. They don't do this crap at football games.
We need more loyal, diehard & intelligent fans like @tinman & @swyyyguy at games to get the people going.
They do that stuff at every arena. It's not the issue. The lower bowl is always half empty even during the 4th qtr. Houston doesn't have a lot of passionate fans who show up to games. It's so weird given the Astros crowd
I would say the worst. There may be 2 or 3 worst crowds from lottery teams, but no playoff team has a worst crowd. For instance, last playoff game of last year, the energy was embarrassing for a key game. This is an issue that should be seriously addressed by the franchise. We almost have no home court advantage, our home court advantage is based en the No-homecourt advantage of our opponent. You're not winning big like that.
Regular season crowds are horrendous. Not because of the product though. The Rockets have priced themselves out for alot of families. I remember being able to buy 4 tickets and not feel dirty about it the next day. Tillman should come up with some creative way to fill the lower bowl unsold tickets with fans from the upper bowl. It would look great on camera and create a feel good story. Playoff basketball is pretty hype around here though.
BTW, not to rub salt here but Dallas has the highest attendance in the leauge. With a crappy team. I just dont get it. It is the one thing that annoys me the most about my team. When people talk about Harden's heart, it feels like its not an easy crowd to fight for. No heart, no real love for the team. Just coming for a show. I kinda hope it will get a national attention and force the management to sort it out.
Bill Simmons is 100% spot on with this, it is disappointing and embarrassing TC hardly ever looks full...there’s always pockets of empty seats...the crowd doesn’t get into the game, it does feel like 90% of the people in the building are bored our home atmosphere sucks...teams don’t feel intimidated at all put Harden and this Rockets team in many other places and home games would be rocking, but in Houston, it’s meh we definitely are in the bottom 3 when u take into account how good our teams are...crowds that are worse than ours right now would be much better if they weren’t rooting for some sorry 20-30 win team
It’s pretty bad and was bad, also during our Double Clutch years! I think the 96-97 season was the best, those playoffs were loud AF!
Yeah I don’t buy the pricing issues. I live in Miami abs been to several heat games not being a heat fan. It’s a awesome experience and it’s pricey. Houston crowd sucks. You ever see the beginning of the third quarter? Damn high school gym game. It’s embarrasing.
the tickets are affordable for a lot of the games...the prices only get crazy when GS, Cleveland, etc come to town
Chicken and egg story. What came first, the horrible crowds or the NBA propaganda machine from the refs down on to Little Skip Bayless treating us like the Iron Sheiks of basketball? Stop demonizing us NBA and you’ll have or support. Until then, baseball is a fair sport without any manipulation. The Astros are champions and the NBA can enjoy my cancellation of League Pass and use of the higher quality free reddit streams.
Even though I don't care for Simmons, this is 100% facts. For some odd reason Houston fans will support the Texans after sucking on so many levels. You have a Texans owner who referred to his players as "inmates", you have texans players who got caught using steroids MULTIPLE times, you have multiple seasons of pure stupidity as far as coaching, yet the fans will rally behind the Texans smh. All this while IGNORING the Rockets, who have for the most part been entertaining for the last 10 years. Even college football teams get more love than the Rockets do in Houston. The Toyota Center should be the main attraction in Houston. I think that's why Tilman seems to embrace Beyonce & other houston bred celebrities he knows will bring in more fans
