i do agree with one thing about making the playoffs. There is value in player development (Harden, Capella - others potentially in it for the long haul) in playing one of the greatest teams of all time.
Just came around to listening... Rockets fans would know the most about teams coming from lower seeds to go on and accomplish big things. ... We're not a normal 8 seed. We have had a tough season. Did not play as well as we wanted to. We have a team that we know plays better teams better. Essentially the same group last year made the WCF. We know we have a team that can compete. It will be a challenge. Sports is about competing and facing challenges. We're excited. 1st round pick or playoffs. It wasn't like at the deadline where we'll trade a pick away for the right to make the playoffs. Even if someone wanted to engineer that, of course we wouldn't, we play to win. It wouldn't have been a tradeoff that could've been made. People are passionate about sports. Picks are valuable but the point of NBA basketball is to make the playoffs and compete for a championship. I don't understand why people wouldn't want to do that. What have you seen since the loss to Phoenix? Very focused on both ends. Bunch of guys stepped up. The competition hasn't been strong. If you look at our record against better teams in the league this year, it's right there with some of the top teams. Our record against good teams and ability to play good teams close, ...we were close in our last game at Golden State. We feel this will be very tough. We can't hide from that. It'll be a series that if we do manage to win, will be close. We aren't winning it going away. The point of sports is to make the playoffs & compete for a championship. We have a veteran roster that made the WCF last year and a team we think can compete. Scouting report basically the same as last year? We'll have to mix things up. They're an intelligent team with multiple weapons. You can't give them consistent looks. ... It's an extremely tough task. This year we were hoping to be right there at the top, we weren't. We're coming from a lower seed w/o homecourt making it more difficult but if you're gonna win the championship, it goes through GS. First or second round, you're gonna have to beat them. PF position. Most challenged position all year. We have had to piece that position together but they are peaking at the right time. Pat has closed the season strong. James is James. Historic season. Trevor is playing well. 4 spot is back. Dwight & Clint have manned the 5. We're playing our best basketball at the right time. Challenge is big but we are playing our best basketball. Any flaws right now? We studied their losses and in their losses, they miss more. No team is invulnerable. They're unbelievably good. Coaches have found ways to attack them. We can throw different looks at Curry & how we guard them. Not gonna be a situation where they aren't seeing more wrinkles from us. Josh Smith back in the rotation by design? It was Josh's work. He was not 100% coming over from LA. He's worked hard. He started playing well in practice and JB gave him opportunities. We're very hard to game plan for. You don't know what looks we'll throw at you. We got a bunch of different players who have played well at different points of the season. The coaches have a lot of options. We have a lot of different chess pieces to throw at Golden State. ... Anything to say to those who say this is a waste of time & why you think your squad has a chance of an upset. We do have a solid chance. We just talked about it. We play good teams better. Players are peaking at the right time. Team has shown they can come together and play high level basketball. Excited for the playoffs & big challenge. ESPN came out and said we have a 3% chance. The Rockets have had much less chances, like take last year down 17 in the 3rd and came back to win. The Rockets, 6th seed, had low odds that season. '81 team made the playoffs. You don't have look far. Look at Clutch City & the Rockets for inspiration of winning with long odds.
"We're super hard to game plan for, you'll never know which Harden ISO we'll throw at you! Heck, Brewer might even go off for 1-8 and make you play some D!" - Moreh
Clutch City didn't come from selfishness. Clutch City let a player like Maxwell walk to allow the team play better together. This is ****ing embarrassing.
When Maxwell quit in the playoffs, was that unselfish? Don't mean to rain on your parade, but that was just too obvious
Postgame Morey: "We could still surprise some people. This is a talented group that was in the WCF just a year ago. We have the system and personnel that can cause havoc on both ends of the floor on any given night." Harden: "We're only down one game. They really ain't even THAT good." Dwight: "We just have to continue to play together and not be focused on personal agendas. :grin:" JBB: "Has anybody seen Brewer? I have to make sure he bends over...umm I mean goes over the game plan for Monday night."
