[Sports Illustrated] Rockets suddenly in prime playoff position

Disliked what he said about Lowry, of course, until I realized that Lowry will probably read it and get pissed off. A plus, so here's a thank you! to the writer of the column. Liked what he said about Scola, another Rocket who is regularly underrated at ClutchFans by some delusional inhabitants.

I have to say I have mixed feelings. All season I've been saying the Rockets can and will make the playoffs, and shouldn't tank. As soon as I threw my hands up in despair and began hoping we might, somehow, luck into a good lottery pick (it's happened before), along comes the deadline deals and the Rockets appear to be reborn. The last two games have me a bit stunned. I have no idea how the rest of the season will play out, but just give us some luck with the "I" word and one thing I'm sure of... it's going to be a hell of a lot of fun to watch!

 

no one ever suspects Lowry and the Great White Dunker, it catches teams off guard

 

Evething is aligning perfectly for the Rockets to make that push and sneak into the playoffs. I really hope we get in and surprise everyone with a first round win!! After that, anything is possible...

 

This is a great analysis; the writer actually seems to have a very keen eye for the game the Rockets play.

And the writer is spot on on Lowry as well. If Lowry would play every game, or at least the majority, like he did against Paul/NOH and Portland, he could be considered otherwise. But the fact is, based on his numbers, that he is not. Granted, he does bring some "intangibles" to the team that are very valuable, but in a perfect world (say, if we had Paul, Williams, Nash, etc), he would just be a great backup.

I do hope he keeps his recent production on a consistent basis, but history tells me eventually he will fall off to "average", or even "below average" status.

 

I hope the Rockets make the playoffs! so he said that we don't have to play top teams like the Miami Heat! so who are we playing on the 27th of April!

 

Now this guy knows basketball, no author on the article or am I blind?

 

Kyle Lowry is a below average PG??? I know his game isn't too flashy but he is a bulldog amoung PGs. He is the reason Houston is doing this well. I guess you have to watch him night in and night out to really see the true potential in Kyle Lowry.

 

Why do you even watch the games then?

You guys with this attitude are unbelievable.

If you didn't ENJOY watching the last two games - especially the first three quarters of last night's game - you're not a Rocket fan.

That wasn't a playoff game, but it was played with playoff intensity and it was extremely fun and entertaining to watch. There were few uncontested shots and everyone was going all as they do in the playoffs.

It wasn't the foul fest and free throw shooting contest that so many of today's NBA games are.

"Let's tank"... "I'd rather have the 10th pick and miss the playoffs than have the 16th and make the playoffs".... REALLY?

Unreal.

I'd MUCH rather enjoy watching a playoffs series and take my chances with Morey at the helm, through the draft and trades and free agents than "tank", miss the playoffs, HOPE the ping pong balls fall my way, then HOPE the player we draft is all that, then HOPE we pick up some other young studs, then hope.... wait a minute.... trying to convince the pro-tankers is "hopeLESS".

Gotta' get ready to watch a game THAT MATTERS and I care about my team WINNING.

 

Why do these Houston Rockets remind me of another Houston franchise?? Hmmm

Spoiler

Somebody should've made a Rockets tombstone

 

I disagree. Daryl Morey said that Lowry is the #1 player on this team for the entire season. He said this BEFORE the last two games happened, before the trade deadline. Last year, Kyle went out, the entire team started struggling. I am not sure why this average/below-average talk comes from. I was thinking whether Kyle deserves some MIP consideration.

I like Zach Lowe's columns a lot. He actually watches games and is a very keen observer. but not sure whether this "Lowry is average" talk stems from.

 

Correct. But you have to remember a lot of the exaggeration on how good Lowry is stems from the hate for Brooks. Homerism is frowned upon EXCEPT when it involves Kyle Lowry.

 

I'm not questioning Lowry's value to this team; I saw that last year, and I'm seeing it this year. But we are talking about a .500 team here, not a championship contender.

I'd say it's a toss up between Scola, Martin and Lowry as to who is the Rockets #1 player. I'll take the GM's word that Lowry is the one, since I recognize that I'm no expert when it comes to player evaluation. But looking at him objectively in comparison to other PGs across he league, he really is about average. If he is the main guy in our team, then our record is a good (although admittedly not a direct correlation) of where Kyle stands among point guards in the NBA.

And please don't get me wrong; I think Lowry is a very important piece to a team with championship aspirations. I think with a better supporting cast (or more accurately, a valid star that fits with this team), his value would be even more magnified. It could be argued that placed on a team like the Celtics in place of Rondo, he would have comparable value to Rajon. Say, put Garnett on the Rocks...how would they look?

Hell, after that last paragraph, I have to agree with Morey that Lowry is our #1 player...

 

this never gets old :grin:

 

Average is a relative term. You shouldnt take offense to his comments.

 

Good to hear from someone who gets it. There is value, aside from getting to see your team compete in the postseason, in making the playoffs. It's good for the team and it's good for the fans. I'd be thrilled if they made the playoffs.

 

As of right now, looking at the remaining games and teams fighting for5, 6,7,8 seeds.
not being biased at all, looking at the degree of competition.
Portland is at 34-27, they have a tough schedule in which i see them loosing about 13 games, mostly on the road and so its a record of 42-40.
Denver is at 36-26, i see them loosing about 12 games so about a record of 40-42.
New Orleans is at 35-28. they have an easy schedule than the rockets in which i see them loosing 6 games so thats a record of 47-35.
Phoenix is at 31-28, see them loosing about 9 games. so thats a record of 45-37. i see us spliting with them .
Utah is at 32-29, see them loosing about 9 games , maybe even more as they are in disarray so thats a record of 44-38.
Memphis is at 34-28, see them loosing about 9 more games so thats a record of 47-35.
Finally rockets with a record of 31-32. if they take care of business and looking at the degree of competition, i see them loosing about 4 more games. we will have mini winning streaks sprinkled with losses. so thats a record of 46-36.
first four sa,dallas,la, okc
5. No 6. Memphis 7. Houston 8. Phoenix

 

I dont think so. Portland is definetly gettin into playoffs so do Noh

 

we better stay above .500 for a week before thinkin of playoffs..

 

Our favorite RAOF Denniscd was right all along, everyone who flamed his posts needs to eat crow (including me).

 

There is no way Denver is missing playoffs. They have decent schedule and they are too ahead...

Utah, looking at their recent play combined with left schedule, will miss the playoffs

Phoenix is still a weak team.. they will play 9 (5 of which on the road) games against top 8 teams (top 4 from each conference). We play only 5 (1 on the road, 4 @ home) games against top 8 teams. Plus, they got 5 more games on the road than us... Plus, they are closer to us.

Utah and Phoenix will miss the playoffs unless they beat teams they are not suppose to beat.

One of these teams: Hornets, Blazers or Memphis will need to drop for us.

Hornets has lost 12 of last 16... looks like they will be the one to drop. You mentioned that they have easy schedule.. well yeah, in a way. Basically, they don't play 8 teams much... but they don't play below .500 teams either. They play 16 of 19 games against .500 or better... we play only 11 of 19.. both teams play 5 games against top 8. Hornets schedule is not tough but their level of opponents is still above average.

Blazers have the worst schedule, but we lost tie-breaker... so that's 1 extra loss we have to count on.. they are resilient, so I think they will hang on there...

Memphis does not have tough schedule.. thing is that they have tough games altogether.. tough games are not scattered as our schedule. Unfortunately for them, they are about to play 10 of 12 games against good teams with no services of Rudy Gay possibly for a while.. if they are going to fall out then it will have to be in the next 10 games or so... if they survive this stretch then they are going to finish strong...

So, bottom line - PHX/UTAH are likely going to missing the playoffs.. Denver will make em.... of the other 3, any one can drop... all have some issues, it's just who can survive em.... We just need to pray that one of these teams get on a losing streak.