While the last two days have gone exactly wrong for the Rockets, those results are not the reason we fell to 53 wins from 65 last year and scraped into the 4th seed. While I acknowledge certain circumstances led to some of these losses, others were absolutely inexcusable, particularly the 4 losses to non-playoff teams that occurred in 2019 Oct 18 New Orleans 131, Rockets 112 Nov 24 Detroit 116, Rockets 111 Nov 25 Cleveland 117, Rockets 108 Nov 27 Washington 135, Rockets 131 Nov 29 Dallas 128, Rockets 108 Dec 4 Minnesota 103, Rockets 91 Dec 9 Dallas 107, Rockets 104 Dec 21 Miami 101, Rockets 99 Jan 30 New Orleans 121, Rockets 116 Feb 14 Minnesota 121, Rockets 111 Feb 22 Lakers 111, Rockets 106 Mar 21 Memphis 126, Rockets 125
Yup. I know. Even if we had won half of those we would have been 1st seed. Or the ones we let get away when we were up against playoffs teams too
I look at that positively. It shows the team has more up its sleeve against the strong teams, when it matters, than what the record shows.
every playoff team can say if they had won this game or that game or not lost to team X, Y, or Z they’d be in a different position...the Rockets aren’t unique in that aspect we blew some games, but we also won some games we had no business winning half of CF was talking about tanking at 1 point this season, yet here we are with 50+ wins and HCA in the 1st round it is what it is...time to look forward because the playoffs are here and everyone’s record is now 0-0
That sounds like good news going into the playoffs. There are 15 other teams in the playoffs and we've done well against them. Only lost 15 times to them.
Bucks lost 8 (i.e. 36% of their losses) vs Phoenix Cleveland Atlanta Washington New York Memphis Phoenix Charlotte (They actually lost 9, but I didn't include BKN because Finals number 1 seed was locked up at that point) 41% of our losses were to non-playoff teams. Considering our roster, mid season roster turnover and injuries we did not lose an unusual number of games against non-playoff teams. I don't know why people are hanging themselves with this argument. It's extremely poorly thought out. We're not that good. We should not have lost less of these than the best teams in the league. Why on earth would you expect us to be better than Milwaukee?? They're a 60+ win team and top 3 in offense and defense and historically significant SRS rating. Every team loses games against teams they shouldn't lose. Every team beats teams they shouldn't beat. Unless one of these things are happening at an inexplicable and unusual rate, it's silly to pick at these things out of context. IMO we are not as good as last season's Rockets team even post 11-14 start. However, when you take into consideration that we were going to knock that team out in 6 games if not for Paul's injury, and that the Warriors are now significantly worse defensively while hardly better offensively (not to mention weakened chemistry), it's ok. We have the kind of opportunity that we don't deserve based on the a-hole moves Tilman saddled this team with (i.e. Melo/MCW followed by cheapskating through the season while Harden played his heart out).
This information doesn't do anything for us in the playoffs. Move on. It's the playoffs where there are no non playoff teams and everyone starts off with a 0-0 record. We play an opponent we know we can beat and get a chance to play GSW fresher which benefits us more since we are the older team. Move on.
How has anything gone wrong for us??? We literally just avoided playing the thunder, a really talented team that would have exhausted the hell out of us, and possibly beaten us. Further, we now get to play the warriors when CP3 is much fresher, rather than wearing him out. Once we beat them, we’ll have a chill series in the WCF, which will give us rest when we play against Toronto/Milwaukee, who will have just had a tough 6-7 game series against one another. Home court advantage is super overrated, especially with Toyota Center which doesn’t have much of an advantage both actually, and statistically.
Guess what. Now we will never have to worry about being beat by a non-playoff team... till next season. AND 4 loses concern you! After everything we've been through to begin the season and what we accomplished from the New Year and beyond. Um ok.
Fun fact: Out of the 10 total games that the 1996 Chicago Bulls team lost all year, two of those games came against a 21-win Toronto team and a 3-win Denver team. Another 2 losses were to a 41-win Charlotte team and a 42-win Miami team. So, basically, that 72-win team lost to 3 non-playoff teams and one that barely got in as the 8th seed.
FWIW - Detroit is a playoff team and you have them listed up there. There were games that the Rockets had no business losing though which is what is frustrating. They ended the season 4 games behind Golden State and I can think of 5 games that they should not have lost: Brooklyn OKC x2 Lakers Dallas New Orleans so thats actually 6 games. I think thats the more disappointing thing. You are going to have games every season where you lose to non-playoff teams, but there are some games where you give the game to the other team. If the worst team in the league outworks the Rockets they deserve to win. There just have been too many games where the Rockets have a good lead and completely collapse in the last quarter. They are the 4th seed it sucks but the team is actually playing its best basketball of the year despite the heart breaking last game I can't ask for much more than that.
Last year the Rockets had the defense and continuity FROM THE START to be able to weather the storm during low points in games. It gave them a *higher floor.* So that 11-14 start? and the blown leads? Those would have been mitigated by last year's team. So, the takeaway for this upcoming off season is get your house in order in the SUMMER with the RIGHT MOVES to be ready to start the season with the right personnel. The wins will come. The favorable seeding will come. And awards might come too. All the ripple effects. Big summer for Morey.
Yup - it's this. We don't need to focus on the winnable games we lost while trying to go nuclear just to get back into the playoff race. We need to focus on the instability in the last offseason that caused us to enter the regular season unprepared to play and put us in a huge hole to start the season. I normally give Morey and D-Antoni the benefit of the doubt but they both did a poor job of rebounding from offseason changes - for Mike it was Bezdelik leaving, for Morey it was losing Luc and Trevor....and let's not let the players off the hook here. I get the sense from watching our team earlier in the year that Trevor was the guy telling everyone on the floor where they needed to be and with him gone, no one on the team really "owned" defensive focus until much later. It seemed like they too were waiting for someone else on the coaching staff or in trade acquisition to bring that focus to the team and without that, they just "went out there and played harder" a la McHale era. Nice words, but they don't actually solve the specific problems that cause you to lose games.
I'm happy with the 4th seed. Take care of business with the Jazz and stay healthy. Get a shot at the Warriors with a healthy team and a less tired Harden.
