If the season ended today, we'd be playing this team in the playoffs...

Doesn't matter who we play, our team's problems need to be solved first before we can worry about our opponent. If those problems do not get fixed, we will fall fast.

 

Was this thread worthy? I guess I was expecting some content.

 

Could have just added to the alway existing one that has the exact same title lol

 

The Spurs will move up in the standings.

 

Probably. It's not crazy to see the Rockets wind up 5th and playing Portland in Round 1 again. And possibly with home court since the Blazers are losing players to injury quicker than we are.

 

I figured this was as good a place as any to drop this. There are 15 teams in the NBA with winning records. 10 teams in the West and 5 in the East. Our record against those teams is 17-19 for the season. Here's how all the winning teams break down record-wise against each other:

GS 25-8 .758
ATL 22-10 .688
MEM 23-13 .639
POR 21-16 .568
CLE 18-15 .545
CHI 17-15 .531
LAC 19-20 .487
HOU 17-19 .472
SAS 16-18 .471
NOP 17-20 .459
DAL 16-22 .421
PHX 15-21 .417
TOR 13-20 .394
OKC 14-22 .389
WAS 10-20 .333


So, you can see we are middle-of-the-pack and actually below .500 against the league's top teams. Yes, we've missed Dwight. But our record against these teams with Dwight was 7-9 so we've simply held our own at .500 without him. And San Antonio is moving up with a bullet. Not to mention they've missed their fair share of games with Kawhi, Tim, etc.

We have 8 games left against teams with winning records and the Spurs have 10 games left against teams with winning records with the Spurs playing us twice more before the end of the season.

And down the stretch they come! While we are 2 games out of the 2nd seed we are also 2 games out of the 6th seed.

The Spurs are rolling. 8-2 over last 10 games is better than any team not named the Warriors. They are a very scary team right now. And they have a legit shot of making it to #3 in the West.

 

I definitely don't want the Spurs. I don't trust anyone but Harden to carry the load and against Kawhi, he couldn't do it consistently.

 

The standings change just about daily

 

It's not just the Spurs we should be sweating. The Clippers have won 4 in a row and are undefeated since we barely beat them 8 days ago. And while their schedule over the past week hasn't been tough, the fact is their remaining games aren't that bad either. They could continue the roll they're on through the end of the regular season.

The Rockets better win at least half of their remaining road games if they hope to clinch home court in Round 1, cuz San Antonio and LA aren't gonna just hand it to them.

 

Kawhi will stop Harden

Harden chokes in the playoffs again

 

Things have not been going our way matchup wise.

Assuming we keep the 3 seed, spurs or clips....yikes

If we drop to 4 then we'll have to play warriors....yikes x2

 

Either way the Rockets are facing a title contender in the first round.

Welcome to the Western Conference. You don't get to cry about matchups. You have to run the gauntlet.

You want to win the title-

-Clippers
-Spurs
-Warriors
-Grizzlies
-Portland

You are going to face 3 of those 5 one way or another.

 

It doesn't matter who we play. ALL the playoffs team have coaches who are way better than McHale. In other words, Rockets have the WORST coach amongst all playoff teams and that automatically puts the Rockets at a disadvantage.

In essence, the players with Dwight back have to compensate for the liability that is McHale.

Kerr, Joerger, Stotts, Doc, Pop, Carlisle and even Brooks will run circles around McHale

We do have the most all round talent and the best roster amongst all the above teams (except GSW) so we have to hope the players come good.

 

Seriously FTW.... I like your posts otherwise, but your constant crying and whining about McHale is like nails on a chalkboard. You could be the most insightful poster on the GARM but you belittle your content with constant griping on one topic.

Do you expect the Rockets to change their coach in April to suit your coaching standards????.... No.. so just calm down for a minute please, and see what happens in a couple weeks.

TBH, the Rockets, without a 100% Dwight, and without "shooters"(if you can call them that) like Terry/Beverley/Ariza etc. being on point with their shooting, the Rockets probably have one of the more shaking supporting casts to their stars of all these teams. There are some gaping holes on this roster. I'm a huge D-Mo fan, but if he's your second best player going into the playoffs then that's a huge issue.

I'm not trying to make excuses for a potential first round exit, and I'm DEFINITELY not trying to preemptively make excuses for McHale, but one thing I do want people to realize is this-

THE ROCKETS ARE NOT GOING TO BE FAVORED IN ANY MATCH-UPS THIS APRIL OR MAY.

They will be the underdogs, and its going to be extremely difficult just to get out of the first round. And there is no reason to pile on McHale and make him a scapegoat for something that hasn't even happened yet. The guy has a tough enough job to prepare for with this roster. Let's just hold our S$%# for a second and see what happens first.

Please.

 

But what if the season ended 3 days ago?

 

I dont think there is anything more impossible in this universe than trying to make FTW stop whining about Mchale. He eats, sleeps, and breathes Mchale hate.

 

I disagree about the matchups. If the Rockets play the Blazers or Mavs in Round 1 and have home court, they should be favored(assuming Dwight and T-Jones are healthy). Even the Clippers would be a tossup if they're missing Crawford.

As for McHale, it's hard to be critical of the guy's performance. Granted, the season ain't over yet, so we still have the potential annual April collapse looming. But c'mon. The team's been without their starting center(and alleged 2nd superstar) for half the season. They've been without their starting PF for over half the season. Other players like Bev, Papa, and Terry(not to mention Canaan, Black, and Cisco when they were still on the roster) have missed games with an assortment of injuries. And the Western Conference is brutal this year.

Yet here they stand at 46-23 and still in the 3rd seed. Again, things could look a lot worse 10 days from now depending on how they do in these upcoming road games, but at this moment in time, would another coach really have gotten that much more recordwise out of this roster given all the injuries and botched personnel moves from last summer?

 

I'm going to disagree with the capitalized bit. Even a 90% Dwight puts the Rockets comfortably better than the Mavs and the Blazers. I'm ignoring OKC, GSW or Memphis because there is no chance we face them in the 1st round.

A 90% Dwight is still a top 15 player in this league and probably still the best center. Pair him with MVP candidate Harden along with defensive stoppers like Bev and Ariza and a deep bench and you can clearly see we have a more talented roster than the Mavs or the Blazers. I mean do you expect Lopez to stop Dwight or Afflalo to stop Harden? I'd be hugely disappointed if we don't get out the first round if we face either of the above two. Spurs are Spurs. Clips is a wash I'd say. They have a crap bench.

When are you going to differentiate regular season success from playoffs? In the playoffs COACHING absolutely matters and it becomes a chess game. Coaches get a chance to scout opposition players and strictly dedicate every single resource in scouting them over a 7 game series. Do you think Harden will score as easily come playoff time? Do you think our offense will be as successful come playoff time when the game slows down? I do not judge McHale by regular season record. I think he has done well all things considered. I look insightfully into each game besides the score - rotations, which plays are run or not run in certain situations, when does he call that timeout etc. Do you believe McHale has an advantage over any other playoff coach in the West?

 

Even James Harden doubts himself. Smh