With the victory of the Houston Rockets over the Boston Celtics 99-89, the Rockets placed themselves nine games behind Seattle. Granted that Eddie Griffin gets well, and Steve Francis doesn't miss anymore games due to his migraine condition, the Western Conference might see the Rockets again make a run for the last playoff spot. Then again, Seattle has been playing well lately, even with Vin Baker sidelined. Unless the LA Clippers and Phoenix Suns make strong efforts to upset the Rockets, it is Seattle that occupies the spot the Rockets would love to grab. If the Rockets win against the Clippers, they might gain momentum. But the question is, will Steve be around to play?
well, at least we play seattle 3 more times. We could cut off 3 games right there if we sweep them. Thats a big IF though.
In all honesty I along with many others don't believe the Rockets will make the playoffs...but I would love to be proven wrong!
I love your spirit!! Jessh I was hoping someone would post something other than picking top 3 in the Draft. It would be way more demoralizing to finish that lousy and pick up a rookie, than to finish strong with hopefully some momentom and confidence for next season. This team has the talent, its just time for these guys to work harder, and RT to whip up a few more plays.
I hope we win as many games as possible. I dont believe we will make the playoffs this year. Not in a million years do we make the playoffs this year if you know what I mean. Last year we couldnt make up like 4 games on the Timberpuppies. 9.5 games is impossible! I was all about tanking just a few weeks ago, but damnit its hard to get happy about a Rockets loss!
With some luck all I could see us doing is getting close but we could not overtake Seattle unless of course Payton gets injured. My projections show the following flow based on our dates with Seattle: March 12th - 4.5 games behind March 22nd - 6 games " April 2nd - 4.5 games " End of season - 3.5 games "
watch out for the killer nugget trio of howard, hardaway (combined 29 ppg!!!!!) and posey to lead the nuggets on a 2nd half surge and end up 7th.
There is almost no chance for a playoff run with the team they have out there now. So where the hell are Walt and Maurice? Lottery chasing sucks, but it worked for the Spurs with Tim Duncan and the Rockets with Hakeem. Give it up and hope for next year. Use this season to guage the potential of this team and hope the front office does the same.
There are no Duncans or Hakeems in this upcoming draft. If we ended up with the top overall pick, do you guys think anyone would accept it packaged with Glen Rice?
I like to think what if the Rocks never went on that 15 game losing streak and stayed away from injuries. We were about 5-2 or so when Steve went down but if he hadn't we might have been right up there with seatle. Also when is Mo coming back? I seem to remember hearing about him making his return in February.
I would agree tanking would be satisfactory if this was a ninento game. I just don't want our boys to develop a losing mentality. Lets let them play hard, learn how to consistantly win, and get use to feeling like winners. And as someone else stated, there is no player in this draft worth tanking.
NO! NO! NO! Tanking is not an option!!! We should win as many games as possible. The final piece of this team is LEARNING HOW TO WIN. NCSTATEFAN, about your signature ... can I join your club?
The playoffs were gone with the 15 game losing streak. Had they managed to go 6-9 or 5-10,they would still have a glimmer of hope, but unless Seattle loses payton for the rest of the season, i don't think we'll catch them. Even with Payton hurt, I don't think they'll lose 15 in a row.
LISTEN UP...I am as big of a Rocket fan as anyone else here...that being said, we have ZERO chance of making the playoffs. We are currently 9 1/2 games behind Seattle for the final spot. In between us and the Soncis are the Clips and the Suns. Now, if the Sonics, Clips and Suns all play .500 ball for the rest of the season (which in my opinion is entirely possible if not probable), the Rockets would have to finish the season 23-4 to make up those 9 1/2 games. Sometimes you have to admit that the best thing is to sort of "pack it in." As it stands, we are 1 of 4 teams with 20 wins. The draft isn't nearly as deep as it was last year (unless some unexpected underclassmen come out) and it would benefit the Rockets to secure a better draft position. With MoT, Cato and Rice under contract and no cap room in sight, the draft is our only avenue for improvement aside from making a trade.(we all know how hard it is to make trades these days). Sorry for the pessimistic attitude but like I said before...we have no shot at the playoffs.
