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they'll lose today thanks to this thread
Rockets are playing out of their minds lately. 12-3 Since the All-Star Break.
Suns, Grizzlies or Rockets - All Bubble Teams. Who's going?
In the thick of it
Recent run puts Rockets in race for final playoff spots
By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2011 Houston Chronicle
March 24, 2011, 11:32PM
Billy Smith II Chronicle
Courtney Lee and the Rockets are 12-3 since the All-Star break.
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The Rockets ended a road trip with a narrow loss and began a homestand with another. They knew then their season had been pushed to must-win peril.
They have not lost since. After five consecutive wins, they have moved from 11th to ninth in the Western Conference, from 3½ games behind Memphis to two games out of the last playoff spot.
But little else has changed. When the Rockets head out on a three-game road trip with 10 to play, they will be in almost must-win peril.
"I told them we started something on the road, now we have to go out on the road and win," coach Rick Adelman said. "That's what we have to do to keep this going.
"There's four teams fighting for this. If one team hits a tough spot where they lose three in a row, you're probably out of it. The pressure is on to keep winning. That's what we tried to do after we lost to San Antonio. We had a tough game with Phoenix and we won it. We beat Boston. Now we want to keep this rolling."
The Rockets' season-best five-game home winning streak has kept them in the race, but no one who had been in the fight before the Rockets' roll has slumped enough to allow them a chance to exhale. After the Grizzlies' comeback win in Boston on Wednesday, the Rockets were determined to concern themselves only with their play and the hope that it can get them over the hurdles on the schedule, starting with Sunday's game in Miami.
"We knew this six-game homestand was huge for us," Chuck Hayes said. "Before this six-game homestand, we were playing good basketball. We had a tough loss against Phoenix and the Clippers. We understood that, but we knew that just meant we had to beat some good teams in Boston, Utah and Phoenix. Five-and-1 was the worst we could do. Six-and-0 would have been great, but we'll take the 5-1 homestand and now that same mentality we've had on the road all year long, we have to take it here on this three-game road trip. It'd be great to win all three. We're playing to win all three.
"The same energy, the hard work and commitment we put in on this homestand, we have to take on the road."
The Rockets are 12-3 since the All-Star break, with all three losses decided in the final minute. They have won by an average of 11 points per game in the winning streak, and that was with late runs by the Suns and Jazz cutting into leads that reached 15 and 12 points.
"I'm happy with what we did on this homestand, but we're not content," Courtney Lee said. "We're still out of the playoff race. We've got to continue to take this on the road and have some carryover on the road when we play Miami, which is a good team. We have to play the way we've been playing."
They might have to play better to get similar results.
"We are playing great," Luis Scola said. "Maybe it is a little late; we don't know. We are about to find out, but we are playing great and we are trying to finish the season strong."
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...n/7490568.html
they'll lose today thanks to this thread
Rockets remaining schedule:
@MIA
@NJN
@PHI
SAS
ATL
SAC
@NOH
LAC
DAL
@MIN
Hornets remaining schedule:
@LAL
POR
MEM
IND
HOU
PHX
@MEM
UTH
@DAL
Grizzlies remaining schedule:
SAS
GSW
@NOH
MIN
LAC
SAC
NOH
@POR
@LAC
Grizz with a cake schedule
To answer your question, no--the Rockets aren't making the playoffs.
Nope.
Grizzlies...provided that they can win without Gay.
They are 9-7 since he left, including wins:
vs SAS
@DAL
vs. OKC
@BOS
They also had last minute losses AT CHI and SAS.
Sure they are. They're the second seed no?
Grizzlies 9-7 since All-Star Break
Rockets 12-3 since All-Star Break
Suns 9-8 since All Star Break
Rockets are either a) way over their heads or b) are one of the hottest teams in the NBA right now.
It's because of Kyle Lowry getting big minutes instead of splitting with Brooks
Chase Buddinger as starting SF
Patrick Patterson playing big minutes
Chuck Hayes turning into believe it or not a legit 6'6" Center in his breakout season
He is averaging 7.7 points and 7.7 rebounds per game are career bests. In March, he has averaged 8.8 points and 10.1 rebounds and just recorded his first triple double.
Chase is hurt.
Chase is fine. He'll play today against Miami. Adleman said he was also going to run Patrick Patterson at SF a bit.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...n/7492064.html
Rockets have a chance, but its going to be hard since the Hornets have the tie-breaker over them. They can't afford to lose more than 2 more games.
I will not welch, tee hee
I hope not. I would rather play the Hornets (even before West went down) than the Rockets.
Me too. I think Memphis will get to the 7th spot and it would not surprise me if NO drops out with West being gone.
Because the Hornets aren't that good. They are the least scrappy team, don't have many offensive weapons overall and I think their defense is a bit overrated by Hornet fan.
While West/Paul is a great combo, I don't fear them at all.
Please let that happen. Please.
Oh, and probably the biggest reason is that NO has a coach.not playing Thornton.
Houston gives up 10+ pts more a game than NOH. They're absolutely atrocious on defense. NOH has scrappy players in Okafor, Landry, and Ariza. The Rockets have scrappy players too, but not many on the defensive end.
If West was still in the picture than the Hornets would definitely be a tougher matchup. The Spurs have scored 124, 108, and 115 pts against Houston this year. Contrast that with 90, 109, 109, and 72 against NOH.
DPG...subtle...goods...are you guys trolling me by accusing me of trolling?
Regardless, West is gone so this debate is for at the end of the day
Ariza would singlehandedly lose them that series with his chucking alone. Since Brooks and Battier were traded, we've been playing ALOT better defense. The reason our D was so bad before was that Adelman would be too loyal to the veterans, Battier who lost a step, Miller who lets guys drive by him at will, just as Brooks did. Budinger has also progressed on D, and even stick man Martin as well. The team is still offense oriented, but they can play D with guys like Hayes, Patterson, Lee, Lowry, T-Will if he eve r got off the bench. Sure we can't match their size, but they can match the hustle better than NO can
I agree that the Rockets are a tougher matchup than the West-less Hornets. W/ West however, that's not the case.
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