29 replies to this topic

[Red94]

New post: The Rockets’ Recent Struggles

[Alituro]

What baffles me about this season and maybe someone can shed some light on, is that I heard Worrell mention in one of the broadcasts that the Rockets have 23 sets of back-to-backs (most in the league) on their schedule, compared to 9 sets that the Mavericks face this season. Why such a huge discrepancy? That's over 1/4 of our games that come on the second night, and over 1/2 of our games are consumed by the pairs. Not only are our guys tired after playing a game the night before, but on the night before, they don't play with full energy in hopes of preserving themselves for the second game. Many of these we faced on this past stretch, the pairs were in two different cities, so there was travel involved too. Whoever draws up these schedules needs to be investigated... seriously, WTF?

[thejohnnygold]

Yeah, don't want to sound like sour grapes, but seems to be a bit unfair.

[rocketrick]

Just Commissioner's Stern's way of showing how much he loves the Rockets!!!!!!!!! What a shame he's retiring soon, can't come soon enough if you ask me. I don't expect Stern will be greeted very well when he arrives for the All-Star game next month. Just like how loud the boos were when Stern handed the NBA Championship trophies to our team as we won the deciding game both times here in Houston. For some unknown reason, Stern and the Rockets organization and fan base have never seen eye to eye.

[tombrokeoff]

Sounds about right for the Rockets (being on high end yet again) in terms of B2Bs but your %s are a bit off in terms of the season.

[feelingsupersonic]

As much as fans might not want to hear it I must continue beating the drum. This is a young team that is exceeding expectations and I am excited about this team now and for the future. Young teams especially will be streaky so brace yourselves for the ride.

[timetodienow1234567]

Obviously this is a young team, but then why is Lin getting limited minutes? You're paying the guy 25 mil, you might as well play him. It's not like he's regressing. He's getting better as the season goes along. His shot still isn't falling at a great clip, but other than that, he's doing fine. He's cut down on his turnovers quite a bit. (Harden hasn't. He leads the entire NBA in turnovers.) I agree with you, that this team can't compete for a chip this year and so why not play Lin/Harden/Parsons/Asik/random PF a ton of minutes together to get them flowing well so when next season rolls around they are even better? Mchale's rotations make no sense.

[PKM]

Obviously this is a young team, but then why is Lin getting limited minutes? You're paying the guy 25 mil, you might as well play him. It's not like he's regressing. He's getting better as the season goes along. His shot still isn't falling at a great clip, but other than that, he's doing fine. He's cut down on his turnovers quite a bit. (Harden hasn't. He leads the entire NBA in turnovers.) I agree with you, that this team can't compete for a chip this year and so why not play Lin/Harden/Parsons/Asik/random PF a ton of minutes together to get them flowing well so when next season rolls around they are even better? Mchale's rotations make no sense.

Because just because you're young doesn't mean that you just get playing time. That's the Sacramento model of team building.

[Alituro]

Sounds about right for the Rockets (being on high end yet again) in terms of B2Bs but your %s are a bit off in terms of the season.

Your Point?, and how so, if Worrell is right (I haven't checked him) and we face 23 sets of B2Bs, that's 46 games and 46>.5(82) and 23>.25(82)... Regardless of the maths, it is quite a lot. Would love to throw in a boo or two towards Stern myself.

[Freebird]

Looking at the schedule, here are my counts:
Houston - 21
Dallas - 16
OKC - 15
Lakers - 16
Memphis - 17
New Orleans - 17
MIami - 16

Just as a random sample, standard deviation of +/-1 (for me being dumb). I tried to look at a smatter of good teams and bad teams, to see if a pattern emerges. Thankfully, no CIA ties here, cause I saw nothing that resembled a pattern. You know, other than the Rox having 4+ more B2B games than everyone else seems to.

As for the team, I still think we're trying to find what works. Everyone's adjusting - even McHale. Much as I hate to say it, Lin is coming along, but they could be looking to upgrade at the 1. And jumping back and forth between MM and PP at the 4 seems more like a showcase than real minutes. With the deadline coming up, I think they want to see what they have, and what they could improve on.

I think we're on schedule - borderline playoff team with one super duper young player. One more move, and we could possibly get into the top 4. Just not this season.

[timetodienow1234567]

Looking at the schedule, here are my counts:
Houston - 21
Dallas - 16
OKC - 15
Lakers - 16
Memphis - 17
New Orleans - 17
MIami - 16

Just as a random sample, standard deviation of +/-1 (for me being dumb). I tried to look at a smatter of good teams and bad teams, to see if a pattern emerges. Thankfully, no CIA ties here, cause I saw nothing that resembled a pattern. You know, other than the Rox having 4+ more B2B games than everyone else seems to.

As for the team, I still think we're trying to find what works. Everyone's adjusting - even McHale. Much as I hate to say it, Lin is coming along, but they could be looking to upgrade at the 1. And jumping back and forth between MM and PP at the 4 seems more like a showcase than real minutes. With the deadline coming up, I think they want to see what they have, and what they could improve on.

I think we're on schedule - borderline playoff team with one super duper young player. One more move, and we could possibly get into the top 4. Just not this season.

Why did you ignore the Spurs schedule which has been much more brutal.

[DaDakota]

McHale sucks - end of story.

[Freebird]

Why did you ignore the Spurs schedule which has been much more brutal.

OK, San Antonio - 17.

Changes nothing. I haven't looked at everyone's schedule, and honestly, I forgot about SA.

[feelingsupersonic]

I think we're on schedule - borderline playoff team with one super duper young player. One more move, and we could possibly get into the top 4. Just not this season.

I second that. The Rockets are on schedule at the very least and maybe ahead of schedule.

[Stephen]

The schedule is even more brutal than just the raw number of back-2-backs.
Not a single one of the back-2-backs has the Rockets playing both games at home.
In 10 of the 23 sets,BOTH games are on the road.
The Rockets just finished a stretch of 4 games in 5 nights,two days off,then ANOTHER 4 games in 5 nights,with 6 of the 8 games being road games.
Overall,the Rockets have played 10 games in a 16 day stretch,all in back-2-back sets,w/8 being on the road.
For the rest of Jan the Rockets have 4 games in 6 days,w3 on the road.
If they can stagger out of Jan still within a couple of games of the 8th seed,I'd consider it nearly a miracle.

[Freebird]

The schedule is even more brutal than just the raw number of back-2-backs.
Not a single one of the back-2-backs has the Rockets playing both games at home.
In 10 of the 23 sets,BOTH games are on the road.
The Rockets just finished a stretch of 4 games in 5 nights,two days off,then ANOTHER 4 games in 5 nights,with 6 of the 8 games being road games.
Overall,the Rockets have played 10 games in a 16 day stretch,all in back-2-back sets,w/8 being on the road.
For the rest of Jan the Rockets have 4 games in 6 days,w3 on the road.
If they can stagger out of Jan still within a couple of games of the 8th seed,I'd consider it nearly a miracle.

Completlely agree here. This month has been almost sadistic for the Rox. One thing I noticed was that many of the schedules I looked at had 8-10 of the B2B games before 2013 started, and the pace slacked off afterwards. You know, like they knew the players might get tired! The Rox have no such luxury - 8 prior to 2013, and 13 after. Who thought this was a necessary thing? Why do B2B's even exist?

Maybe Stern is retiring to run a BDSM clinic? Disturbing thought...

[tombrokeoff]

Your Point?, and how so, if Worrell is right (I haven't checked him) and we face 23 sets of B2Bs, that's 46 games and 46>.5(82) and 23>.25(82)... Regardless of the maths, it is quite a lot. Would love to throw in a boo or two towards Stern myself.

my bad, bro.....you're correct.

[timetodienow1234567]

SAS has had several b2b2b. While Houston's schedule has been brutal, they're not the only ones.

[Freebird]

SAS has had several b2b2b. While Houston's schedule has been brutal, they're not the only ones.

Agreed. SAS is the only team that has played more games than the Rox. Their B2B schedule to date has been just as bad, but the Rox have more said dates in the future, with little or no recovery time.

[datruth]

Mchale and Sampson is the problem. Morris had a good game against the Bobcats, but last night his minutes was limited. Why would Mchale do that? Harden really had eight turnovers counting the 24 second clock violations. Why is he handling the ball? He leads the world in turnovers. This team was winning when he allowed Lin to handle the point. Why change that? Tony Douglass was giving us good time off the bench. Why would you change that? The leader sets the pace in whatever you do. Mchale is constantly up and down with this team.