Rockets have a 6 game win streak, yet nothing but Spurs talk.

In reply to Harry Dunne

Harry Dunne said:

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Ryan34 said:

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Rockets have a 6 game win streak, yet nothing but Spurs talk.

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Soup sandwich would rather talk about 90s Rockets journeymen than the SA dumpster fire. Can't blame him.

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I'm not bringing up the Spurs.

First 2 minutes of warriors wolves 3 ejections including draymond and Klay

In reply to The Porkchop Express

The Porkchop Express said:

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Guitarsoup said:

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Harry Dunne said:

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Ryan34 said:

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Rockets have a 6 game win streak, yet nothing but Spurs talk.

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Soup sandwich would rather talk about 90s Rockets journeymen than the SA dumpster fire. Can't blame him.

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I'm not bringing up the Spurs.

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It is literally all you do, despite the Spurs having their own thread.

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LOL, you bring them up, not me. I'm here to talk about the Rockets.

Up from 22nd to 11th in the rankings on ESPN!

11. Houston Rockets
2023-24 record: 6-3

• Previous ranking: 22
• Next games : @ LAC (Nov. 17), @ LAL (Nov. 19), @ GS (Nov. 20)

The Rockets? On a six-game winning streak? The No. 4 seed in the West? Fred VanVleet has led this shocking charge, averaging 18.2 points, 8.3 assists and only 1.5 turnovers during this stretch. Over the previous four decades, the only Houston players to amass that many points and assists with that few turnovers over a six-game span are Chris Paul and Tracy McGrady. VanVleet also has been essential to the Rockets' drastically improved defense, which ranks fifth in the league (108.6 rating) after being in the bottom four each of the past three seasons. -- MacMahon

Catching a few breaks this season. Dodged Fox, AD and Murray. Will miss Green in a few games.

Big test on Friday though. Clippers (and Fat James) really need a win and should be extremely motivated to play hard.

Sorry if this has been posted before, but I'm just now starting to read this thread after starting to catch up on the Rockets. Been a fan forever, but the last few years have been hard. But does this feel like when Billy Clyde started coaching the Aggies? Hard Defense and hustle. I feel like that's how BCG turned Aggie basketball around and this is how Coach Udoka is doing it. Add in some electric players like Green and it's fun to watch.

In reply to Phrasing

Phrasing said:

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Sorry if this has been posted before, but I'm just now starting to read this thread after starting to catch up on the Rockets. Been a fan forever, but the last few years have been hard. But does this feel like when Billy Clyde started coaching the Aggies? Hard Defense and hustle. I feel like that's how BCG turned Aggie basketball around and this is how Coach Udoka is doing it. Add in some electric players like Green and it's fun to watch.

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I actually have the same exact feeling. Both of them took over for inept coaches. Both inherited a squad that seemed incapable of playing winning basketball. Both focused on building a culture of defense. Both of them have a bit of a wild side.

Hopefully Udoka can keep building (and stay away from the sauce/ladies).

Just being able to get guys to work on defense and pass the ball is a god send for any level of basketball coach. You can never doubt the athleticsm of the Rockets' young guys, but their willigness to do the things that aren't particularly Sportscenter flashy is always going to be an issue for younger guys.
Letting VanVleet be a leader and letting Bane really be a Green/Artest kind of stopper/pest/a-hole because you have some young horses that can get out and run is exciting, especially with Sengun being so consistent in the paint.

If they can somehow convince Jabari Smith that this is still summer league and he starts balling out, we'd really have something going on here.

Thought we could do with some James Harden defensive highlights to get ready for tonight.







And the best thing ever, and LeBron's most endearing moment, when he and Durant kept not picking Harden to be on their All-Star teams.

Dillon Brooks has chosen to fully embrace his bad guy reputation, to the benefit of his new team https://t.co/TxreuQNzVe pic.twitter.com/rP3VUNvEbG

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) November 16, 2023

In reply to Iowaggie

Iowaggie said:

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Dillon Brooks has chosen to fully embrace his bad guy reputation, to the benefit of his new team https://t.co/TxreuQNzVe pic.twitter.com/rP3VUNvEbG

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) November 16, 2023

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I would say I want to see him harassing Harden, but Harden seems to be failing miserably all on his own.

In reply to The Porkchop Express

The Porkchop Express said:

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Iowaggie said:

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Dillon Brooks has chosen to fully embrace his bad guy reputation, to the benefit of his new team https://t.co/TxreuQNzVe pic.twitter.com/rP3VUNvEbG

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) November 16, 2023

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I would say I want to see him harassing Harden, but Harden seems to be failing miserably all on his own.

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Harden can always go lower

Going to sit down and watch a Rockets game tonight for the first time in probably 4 years wire to wire. But I only slept 2 hours last night, so hopeful I can make it to halftime.

Of course it was Harden

**** Harden.

Ofc we catch him on a good night.

That was a gut punch last night.

Well, at least you know Harden won't do that in the playoffs.

On Simmons podcast this week, (I think at about 1h30m) he talked about how hot the Rockets are and how Udoka has turned the team around much quicker than anyone thought would be possible. This is in context of the Rookie rankings. He says he thinks that is you are bringing in FVV, which everyone knew by draft day was a done deal, that they should have gone with Ausar instead of Amen because the Rockets could use another wing like Ausar.

I tend to disagree, and think Amen will probably be a good long-term choice there, because FVV turns 30 around All-Star weekend and the Rockets only locked him down a couple years.

FVV has shown to be an elite team-building and leader for the Rockets young players, but I think that Amen will be the long-term solution. Have FVV there for 2-4 years to install that toughness, defense and intensity and turn it over to Amen. Ideally, FVV would be a really great 6th man by then in his later years. Also, since FVV didn't become a full-time starter until he was 25, he will have a lot less miles on his joints than most guys like him and the pounding he takes will be less since he is a more normal-sized human being rather than a freak-sized guy.

So maybe Ausar would be the better shorter term (which is I think what Simmons is saying) but I don't think Simmons is looking at the longer term picture on that assessment. Everyone knew Amen was an athletic freak that would need some solid coaching to reach his potential and it looks like Udoka is doing a great job overall there.

In Simmons' preview prior to the season, he praised Udoka a lot, but said that he thought it would take until at least the AS game for the team to really buy in and gel with the pretty radical changes.

Green, Tate, Brooks, Eason and FVV are all hitting 37% or better from three, which has to be a big factor.

On 0-dribble three attempts, Green is hitting 42% and that is 17.7% of his shots. On 1 dribble, he is at 33% and 2-dribble at 25%. Last year, 16% of his total shots were 3pt attempts with 3-dribbles or more and he hit just 32% of those. That is down to about 10% of his attempts now. I know we talked about it early in the season when he had some frustrating possessions, but shot selection is everything with him and it seems like as the season progresses, the shot selection is improving and the results certainly are as well.

And since I am looking at it, Jabari's FG% and 3FG% are way up. 38% of his FG attempts are catch and shoot threes and he is at 37% on those attempts. Huge improvement. On 1-dribble threes, he is at 16.7%.

18% of his attempts are wide open and he is making an incredible 47% there.

It's Anthony Davis against the world in the first quarter. Rockets up by 8 early. Sengun and FVV balling out early.

FVV with 10 assists at the half, and Alpy with a sick no look dime seconds before the buzzer to set the score, 55-49 rockets.

AD just ripping our hearts out

Played like ASS in the third. 10 or so turnovers and the Rockets are down six heading to the fourth. 81-75

Ugh. Tied the game with 4 seconds left then LeBron got the foul on a post pass and that was that. Missed the first FT to keep things interesting, but the Lakers win 105-104. Bad couple nights in LA.

Need to bounce back against the Warriors tonight. Tough stretch here with 3 games in 4 days.

Sucks to lose both games, but good to see the guys fighting and being in it until the final buzzer. Part of the transformation is learning how to win on the road versus good teams.

We just need so much more from Jalen Green in games like these than what we're getting.

In reply to HotardRat He simply can't shoot consistently. He will occasionally get hot, but he is generally a below average shooter. He definitely takes too many jump shots given his current inefficiencies. He really needs to find a shot somewhere on the court he can make efficiently, and then build his game off of that. In the 90s he might have been a star player, but in the modern game he is a role player.

To be honest, the entire team is too inconsistent offensively except for Sengun. Our defense will keep us in games, but its always going to be a tough task to win on the road given our offensive limitations.