I like this Rockets Team ...

tlifeset · Post #1 » by **tlifeset** » Fri May 15, 2009 3:29 pm

I'm a Lakers fan. My heart will always be purple and gold. But I realized it last night ... I wasn't that mad that the Lakers lost for a host of reasons ...

-This Rockets team is good. They are actually better without their so-called stars. They play better, they get to loose balls faster, they find good shots, etc. I stopped getting angry with them and just started appreciating what they were doing. It's been very impressive.

-I accepted this Lakers team for what they are. They're not the 98 Bulls, they're not the 01 Lakers. They're very good and can be great on occasion. But they're not great yet. They're certainly fallible. This is part of the growth. The team needs more vets for playoff basketball, I think we can all agree on that. But let's not blame them for not being vets.

-Ron Artest's post-game interviews. He floored me last night when he said Subway's 5-dollar foot long song should be played in clubs. I'm sorry, it doesn't get better than that ... humor, lunacy and savvy ... all coming together to form the stuff that comes out of Ron's mouth.

-Win or lose, this series was destined to go 7. We shouldn't be ashamed of it. We should embrace the opportunity to watch this Rockets team one more time. I think the Lakers are extremely likely to win this game, but I'm prepared for anything.

brassviews · Post #2 » by **brassviews** » Fri May 15, 2009 3:37 pm

tlifeset wrote:-This Rockets team is good. They are actually better without their so-called stars. They play better, they get to loose balls faster, they find good shots, etc. I stopped getting angry with them and just started appreciating what they were doing. It's been very impressive.

- No, they're not good. The way we're playing against them makes it seem like they're a good team. A scrub like Chuck Hayes is playing like a damn allstar. What a joke.........

tlifeset wrote:-I accepted this Lakers team for what they are. They're not the 98 Bulls, they're not the 01 Lakers. They're very good and can be great on occasion. But they're not great yet. They're certainly fallible. This is part of the growth. The team needs more vets for playoff basketball, I think we can all agree on that. But let's not blame them for not being vets.

- This team does need veterans and that should be a goal for this offseason. Too many young, cocky players on the team.

tlifeset wrote:-Win or lose, this series was destined to go 7. We shouldn't be ashamed of it. We should embrace the opportunity to watch this Rockets team one more time. I think the Lakers are extremely likely to win this game, but I'm prepared for anything.

Yes, we should be ashamed of it. We're going 7 games against the 2009 ALL Scrub Team. Series should have been done in 5.

Post #3 » by **TyCobb** » Fri May 15, 2009 3:50 pm

Quicker point guards just eat our defense alive. Brooks, Battier, Hayes, Scola, and Landry are no joke. Maybe Scola, but he just out hustles our bigs. Hayes and Landry are way tougher than our big men. Battier knocks down threes and plays great defense. Brooks goes Nash on us and runs around the court creating open looks for his teammates. They have been pretty much doing this without Artest as well. I'd say this team is better without T-Mac, Yao, and Mutumbo. This current team has a lot of heart and speed/quickness.

However, we are too talented and we should be crushing these guys. We just don't bring our A-game every night like a real champion is supposed too. Sometimes when we play a team that we know isn't great, we just stroll by and take them too lightly. Just be happy this is a 7 game series, which the better team almost always wins.

Post #4 » by **Kilroy** » Fri May 15, 2009 4:21 pm

I hate this Rockets team... Primarilly because they seem to get away with murder on there home court thanks to the Refs...

But last night I would have traded anybody on our team not named Kobe for just anybody on the floor not named Artest...

Hustle and heart... Are the absolute MINIMUM we should expect from our team every night and twice in the playoffs.

We've had 2 games for sure and probably 3 games this series, we can't have again this postseason if we have any hope of winning a Chip.

No way Cleveland, Orlando or Boston lets us come back from 2-3 letdown games in a series.

fareweatherfan · Post #5 » by **fareweatherfan** » Fri May 15, 2009 4:34 pm

Pretty good points OP.

I agree: Rockets are a great team to watch and root for. Rockets fans are lucky. As a fan you can only ask that your guys play hard every possession.

I disagree: I was FURIOUS with the loss last night. Every time I think we will turn the corner, we lay another egg. I am accepting this team for what they are, lazy and inconsistent. I go to games, I buy jerseys, earn your DAMN paycheck and show some DAMN effort.

I feel better now.

Kobe_for_3 · Post #6 » by **Kobe_for_3** » Fri May 15, 2009 5:05 pm

fareweatherfan wrote:Pretty good points OP.

I agree: Rockets are a great team to watch and root for. Rockets fans are lucky. As a fan you can only ask that your guys play hard every possession.

I disagree: I was FURIOUS with the loss last night. Every time I think we will turn the corner, we lay another egg. I am accepting this team for what they are, lazy and inconsistent. I go to games, I buy jerseys, earn your DAMN paycheck and show some DAMN effort.

I feel better now.

+1

I am so sick of this team attitude and non-commitment to hustle. they are what they are and that's what make it so hard for me to watch when they play with no to little effort. what can you do, the team doesnt care the coach is fine with so I guess I have to just be happy that Kwame Brown is on my friends favorite team, and not mine.

miltk · Post #7 » by **miltk** » Fri May 15, 2009 5:47 pm

I like this team too. They work HARD...they just don't have any supertars.

Sofa King · Post #8 » by **Sofa King** » Fri May 15, 2009 6:18 pm

I can't really hate this team. I respect them. I don't like the refs in this series but thats just the way it is sometimes. Definitely the Lakers have looked disappointing. But lets see how they respond in Game 7.

I don't like Ron Artest. His defense is overrated. Battier has looked like the better defender. Much respect to Battier. Artest gets on fire sometimes. Thats when the Rockets have their star.

hermes · Post #9 » by **hermes** » Fri May 15, 2009 6:25 pm

they play the right way, and with their best players down, they have all stepped up and played hard

they really are playing with nothing to lose, they are just going out there and playing their kind of basketball

supaflash · Post #10 » by **supaflash** » Fri May 15, 2009 8:36 pm

I agree, I like this Rockets team too, they play hard without attitude. And they are a GOOD TEAM. Most of them were on that 22 game streak without Yao. They've had injuries to TMac, Ron, Landry, Battier and still won 53 games. These guys are NOT scrubs at all. Phx with all its talet couldn't get 53, Utah with similar injuries couldn't. SA barely did. They were 1 win from being the #2 seed. They deserve as much credit for that last win as they can get. They hit big shots and played hard the whole night. We were husling hard int he 2nd half and couldn't overtake them, we didn't just give it to them.

I think we'll win game 7 comfortably, but it has been a pleasure to watch this team play. I remember seeing us play like that for 10 or 15 games or so, man that seems like a long time ago...

Sedale Threatt · Post #11 » by **Sedale Threatt** » Fri May 15, 2009 9:46 pm

I have nothing but respect for the Houston Rockets, especially Shane Battier. I'd take him over half the so-called superstars in the NBA any day of the week.

tlifeset · Post #12 » by **tlifeset** » Fri May 15, 2009 10:03 pm

Exactly my point, Supaflash. This isn't a team of scrubs. They won 22 games in a row. Yeah, they don't have big names. But they play incredibly well together. This team is amazingly underrated. And the dynamic of a two-headed leader of Shane Battier (groomed to be president) and Ron Artest (groomed to be in jail) is interesting.

With that said, I will be incredibly disappointed if we lose game 7. But, again, I have no shame in it going 7. Some teams are just tough match ups, and Houston is a hard match up for us right now. There's a reason the Celtics last year had trouble with Atlanta but no problem with Detroit in the Eastern Finals. Match ups mean something.

By you dismissing this Rockets team, you're no better than the Lakers players right now.

Ribalding · Post #13 » by **Ribalding** » Fri May 15, 2009 10:06 pm

OP and others:

Thanks for the class gesture in making and contributing to this thread. As a Rockets fan since their days in San Diego, I can assure you it hasn't happened before. (Especially not by Utah fans.)

One quick aside to the guy who suggested Chuck Hayes "is playing like an all-star":

He's playing like he always does. Great D, no O. It's the same thing he's done since he got in the league. His line last night was pretty typical. 30 minutes, 2 points, 5 rebounds. Not what you'd call all-star stats. On a local radio show last week, Adelman admitted he came to the Rockets eager to cut Chuck Hayes. "Why is this guy on an NBA roster?" were his words. Two weeks later, he understood Chuck's value.

btw, good luck against Denver. I'm not a Kobe fan, but I loathe the whole Denver team.

pistons_own · Post #14 » by **pistons_own** » Fri May 15, 2009 10:08 pm

but chuck hayes has good D, but bad offense

magic1fan · Post #15 » by **magic1fan** » Fri May 15, 2009 10:16 pm

you can't help but respect guys who leave it all ont he floor like these guys are.shane has always been one of my favorite players since his time at duke. the guy is the ultimate professional,i can just imagine how good we could be with him and kobe guarding the perimeter. i am not ashamed in us going 7 games with them,i am upset only because i never want the lakers to lose,but those guys get nothing but major props from me...

Ribalding · Post #16 » by **Ribalding** » Fri May 15, 2009 10:17 pm

pistons_own wrote:but chuck hayes has good D, but bad offense

See the post above yours.

The Laker Kid · Post #17 » by **The Laker Kid** » Sat May 16, 2009 12:01 am

I think we need to play with more finesse

luhbron · Post #18 » by **luhbron** » Sat May 16, 2009 12:29 am

This is a very mature thread. I didn't expect this from a Laker board. You have been a very professional bunch. I mean, I know there were some bad calls last game (Farmar foul, Kobe tech) but I appreciate you guys not saying that those calls costed you the game. You should have seen Portland fans last round whining about EVERY SINGLE QUESTIONABLE CALL in the series. Man, that was SO annoying.

Post #19 » by **dockingsched** » Sat May 16, 2009 1:01 am

Sedale Threatt wrote:I have nothing but respect for the Houston Rockets, especially Shane Battier. I'd take him over half the so-called superstars in the NBA any day of the week.

on point. shane's professionalism only added more to my confusion as to why kobe would choose him as a trash talking target. i understand the "i got bigger fish to fry" attitude towards raja bell, but shane is all class, and damn good too.

Post #20 » by **Danny Darko** » Sat May 16, 2009 1:04 am

luhbron wrote:This is a very mature thread. I didn't expect this from a Laker board. You have been a very professional bunch. I mean, I know there were some bad calls last game (Farmar foul, Kobe tech) but I appreciate you guys not saying that those calls costed you the game. You should have seen Portland fans last round whining about EVERY SINGLE QUESTIONABLE CALL in the series. Man, that was SO annoying.

I hate to say it, but I think we learned from the San Antone fans last year and how they dealt with the Fisher call. That board was very very classy.

The reality is we're talking about 7 game series now so a bad call or even a bunch isn't the reason you win or lose a series. They suck, they are irritating, and they usually happen to both teams to some degree. Much better to debate the merits of players, teams, coaching, and things that actually do decide who goes all the way.