The Rockets were hoping to use their five-game road trip as a springboard toward home-court advantage in the opening round of the playoffs.
Instead, they've got some ground to make up.
With back-to-back setbacks to begin their critical road swing, the Rockets have slipped to the sixth place in the ultra-tight Western Conference playoff chase heading into Thursday's showdown against the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Rockets have to return to their winning ways fast if they're going to open the playoffs at Toyota Center.
"We need to make it up somehow," Rockets point guard Rafer Alston said. "We need to get wins just to stay afloat. We have only like eight games left. They are all important."
Luckily, the gap between the Rockets and the West's top four teams is still pretty slim.
The Rockets (49-25) are 2 1/2 games behind the New Orleans Hornets and the San Antonio Spurs for the best record in the West. The Los Angeles Lakers, meanwhile, are a mere game ahead of Houston for the third spot. That's the good news.
The downside is that the Rockets have picked the wrong time to have a short skid.
Since having their remarkable 22-game winning streak come to an end, the Rockets are 3-5. They've dropped from first to sixth in the conference and have only eight games remaining to make it up.
"I chuckle at the notion that someone said the winning streak was bad for us because we expended too much energy," Rockets forward Shane Battier said. "Listen, we had to have that winning streak to get in the playoffs. At this point, throw out the semantics. It's about winning. That's all that matters."
So what has gone wrong of late?
During the winning streak, the Rockets were regularly breaking the 100-point barrier and holding opponents to 85.2 points per game.
Since then, the Rockets have had a tougher time scoring with defenses clamping down on Tracy McGrady and Houston's D has struggled against some of the league's better offensive teams.
Over the past eight games, the Rockets are allowing 100.8 points. That's not a number that the Rockets are happy about.
"It seems like we are not defending with any sense of urgency," Alston said. "The last two games, teams are just carving us up on defense. Once we start defending, then we can worry about the offense."
The Rockets are hoping to make those improvements over the final two weeks. Though home-court advantage might not mean as much as it did in the past with so many teams in the West are good, Houston would still prefer to open at home if given the choice.
"The seeding is always significant because you'd always much rather play at home than on the road," Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. "That's just a given. But in the playoffs, I don't think it matters. Whoever you play is probably going to be a team that's won on the road because they've won 50-plus games."
Blazers Update: The Blazers were one of the feel-good stories over the first half of the season. But since then, injuries and a tough schedule have caught up to Portland. The Blazers have dropped three of their last five games and All-Star guard Brandon Roy could miss the remainder of the season with a strained groin.
Next Games
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Last edited by Cornholio : 04-03-2008 at 10:08 PM.
Re: Regular Season Game 75: Houston Rockets @ Portland Trail Blazers
Rockets will win big today,or
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maestro: Richard Justice said that someone said you read the entire 40 page report that the Rockets do on every game. Is this true?
Shane_Battier: I try to prepare for my opponent as thoroughly as possible. I want to know every angle on the man I am guarding to give me an edge. I read many, many pages and go over strengths and weaknesses many times before a game. Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance. That is a motto I like.
Re: Regular Season Game 75: Houston Rockets @ Portland Trail Blazers
where is alston anyway? nowhere to be seen?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MDIZZ
yes my dad went to go get ice cream sandwiches because we all got hungry for it when we saw the brick sign and im like that looks like an ice cream sandwich more then a brick and they got hungry so now ima get me some samiches.
Regular Season Game 75: Houston Rockets @ Portland Trail Blazers
