Comments on: Rockets drum Denver to win 15th straight

By: chocolate

chocolate — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 11:47:33 +0000

According to Jeff’s question. I think the main reason is Utah is the best in its division. The rule is the best of each division has to be among the top 4 of the conference. So no matter how bad Utah is. As long as it is the best in the division, it is always top 4.

In last year playoff, Utah was counted the 4th and Houston the 5th whereas Houston has better score. Although Houston did have the home court advantage because of the better score.

In my first response I provided a link to a response I gave to a similar question:

http://www.yaomingmania.com/blog/2008/02/24/223-western-standings-watch#comment-11494

…but then for some reason I erased it since I thought his question about another team. I should have stuck with my original response.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 23:07:17 +0000

why is Utah in front of Houston? they played more but won less than houston, didn’t make any sense to me, care to explain john?

That’s how standings are counted: wins take higher priority if they have played more games, so it doesn’t really mean anything until Houston has played the same number of games. Check the standings when that happens.

– John

By: Wilson

Wilson — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 22:34:14 +0000

IT’S SO GOOD TO SEE THE ROCKETS WINNING 15 STRAIGHT GAMES!!!
NOW THAT YAO IS OUT FOR THE SEASON…I STILL STRONGLY BELIEVE THE ROCKETS WILL MAKE THE PLAYOFFS AS I SAID ONE MONTH AGO, PASS THE FIRST ROUND, AND MAKE IT ALL THE WAY TO THE WESTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME!!!

I DON’T REALLY EXPECT MUCH FROM THE ROCKETS NOW THAT YAO IS OUT FOR THE SEASON…BUT NEXT YEAR, WITH YAO STRONGER AND HEALTHIER, SCOLA, LANDRY AND BROOKS NO LONGER ROOKIES…THE ROCKETS WILL WIN THE NBA CHAMPIONSHIPS NEXT SEASON AND BEYOND!!!

By: calyp

calyp — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 22:32:25 +0000

first off i do believe yao has got to learn to take his summers off - at least do nothing but sit around for two months. with that said, it is intruguing how his injuries never happened when he was playing for the chinese team during the summer - it always occured during the nba season. it does show how physically tough the nba environment is, and yao must stay away from his sorry chinese teammates to have any chance of making through all 82 games. still, i hate to say, yao is finished. he will always play tentative and be a little better than ilgauskas now. i will gladly eat my words if his averages are not worse.

By: Brian

Brian — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 21:59:21 +0000

WOW tmac has tiny legs!! what the heck?

By: D

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 21:11:54 +0000

I amazes that McGrady can play in the NBA with that sknny legs and ankles!!!

I have felt the same thing, as depicted in this photo and post from last summer:

http://www.yaomingmania.com/blog/2007/08/04/yaos-teammates-play-for-charity-in-houston

– John

By: BOBBYNYC

BOBBYNYC — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 19:57:29 +0000

Hey John,

Since Yao is opting to get the surgery, is there absolutely any chance, I mean any chance at all that Yao can return for the playoffs. Any? Since he is going to play in the Olympics anyways?

Hi Bobby, there’s no chance that he can rejoin the team during this year’s playoffs. He won’t be able to start doing rehab work until late June or July, from what I understand. — John

By: Derek

Derek — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 18:01:56 +0000

John, thanks again for the great recap, like always.

I can’t say enough about this Rockets team. I have to admit that I didn’t think they could beat Hornets on their floor, but after that game, I had no doubt that we are witnessing something special here. When Yao was out, I had doubts how we would respond. But we continued to blow out opponents. What amazed me was not the record, but how the team played. I think this is like the history replayed again. In the 92-93 and 93-94 seasons, the Rockets reached 15 consecutive wins, with a Championship in 94. This year, we will most likely break the franchise record, but probably we won’t be able to win a championship. Without Yao, we probably won’t be able to win Spurs and Lakers. But next year, I think we’ll be really special, yeah, I am thinking about the NBA finals.

By: Shawn

Shawn — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 17:40:46 +0000

I watched the game last night on ESPN, it amazes me how well they are playing! Landry is an absolute beast around the rim, he tries to drunk everything and he is hungry for rebounds and putbacks, he’s the “power” forward rockets needed to play alongside yao. Scola’s shooting and array of moves around the basket is sick, hell even alston is making his jump shots and tear drops. I’m fully convinced the rockets will make the playoffs, I’m just eager to see how the rockets match up against bigger frontlines from those western conference teams, that may dictate how far they go into the playoffs. what the hell is a stress fracture!?!? I almost went into a depression when I heard yao is out for the season, I guess “stress fracture” is caused by too much stress! I blame the Chinese National team for working him like horse every summer, I blame Adelman playing Yao so much minutes early in the season. I hope Yao’s surgery goes well! Rockets will continue to win because of Yao’s charisma and aura even if he’s not playing! john 4 prezident keep up the good work!

I’m glad you were able to watch the game last night out there from California. Great to hear your thoughts. — John

By: FaninShanghai

FaninShanghai — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 13:30:40 +0000

WHAT CANNOT BE SAID. Thanks for keeping up with the updates John. They are great for people like me (American living in China). I’ve been following the Yao medical reports and can’t help but wonder about the diagnosis. The doctors are saying that its from repeated impact/stress on the foot. I’m no doctor but when you have an injury (like Yao did last season) on one of your feet it is the other one that ends up taking up more of the burden as the injured foot is healing. We’ll Yao’s other foot got injured this year. Did he not have enough rest? Was it a freak accident or should he not have trained as much as he did with both the Houston Rockets AND the Chinese national team? If it’s the latter then that’s definitely a diagnosis that either Team China nor the NBA can afford to be said.

I’m glad my updates are helping you out over there in China. Thanks for the compliment.

I don’t think anyone will know the exact reason of what caused the stress fracture, but I do believe all sides will be more careful to allow Yao to get more rest because they don’t want this to happen again. That’s how it always seems to work in life: the status quo is maintained until events occur that make you have to change how you go about doing things. In the long run, I think all of this will extend Yao’s career since the Chinese won’t train him as hard, and the Rockets will probably play Yao less minutes (like not during garbage time) and perhaps get him a backup center who can score if it turns out there are too many mismatches with his current scoring replacements in Scola and Landry. — John