Why Houston is NOT a contender

[Im Still Ballin]

The King Cock has seemingly made Houston fans furious

Free throws in relation to context matter. The gunslinger approach does not work in the playoffs. Houston learnt that last year and they will learn it again.

[Magic731]

I thought it was common knowledge that he Rockets weren't contenders. They are simply not good enough.

[JohnFreeman]

[UK2K]

I thought it was common knowledge that he Rockets weren't contenders. They are simply not good enough.

It is to everybody but Milbuck

[Mr Exlax]

Actually you could just mention who our head coach is and that is reason enough why we aren't legitimate contenders. All that other shit is dumb anyway.

[NZStreetBaller]

Career losers?? Haha isnt everybody considered a career loser untill they win a championship?

[Im Still Ballin]

The King Cock knows best. houston are pretenders

[Sakkreth]

Career losers?? Haha isnt everybody considered a career loser untill they win a championship?

Yeah by his definition Westbrook, Durant, Curry are also career losers, therefore the only contenders are Cavs, Spurs, Mavericks.

[trabash]

Who is even saying the Roxx are contenders? If you do you have to call the Wizards and Bucks contenders too.

[KungFuJoe]

Rockets will never be contenders with Morey and McHale running things.

[kenny817]

I'm Still Ballin wit da ether facts

[oarabbus]

Houston are contenders... to make the WCF.

I'll tell you who isn't a contender tho, the Mavs. They are garbage.

[kenny817]

Houston are contenders... to make the WCF.

I'll tell you who isn't a contender tho, the Mavs. They are garbage.

Good luck against OKC

[oarabbus]

Good luck against OKC

You just came off two big losses to playoff teams and made it a close game against the Lakers

[Smook A.]

So Houston can't make playoff noise because of those 3 things you listed? Harden's struggles in the playoffs didn't come from free throw shooting. In the 2014 playoffs, Harden attempted .8 free throws less compared to his 2014 regular season average. Not much of a difference. In the 2013 playoffs it was a little different. Harden was averaging 1 MORE free throw as compared to his regular season average... so free throws aren't the problem. His terrible performances in his last couple of playoff series all came from bad shot selection. That's why his FG% was so bad. He was attempting almost TEN 3 pointers in the series against Portland. That's not good at all. I will never know why he was taking all those shots... it was just careless and stupid of him to do so. All he needs to do is play smarter in this year's playoffs. At the end of the day, he is the leader of the team and it's on him to take us far in the playoffs.

Addressing your 3rd point: Let's be real here. You're always going to be a career loser if you haven't won a championship yet. Dwight, James, and Smith are all good players. Sure Smith was absolute dog shit in Detroit, but he's been playing surprisingly well in Houston. Smith just comes off the bench and does his job. He plays excellent defense, passes the ball well, rebounds, grabs a steal or two from time to time, and gets some buckets. He's been a huge plus overall. Houston's bench in total has been actually really good. Corey Brewer is another good spark. It's amazing how well Houston has played WITHOUT Dwight. We've been having defensive problems in the paint without him, but we're still managing to win a respectable amount of games. Once he comes back, he'll fix that problem.

I feel like Houston can make a nice run in the playoffs. I don't see them as pretenders, tbh.