Rumors helped Rockets play together

Yeah that's all Howard does, he just smiles

 

Well, if it's working, there are rumors that James Harden hates sharing the ball and is looking forward to playing for L.A. someday.

 

then let it be more rumors!

what's next? james harden wants to be traded to the clipps?

 

Next rumor:

Dwight is going to make a baby with Khloe. He has planted his seed in her

 

And shows up for the playoffs.

 

I have grown to hate rumor threads

 

A rumor brought them together, or a rumor proved once again that they would always circle the wagons and defend each other when they get a lot of negative press from ESPN?

Also, the Haren video seemed to have affected Harden's defense last year.

Sure, players often respond on the court to bad press. But blatantly false rumors...Glad to hear Brewer said they basically laughed at it, as well. A group good laugh can always help.

 

I thought to myself last night that the team seemed to to project more "togetherness" out on the court than normal.


The one moment that really made me think that was when Harden went hard to the basket, got fouled and made the shot... Dwight ran up to him to help him up and give him some love.

That's something that I haven't really seen out of Dwight and Harden. Can you recall in the past any time they've really gotten pumped up off of each other? You would think the two stars would constantly be encouraging each other on the court, celebrating with each other, etc.

But I realized last night that I have never really seen Dwight and Harden really feed off of each other like that. When Dwight got pumped up at Harden making the basket, I realized that I haven't really seen that kind of camaraderie out of Dwight before.

 

Not a shocker but surprising how low his standard has fallen, he usually dates decent looking ones.

 

I second this. I was at the game, and from warm-ups to the end of the game, the team was definitely more excited and looked to be feeding off each other's success. Bench stood up and cheered multiple times on big plays, and as you said, a lot of camaraderie on the court as well. It was good to see.

 

I saw it. A lot of communication and cheering. Dwight really into the game. JTerry more involved in things. Everyone hustling.

I'm concerned that it's related to Lawson being out.

 

I guess you missed all the playoff games then.

A 0-3 start is rough. And then 4 more losses in a row in Nov. The team got down in the dumps this year, and a coach firing became part of it. But let's not forget all of last season and the year before. Howard has been here for a long time.

And yes, there are several games this year showing the same thing, including the game before that I guess you didn't see, and Nov 27th/29th off the top of my head. Don't let a cognitive bias affect your memory of Dwight.

At best, the coaching change got the team to focus more on getting back to their chemistry of last year. Not this rumor.

 

that was my first thought as well

 

There was no bias. I noticed it to myself last night when I was watching the game live, after Harden made that and 1 when Dwight went up to him and flexed and they chest-bumped.

It stuck out to me at the time and even I noticed that they seemed to be more encouraging of each other. I didn't just imagine it.

And then this story comes out today. So it's not just a coincidence.

 

This would actually be a good thing, in my opinion. Removing Ty Lawson from the equation is a simple fix.

 

We're playing better, but still not anywhere near the beasts up top. Our defense is getting better with D-mo back and Bev starting, but it's still leaky at times. Our offense still consists of Harden, fast break or jack up a 3.

If Lawson is bringing the team down to this extent, they just need to Keyshawn him or see if we can trade him for a different expiring contract. I still want to be patient because his scoring punch could help so much, but I have seen nothing to suggest that he's getting any closer to being that guy again. If anything he's been getting even more invisible.

 

I've noticed it longer. Here and there since the firing. That's all I'm saying. I'll spend some time later tonight to show more anecdotal evidence that you are showing too.

It's a cool story. But I can't see our team that had so much chemistry last year (like you are mentioning) requiring a "laughable" blatantly false rumor to be what turns us around. It's never that simple. It's just simple to use a quote like this to run with it. But we have to also consider Brewers quote which says it was never a problem.

"You just laugh," forward Corey Brewer said. "It was easy to blow it off. C'mon. Everybody knows Dwight is not unhappy. He comes in here every day smiling"

Are we that fragile-minded of a team to need a media boost? Hope not. Seems to me the big downer of a beginning and total disarray was going to eventually end, as the team chooses to get back on track and rally around each other...as before.

 

Exactly! The moment Howard ran over and they both did their versions of the TJones flex. I looked at my wife so confused bc I don't ever remember seeing them like that.

 

If Lawson's absence is the main reason why Rockets started to play some real basketball, I would feel pretty sorry for him. sure he has been struggled almost every game. I just can't image how bad a player could be, just playing 17 mins per game and turning a title contender into a lottery team. It's just like Lawson has the similar magic power as Kohle's p***y... man i just don't understand all of those struggles Rockets have this season.