February 24, 2008

It is certainly much more fun when we are winning. The Rockets have won 11 straight games and 18 out of our last 21 games to crawl back into the playoff race. A lot of people have asked me why we are playing better now. I believe that we have gained a confidence that we did not have earlier in the year. There wasn't any motivational speech or some loud tirade that brought the players together, sometimes everything just clicks as a team and we play better. I am very proud of our team on the road as well. It is very difficult to win on the road in the NBA. Most NBA teams play with more passion and excitement because they have the support of the hometown fans behind them. Regardless of what a team's record might be, it is difficult to win on the road. We have surprised many people by winning 11 straight road games which is a record for the Houston Rockets!
 
We now have a five game homestand. It is the longest homestand that we have left on our schedule and we must take advantage of it. While we are still in 7th place in our conference, we are only 4 games behind the New Orleans Hornets for the best record in the Western Conference. That is the good news. The bad news is that we are still only 2 games from being out of the playoffs completely. We will need a firm resolve to continue to play the way we have during this winning streak. The message that our team talks about everyday is togetherness. When we play as a team, we are difficult to defeat and when we do not play as a team, we are vulnerable to getting beat by the other team. I have told the team that we must do 3 things in order t o be successful: Stay humble, stay hungry, and stay together.
 
This is a very exciting time for our team. We hope you follow this stretch run of the season and cheer as loud as you can for us!
 
Talk to you soon,
 
Shane

译文如下——

赢球的时候肯定很爽。火箭队已经连胜了11场，过去21场比赛我们赢了18场，这让秋地重新进入了季后赛门票的争夺中。许多人都问我为什么火箭越打越好。我认为我们收获了在赛季之初所缺乏的自信。不需要什么激动人心的演说和聒噪的长篇大论鼓舞士气，有时候整个团队能精准合作，我们就会打得更加出色。同时让我自豪的是球队在客场表现也相当好。NBA球队想在客场赢球很难。许多球队在主场打得更有激情，因为他们身后有球迷的呐喊支持。无论这支球队拥有怎样的纪录，想在客场赢球都很困难。我们在取得客场11连胜（应为10连胜）后让许多球迷都感到惊讶，我们创造了球队史上客场连胜最长纪录。

我们接下来拥有5个主场比赛。在本赛季的赛程表上，这是最长的一个连续主场，我们必须抓住这个机会。我们现在在西部排名第七，距离西部第一黄蜂只有4个胜场的差距。这是个好消息。坏消息是我们距离第九名只有2个胜场。我们必须下决心将连胜期间的状态保持下去。我们队内经常讨论的一个话题就是团结。当我们打出团队篮球时，我们很难被击败，反之我们就不堪一击。我告诉队友，球队想成功必须做到以下三点：保持谦卑、保持饥渴感、保持团结。

目前整支球队都很兴奋。希望你们能继续关注我们，竭尽全力为我们尖叫吧！

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肖恩