FanPulse results: Rockets fan confidence at its highest level due to small ball

We have a trifecta of answers for you this week to our FanPulse survey, and as usual, we’ll start off with our national question. We asked our league-wide participants if the NBA should adopt full-fledged target scoring, a la the All-Star game, and the results were pretty definitive.

I naturally voted for no. I’m not even sure what the reasoning would be for changing the criteria. It was fine and dandy for a novelty contest like the All-Star game, but changing the very essence of how basketball is scored doesn’t seem like a smart idea.

The NBA already suffers from an image problem that it can be a different game than the one at the college and high school levels, and this idea is certainly not going to change things. Ask yourself how many new viewers and ticket buyers would the league receive by making this adjustment? How many would it lose?

We have two Rockets-related questions this week, and the results ended up pretty similar. First, we have our fan confidence rating:

As you can see, with the Rockets in the midst of a five-game winning, fan confidence has jumped to its highest point of the season, and the results of our follow-up question show it mostly has to do with Houston’s new philosophy.

As we’ve mentioned a few times, the Rockets are once again forcing the opposition to make adjustments to their style, thereby regaining some of the edge it appeared they lost. Still plenty of season left to play, and it remains to be seen how the Rockets counter when playoff teams are designing their game plan to overcome Houston’s advantages, but the early returns in the scoreboard, standings, and fan confidence are certainly positive.

Don’t forget to sign up here if you want to join FanPulse.