MONDAY, 1/16/06 – I have a dream that one day…the Rockets will have all their players back, make the playoffs this season, and shock the world by winning a couple of playoff series.

That dream is a stretch after seeing Houston lose 94-83 to Atlanta, a team that is now 10-26 with the worst record in the league. The Rockets aren’t too far behind with a 12-24 record.

If there was ever a game the Rockets could win without six players injured, this was going to be it. The Hawks were playing their fifth game in 7 days. They had lost four in a row. But unfortuntately, the Rockets were without T-Mac for the fourth game in a row, resulting in Houston losing its sixth straight. The Rockets are now 0-12 without T-Mac. To read more of the depressing details from the game, click here for the story.

The good news is that Yao, who has missed 13 games in a row because of the surgery he had on his big toe, may be back in action in about two weeks.

John
john@YaoMingFanClub.com

To see the boxscore from the game, click here.

Yao joins his teammates on the bench for the first time since having toe surgery a few weeks ago. With Yao cheering them on, it looked like the Rockets were going to snap their losing streak, but their shots didn’t fall in the fourth quarter, and they lost 86-80. To see more photos of Yao’s return to the Houston bench, click here. To read more about Yao’s recuperation, click here.

by John

SATURDAY, 1/14/06 – The Rockets continue to not execute down the stretch when it counts. They held a lead for most of their game against the Hornets Saturday night, but were then outscored 18-6 at the end of the fourth quarter to lose their fifth straight, 86-80, and their sixth straight at home.

Other than the Hornets beating Houston for the fourth time in a row, there is really nothing else worth reporting for this game except Yao was able to sit with his teammates now that he is cleared to wear a shoe over his big toe. Before, he couldn’t sit on the bench because the NBA dress code requires injured players to wear shoes.

As you can tell, I have decided to file very brief reports while Yao and T-Mac are out. Even I have my limits to the amount of pain I am willing to endure covering these guys.

John
john@YaoMingFanClub.com

To see the boxscore from the game, click here.

WEDNESDAY, 1/11/06 – For the second night in a row, the Rockets only had 9 players suit up in uniform. Stromile Swift missed his second straight game — he is out for about a week with conjunctivitis in his left eye (I think the Rockets have been hit by every injury possible by now). But they still had a chance to beat a team that has been struggling just about as much as themselves– the Sacramento Kings. However, the Rockets couldn’t hit shots near the end of the game — like always — and they lost their fourth in a row, 88-80.

There is really no need for me to go into the gory details. It was a pretty boring game with no superstar action to keep it interesting. The only star that made it somewhat palatable to watch was former Texas Longhorn quarterback Vince Young in attendance and being interviewed in the second quarter during the Rockets’ broadcast.

Other than that, we saw Houston make only 3-of-20 three-point attempts. Where are you, Scott Padgett? Oh yeah, I forgot…the Rockets blew up the chemistry they had last year by letting you go and trading Mike James in the off-season. On October 3rd, I wrote the following about the decision to not keep Padgett:

I know Padgett can easily be overlooked because he isn’t that flashy of a player, but he shot a team-high 39.7% from three-point territory last year. There were several games last year where Padgett was incredible from downtown to pull out victories.

With Padgett gone, (the Rockets) will need to find someone during training camp who can fill the void, or the media will soon be lameting the fact the Rockets are pitiful from long range.

With this season probably a lost cause, the Rockets must look ahead at rebuilding their roster with youth. I think we’ll see more of Luther Head and John Lucas III in the coming weeks. Juwan Howard, Dikembe Mutombo and David Wesley are probably their most tradeable healthy commodities who could help a team on the verge of making the playoffs get over the hump.

I really think the Rockets are going to need to bring in a young scorer who can be the third option behind Yao and T-Mac, and they can build from there. Especially since T-Mac‘s back can flare up at any moment. They need to bring in a scoring ‘insurance policy’ for when T-Mac cannot play. That means no more bringing in old guys like Latrell Sprewell, Van Gundy!

And if I were owner Leslie Alexander, it cannot be a good feeling to see lots of empty seats at Toyota Center. I am a mini-season ticket holder, and I’m losing money on every game I cannot attend. So I can only imagine what it’s like to be the owner of the team and see lots of empty seats, which means less concession sales, parking revenue, etc. The atmosphere at Toyota Center needs to change in a big way since it is obviously affecting Houston in the won-loss column. The Rockets have the worst home record in the league at 3-11!

So we’ll see if the Rockets (now 12-22) make any moves as they approach the halfway mark of this very long season.

John
john@YaoMingFanClub.com

To see the boxscore from the game, click here.

TUESDAY, 1/10/06 – Man, these summaries are getting hard to write, folks. I thought I was going to have a great story to write tonight, with heroic three-pointers from John Lucas III (his first NBA 3-pointer), Luther Head and Rafer Alston that either kept the game close or tied in a game that went two overtimes.

But with only 9 players active, it was going to be tough to win a game that went this long especially considering the pitiful way the refs were calling this game. By the time the game ended, Juwan Howard and Lonny Baxter had fouled out, leaving the Rockets with only 7 players. In addition, it had to be one of the worst officiated games I have seen in a long time.

Stromile Swift was held out because of a scratched eyeball. Of course, T-Mac is out because of back spasms, and Yao is still a few weeks from returning to action. If they had just one of those players in action, they probably would have won this game considering how scrappy the remaining players performed to keep them in this game. You have to give them credit for not giving up, and it’s nice to see young players like Lucas and Head show what they can do.

The key to losing this game for the Rockets is their failure to come up with rebounds, giving the Hornets many second chances after missed shots. They also failed to cover Primoz Brezec on two consecutive possessions in the second overtime, and he hit wide-open jumpers to stick daggers in Houston’s heart.

Other than that, I’m not going to go into the details of this game. It sucks losing and being 12-21. But I will give props to Juwan Howard for scoring 28 points (20 points in the first half) on 13-of-26 shooting, and grabbing 12 rebounds – although it was Howard who left Brezec open on both of those aforementioned jumpers.

David Wesley had a fine game, scoring 26 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Even Alston’s line in the boxscore looked good: 20 points and 10 assists, although he threw up some bricks late that could have given the Rockets some breathing room.

It’s good that Alston had the line he had tonight since Mike James was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week.

Can we just end this season and start over?

John
john@YaoMingFanClub.com

To see the boxscore from the game, click here.

T-Mac falls to the floor in severe pain because of back spasms Sunday night against Denver. The Rockets played fairly well without T-Mac in the second half, but couldn’t close out a win without him and lost 92-90.

by John

SUNDAY, 1/8/06 – The Rockets experienced bad luck again Sunday night, with Tracy McGrady going down in a heap on the floor right at halftime. He had back spasms and had to be taken to the hospital for tests. By looking at the pain on his face as he collapsed and how he was carried off the floor (via stretcher), it looks like he is going to be out for awhile.

The Rockets fought hard and played pretty well in the second half without him (shooting 55%), but the Denver Nuggets made plays in the last minute to beat the Rockets 92-90. With about a minute remaining, the Rockets led 88-87 but turned the ball over on a possession that could have put the game away. Earl Boykins came back and hit a three-pointer with 31.6 seconds remaining to make it 90-88, Nuggets. Stromile Swift was fouled down low and was clutch by hitting two free throws to tie the game at 90-90.

It went all for naught when Carmelo Anthony hit a fadeaway baseline jumper over David Wesley to put Denver up 92-90 with one second remaining. The Rockets tried a difficult inbounds pass to Stromile underneath the basket as the clock expired, and that was the ball game.

If T-Mac had been in the game, he probably would have been the guy who would have defended Anthony since he is seven inches taller than Wesley. Oh well.

In the second half, the Rockets had a few players step up. Swift had 13 points in the second half (5-of-11), 17 points overall. David Wesley took it to the hole strong many times and had 11 points after halftime (15 overall), and Rafer Alston finally had a good game, scoring 18 points (7-of-10) after halftime, and led all scorers with 24 points overall.

If only they had T-Mac at the end to make plays when they needed them, this game could have been won.

John
john@YaoMingFanClub.com

To see the boxscore from the game, click here.

To read the Houston Chronicle’s article about the game, click here.

FRIDAY, 1/6/05 – What else is there to say? I have said it over and over and over again this season. If there was ever any proof that the Mike James for Rafer Alston trade on October 4th was an idiotic move for the Rockets, this was it. While James was lighting up the Rockets for 30 points, eight assists and 7 rebounds, Alston scored TWO points and 7 assists in 35 minutes in a blowout loss to Toronto, 112-92.

James was also able to get payback after the game with the following facetious quote:

“I guess I’m not a point guard. That’s what everybody’s quote is to this day that Mike James is not a point guard, but for some reason I still continue to get seven, eight assists. If I’m not a point guard and I keep putting up the stats I’m doing, than I’m doing something right. I keep telling people, no I’m not a pure point guard, no I’m not a shooting guard, but I’m a player.”

Good for you, Mike. You proved how idiotic the Rockets were in trading you. Who is accountable for the Rockets for this dumb move? I want to know. Hey Mike, will you consider coming back to the Rockets after you become a free agent this season?

The only bright notes for the Rockets was T-Mac ‘s 37 points (15-of-31 shooting) and David Wesley‘s 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting. It didn’t help that Juwan Howard got upset at James for jawing at him after he was fouled, and shoved the ball in his face to get thrown out of the game. That was about as dumb of a move as the aforementioned trade.

That’s about all I can write after this game since I’m still on the road. Hopefully with my travels ending soon, I will be able to get back to my regular schedule of providing more extensive reports of Rocket games.

John
john@YaoMingFanClub.com

To see the boxscore from the game, click here.

FRIDAY, 1/6/05 – For the second consecutive game, I am not able to produce a detailed write-up of the Rockets’ game against Cleveland last night. I am still on the road traveling. However, here is my obligatory link to the Houston Chronicle story about the game. Man, I gotta catch up on these games! Right when I’m not able to watch the games, they start winning again.

1/3/06, TUESDAY – Unfortunately I wasn’t able to watch the game between the Rockets and Wizards on Tuesday night. I just went through a Travel Day from Hell. Nine hours, delayed flights, lost luggage, delayed hotel shuttle, etc. I heard it was a good game, though. It figures I would miss the game where the Rockets would break their 5-game losing streak and score their highest point total this season, winning 123-111.

Although I missed the game, I plan to watch it sometime in the near future. In the meantime, you can read about in the Houston Chronicle’s write-up by clicking here.

To see the boxscore from the game, click here.

T-Mac reacts after his possible 4-point play just misses that could have tied up their game against Golden State on Saturday night. The Rockets ended up losing 94-89.

by John

MONDAY, 1/1/06 – I am on the road this week, so I am not able to provide a full analysis for last night’s New Years’ Eve game against Golden State, nor will I be able to provide full reports for the next three road games. What I’ll mainly do is link to the Houston Chronicle’s write-up of these games. Last night’s Chronicle story about Houston’s 94-89 loss can be found by clicking here.

It’s also tough to write much about this game because it was the Rockets’ fifth loss in a row. They had plenty of chances to tie it and put it into overtime, but the game boiled down to T-Mac having three 3-point attempts in the last 20 seconds that looked like they were going to go in, but just missed.

The other big theme about this game was that it was a game of runs. Golden State would take big leads, and Houston would chip away and get back into the game, thanks to their defense. The final set of runs included Houston being down 70-55, but then they went on a 16-4 run to cut it to 74-71. However, Houston’s offense went about 6 possessions without scoring, blowing lots of chances to pull ahead.

Golden State then retaliated with a 13-3 run of their own, and with 1:30 remaining in the game, it looked like the game was over with the Warriors holding a 90-80 lead.

Then a strange thing happened that I’ve never seen before.

Warriors’ assistant coach Keith Smart was called for a technical because he had one foot on the court as he was yelling instructions to one of his players. The refs saw it and blew the whistle for the tech. Everyone thought it was no big deal because the game was essentially over because the Warriors had a 10-point lead. That’s what David Wesley must have thought because he missed the technical free throw.

That missed free throw would come back to haunt the Rockets.

Wouldn’t you know it, Houston went on to score 9 points in a row. T-Mac hit a three-pointer with 1:22 to make it 90-83, Rafer Alston hit a three with 50 seconds left, and then T-Mac ALMOST made a miraculous 4-point play when he was fouled on a three-point attempt, but was still able to get off a 3-point shot that just missed.

T-Mac proceeded to hit the 3 free throws to make it 90-89 with 18.4 seconds remaining. If Wesley had made that technical, the game would have been tied 90-90 and the worst shape the Rockets would have been in would be to foul Golden State, put them on the line, and be down 92-90.

On the ensuing Warrior possession, the Rockets did just that. They fouled Derek Fisher as he made a strong move to the basket, put him on the line, and Fisher made both free throws.

Now down 92-89 (instead of 92-90), the Rockets were forced to put up three-pointers to tie it. T-Mac’s first attempt just missed, but new Rocket addition John Lucas III got the rebound and dished to T-Mac for another attempt, which just rimmed out. Amazingly, Lucas grabbed the second rebound on the other side of the court, but unfortunately he had one foot out-of-bounds, and the game was basically over. The Rockets fouled Troy Murphy on the inbounds play, and he made both free throws to seal the victory, 94-89.

When you look at the boxscore, you see the Rockets had plenty of chances. Wesley was awful, hitting only 1-of-8 shots, missing all five of his 3-point attempts. Alston, who returned from his leg injury, was 1-of-5 from three-point land. T-Mac was only 10-of-15 from the free throw line.

On the bright side, the Rockets played very well in the paint, often scoring at will. They kept going to the hole, and Juwan Howard ended up scoring 15 points on 5-of-11 shooting. Stromile Swift had several spectacular dunks, thanks to feeds from guys like T-Mac. Swift had his second great game in a row, scoring 17 points (7-of-12 shooting) and grabbed 13 rebounds. I am so encouraged by Swift’s play recently, I went ahead and picked him up on my fantasy team.

With Yao on the injured list, it looks like the Rockets big men are adjusting and finding ways to score now that there is more room in the paint with Yao out of the mix. But the problem of going several minutes without scoring still continues to plague the Rockets. It’s encouraging that Stromile is able to help out T-Mac, but they still need to have 3 guys who can consistently score to win close games like these.

Maybe the start of a new year will purge all the bad memories from 2005 from the Rockets’ brains and give them a feeling of a new, fresh start.

John
john@YaoMingFanClub.com

To see the boxscore from the game, click here.