WHY THE NBA DOESN’T PUT SOMETHING INTERESTING IN THE ALL STAR WEEKEND LIKE…KOBE VS LEBRON 1 ON 1??? OR YAO VS SHAQ??? YI VS DIRK???
WOULDN’T YOU LOVE TO WATCH THAT??? THIS WOULD BE MORE INTERESTING THAN WATCHING ROOKIE VS SOPHMORE GAME!!!

But you are right, a lot can happen with 30 games to go in the regular season. The optimist in me even believe we may end up being the number 1 seed in the west … hehe. Realistically, barring major injuries to our key players, I see the Rockets will mostly likely go up in the standing. If our guards can hold their own, this team has potential.

Back to the game analysis.

There is no doubt that Novak saved our ass and McGrady sorta redeemed himself a bit with his penetration and assist on that 3-point shot. But it bugs me greatly that Novak was not involved much earlier. Time and time again Novak tried to move his way into the paint and was called by Yao and others to step back to the 3-point line. I don’t understand why Adelman couldn’t come up with a few simple plays for Novak to unleash his long-range bombs. Good thing Adelman stuck with our 3-pointer specialist till literally the last second even though Novak was virtually ineffective for much of time he was on the court. This could be a monumental confidence boost for Novak’s NBA career, something unimaginable under JVG.

Another thing that bothers me Adelman didn’t play Scola in the 4th quarter. I guess Scola’s three quick and cheap fouls annoyed the heck of Adelman, who decided to give him a lesson.

The Rockets could match the Kings neither in defense nor in offense for the entire 4th quarter. Rafer thought he could be Jordan after a good 3rd quarter, but was dealt with a hard cold reality check. It’s disgusting to witness another gigantic 4th quarter collapse with the team in near full staff. I hope this game wake our players up.

Rants over.

Thank you again John for your blog and your diligent work. We Yao Ming/Rockets fans owe to you great deal of appreciation.

Bob, Thanks for the compliment. Yes, I agree that the Rockets should have gotten Novak more involved with some long-range bombs before that final shot. — John

I wondered why Adelman didn’t want to double Artest in the 4th quarter. Apparently Artest is too strong for T-Mac (or anyone on the team) to handle. I think it would be better if we doubled Artest hard to force him to give up the ball. And the Kings played great defense. How did they double T-Mac and Yao at the same time and still no one could get a good shot off? Why didn’t we have some plays like the Novak’s shot more often?

I WISH COACH ADELMAN PLAY AARON BROOKS MORE…ESPECIALLY IN THE 4TH QUARTER!!!

YAO + SCOLA + AB= ROCKETS NBA CHAMPIONS!!!

I think McGrady needs to do much less swaggering and sincerely put more heart and effort into playing great basketball. The latter takes humility and maturity which seems to lack at a level that enables a championship. He obviously has not learned much from the the 2 first round play-off exits. This forebodes much about the potentials of the team’s post-season endeavor. It is pretty obvious to me that at circa $20 MIL/year, he is a liability and not an asset for the team. And then there is the issue of his health or lack thereof. I think that last assist should not be given too much credit. That was to my knowledge the only contribution he made in the 4th quarter in a game in which he played mediocre throughout. Conversely, his defensive responsibility scored at will. I thought that McGrady is supposed to be the superstar and not Artest.

It doesn’t seem that there’s much attractive trade option out there for a TMac package? But what scenarios can you imagine? I acknowledge that chemistry shouldn’t be taken lightly, but McGrady is as solid as glass in so many aspects.

Nuuj, I think the Rockets will keep McGrady this season, then depending on how he and the team does in the playoffs will determine his future. If the Rockets don’t make the playoffs or they play horribly in the first round and are eliminated, then I think McGrady will be traded for a 1st-tier point guard and they will fill the shooting guard role that McGrady leaves behind with someone who is affordable. If he plays well and the Rockets advance, then I think they will keep him and the Rockets will try to get an experienced 2nd-tier point guard (but someone better than Rafer) who is affordable. — John

Thanks for the great blog!

I wouldn’t mind the Rockets getting Sam Cassell for either Mike James or a first-round draft pick. However, I think Sam wants to go to Boston or another team that’s high up in the standings. I would hope he wouldn’t mind getting nostalgic and go back to the team where he started his career. And Houston isn’t chopped liver, either. They could make a nice run with him. — John

All teams need to go through growing pains in both the reg. season and in the playoffs. We have undergone a coaching and philosophy change, so it is premature to think that we would have been contenders this year. No coach I can remember won a championship in his first year as a coach, and if there was one it was probably more fluke than practice.

For the way we started the season, I am frankly glad that we are where we are. Think, while we aren’t out of the lottery yet, we were definitely there before. At least now we have played our way into a contending spot, which will make us more attractive to FA’s this summer. It could be a LOT worse.

John, this is not correct. According to NBA playoff tiebreaker rule #3, if the playoffs were held today, the Rockets would edge out the Nuggets for the 8th seed because Houston (18-13) has better conference record than Denver (17-14).

As of now, the Warriors have advantage over the Rockets in both head-to-head and conference record.

Tiebreakers
(1) Head-to-head
(2) Division record (if the teams are in the same division)
(3) Conference record
(4) Record vs. Playoff teams, own conference
(5) Record vs. Playoff teams, other conference
(6) Net points, all games

Anyway, last night’s game exposed once again Houston’s weakness at guards in pressure situation. Adelman has to address this problem heading into the late regular season. The only viable hope seems to rest on McGrady’s revival.

Bob, I didn’t bother to go into the tie-breaker like you did since it was 2:00am when I finished my post and I had to get to bed, and there are still 30 games to play and alot can happen during that time. But technically there is a tie…that’s why they call it a “tie-breaker.” Kind of like the U.S. Open in golf if you look at the leaderboard and there is a tie at the top, the players will have the same score, but then they will designate through an asterisk or something who won the playoff round to break the tie. Thanks for describing the tie-breaker, though, since that saves me some time from doing it right now.

Yup, you’re right about exposing the weakness of the Houston’s guards. After the Rockets game, I watched the end of the Suns-Warriors game, and I wished the Rockets had a point guard who can get into the lane anytime he wants like Steve Nash can. — John