As you may have noticed, I’m not too enthused to blog about the Rockets’ loss to the Mavericks last night. Same story, different verse: the Mavericks went on a run the Rockets couldn’t stop, but unlike most other games, it was downhill from there, getting blown out to go 5-12 for the season.

So rather than write more about the game like I usually do, I thought I’d post some video from a piece that FSN Houston aired earlier this month about the work Yao did over the past year to come back from his reconstructive foot surgery. I’ve got to think he’ll be doing some of the same work in rehabbing after the bone bruise in his ankle heals. I’ll post part 2 in the next day or so:

The Rockets surprised a lot of their fans Sunday night, holding on by a fingernail to beat Oklahoma City, one of the most explosive teams in the NBA with an 11-5 record and 6-1 road record.

Kevin Durant missed a fallaway jumper at the buzzer that he normally makes in his sleep. Everyone in the building, including the Rockets, thought it was going to go in. Shane Battier did about as good of a job you can do defensively, getting a hand in Durant’s eyesight. But with Durant’s length and skill, it probably didn’t make a big difference. He just missed it by coming up an inch short, the ball bouncing off the front of the rim for the Rockets 99-98 victory.

Yao Ming helps cheer his team to a victory Sunday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Click here for more photos from the game.

This was after Houston blew another lead — 9 points with 4 1/2 minutes remaining, and blowing a couple of double-digit leads earlier in the game that Oklahoma City chewed up like a tornado in a mobile home park.

All of this drama could have been avoided, though, if the Rockets’ offense didn’t turn into the Houston offenses of the past we had all grown to hate: have one guy (Kyle Lowry) dribble the shot clock down to about 7 seconds, then have him try to figure something out under duress, or jacking up a low-percentage shot.

Similarly, with 1:06 remaining, Battier had the ball in the corner with the shot clock winding down, and luckily made a difficult runner along the baseline to make it 99-93. Even Battier said after the game, “I think it was the first floater that I hit all year.” THAT is what this offense has come down to in crunch time?

After OKC’s Jeff Green hit a 3-pointer to make it 99-96 with 1 minute remaining, the best play the Rockets could come up with was for lightning to strike in the same place again: another floater from Battier that missed.

Russell Westbrook hit a jumper with 29 seconds remaining to make it 99-98. That’s when many Rocket fans just about blew a gasket as they watched Lowry just stand in one spot and dribble the ball until about 7 seconds remained on the clock, then put up a tough fallaway jumper in the lane that missed.

It amazes me that an offense and a system that depends so much on ball movement and finding an open man reverts to plays from the Charles Barkley or Steve Francis era that relies on just one guy to make something happen. And they’re doing it with Kyle Lowry, who is only shooting 36.8% from the field!

We all know the Rockets don’t have a go-to guy with Yao and Aaron Brooks out, so why depend on a play where you’re going to have a contested shot by a player who doesn’t shoot that well. The Rockets are one of the league leaders in assists (5th overall), but when they badly need a bucket, they try to be something they aren’t — running isolations and trying to score off the dribble.

On the other hand, the Thunder have so many weapons (Durant, Russell Westbrook, Green, Serge Ibaka) that strike fear in your heart, it makes you think there is no way you can win even before you step out on the court. Especially after OKC had won their last 5 games, are 8-0 in games decided by 7 points or less, and 3-0 in games decided by one point. So you have to give the Rockets credit for what they did Sunday night, especially holding Durant to 10 points below his average of 28 ppg.

I don’t think the Rockets are a bad team. They have had a chance to win in almost all of their games. They just haven’t had enough to prevent big scoring runs by their opponents, or to make plays down the stretch.

Statistically, the main advantage for the Rockets against the Thunder was rebounding (44-36), assists (26-19), and 3-point shooting (10-of-17 compared to OKC’s 5-of-12). Battier led the way from behind the arc by hitting 4-of-6 treys. I have said it for a couple of seasons now and it still rings true: when Battier scores, the Rockets win most of the time.

One of the silver linings of the Rockets’ struggles this season with Yao Ming out is that Rick Adelman has made a commitment to see what his young guys can do to step up, and so far it’s working well with Jordan Hill, who had another solid game with 12 points and 5-of-10 shooting. He also had 7 boards, bringing energy and hustle to the front line that Adelman said after the game is the only guy who aggressively goes after the ball and gets it.

Jordan Hill continues to improve and has become an important part of the Rockets’ rotation lately.

It has been interesting to see Luis Scola get relegated to the bench in the 4th quarter the past two games. Hill played 9 minutes in the fourth, and it probably would have been more if he hadn’t sprained his ankle landing wrong after goaltending a shot.

Scola has been struggling lately, making only 5-of-14 shots Sunday night, and only averaging 12 ppg and making 9-of-25 shots in his last two games, and only hitting 14-of-28 (50%) of his free throws the past 5 games. But we all know Scola will bounce back. He’s just too good. Meanwhile, Hill continues to thrive, whereas his former Arizona teammate Chase Budinger continues to struggle, hitting only 1-of-4 shots (a 3-pointer) in 12 minutes. Earlier this year, everyone was thinking it would be the opposite: Budinger becoming the star and Hill trying to find playing time. If Budinger continues to struggle, we might even see Jermaine Taylor get some playing time. Imagine that!

The Rockets play the Mavericks in Dallas Monday night on a back-to-back. The Mavericks are one of the hottest teams in the league (12-4), and Houston is only 2-7 on the road this season. Without a friendly home crowd to help them get over the hump, I will be surprised if the Rockets make a game of it given how much energy they had to expend defending the Thunder and slowing down Durant.

I hate to say it, but by the time Yao Ming and Aaron Brooks get back in a couple of weeks, the season will be lost, if it isn’t already. You can write off any chance of seeing the Rockets make the playoffs this season, especially after seeing what we saw in Charlotte Friday night where the Rockets blew another lead to lose 99-89 and drop to 4-11. I see nothing that tells me the Rockets are going to improve dramatically before Yao and Brooks return.

One of the few bright spots Friday night was Jordan Hill, who scored 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting, although he would make a young player mistake down the stretch that cost them.

To win 48 games, which is about the minimum of what you might need to make the playoffs in the West, the Rockets will need to go 44-23 the rest of the way (a 66% winning rate). That’s just about impossible given the Rockets will probably play another 5-10 games before Yao and Brooks return to action. I haven’t seen a season over so soon for a team that was expected to be so good.

Note: I’m not saying the Rockets are a terrible team. They just aren’t very capable of winning games in the fourth quarter when most games are won. Not without Yao and Brooks. Injuries are a cruel reality in the NBA.

So now the season comes down to seeing how the Rockets’ young guys will progress so they can determine which guys they will trade and/or won’t sign next off-season. And to see how Yao’s foot holds up to see if they will sign him in the off-season, but probably at a much lower salary.

Since the Rockets don’t have a go-to guy, and their offense got stagnant again Friday night again when the pressure was on. The only thing they could resort to doing was jacking up 3-pointers. And they’re not very good at that, either. The Rockets shot a season-high 28 treys, hitting only 3-of-15 in the second half. Yet they kept jacking them up. That’s not basketball. That’s a last ditch effort to try to score when you have nothing else.

Below are more details on how the Rockets imploded down the stretch…again. Keep in mind that Charlotte is NOT a great close-out team. They are like Houston when it comes to close games, having only a 2-6 record in games decided by 4 points or less.

– 6:42 – Jordan Hill makes a great spin move for a dunk, and the Rockets are down only 82-78.

– 5:50 – Chase Budinger drives baseline for a reverse layup with 5:50 remaining to make it 84-80.

– 5:28 – Budinger misses a 3-pointer that could have brought the Rockets to within one.

– 5:00 – To his credit, Budinger makes a good play when he races up the court and Kyle Lowry throws him a long pass. Bud catches it, goes up for a dunk, and is fouled hard by Gerald Wallace. Bud sinks the free throws to make it 84-82.

– 4:46 – Somehow Houston’s defense lets Boris Diaw get wide open for a long jumper, which he hits to make it 86-82, Charlotte.

– 4:22 – Budinger has a chance to respond with a 3-pointer, but he misses it.

– 4:09 – Stephen Jackson takes Courtney Lee off the dribble, drives to the basket and lays it in. 88-82 Charlotte.

– 3:40 – Shane Battier misses a three-pointer, but fortunately Budinger gets the rebound. That’s when Jordan Hill lightly pushes Tyrus Thomas with his left arm trying to post-up, and Thomas flops to draw a foul call. A bad ticky-tack call by the ref , but Hill shouldn’t have even been tempted to use his arm like that, either. Stupid mistake. It would have been nice to have had a veteran big guy on the floor at that time, like Luis Scola or Brad Miller. Go figure.

– 3:23 – On the ensuing possession, somehow Diaw (6′ 8″, 235 lbs) gets a mismatch on Kevin Martin (6′ 7″, 185 lbs), and Diaw takes advantage of it by scoring easily on a baseline jump hook. 90-82 Charlotte.

– 2:56 – Battier misses another 3-pointer, then after an offensive rebound, blows a layup a few seconds later. Diaw grabs the rebound, loses control of the ball and falls backwards on the floor and lands on the end line right in front of the ref (Mike Callahan), but Callahan blows the call, lets play continue and a few seconds later Stephen Jackson nails a 3-pointer to make it 93-82. That’s the ball game.

So from 4:46 to 2:56 (less than 2 minutes), Charlotte went on a 9-0 run mainly because of bad Houston defense and of course, missed shots from Battier and Budinger. Same old story — no one can step up to hit shots in the crunch.

Overall, comparing the teams’ stats, every category was just about even for the Rockets except for a few:

– 33 field goals compared to Charlotte’s 39,
– 42% from the field vs. 46% for the Bobcats
– 14-of-23 from the free throw line (61%) vs. 75% for Charlotte

So it really came down to a couple of players’ individual stats to see who dragged them down from a shooting perspective.

Battier was awful, hitting only 1-of-9 shots and 0-for-6 from three-point land for 2 points overall. And he’s only 28% from 3-point land this season. How come Adelman doesn’t pay attention to percentages like these in late-game situations? My rule-of-thumb for Battier continues to ring true: When he doesn’t score, the Rockets lose.

Kevin Martin was only 6-of-17 for 16 points. He usually makes it up at the free throw line, but only had two attempts and sank one. Granted, he only played 31 minutes. You’d expect more, though. Why Adelman played his backup, Budinger, 28 1/2 minutes is beyond me. I thought Martin was supposed to be the Rockets’ go-to guy? To give Budinger so many minutes when he’s been struggling is perplexing. Same for Luis Scola, who only played about 30 minutes and scored 11 points, although Scola had a terrible night at the line: only 3-of-8. That’s just as bad as his 8-for-15 against Golden State Wednesday night. I think one thing that’s clear is that Adelman must not like what he sees on defense from Martin and Scola. Well, he didn’t get much of an improvement down the stretch, as described above.

Adelman finally put in Jermaine Taylor after the game was out-of-hand, and he came in and drilled a very pure 3-pointer that hit nothing but net. Do I have to say it any more? PLAY J.T. MORE!

If the Rockets are going to lose, let us at least see what Taylor can do with more significant minutes, and let’s see if he can do what Von Wafer did for the Rockets a few years ago. We could at least use some excitement until Brooks & Yao return…and before next year’s draft.

Another problem with the Rockets is that they have no on-court leader. I can see how Battier is a good leader in the locker room, but they need someone with an edge on the court who gets pissed, and gets in teammates’ faces on the bench. I’ve always liked Stephen Jackson because of that edge he brings to a team, but apparently Houston wants a team of good guys and choir boys who don’t rock the boat.

I think in order to succeed at the NBA level, every team needs at least one guy who can be a catalyst to fire up others and has the mental fortitude to withstand the pressure of a road crowd screaming at them, and still hit big shots. Remember Vernon Maxwell, Charles Barkley, and Ron Artest, just to name a few?

Man, I’m envious of teams that have young guns who are killing it this year, like second-year guy Russell Westbrook who scored 43 points Friday night against Indiana. The only way the Rockets are going to get someone like that is through the draft since they haven’t been able to sign mentally tough guys as free agents. You saw what they did with Wafer when he acted up against Adelman. They cut him.

Looking ahead, Daryl Morey said last week in a radio interview that it’s almost impossible to trade anyone until mid-December since every team is still in the process of assessing what they have on their rosters and what they need. And any team that’s doing well right now that has great players probably doesn’t want to get rid of them. So they will probably be stuck with doing deals with bottom dwellers like the Clippers, Timberwolves, Philadelphia, New Jersey, their lifelong trade buddies in Sacramento, etc.

Random thoughts:

– As down as the Rockets are with Yao’s injuries the past couple of seasons, I guess it could be worse. Think Portland and Greg Oden.

– I must admit when the Rockets were beaming about acquiring Courtney Lee in the off-season and said they had been pursuing him for a couple of years, I didn’t really get it. To me, he was most known for that blown layup with Orlando in the Finals against the Lakers that could have given the Magic more of a chance in that series. Unfair or not, maybe I’m too simple in that I like my acquisitions to be proven commodities. I know veterans are more expensive, and that the Rockets have been handcuffed with big salaries. But after unloading the Tracy McGrady contract, I was hoping for more at the backup two spot. At least they went out and got Brad Miller at the backup 5 spot, and Miller has proven to be worth his value. I have been impressed with Lee’s athleticism, but I was hoping he was going to turnout to be like another backup shooting guard the Rockets quietly acquired about 15 years ago who no one else knew about to win a couple of championships: Mario Elie. Even their names sounded alike.

– One of the few people in the NBA who probably felt worse than the Rockets Friday night was ex-Rocket John Lucas III, who was signed earlier in the day as a free agent by Chicago because of Derrick Rose‘s neck injury. Lucas missed 2 free throws that could have given the Bulls a 3-point lead with seconds remaining in the game. Instead, the Bulls lost the game on the next possession when Carmelo Anthony hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to win it. Poor Lucas. He got his chance to get back into the NBA after being relegated to playing for Yao’s Shanghai Sharks last season, had a great year in China, gets back to the NBA yesterday, and within a few minutes of playing time loses the game for his new team. If he had hit those free throws, chances were higher he could have stuck around in the NBA upon Rose’s return. Now it will be a tougher climb for him. I’m pulling for him, though.

– I can tell you the main Web site I’ll be watching over the next few months is this one: NBADraft.net. I can’t wait to see what kind of franchise player we can get. Perry Jones at Baylor looks good (small forward). I don’t think the Rockets need another point guard like the site lists on their projected Rockets pick — their biggest weakness is center and small forward since I don’t anticipate Battier will get a new contract, at least not one that pays him $7 million per year.

A little home cooking and some friendly fans helped the Rockets break their 4-game losing streak Wednesday night, beating Golden State 111-101.

Golden State has an awesome crowd which really gives their young team a lot of momentum when they get on a roll. But obviously they didn’t have that Wednesday night in Houston. They also didn’t have David Lee, who has missed the last 7 games, with Golden State losing 6 of them. Now the Warriors have an idea of what Houston has had to go through with Yao Ming being out.

Speaking of Yao, he was on the sidelines in street clothes again, but this time without his walking boot. So things are progressing with him. The earliest we can expect him back is early December, but it will probably be longer than that.

Yao Ming gives Chase Budinger some strategic advice during a timeout against the Warriors. Click here for more photos from the game.

The Warriors encountered early foul trouble when their bigs (Dan Gadzuric and Andris Biedrins) were forced to the bench, and that helped Houston get an early lead. But Golden State kept fighting back, going on runs to chop big leads down to stay within striking distance.

This time, though, Houston didn’t lose a lead in the 4th quarter like they have done so many times this season. They almost did when Golden State cut Houston’s lead to 88-86, but the Rockets responded with an 11-0 run to put the game away.

When you look at the stats, it’s amazing some of the disparities you’ll see. Houston made 11 less field goals (42-31), had 3x less steals (10-3), had about 1/3rd more turnovers (15-11), had 3x less fast break points (25-8), and had 2x less points in the paint (60-30). So how in the world could Houston win this game with stats like those?

It really came down to free throws, shooting 33 more free throws (51-18) and making 27 more of them (39-12). And they hit twice as many 3-pointers (10-5) on about the same number of attempts (20-19) for a 50% success rate. This is about the polar opposite of the same stat categories in the Phoenix loss where Houston had 20 less free throws (30-12) and hit only 23% of their treys.

Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry, who had torched the Rockets in the second game of the season, didn’t kill them this time around, scoring 18 and 21 points, respectively, on a combined 15-of-40 from the field and 8-of-11 from the line. Their 39 points collectively was less than the 46 that Ellis had put up on his own against Houston in their first game.

Meanwhile, Houston’s Kevin Martin continues to be a foul-collecting and free throw shooting machine, hitting 14-of-15 free throws while only making 4-of-12 field goals to score a team-high 25 points. Scoring 25 points on 4 field goals? Incredible.

Speaking of lots of free throws, Chuck Hayes was a machine himself hitting 8-of-8 free throws and 4-of-5 field goals for 16 points. He also had 7 boards and 5 assists. Luis Scola was his consistent self, hitting 8-of-15 field goals for 24 points, although he had the same stat at the free throw line: 8-of-15. Not that great.

And I’ve always said when Shane Battier has a good game offensively, Houston’s chances go up significantly to win. Shane delivered with 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field.

The man who really made the most difference, though, was Kyle Lowry, who is getting back to the Lowry we all know and love by scoring 14 points (4-of-8 shooting), grabbing 7 boards, and doling out 10 assists. His plus-minus when he was on the floor was +20, the highest on the team. He’s beginning to earn his $5 million a year contract he just signed in the off season.

Houston’s bench with Chase Budinger and Courtney Lee has been doing better lately, scoring 9 points each Wednesday night. But it was their 3-pointers that really got the crowd going, with Bud hitting 2-of-4 that hopefully bust his slump, and Lee hitting 2-of-2 from behind the arc. Brad Miller and Jordan Hill hardly played, but it was interesting to hear Rick Adelman say that he really likes playing those guys together since Miller really helps Hill on offense, and Hill helps Miller in rebounding.

For Jeremy Lin fans, Lin got some decent playing time and actually showed some good moves on his way to 8 points in 13 minutes.

Random thought:

– Since I have NBA League Pass, I’ve been watching more of the alternate broadcast (road team coverage) of the Rocket games. Instead of listening to Bill Worrell and Clyde Drexler, I thought I’d mix it up a bit Wednesday night. I have to say the Golden State announcers blows Houston’s away. Worrell and Drexler are just too “light” on in-depth aspects of the game, talking way too much about esoteric fluff that doesn’t have anything to do with the game you’re watching. And they made a huge mistake by saying Jeremy Lin was the first “Chinese-American” player in the NBA, that he played in Yao Ming’s charity game in Shanghai, and continuing to talk about “Chinese” basketball talent. Uh, guys, he’s a TAIWANESE-American, and he played in Yao’s TAIPEI game (there wasn’t even a game in Shanghai, only in Beijing and Taipei). Not that they would even know where Taipei is, so to make it more explicit, Taipei is n TAIWAN. It’s really embarrassing to have announcers like this make such errors showing their ignorance of the world outside the American borders.

In case you missed it in the forum, after practice a couple of days ago where Yao Ming went through simple rehab and shooting exercises, he and his teammates held a party at Toyota Center for more than 100 children from military families to celebrate Thanksgiving.

Here are photos of Yao in action at the meal. Click here for more photos from the event that Raymond has posted in the forum.

Coming into Toyota Center, the Phoenix Suns had lost their last two games by 18 and 16 points without Steve Nash. What happened in Houston with Nash? They spanked the Rockets 123-116. Struggling teams should play Houston for all that ails them.

It’s just Houston’s luck that Nash overcame his ‘doubtful’ status for the game to lead his team to a victory with 24 points and 9 assists. The Rockets needed a break and play against a team with their superstars out, like Houston with Yao Ming & Aaron Brooks.

Yao Ming and Aaron Brooks returned to Toyota Center in street clothes. Their moral support from the bench still wasn’t enough to overcome the Suns, though.

The Suns’ starting center, Robin Lopez, was out with a sprained left knee, so Houston was equal on the “center-being-out” front. If Nash had stayed out, they probably would have won. That’s what we’ve come to: hoping opposing teams’ superstars don’t play.

Things are looking really bad for Houston when you compare them to other bad teams around the league. Last night the 1-13 Clippers beat the 11-1 New Orleans’ Hornets in a very close game. Even the CLIPPERS can find a way to beat really good teams, and they did it after making multiple mistakes in the game’s final two minutes (two blown layups, a turnover resulting in a fast break basket for New Orleans). But they still overcame. Houston can’t.

And did you see Sunday night how Rudy Gay hit a huge bucket as time expired over LeBron James to give the Grizzlies’ a win over Miami? Wow, that kind of player who can create his own shot would really be useful right now (sorry Shane). Looking at Gays’ stats this season, it makes Rocket fans wonder what could have been, although his $13.6 million salary compared to Battier’s $7 million is something I don’t think Houston, nor any team, would have paid.

The Rockets game up 123 points on 54% shooting is atrocious and you’re not going to win many games with those kinds of stats. And Houston fouled Phoenix twice as many times (26 to 14) and was outshot on the free throw line 32-12! Houston also went 0-for-12 on 3-pointers in the first half, which killed them. Hitting 6-of-14 treys in the second half to finish 23% from 3-point land still wasn’t good enough, especially given that Phoenix hit 7-of-13 for 54%.

But there were some bright spots if you look at the stats. When you’re losing, I guess looking at the stats is the only other solace you can get. You know that saying: “Stats is for losers.”

– The Rockets killed the Suns on the boards, 51-33. That gave them 7 more field goals (49) than Phoenix, and Houston had 31 assists leading to those 49 field goals. They also dominated Phoenix in the paint (62 points to 42).

– The bench responded after being told by Coach Rick Adelman they need to step up, outscoring the Suns 50-28. Jordan Hill had a season-high 14 points on 7-of-8 shooting and 10 rebounds, and Courtney Lee scored 16 points on 7-of-14 shots. Chase Budinger finally hit some shots after going 0-for-6 in Toronto, hitting 3-of-8 shots, although he missed all 4 of his 3-pointers.

I do have to give credit to Adelman for saying he’s going to play the young guys more, after the game stating the following:

“I said before the game I decided I was going to try to play the bench more tonight and give them more opportunities. We’ve got to build something throughout the year. Our young guys have to start getting better and the only way they’re going to do that is if we play them.”

That’s something Jeff Van Gundy didn’t do much of, and I think it eventually cost him his job not cultivating his younger players. So at least there some progress on giving the young guns a chance. The only problem is that Adelman didn’t play Jermaine Taylor at all Monday night. That needs to happen, even if it comes at the expense of less minutes for Budinger.

The Rockets’ slide to the lottery continued Friday night, losing to the 3-8 Raptors 106-96. Houston now has the 3rd worst record in the league, behind the Clippers’ 1-12 and just barely under Philadelphia at 3-10. Sure, the Rockets have had a brutal road schedule to start the season, but if there ever was going to be a game that’s winnable, this one was it.

Toronto’s Andrea Bargnani had an easy time getting to the hoop without Yao in the middle to guard the paint (and Luis Scola losing track of him to let him take it to the rack without any problem).

It didn’t help that earlier in the day, the Rockets were dealt a psychological blow when they learned that Yao Ming will be out an additional two weeks because of a bone bruise that was found in his left ankle. I will have a more in-depth blog post about that in the next day or two. In the meantime, I’ll focus on Friday’s game.

Statistically, the Rockets outplayed the Raptors in many areas. They hit four more 3-pointers and had a higher 3-point shooting percentage (40% vs. 36.4%). They hit 91% of their free throws (20-of-22) while Toronto only shot 66.7%. They had 4 more assists (26 vs. 22), and had three more blocks (6-3),

The main problem was rebounding (37 vs. 44), giving the Raptors 7 more field goals and points in the paint (36 to 44). And through a statistical rarity, the Raptors shot no free throws in the first half, but shot 30 in the second half! 30! Obviously some adjustments were made at halftime, either in the Toronto locker room to be more aggressive, in the referee’s dressing room after the refs reviewed some videotape, or a little bit of both. The Rockets only shot 16 free throws in the second half.

And most importantly, the Rockets didn’t have anyone who stepped up late to hit big shots down the stretch. Kevin Martin statistically was great: 31 points on 8-of-16 shots and 4-of-7 from 3-point land, and hitting 11-of-11 free throws. The problem is that he, nor anyone else, made the big play when it counted: late in the 4th quarter after drawing close to the Raptors after Toronto had gone on a 15-5 run starting with 10:48 remaining and the game tied at 76.

Andrea Bargnani showed how great of a player he is, scoring 26 points on 11-of-17 shooting. He’s almost Dirk-like, and his #1 draft pick designation a few years ago is looking like it’s paying off. He can shoot from the outside and drive to the hoop with ease (especially against the Rockets’ porous defense). I think when Bargnani took it strong to the hole like he did at least a couple of times, someone needed to step in and take a charge or foul him very hard to make him think twice about doing it again. That didn’t happen.

The Rockets’ starters were okay, scoring 85 points. But when none of them step up to make plays in a tight game late, and the bench doesn’t come through, either, you’re going to have problems. Toronto’s bench outscored Houston’s 46-11. That’s pretty bad, but if you look at the stats, Toronto only got 6 points out of two starters (Jarrett Jack and Reggie Evans), and their bench played about 1/3rd more minutes (96 vs. 60). But still, for as hyped as the Rockets’ bench was before the season, that’s not good enough.

We have to remember that Kyle Lowry and Brad Miller have been forced to become starters because of injuries to Yao and Aaron Brooks, so that’s a huge blow to the backup brigade. But clearly Chase Budinger, Courtney Lee and Jordan Hill haven’t lived up to expectations. And for some reason, Rick Adelman decided not to play Jermaine Taylor after a good performance against Oklahoma City (8 points). Go figure.

I think I have come to realize what could be another source of the Rockets’ problems (they have many) these days. I’ll tell you in a second after setting the table here.

After the game, I think Shane Battier said it best:

“We’re loose with execution. We’re taking tough shots under duress. We don’t have a lot of guys who can break somebody down and get a good quality shot with the shot clock running down. To score, we have to run good offense. We have to have our spacing and maintain our responsibilities. When we don’t, it shows.”

If this is the case, then I see the problem as being good COACHING to run “good offense.” This has been the rap with Adelman in the past: giving his players too much free reign, and letting them freelance too much in late-game situations. Not that I want a JVG-type coach who is calling plays on every possession (seemingly). But I also don’t want a coach who just rolls the balls out (Rudy T?)

Rick Adelman had this to say after the game:

“We put people in the game; they have to step up and play. Everybody is in the NBA now so we can’t go in there and not be ready. If we can’t score or defend, then we have to rebound the ball. You have to do something to help the team win and that’s what we all have to look at from the coaches to the players. What can you do to help this team win?”

I think this is a little too vague. Adelman says that no one is “stepping up.” I can understand if that means they aren’t making open jumpers. But if it means having a player, like Battier said, who can “break somebody down and get a good quality shot,” well, if they don’t have that, then they have to go to the alternative: “running good offense.” That’s on the coach. If players aren’t following his instructions, then he needs to give more time to players who will.

Up until this time, I thought the problem was the injuries to Yao and Brooks. That’s a big part of it. But if you don’t have your top guys, then at least run plays that don’t expose the Rockets’ weakness to break anyone down or puts them in a position to put shots up under ‘duress.’ Is Adelman being exposed here?

Honestly, I think the players may have tuned him out. You don’t ever hear them talk about how he’s a great coach and they believe in the ‘system.’ I think Adelman has relied too much in Houston on the players to make plays. In Sacramento, it seemed like he had this great offensive system that was unstoppable. But he also had great players: Webber, Peja, Bibby, Vlade, Miller, Doug Christie, Bobby Jackson (am I missing anyone?).

I think the players could benefit getting motivated by a coach who can get them to play with more aggressiveness (offensively or defensively), and Adelman isn’t that kind of guy. I really like him as a person. Class guy. But I just don’t see the fire like you see from a Scott Brooks (Oklahoma City), or the constant strategic thinking during the game. I was really impressed with Chicago’s Tom Thibodeau when the Rockets played the Bulls last week. We all knew he would be a good head coach when he was in Houston, and it looks like that’s turning out to be the case.

I can understand that coaching alone can’t get you to the playoffs — you need guys who can win games based on their talent. But I would expect that good coaching can help you win 30-40% of your games if given a good roster of players like Houston supposedly has. Right now the Rockets have only won 25% of their games (3-9). So I think there has to be more scrutiny on the head coach because up until this time, there hasn’t been any. What do you think?

Random thoughts:

– Brooks should get a lot more respect from his haters when he comes back. The Rockets have obviously missed him. But they were losing close games with him in the lineup as well, so I’m not sure if he alone will fix their late-game execution problems.

– Maybe this year will be the Rockets’ “Tim Duncan year” like the Spurs had when they were a good team on paper, but had a terrible record mainly because their big man David Robinson was out most (or all) of the year because of injury. After drafting Duncan #1, they roared back and built a dynasty. At this rate, there’s a high probability the Rockets will get a great lottery pick. I sure hope the draft is strong next year. I’ll be paying more attention to college basketball this season because of the Rockets’ woes.

It was an ugly game Wednesday night in Oklahoma City. The Rockets lost 116-99, dropped to 3-8, and are looking overwhelmed and helpless without Yao, Aaron Brooks, and Chase Budinger in the lineup. Combine that against an athletically superior team like the Thunder, and with all the travel the Rockets have have had to do lately, and they look like a tired, worn-out team.

They have played 5 of their last 6 games on the road. Coach Rick Adelman brought up a good point on Wednesday:

“How do you go from a three-game Eastern trip, fly all the way back from New York, get in at 4 o’clock in the morning, play the next night at home, fly out after the game and come here? Now you got to go to Toronto.

“It does take a toll on you. I’m just facing the facts. It didn’t even seem like we were at home to me. I’m not going to say it to the players, but that’s how I felt.”

At halftime the Rockets were scoring fine, having shot 59% and racking up 53 points, which is their average as the #4 scoring team in the league. But the problem was that they gave up 65 points! Houston had 9 less offensive rebounds (11-2) in the first half and had 10 more turnovers (13-3). That’s not going to get it done.

I could go on-and-on about the problems with this team, but there are plenty of other forums online about that. I will take some pride, though, when I implored the Rockets in yesterday’s blog post to play Jermaine Taylor, and to my surprise, they did! And it wasn’t just garbage time. It was in the second quarter when Taylor saw his first action it quite some time, and he did pretty well, finishing with 8 points.

Taylor didn’t get the ball many times in the 2nd quarter. He was kind of like the new kid in school among his teammates, not getting many passes thrown his way. But when he did , he took it strong to the hole a couple of times and scored on impressive moves. He turned it over on another possession dribbling into traffic, and missed a 3-pointer. On the defensive end, he blocked Serge Ibaka impressively on a put-back attempt near the rim.

But the Rockets were so overmatched in the third quarter by Kevin Durant (24 points) and Russell Westbrook (21), they really had no chance as they ran out of gas, and OKC cruised to their biggest margin of victory this season. The silver lining is that maybe Taylor will get more playing time after doing well and proving me right.

The only thing that can give solace to the Rockets is that injuries occur to every team, so the ground they have given up to other teams at the beginning of this season could be made up as their competitors get hit by the injury bug themselves. Not a great strategy, but it is a reality.

After winning two of their last 3 games and righting the ship somewhat, on Tuesday the Rockets went back to their old ways and blew another 4th quarter lead.

Holding an 8-point advantage at the start of the 4th quarter after scoring the last 10 points of the 3rd, the Rockets were victimized by Chicago’s Derrick Rose, who scored 16 points in the 4th quarter and keyed the Bulls to 18 unanswered points in that final period, sinking the Rockets to a 3-7 record. During that critical 4th quarter stretch, the Rockets had 8 turnovers in a little over 9 minutes. In other words, they fell apart…again.

Although Kevin Martin has stepped up in most games this season, there’s not much margin for error if he doesn’t do it with Yao Ming, Aaron Brooks and Chase Budinger out with ankle sprains. Martin had a rare off-night, hitting only 5-of-15 shots for 18 points.

Meanwhile, Rose scored 33 points on 13-of-20 shooting. The NBA is a game where point guards have a huge advantage if they have the skills to exploit defenses given the rules that reward them for getting past their man and into the lane. If they can hit the 3 on top of that, look out. Rose isn’t that great of a 3-point shooter, but he was Tuesday night, hitting 4-of-5 from behind the arc.

With Aaron Brooks out and Kyle Lowry (7 points) and Ish Smith (0 points) not that great of shooters, they were going to need production from their bench. They only got 8 points, whereas Chicago had 29. Courtney Lee was 0-for-1 and had four turnovers in just 13 ½ minutes. I like Lee a lot, but I think it’s about time the Rockets gave Jermaine Taylor more of a chance while Budinger, Brooks and Yao are out. The guy was the 3rd leading scorer in the NCAA his senior year, averaging 26.2 ppg. Why not use him when desperate times call for desperate measures? We’ve seen what the guy can do to light it up. He reminds me a little bit of Von Wafer in how he can score points in bunches with his athleticism.

Taylor also reminds me a little bit of the Lakers’ Shannon Brown, who never really got a chance with several NBA teams. But when thrown into a deal to the Lakers as an afterthought, Brown has flourished as seen by how he torched the Rockets in Game 1 with all those 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. And Brown got his chance playing in the shadow of one of the best players ever — Kobe Bryant! If the Lakers can give a guy a chance to prove himself behind Kobe, you’d think the Rockets could do the same behind their shooting guard.

If the Rockets are going to draft big-time scorers, then you’d expect they would use them when they have problems scoring points in a game like this one. I kind of get tired of hearing about how a player may not “be ready” defensively. Right now, beggars can’t be choosers. Play Taylor and see what he can do to help the bench. Who knows, you may end up wondering why it wasn’t done sooner. There are countless other examples of teams who gave bench warmers an opportunity to contribute when they have struggled, and it worked out beautifully for them. Hasn’t the name ‘Arian Foster‘ taught professional teams to give backups more chances to shine?

One area where Taylor can help is shooting the three. On Tuesday night, the Bulls had a 9-point advantage from behind the arc, hitting 67% of their 3-pointers compared to the Rockets’ 33%. Rose’s 4 treys were daggers.

The Rockets got out-rebounded by the Bulls 40-32, meaning Yao’s absence hurt, although Brad Miller filled in admirably with 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting, and 5 boards. But when none of your players come up with more than 5 rebounds, that’s not good. Chicago’s small forward, Luol Deng, had 10 boards. Shane Battier had 5.

The Rockets had a golden opportunity to win since the Bulls only made 54% of their free throws (15-of-28), but couldn’t capitalize on such a rare night when they shot so poorly from the charity strip.

Tonight the Rockets face an explosive Oklahoma City team. We all know they’re going to need to play defense to have a chance in this one, but also score a bunch of points to keep up with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. I think it’s “Taylor time” to see if he can shine.

It’s funny how winning solves everything. Even though the Rockets have beaten pretty bad teams on their way to a 3-6 record, including thrashing the NY Knicks Sunday night, the panic that all Houston fans had when they started the season 0-5 seems like a distant memory. The Rockets have now won three of their last 4 games since then.

This Rocket victory reminded me of last year’s team when they used hustle, grit and ball movement to get a respectable record without Yao. Or a few years ago in how they played during their 22-game winning streak.

Leading 71-70 in the 3rd quarter, New York made only 2 of their next 21 shot attempts (nearly 12 minutes without a field goal) as the Rockets opened up a 19-point lead and cruised to a victory that has everyone thinking the Rockets aren’t so bad as they looked this time last week.

In reality, we still don’t have enough evidence the Rockets can execute their half court offense in the clutch to win tight games. They’ve done it once, against Indiana on Friday night. For now, the best way for them to win still appears to be opening up big leads and holding on, like they did against Minnesota in that blowout victory, and what they did Sunday night against New York.

Chuck Hayes did a great job on Amar’e Stoudemire (the Knicks’ highest paid player at $16.5 million this season) by holding him to 3 points after checking in with about 7 minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter. Before then, Stoudemire scored 22 points in his first 22 minutes. Chuck’s value ($2.3 million this season) is a pretty good return holding a player to those kinds of stats who makes more than 7 times he does.

Coach Rick Adelman had the following to say about putting Hayes on Stoudemire:

“I knew I was going to put Chuck on him. I was just biding my time as long as we had the lead. We didn’t have to worry about doubling him. Chuck stays in front of him. He’s such a good defender. A lot of people don’t realize how good he is. Tonight, he showed it again.”

On offense, the Rockets had 28 assists, their season-high, on 36 field goals. Amazing.

It’s great how the Rockets remembered all of a sudden what made them so effective in previous seasons playing more as a TEAM, and to do it on the road. Maybe there is something to be said about bonding better with your teammates on the road, away from the distractions at home. You might remember the same thing happened when they started off the preseason playing poorly, and were dreading the long flights to/from China. But that’s when they really started playing better as a team as they swept the New Jersey Nets in Beijing and Guangzhou. Who knows, maybe those lunches and dinners they have with each other at the hotel or in restaurants might instill a better sense of trust among each other, manifesting itself in sharing the ball more.

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