Houston Rockets

In the NBA these days, it seems like there is a stat for everything. We’ve got PER, offensive efficiency ratings, defensive efficiency rating, and so on and so on.

It seems like every team in the league now employs their own stat guru. And while I’m not one to question the use of all these new statistics to evaluate NBA players (I actually kinda like them), I’m old school. 

Continue reading "Fun With Box Scores"

Happy New Year!

With the new NBA season set to tip off with four games tonight, here are some of the things I’ll be watching for in tonight’s action.

Boston @ Cleveland, 7:30pm

I can’t wait to see LeBron again this season. Last year, coming off the Olympics, you could see that his focus was on improving defensively. Now, without a summer in the spotlight, I’m curious to see if he’s made any improvements to his already unreal game. Is this the year we finally see LeBron use his Karl Malone-like body to beast on people inside?

Continue reading "NBA Opening Night Quick Thoughts"

The Utah Jazz and Houston Rockets have certainly had their differences in the past on the court. Memorable physical drag-em-out games, down to the wire playoff games with the Jazz being the ones having the upper hand more times than not. However, both teams have had similar problems this season with...

Continue reading "The Bruised and the Restless"

The Houston Rockets are coming off a hard fought 1 point loss to the Indiana Pacers this past Wednesday at Toyota Center. The Yellow and blue stunned the home town team by scoring often and late snapping the Rockets' three game winning streak. The loss soured the return of forward Shane Battier who made his season debut after missing the first 15 games of the season due to inflammation in his surgically-repaired left ankle.

Continue reading "I-10 Rivalry renewed"

In a possible preview of the Western Conference Finals the Los Angeles Lakers will host the Houston Rockets tonight. Many experts agree these are the two most talented teams in west. It is earl

Continue reading "Lakers Host Rockets"

It was a game many Houston Rockets' fans circled on the teams' calendar as their first "can't miss game of the season". Celtics coach Doc Rivers told reporters leading up to Tuesday that games in November matter as much as games in April due to playoff implications. Newspapers and local radio hosts hyped Tracy McGrady as the new Kevin Garnett in terms of having some success in the league, but never being able to get a ring. All of that led to Tuesday's nights game matching the

Continue reading "Green Party wins"

expert on television, news columnist, sports reporter to your chat room and forum users all say the Houston Rockets can go deep into the playoffs if A: They can keep Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming healthy and B: If Ron Artest can keep his composure on and off the court. Earlier tonight, if a single game was any indication; Rockets fans will have something to cheer about in late April and May and fellow NBA teams can expect Houston to be a legit threat all season.

Continue reading "Unity leads Rockets past Mavs"

The Houston Rockets will play their final pre-season game tonight against the Sacramento Kings. There's been several bright spots on the team; Von Wafer and DJ Strawberry have both arisen to the challenge and have both played good ball, new acquisition Ron Artest (despite a below average FG%) has been in good shape for the preseason as he tries to fit in with the team, Yao Ming is healthy and Aaron Brooks is steadily looking like the player many predicted he would develop his NBA game into. So the Rockets do have a few things to be happy about heading into the regular season.

Continue reading "New Season, Same old story?"

We have been waiting for this moment for months.  No, I’m not talking about the Jason Kidd trade to go through (which it did today).  I am talking to about the second half of the NBA season to begin.  The first three and a half months can be such a drag, and usually are but in the second half, everything picks up.  It is a two-month stretch run to the playoffs.  This is the time when teams like San Antonio and Detroit flip their switch on and look to be playing their best when the playoffs begin.  The flurry of trades that have gone on in the last two or three weeks has just made the second half that much more interesting.  The NBA season is about 20 games too long and it kills ratings but now is the time to jump on the bandwagon.  These next couple months of the regular season and the playoffs are going to be some of the best basketball since the ‘80’s.  The NBA, where exciting happens.

Continue reading "The NBA, Where Only the Second Half ..."