The Houston Rockets just got their 22nd straight victory and uncontested posession of first place in the Western Conference. Both teams saw disappointing shooting from their stars (33 percent for Kobe, 25 percent for T-Mac) but the difference is that Kobe took over a third of the Lakers' shot attempts while McGrady for more like a fifth of the Rockets'. There's that, and Houston's continued ability to pull quality role players out of thin air. First there was Carl Landry, then he went down with injury, and now Mike Harris, who was playing in China as of 10 days ago, delivered six points and six rebounds in ten minutes.
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16 Mar 2008 06:07 pm
Comments (37)
Bobby Jackson is like 140 yrs old now right?
I know people have knocked the quality of some of the opposition, but this streak is amazing. Its more like the Rockies' than the Patriot's recent streaks and easy to enjoy T-Mac's success.
Kent State gets a 9! In the second round they are set to play KU.
As a semi-bitter Raptors fan, even I'm rooting for T-Mac.
Hardly - he's not a day over 115. Still, he's a great fit for this team.
To me, the Rockets relative dearth of star-quality talent makes this run all the more impressive.
What an effort!
Didn't see the game, just the box score, but it looked like Houston won because:
a) they got a few more shot attempts (5) than the Lakers
b) more of those attempts were threes which
c) they hit at a 46% rate, especially Rafer Alston who hit 8-11 threes
Of course, the Lakers would have shot a better percentage if Kobe hadn't thrown up so many bad shots against (according to ESPN's game recap) the tenacious defense of Shane Battier.
So Battier and Alston are the big heroes here.
Alston was on fire. He was hitting 'em long, hitting 'em covered, every which way.
Just like Matt, the NBA has long since ruined me for college basketball.
Bobby Jackson is like 140 yrs old now right?
And like most players who went to Minnesota and played for scumbag Clem Haskins, he probably can't spell his name.
Nothing against Houston, who have been awesome, but I would have liked to have seen them play the Lakers with at least a healthy Gasol. Or even a Lakers teams that had a game or two to adjust to life without Gasol.
http://www.thestar.com/article/345327
This article in the Toronto Star touches upon Daryl Morey's "ability to pull quality role players out of thin air." I can't for the life of me remember how I stumbled upon this link, but if it came from your blog, my sincerest apologies.
Don't forget, Seitz, the Rockets were down a center, too. (And a power forward in Landry.)
Bobby Jackson was the star player Minnesota's 1997 Final Four team. That was one kick-ass team, which, under Haskins, had tutors do all the players' homework and wound up being stripped of their record.
Despite this, I think calling Clem a scumbag takes it a bit far. The NCAA as a whole is a cesspool and that's one reason I favor the pro game. At least they're up front with the fact that they're all about money.
As for Houston, they haven't played that many good or full-strength teams during the streak, but 21 straight is 21 straight. Pretty astounding, but I'm assuming it ends this week, when they play four in five nights.
I too would like to see T-Mac do something in the playoffs, but I'm still not sure this team gets out of the first round. I'd like to see them draw Utah again, since the Jazz beat them last year...
I'm just trying to wrap my head around this season. I lost interest in the NBA after Clyde Drexler. I follow the league casually. Last I recall, Kobe wanted to leave the Lakers because they were not going anywhere, Houston was not on the championship radar . . . now a few months later Lakers and Houston are in first place? What the . . .?
Are the Lakers that good? Anyway, I think Rick Adleman is vastly underrated and is a Hall of Fame coach.
Despite this, I think calling Clem a scumbag takes it a bit far
Suit yourself, but I have no problem calling the coach of one of the most corrupt programs of the era, and a guy who got to that final four by essentially telling his players to elbow Jelani McCoy (suffering from a chest ailment) in the chest at every opportunity, a scumbag. In fact, I'm not sure the term is strong enough. Piece of shit is more accurate.
calling the coach of one of the most corrupt programs of the era
He got caught; that's all we should feel comfortable saying. Webber took $250K to play two seasons for Michigan. That would seem to fall afoul of your sense of corruption. (To me, what strikes me as corrupt is that he got only $250K.)
Gopher97 is right: lie down with dogs, expect fleas.
Celts will end streak Tuesday.
Sadly this team is going nowhere after the streak. This is as much talent at T-Mac had on those teams that didn't make it out of the first round in the East. I like Rafer Alston as a player, but he is not going to lead a Yao-less Rockets anywhere. Bobby Jackson is not great. Scola is not great. These are mediocre players playing out of their heads combined with an awesome T-Mac and Battier flopping his heart out.
There is a chance that this Rockets team could still not make the playoffs (even though they have the best record in the West now!), but of course that depends of the Nuggets making a run and everyone else contining to do well. My guess is they'll end up around 4-5 seeds.
I've never understood why "flopping" is considered some illegitimate form of defense that, for whatever reason, doesn't count. If players are "flopping their heart out" they're probably taking a lot of charges and playing good, heads-up defense. It's not like that's something that doesn't translate to the playoffs - Manu Ginobli's flopped to a couple of rings already.
Now, the argument that they didn't play the Lakers with Gasol, that's legit. I'm interested to see how they play against some of the heavyweights.
"I've never understood why "flopping" is considered some illegitimate form of defense that, for whatever reason, doesn't count."
Last I checked flopping is not yet illegal in the game. But it's just not a very impressive kind of skill. Andreson Varejao was holding out this year for something like 9 million a year. He's an average big man who is very good at falling down at the right time. So the Rockets' run is pretty amazing considering their second best player right now is Battier, whose brand of "hustle" includes a lot of the killjoy activity of jumping in front of a driving player and falling down.
The Nuggests just dropped 168 points on the Sonics. Won by 52 points.
not getting outta the first round?! maybe, but...given the right matchup there are 9 teams out there that could win two series in the West......btw, Petey, how many of those 168 did you catch tonight?
I hold you responsible, Matt, with all of this Rockets stuff, for the Sharks' 11-game winning streak ending tonight.
So the Rockets' run is pretty amazing considering their second best player right now is Battier, whose brand of "hustle" includes a lot of the killjoy activity of jumping in front of a driving player and falling down.
Colatina either missed the game, or you know, missed the game.
Does Kobi shoot 33% most nights? Did you miss the eye shades? Or is that term foreign to you?
I'm sure Colatina did not see the game. I have no idea how Battier does it, he looks 2 steps slow, but he was glued to Bryant the whole game. The only way Kobe was getting any space was around picks. It was an unbelievable display of hustle by Battier. I'm still trying to figure out why Kobe kept hoisting up shots, he didn't seem to trust his teammates at all (33 shots, 2 assists?).
If that's Kobe in a big game, the Lakers will be lucky to make it out of the first round.
How about those Nuggets. 168-116 over the Sonics.
Plus Marcus Camby with a triple double - in 27 minutes. Nice.
The NBA had games today???
Wait a second...I thought they stopped playing games when March Madness begins.
Anyone who thinks flopping is the key aspect of Battier's game doesn't know shit about basketball.
"Anyone who thinks flopping is the key aspect of Battier's game doesn't know shit about basketball."
Or, for that matter, life, love, human nature, America.
But, again, definitely not basketball.
"How about those Nuggets. 168-116 over the Sonics. Plus Marcus Camby with a triple double - in 27 minutes. Nice."
Fourth triple-double of Camby's career and second one of this season, but his first one ever with assists instead of blocks.
Once they got up twenty points, they started letting him run the point.
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Hollinger has a nice piece in the Daily Dime about how Chucky Atikins' return really does matter.
Big five game road trip coming up which will determine the season for the Powder Blues.
And yet, they'll do nothing in the post-season. They do have T-Mac after all.
T-Mac has averaged 28.8 points and 6.1 assists per game in the playoffs. I really don't see how anyone can say his not making it out of the first round is his fault. It seems more of a fluke than anything else.
petey/al: i'm reminded that many years ago, when marcus was at umass, bob ryan wrote that all the people wondering whether he was a 3, a 4, or a 5 should stop worrying and simply accept that he's a basketball player.
i don't care how he did it, 10 assists is pretty remarkable: what's funny is that as soon as seattle moved thomas to san antonio, their defense went from lousy to world-class awful.
"i don't care how he did it, 10 assists is pretty remarkable"
Two other remarkable items out of last night's game:
- The Powder Blues' 168 points is the fourth most in a regulation game in the entire history of the association.
- Denver has won two games in a row against Seattle by more than 40 points. No team has ever beaten an opponent by 40+ points twice in a row before.
what's funny is that as soon as seattle moved thomas to san antonio, their defense went from lousy to world-class awful
Yeah, it is really bad now. Although I wonder if that has less to do with trading away a good defender in Thomas as much as the young players not really caring any more about defense now that the season is winding down. (Of course, trading away all their veterans like Kurt might be the cause of that, also - they don't have any role models around to tell them (or show them by example) they've still got to play D, even if the season is already lost.)
And I was shocked to see that it was the 4th most points in regulation in the history of the NBA. Has the NBA really turned that far around since the low-scoring days of the late '90s? Guess so.
Al, there was a writeup in the sunday seattle paper about just your point: thomas was the conscience of such defense as they had, as well as being a good defender all by himself.
so yes, the young'uns don't much seem to care about defense in seattle.
I am very hesitant to be labeled as an apologist, so I will begin by acknowledging the great play by Battier and Skip,and the amazing streak Houston has strung together. But LA was missing Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, and Trevor Ariza. Not to mention Kobe playing with virtually no tendon in his pinkie. With no center and defensive presence Ronnie Turiaf and DJ Mebenga had to fill the gap. Both are second/third string players. Without the three mentioned, the Lakers were forced to return to the failed lineup of the 2005-2006 team.
I am looking forward to the playoffs when the Lakers are healthy. They will mop the floor with the West...the Rockets included.
*sigh* sports is a lot less aggravating than politics : )
Comments closed March 30, 2008.
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Heads in the Sand
Bobby Jackson was a great get for Houston.
Posted by Woody Bombay | March 16, 2008 6:10 PM