Messing With Texas

If I were a Houston Rockets fan, I wouldn't be very happy to hear Yao Ming assuring Chinese fans he'll be ready for the olympics. Yao's become a fantastic player, but also clearly a pretty fragile one.

Meanwhile, eighteen in a row! I'll be rooting for whoever comes out of the West (probably Lakers or Spurs) against the evil Celtics, but Houston's definitely my sentimental favorite in the Western. What's more, a schedule of New Jersey at home, Atlanta on the road, and Charlotte at home with no back-to-backs makes a 21 game streak seem plausible.

Comments

Houston can't beat the Lake Show. Even Radmonivic contributes! It would be great to see what Houston could do with a quality big who could run, though.

Posted by SomeCallMeTim | March 9, 2008 2:35 PM

My first reaction to this was, "huh? what do the Houston Rockets have to do with the Democratic Primary?"

I was almost on to the second paragraph when I realized it was purely a post about basketball. I need a break.

Posted by MS | March 9, 2008 3:05 PM

Yao Ming: bad defensive player, or terrible defensive player?

The Rockets keep winning without Yao, and I'm convinced he's just awful on defense on a team that doesn't need help on offense, as they have plenty of weapons there. It seems entirely possible to me Yao is bad enough on defense that they're the same with or without him.

Posted by Joel W | March 9, 2008 3:17 PM

Watching the last two UCLA games almost convinced me that Matt is right about the NBA vs. the NCAA. I know UCLA and Stanford are both defensive teams, but man, what a brickathon. Thank god for UNC-Duke.

More to the point, the NBA season usually goes into garbage time a week or so after the all-star break. The amazing collection of great teams in the west has made every game involving one of the top nine a must-win. That's a way different NBA viewing experience then we usually get. Wasn't it just a year ago that half the league was engaged in a season-long tank?

Posted by Alan in SF | March 9, 2008 3:24 PM

Yao's become a fantastic player

He's not bad, but I think he's massively overrated, probably just because he has all of China rooting for him, and China is Flavor of Teh Month in all things.

Without Yao, the Rockets do just as well. How good can he really be?

Posted by Mr. Noah | March 9, 2008 3:29 PM

I'll be rooting for whoever comes out of the West (probably Lakers or Spurs) against the evil Celtics...

Just another sign of the ever transient nature of NBA evilness. Less than a year ago they were the 2nd worst team in the league. Now they're the Evil Empire. Or are we counting the dynasties of the 60s/70s/80s?

Posted by Brent | March 9, 2008 3:46 PM

this is EXCELLENT NEWS!! FOR HILLARY!!!

also, Lord Trimble of Lisnagarvey says "hi".

Posted by idiotic | March 9, 2008 3:55 PM

Did anyone catch vampire weekend last night on SNL?

anyway, for all you indie music fans/cube monkeys out there . . .

"How I Became the Bomb" is the new Vampire Weekend. Checkout the song "Killing Machine"

you heard it here first . . .(and i heard it form hipster/med student ex-gf NOT from pitchfork media)

Posted by nattyb | March 9, 2008 4:02 PM

Matt writes: "I'll be rooting for whoever comes out of the West (probably Lakers or Spurs) against the evil Celtics"

No one is more bitter than a Knicks fan.

Posted by MoeLarryAndJesus | March 9, 2008 4:04 PM

Check out the way cool Los Spurs jerseys on the TV this afternoon.

Posted by jimbo | March 9, 2008 4:04 PM

Apparently five out of the last six teams in the NBA with winning streaks this long went on to the finals (or maybe to win it all? I can't remember).

If it's Houston/Boston, maybe a huge fight will break out, and Brian Scalabrine will bite off Dikembe Mutumbo's finger. Then we'll know for sure that history repeats itself.

Posted by C's fan | March 9, 2008 4:05 PM

If the vast ref-wing conspiracy against da Sheed takes a break, it will be Detroit.

Posted by wrb | March 9, 2008 4:50 PM

He's not bad, but I think he's massively overrated

I think the biggest problem with Yao is his strong commitment to Chinese BB. I can't disapprove of what he's doing, but his NBA value takes a severe hit with his international commitments and his clear frailty.

Posted by mpowell | March 9, 2008 4:57 PM

Go Celts!

Posted by Nickoli Popi | March 9, 2008 5:24 PM

Go Pistons! I'd love to hear your take on the Pistons team over the past several years. The Pistons and Spurs have the most stable rosters in the NBA over the past 5 years and I wonder what plusses and minuses you see in that arrangement.

Posted by joejoejoe | March 9, 2008 6:38 PM

Mr. Noah: Without Yao, the Rockets do just as well. How good can he really be?

Couldn't we say the same about Kidd? Look at the Nets' record this season before and after. Or Gasol - the Grizzlies sucked with him, and now they suck without him. Or look at the Mavs after they replaced Nash with Devin Harris and Jason Terry in '04: they were still great. Different players thrive in different situations.

It may be that Yao was better suited for JVG's team than he is for Adelman's team.

Posted by nbt | March 9, 2008 7:11 PM

joejoejoe: The Pistons and Spurs have the most stable rosters in the NBA over the past 5 years and I wonder what plusses and minuses you see in that arrangement.

Hmmm, the Spurs' record in playoff series over the last 5 seasons is 14-2. The Pistons' record is 13-4. And you're wondering what the plusses are??

I guess the only minus I can think of regarding the static roster is that the San Antonio (Detroit) area could become saturated with GINOBILI 20 (BILLUPS 1) jerseys and the team can't move much more merchandise without acquiring new stars.

Posted by nbt | March 9, 2008 7:19 PM

I think you guys might have the causality switched up here. Maybe the Spurs and Pistons rosters haven't changed much over the last 5 years b/c they're already nearly as good as they could hope to be.

Posted by mpowell | March 9, 2008 7:28 PM

O.K., just because no one's said it yet this year (and because I wasn't just riding the bandwagon last year):

GO WARRIORS!

The Beard will conquer all.

Posted by samba00 | March 9, 2008 7:46 PM

I was just looking at the Western Conference standings. GSW--a very good team--is the closest thing to a normal underdog in a first round series. I wouldn't want to bet against Dallas, New Orleans, or even Phoenix. It's going to be a very, very good playoff season.

Posted by SomeCallMeTim | March 9, 2008 8:15 PM

GO WARRIORS!

The Beard will conquer all.

Absolutely. It was nice of Pietrus to show up for the second half of the season, by the way.

Posted by Killjoy | March 9, 2008 8:25 PM

In assessing the current Rockets streak, one is reminded that talent doesn't win games, character wins games and the Rockets, at this time, have character.

Posted by SLC | March 9, 2008 8:46 PM

I haven't been an avid fan of the NBA since the late 1990s, but watching this season's clusterfuck/barnburner out West may be enough to rejuvenate my interest. I've watched 3 Rockets games over the past couple weeks and am absolutely loving watching that team play. Great, great stuff.

Posted by Andrew | March 9, 2008 10:01 PM

The Rockets were aware of the obligation Yao has to the Chinese National team when they drafted him. It was part of the package. I think they also realize that him playing for the Olympic team this year is a BIG deal in China. Much bigger than Kobe playing for USA. As NBA fans, we expect players to sacrifice offseason activity for the NBA but this is a unique situation where it's not the case.

Posted by bum | March 9, 2008 10:24 PM

I think what people are missing here is that the Rockets won the vast majority of these games with Yao, and he wasn't exactly a drag on 'em. It's just that this team is both performing like a machine and performing with a chip on their shoulders. They're just clicking period. Yao isn't the most talented guy in the NBA by a long shot, but he is indisputably an extremely talented 7'6" player. That's just not an asset a team is going to be willing to give up, whether or not he also brings in 2/3 of the population of the U.S. for random regular season games.

Posted by Glenn Fayard | March 9, 2008 10:52 PM

I didn't mean my Pistons/Spurs comment to be purely about performance. Of course you don't keep the same roster if you suck (Bush Administration excepted). But there are other concerns - hype, ratings, reputation, stagnation - that are worth examining for fun. I'm not asking Matt to break down the Pistons like he's Jeff Van Gundy. I'm asking him to comment like he comments on The Wire.

Posted by joejoejoe | March 9, 2008 11:34 PM

this is EXCELLENT NEWS!! FOR THE NUGGETS!!!

/Petey

Posted by Elvis Elvisberg | March 10, 2008 1:56 AM

on the Nugggets, what a bunch of underachievers. I totally understand just assembling superstars in no way means you are guaranteed for success, but cmon. Its not that they can't, its that they wont, defensively that is. I had never been able to put my finger on the axes and gold until I got the NBA package and really started to watch them. More and more I see an above average to good defender in A.I. slacking and Melo has never seemed very interested in the championship side of the basketball court. Marcus is consistently overrated, just as big ben has always been on the defensive end due to blocks. I will not watch another nuggets game this year until they are abruptly swept in the first round, if they make it. Until then, Go Rockets, Go Lakers!!

Posted by i'm the reason that your block is vacant | March 10, 2008 2:39 AM

Wow. Pretty harsh about Yao. Frankly I feel sorry for him. Read about his up-bringing. This guy's been playing year-round since coming to the NBA, basically because his country demands it. That and his unnatural size are combining to cause him to break down at age 27.

Great article on Yao right after the injury.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AmVT6TkP1ODFxeLEOLAiLgq8vLYF?slug=aw-yaochina022608&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

As for Houston, yes they keep winning, but their schedule has been pretty easy of late. The only quality win post-Yao was their last against New Orleans. Before that they beat Washington, Memphis, Denver, Indiana and Dallas (playing without Dirk). Only the Mavs game was away. Yao's absence will be felt by them come April...

Posted by Saltine Seeker | March 10, 2008 7:50 AM