It wasn’t pretty but it counted. The as-of-late hot Rockets shot only 33% from the field making only 30 of 90 shot attempts. Despite the lackluster offense the Rockets defense held true sending them into NBA history for becoming the third team to win 20 games in row. So while the win streak continues the streak of beating opponents by double digits comes to an end as the final score was 83-75.
Although this was will be considered an “ugly” victory I think it was good for the Rockets to be challenged. That’s not to say that their previous 19 games were all cake walks but considering that the last 11 games were double digit wins it was nice to be reminded that the Rockets could still wrap up close games in the 4th quarter. It should also reinforce the team slogan of “play hard, stay humble”. I think we will see a return to the much more focused and efficient players Friday night against the Bobcats.
Speaking of returns how about Tracy McGrady? As a true Rocket fan I would certainly love to see T-Mac receive an MVP award however I can see how some are reluctant to give him serious consideration, especially seeing what Kobe and Lebron are doing this season. What I don’t understand is how people like Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith can criticize McGrady and say that he’s not the leader of the team and that he doesn’t make his teammates better. As I’ve mentioned before Tracy continues to do what is needed for the Houston Rockets to succeed, whether it’s scoring 41 or frequently dishing 9 assists. Or like he did tonight by contributing 21 second half points to a struggling Houston offense.
Luis Scola got some love over at ESPN.com in the rookie rankings. With the Spurs losing tonight 100-75 to the Hornets the Rockets move to the #2 spot in the West. Houston still remains 1 game behind the L.A. Lakers for the conference top-dog title which should make Sundays game that much more meaningful. Put it this way, if the playoffs started today that 1 game difference between the Lakers and Rockets would be the difference between facing the Warriors(8) or the Mavs(7). First things first though. Take care of business Friday night against Charlotte and get any kinks out of their system as they will have to be on point come Sunday.
