ESPN, Charles Barkley, Stephen A. Smith… can the Houston Rockes get some credit now? Like most sports fans I tune into Sports Center at least daily. The Rockets are the hottest team in the NBA right now and from what I can tell aren’t getting very much credit from the “main stream media”. I understand the excitement that the Gasol and O’Neal trades had around it, I really do. But for the life of me I can’t figure out why no one really mentions the Houston Rockets when listing contenders in the Western Conference. All I hear is how ‘tough’ the West is and how ‘crazy it is that teams with 50+ wins might not make the playoffs’. With a win tonight the Rockets are 7th in the West but are only 3 games back from the New Orleans Hornets. So again I ask, now that the Rockets dismantled the Western leaders can they get some credit?
Of course I write this before Sports Center has aired and may end up with my foot in my mouth, but I doubt it. I would love to be proved wrong however because these guys deserve some serious credit. Many said that the Rockets hadn’t faced many powerhouse teams over this current 11 game winning streak. Oh yeah, the Rockets also set a franchise record with 10 road game victories in a row. Now for some stats!
Recently the Rockets have been doing a good job of spreading the scoring throughout the team and all five starters have often finished with 10+ points. Well tonight the two-headed monster gave the supporting cast a little rest and shouldered most of the scoring load. Yao Ming (28 pts) and Tracy McGrady (34 pts) combined for 62 of Houston’s 100 points. Yao also posted 14 boards, Alston added a lovely ‘point guard-ish’ 11 assists, and Scola (8 pts, 9 rebs) who fell into early foul trouble allowed Carl Landry to come off the bench with 11 boards and 7 points.
The Rockets next 3 opponents are Chicago, Washington, and Memphis all of which are below the 50% mark on the season thus far. However the Bulls just beat the Nuggets tonight and scored 30+ points every quarter. The Wizards too are proving to be tough opponents as they lost tonight by one against the Cavaliers. Basically this is the NBA and all players on the floor are talented. So don’t look for the Rockets to loose focus or intensity over these next few games, despite their opponents losing records.
