Houston Rocket 2016/7 Season

New coach, new defensive coordinator, same old song and dance. The Rockets stormed out of the 2016 gate on Wednesday losing to the simply awful and rebuilding Los Angeles Lakers. Mike D'Antoni said he thought the team lost their legs in the second half. Really? in the first game of the season? Really? Last night the Rockets rebounded to beat the old men of north Texas, the Dallas Mavericks, 106-98 so they are 1-1 on the season and they have yet to play a home game. That is coming when the Mavs and Rocks play the Rocket's half of the home and home tomorrow night. Busy night tomorrow with the Game 5 of the World Series on Fox, the Cowboys-Eagles game on NBC, the Rockets-Mavericks on Fox Sports Southwest and, of course, NCIS: Los Angeles on CBS. Thank goodness I have a DVR.

The Rocks needed 47:59 to finally put the game against the Dallas Mavericks away last night in the Toyota Center as James Hardin sank the 2nd of two free throws to give the Rocks are one point lead with just that one second remaining on the clock. Hardin led Houston with 28 pts to give Houston a sweep of this early season home and home series. Houston improves to 2-1while Dallas falls to 0-3.

Bill Parcels once said you are what your record says you are. If that's the case then Houston is a .500 team. After losing to the Atlanta Hawks last night Houston sits at 3-3 but you can't rush to judgement after 6 games. The NBA doesn't really start getting interesting until after New Year's Day when the push for the playoff really begin. Here you go. The Rocks new up tempo offense with James Hardin and world's ugliest beard working okay. What I do have a concern over is the team hired a guy to be the defensive coordinator, which in the NBA is kind of rare, and Houston is having trouble holding opponents to under 100 PPG. When they do, they win but it's not like they are shutting anyone down. They allowed 99, 93 and 98 points in their 3 wins while they allowed 120, 120 and 112 in their 3 losses. I'll give you that it's a new system and they are only six games in but they need to do better and do it more consistently. Since November 1st the Rockets are 1-2 with their next game is Monday against the Wizards in Washington.

It's just an update. Not much to say about the Rox especially since I haven't sat down and watched them play yet. The upside is they are only 12 games into the season so there is such a small sample size to determine anything about what this team is. There are a lot of new players on the roster which means it should take a little while for the team to gel. In what was touted as a big shootout between two of the premier guards in the NBA happened this week as James Hardin and the Rox butted heads with the Russell Westbrook-led Oklahoma City Thunder. It didn't turn out to meet the hype. OKC beat Houston with Westbrook living up to his end as he scored 30 points adding 7 rebounds and 8 assists. The thing about the Rox was all 5 starters scored in double digits with Hardin putting up 13 points with 7 rebounds and 13 assists. Houston was right there til the bitter end finally losing 105 to 103.

Houston is currently in a tie for 5th in the Western Conference with the Memphis Grizzlies with a 7-5 record just 3-1/2 games behind the 11-2 LA Clippers. Yes, I said the Clippers. Golden State, with their dream team roster, is just 1/2 game back with a 10-2 record. Nothing interesting looks like it will happen until after Christmas.

 

And still James Hardin doesn't play defense.

The Rox have climbed a little in the standings as they are now 5th in the Western Conference standings. They boast a 10-6 record on the season and they have won 7 of their last 10. They beat the Sacramento Kings on Friday night 117-104. Their next game is Tuesday night against the Jazz. It's interesting to note that Houston is top 5 in points scored per game and assists so there seems to be something going on with Mike D'Antoni's up tempo offense. Now, if they could just get the Rox, and James Hardin in particular, to play some defense we might have something going in Houston.

On Friday night it was Round 2 of the season series between Oklahoma City and the Rockets. Despite getting his seven straight triple double Russell Westbrook and the Thunder lost this game to Houston 102-99. Unlike the first game between these two when James Hardin only scored 10 points he tossed in 21 in leading the Rockets to their fifth straight win. The Rox are now 17-7 on the season after beating Dallas last night 109-87. That gave the Rox a 6 game winning streak and has them tied with the Clippers in the W/L column but just behind them in the standings. Houston is in 4th place in the Western Conference behind Golden State, San Antonio and the Clips. It's a good thing to see Houston 10 games over .500 so early in the season. It is early in the season but still the Rox are over 1/4 of they way through the season and it's a damn sight better than they were last year when they got Kevin McHale fired before Thanksgiving. Houston's Texans can beat the Cowboys and the Astros can't seem to beat the infernal Rangers but the Rockets have made the Mavericks their bitch so far in 2017 going 3-0 against them so far this season.

Houston has climbed into 3rd place in the Western Conference standings sporting a 21-7 record, a .750 winning percentage, after their most recent win over Minnesota last night by a score of 111-109 in Minnesota in OT. They have lost center Clint Capela to a cracked fibula (leg bone). He will be re-evaluated in 4 weeks to see how he's doing. Now the rumor mills have Houston beating the bushes for a big to replace Cepela. For now, the minutes for the 5 will likely go to the man known as Nene with power forward Ryan Anderson to see minutes in the low post as well.

 

In an incredibly short time comparatively speaking James Hardin has passed HOF legend Hakeem Olajuwan for most triple doubles in team history.

 

Bleacher Report has an article linked below talking about the historic pace for 3 pointers that the Rox are on right now.

 

http://www.givemesport.com/943059-rockets-on-recordsetting-threepoint-shooting-pace

 

Also from Bleacher Report is a report about how important fellow guard Eric Gordon is as a compliment to James Hardin and Rockets success.

 

http://www.red94.net/eric-gordon-perfect-complement-james-harden/16524/#

The Rox have gone 2-2 since December 20st but they remain in 3rd place in the Western Conference standings behind #1 Golden State and #2 San Antonio. Houston lost to San Antonio on the 20th and they lost to Memphis last Friday night. They swept a home and home series with Phoenix played on the 21st and 26th. Right now the Rox are playing their bitches, the Dallas Mavericks and it's Houston up by one 35-34 in the 2nd quarter. It's on both Root Sports if you have DirecTV for the Rox' broadcast or Fox Sports Southwest for the Mavs broadcast. Houston is 4 games behind Golden State and 2.5 game back of the Spurs.

 

It looks like the Rox have adapted well to Mike D'Antoni's run and gun offense and they even manage to play a little D sometimes. Maybe there's hope for this team yet.

Houston ended up beating Dallas last night by a score of 123-107 completing a 4 game season sweep of the Mavs. The game went way beyond the dominance of the Rockets over the Mavs. Last night the Mavs seemed determined to prove they weren't the Rox bitches by playing dirty and talking smack. Now I know that players talk smack but it crosses the line when a Mavs player, Salah Mejri, talked smack about Trevor Ariza's family which is definitely crossing a line. Ariza was so incensed about it he waited for Mejri outside the Mavericks locker room to confront him. Fortunately, there were 3 policemen and 2 Rocket's security guards and eventually some of his teammates blocking his path. They were able to calm him down enough for him to leave but he left pissed. In all there were 8 technical fouls and 2 flagrant fouls called during the game. Here's an account of the game from ESPN.com which you can decide for yourself if there may be some bad blood between these two teams down the road. Given the extreme reaction to the incidents in the game where Patrick Beverly shouted ridicule at Mavs head coach Rick Carlisle as he left as well as Ariza's intent to confront Mejri. During the game Ariza became so incensed he was ejected from the game so whatever Mejri said about Ariza's family must have been pretty heinous.

James Hardin led the way in the basketball part of the game scoring 34 points with 11 assists which should have been the real story of the game had not all the extra curricular activities in the game.

 

http://www.espn.com/blog/houston-rockets/post/_/id/3378/rockets-james-harden-mavericks-were-disrespectful-and-unprofessional

The past week has been a good one for the Rox. Since December 26 they are 4-0 with wins over the Suns, the Mavericks, the Clippers and the Knicks. The Knicks were the latest victims losing on Saturday night by a score of 129-122. The Rox are still in 3rd place in the Western Conference behind the Warriors and the Spurs but their 26-9 record is a bit unexpected and impressive at the same time. Their point totals in order in those 4 games is 131, 123, 140 and 129. Not half bad Houston! Props for your offense. You guys still need to up your defensive game as they have surrendered in those same 4 games in order 115, 107, 116 and 122. They do have an impressive 15.75 average margin of victory in those 4 games so I guess you can give the defense a break. James Hardin is 4th in the NBA in scoring averaging 28.5 PPG but what is disturbing is Houston doesn't have anyone else in the top 40 in scoring. That is a little scary. Hardin also leads the NBA in assists with 12 APG. Clint Cepela is 4th in field goal percentage with a .640. Again, it's a little disturbing that Houston doesn't have anyone in the top 40 in either category but considering the results the Rox are getting we can overlook that for now. Houston isn't as prevalent on the defensive side of the ledger. Again, James Hardin leads the Rox with 8.1 RPG but that is only good for a tie for 24th with Orlando's Bismack Biyombo. Biyombo is a center while Hardin a guard. Clint Cepela is tied at 20th place in the NBA in rebounds with fellow center John Henson of Milwaukee. Trevor Ariza is playing some D, he is the third ranked player in steals in the NBA with a total of 2.14 STPG and his 75 steals is good for 1st overall.

If you look at all the categories he is either leading or in the top 5 in you can see that Hardin is back to his 2014-15 MVP form. It's still early to be worrying about that but it's nice to see that Mike D'Antoni has got Hardin playing some hoop this season after such a crap season, comparatively speaking, to last season's effort.

The Rox begin the new year with the Washington Wizards at home in the Toyota Center. Tip off is at 8:00 o'clock.

The last time we checked in with Houston Rockets they were in 3rd place in the Western Conference behind the Warriors and the Spurs. Nothing has changed other than Houston has hit a bit of a bump in the road losing 6 of their last 10 games which has allowed the LA Clippers to edge a little closer to that 3 spot as they have gone 6-4 in their last 10 games. The Clips are now 3.5 back of Houston who trails San Antonio by 4.5 and Golden State by 7.5. The Warriors are looking like they are going on to their 2nd consecutive 70 win season which will be an NBA record. As you know, the Warriors set the NBA record for wins in a season last year when they won 73 games eclipsing the previous record of 72 wins held by the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls featuring Michael Jordan.

 

The Rox latest loss was last night to the Indiana Pacers by a score of 120-101. Hopefully the Rox will get back on the winning track as their next 4 games over the next 8 days will all be in Houston at the Toyota Center. Their next game is Tuesday night at 7 PM vs the Sacramento Kings.

My last post on this thread was just 12 days ago but that's okay because nothing has changed in the standings. The top three in the Western Conference is still Golden State, San Antonio and Houston. Houston has been able to open up a little space on the Clippers, who have fallen out of 4th place into 5th while the Jazz have taken over the 4th spot. Houston has a 4 game lead on Utah while they now have 5.5 games on the Clips. James Hardin is battling neck and neck with OKC guard Russell Westbrook for NBA MVP which is a revelation considering what a dumpster fire Hardin was last season. Maybe Mike D'Antoni is really on to something here. D'Antoni's run and shoot offense really seems to suit Hardin and the rest of the Rox roster. The next thing will be to find a big who can hold down the paint against the big boys and Houston could make a real run at GSW for the Western Conference title.

 

Since my Jan 30 post the Rox have played 5 games and gone 4-1 in them to keep pace with and even edging a little closer to the top of the conference. Their last loss was a head scratcher against Atlanta on Feb 2nd but they have run off 3 straight since. The Rox play the Phoenix Suns tonight at 8 in Houston.

 

Darn that Kevin Durant. He seems to be fitting in very well at Golden State. Darn the luck.

 

What up with the Cavs lately? In their last 9 games the Cavs are 7-2 so I guess nothing is wrong with them. They come up with a clunker of a game every now and then but as long as they keep Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving healthy they'll be okay. It's cool to note that the Rox have a better record than the Cavs. 39-17 for the Rox and 36-16 for the Cavs. So, there's that.

The NBA All Star game was played last night and it was kind of exciting especially if you are a fan of scoring. The game set a record for most points last night as the Western Conference beat the Eastern Conference 192-182. Yep, that is not a misprint. The best of the best in the NBA put up a whopping 374 points. Not only that but eventual MVP of the ASG Anthony Davis dropped 52 in setting a single game ASG record. Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant played nice together and all in all a wonderful time was had by all.

 

As for the first half standings, the Rockets remain in a solid 3rd place 4 games behind 2nd place San Antonio and 8 games back of 1st place Golden State. Pretty much the same as it's been for most of the season. The Rox went into the ASG on down note losing to Miami 117-109 in Miami. They have done a good job of late winning 5 of their last 7 games and they look to keep the train rolling as they begin the second half of the season at home against the Pelicans on Feb 23.

The LA Lakers have a new President of Basketball Operations. Team primary owner and head lady in charge of the Lakers, Jeanie Buss, fired her brother Jim, because frankly he was doing a lousy job. She hired one of the most iconic of former Laker players Ervin Magic Johnson to take his place. It’s gotta suck being fired by your sister but Jim Buss has driven the Lakers team into a deep canyon of suckiness and he didn’t appear to be the one to drive the team back up to the high road. But, the Rox didn’t make a deal with the new PBBO or the Lakers for that matter. They made a deal a couple of days ago with the Sacramento Kings to acquire guard Jason Terry. This gives the Rox another scoring threat as Terry is averaging a tad over 18 PPG. They also get 2 second round draft picks from the Kings while they will send guard Scotty Hopson and 1st round trade exception.

 

The NBA Trade Deadline has come and gone as of 2 o’clock this afternoon. Prior to the TDL Houston did strike a deal with the new look Lakers. They will send G Tyler Ennis to LA while the Rox get some much needed salary cap space. Houston also made a deal to get G Lou Williams while they send F Corey Brewer to LA-LA land. Houston also dealt G KJ McDaniels to the New Jersey Nets for some more cap space.

 

The biggest deals prior to the trade deadline were undoubtedly the Pelicans acquiring DeMarcus Cousins from Sacramento and the OKC Thunder maybe getting some much needed help for Russell Westbrook from the Bulls. The Thunder will get forwards Taj Gibson and Doug McDermott and a future 2nd round pick for 3 guards, Anthony Morrow, Joffrey Lauvernge and Cameron Payne. The Houston deal, getting another scoring threat in Jason Terry, might make the Rox a lot more competitive with the Spurs and Warriors in the Western Conference.

 

Below is a link to the trade tracker from ESPN.com that covers all the deals made up to and including today’s deadline.

 

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/18609361/trade-tracker-2017-latest-deals

The Rox lost a heartbreaker to San Antonio the other night in the wane seconds of the game. For some reason Houston just can’t get over the hump against the Spurs or Golden State. They are a strong 3rd place, as they have been all season, in the Western Conference. Houston has the third best winning percentage, .667, in the West and they are tied for 3rd best winning percent in the whole NBA. It seems they have been 8 games behind the Warriors since day one of this season even though that is impossible, it just seems that way.

James Hardin is a legit MVP candidate but as it was in 2014/15 he will likely lose to an even hotter hand. Two years ago that was Steph Curry and this year it looks like he will play second fiddle to the triple-double machine from Oklahoma City, Russell Westbrook. It seems the marriage between new Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni and Hardin was a good one after all.

 

Earlier this week Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki became just the 6th player in NBA history to score 30,000 points in his career. His is one of just 3 of those 6 players to score all of his points with one team. The others are Karl Malone with Utah and Kobe Bryant with the Lakers. Dirk is a great player and deserves all the credit including his eventual trip to the basketball Hall of Fame. Why to go Dirk!

 

The Rox are going through a bit of a rough stretch right now as they are 3-3 in their last 5 games. This constitutes a slump for Houston this season and they are 0-2 in their last two games. They are looking to turn recent fortunes around tonight in Chicago as they square off against the Bulls. They need to get on a roll pretty soon because there are only 17 games left in the regular season. After that is when the games really count.

 

What do you know, I am finding out that the NBA is fun again.

The Rox are sprinting to the finish line of the regular season but at 47-22 they just can't seem to make up ground on either Golden State or San Antonio the number 1 and 2 teams in the Western Conference. The Rockets are 2-1 this past week as close out the week later today against Denver. Their loss this week came yesterday against the Pelicans in New Orleans by a score of 128-112. Houston's bread and butter is the 3 ball and they were just 13 of 40 in 3's. The Pelicans had 3 players who scored over 30 points for the game and one of those players was not DeMarcus Cousins who did not play because of a coaches decision. NOLA had 4 scratches on the night and 3 were healthy scratches. Besides Cousins Cheick Diallo and Donatas Montejunas got the night off. Houston had a healthy scratch of their own as Mike D'Antoni decided Nene needed a night off. With 69 games in the books that means there are only 13 games left in the regular season.

The Rox won't catch San Antonio to nab the 2nd seed in the Western Conference as they currently trail the Spurs by 6 games but they are a solid 3 seed which isn't terrible and barring a total Rockets meltdown the 4th place Utah Jazz won't make up the 4 game deficit.

 

On Friday night James Hardin became the all time leader in NBA history in 40+ point triple doubles in a season with 6. He hit 41 points with 14 rebounds and 11 assists in the loss to the Pelicans. Way to go JH!

The Rockets are still in 3rd place in the Western Conference. I may as well not even post that any more because it will not change with Houston having just 9 games left in the regular season. Houston is 6 games behind 2nd place San Antonio and they are 6.5 games ahead of the 4th place Utah. What is significant is in the 3 games Houston has played in the past week they are 3-0 which speaks to the team building a bit of momentum heading into the playoffs. Today at 3:30 the Rox host the OKC Thunder in a matchup of potential NBA MVP candidates in James Hardin and the red hot Russell Westbrook. On Thursday against Philadelphia Westbrook notched his 35th triple double of the season with the line of 18 pts, 11 rebs, and 14 assists. The unique thing about his night was that he became the first player in NBA history to record a triple double without missing a single shot from the field or a single foul shot for the entire game. Westbrook was 6-6 from the field and 6-6 at the foul line to enter the history books. The game this afternoon should be a doozie!

The Rockets had a bad week losing to division rival Golden State twice and Portland once as they went 3-4 for the week. Their lone win was last night against Phoenix by 7 points, 123-116. In a home and home series this week Houston lost at home by 7 and after losing to Portland on the road they lost to the Warriors on the road by 9. From a standings point of view the bad week doesn’t matter because Houston will be the 3 seed no matter what as Golden State and San Antonio will be 1 and 2 respectively but losing twice to the division leader with just 8 days left until the postseason you don’t want to be swept. At very worst you would want to at least split so you put it in your opponents head you can beat them. Now, it’s just in the Rox head that they can’t beat them. Not good. You had such hope that Houston would show up better this past week especially since the Rox looked so good beating OKC last Sunday and James Hardin, at very least, tied fellow MVP candidate Russell Westbrook in their head to head matchup.

 

Houston might have won the game against Phoenix last night but it cost them in the fact that F Sam Dekker broke bones in his left hand chasing a loose back and colliding with Suns forward Jared Dudley. The prognosis is that he will miss 3-4 weeks which could mean he will be back for the playoffs assuming the Rox don’t get bounced early in a first round upset. Houston was already without James Hardin who was sick with the flu and Trevor Ariza was away from the team because of a death in his family. The game was only the 2nd game in 3 seasons Ariza has missed. It’s a tribute to the Rockets that they can beat another NBA team without their top 2 guards coupled with the loss of Dekker. I know that Phoenix is the worst team in the Western Conference but it is still impressive considering who was out they got the win.

 

The Basketball Hall of Fame class of 2017 was announced this past week and former Rocket Tracey McGrady was a part of that class. I am ashamed to say that I only recognize 4 names in the eleven members of this induction class. Besides McGrady, I know former Philadelphia 76er George McGinnes who won an NBA championship with the 76ers in the 1970’s with Dr J. I know Rebecca Lobo who led the UConn Huskies their first NCAA women’s basketball championship and who had a good WNBA career and I have heard of Bill Self who coached the Kansas Jayhawks to 12 Big 12 titles and the 2007/8 National Championship. Here is a list of all 11 inductees. Zack Clayton, Nikos Galis, Mannie Jackson, Tom Jernstedt, Jerry Krause, Rebecca Lobo, George McGinnis, Tracy McGrady, Muffet McGraw and Bill Self.

 

One of the major snubs in this year’s class has to be former Rockets player and coach, Rudy Tomjanovich. Rudy T played his entire 11 year career with Houston after being drafted second overall coming out of the University of Michigan in 1970. He was a 5 time All Star and it would have been more had it not been for a fateful night in 1977 when the Lakers’ Kermit Washington laid Tomjanovich out with a devastating punch in the face that cost Rudy T 5 months to recuperate and a shot to appear in the NBA finals when Houston lost to Dr J and Philadelphia 76ers in 6 games. He was never the same player after that. Tomjanovich became the Rockets head coach in 1992 after spending 11 years as an assistant coach in 1983. Rudy served under Bill Fitch and later Don Chaney which included an appearance in the 1984 NBA Finals. Tomjanovich led the Rockets to back to back NBA titles in 1994 and 1995. Rudy T retired from the NBA after the 2002/3 season when he was diagnosed with bladder cancer. It ended a 33 year career with Houston as a player, scout and coach which included 4 trips to the NBA finals, 2 NBA Championships and 5 division titles. He retired as the top head coach in franchise history in winning percentage (.559) and wins (503-397) and those marks still stand. The numbers are there for the voters to see they just haven’t been able to see them as yet. Rudy T has probably the signature saying for the franchise when he said following the Rockets 2nd consecutive NBA title in 1995, “Never underestimate the heart of a champion!” He is one of those rare individuals who spent his whole career with one franchise, 33 years in all, as a player, scout, assistant coach and head coach. That is certainly noteworthy in, and of, itself. Tomjanovich recovered from cancer and he was hired as the head coach of the LA Lakers in 2004 but he only lasted 41 games before he again retired citing mental and physical exhaustion and even though he remained with the Lakers as a consultant his career was basically over. Being elected to the HOF would be the crowning jewel for his stellar career and I hope he gets elected soon but, unfortunately, it won’t happen this year.

 

There are only 4 games left in the regular season. The first will be Wednesday at home against the Denver Nuggets. The second game will be Friday at home against Detroit and last two are on the road on Sunday and next Monday against Sacramento and the Clippers. As it stands now, Houston will face OKC in the first round of the playoffs.

Houston beat Phoenix last Sunday and they had 3 days off before they beat Denver on Wednesday and another day of rest before playing Detroit last night. Is there such a thing as too much rest? Or maybe with just 3 games left in the regular season they are in don't-give-a-crap mode? Either way, the Rockets closed out their home season with a dumb loss to Detroit was 8 games under .500 before beating Houston. Houston seemed to be in control until about a minute and a half left in the game when some laziness on defense and a couple of made shots ambushed the Rox as they blew a lead to end up losing by 5, 114-109. Nothing changed this week in Western Conference standings but we knew it wouldn't right? The NBA is playing out the string to get the season over with and all the playoff bound teams are praying nobody gets hurt at this point. Houston has two more games before playoff time. Both are road games with--but wait. I am wrong! The Rox have 3 games remaining! The schedule I had been looking at did not show a true season finale against Minnesota next Wednesday. That'll teach to Google the Rox schedule because it only gives so many games ahead and now that we are where we are it revealed the last game. I was also wrong about the Pistons being the home finale because that honor goes to the T-Wolves on Wednesday. It still won't change anything standings-wise. Houston will head into the postseason in 3rd place in the conference just where they've been since, oh, October. Let's just get these silly games over with so we can get to the playoffs. These last few games are like pulling teeth, man, it is just brutal.

 

James Hardin has a legit shot at being the NBA MVP but it will likely go to OKC's Russell Westbrook who is averaging a triple double for the season. He is the only person other than Oscar Robertson to accomplish that feat. Pretty big deal actually but an interesting stat is that Robertson did what he did and still finished 5th in the voting for MVP. No kidding! Bill Russell of the Celtics won the award followed by Wilt Chamberlin who averaged 50-1 PPG and two others before Robertson was counted. Get this, that was the 1061-2 season so that triple-double record has stood for 55 years. Robertson is still alive and he's happy for Westbrook, who is Robertson's choice for MVP this season and he says James Hardin is a legit contender for the award as well. Robertson is 78 years young and when you look at his career stats you just have to shake your head in awe of the numbers the guy put up in his career.

The Rox ended their regular season in style with a win over the Minnesota Timberwolves with a 123-118 win in which James Hardin closed out the season with yet another triple-double. Check out the recap from the Houston Chronicle.

 

http://www.chron.com/sports/rockets/article/Rockets-handle-Timberwolves-in-season-finale-11069819.php

 

James Hardin not an MVP candidate? Check this out, Hardin is the first player in NBA history to record at least 2,000 points, 900 assists and 600 rebounds in a single season. It’s sort of a shame he will probably lose the MVP vote to Russell Westbrook who set the NBA record for triple-doubles in a season and he became only the second player to average a triple-double for the season. The last man to that was HOF’er Oscar Robertson way back in 1961. Ironically enough, Houston will face OKC in the first round of the playoffs beginning this Sunday in Houston.

 

Full bracket and playoff schedule from the Bleacher Report;

 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2703131-nba-playoff-schedule-2017-dates-matchups-game-times-and-tv-coverage-info

 

Now, the NBA is getting real!!

The Rockets were the last team to play in the first round of the 2017 playoffs and it was a decent game -- for a half. Of course the Rox are playing the OKC Thunder in a matchup of MVP candidates, a matchup The Beard won hands down with a game high 37 points with 7 boards and 9 assists and Houston beat the Thunder by 31 points, 118-87. It looked like a game coming out of halftime with Houston up 5, 59-54 but the second half it was all Houston. Going into the series Houston was pretty much a prohibitive favorite as they are clearly just a better team than OKC but you figured the James Harden-Russell Westbrook matchup would make the series interesting but, based on last night’s game, not so much. The Rox held Westbrook to 22 points on just 26.1% shooting with 11 rebounds and 7 assists. Houston had 5 players in double figures while OKC had 3. Based on what I saw last night I think Houston could sweep the series without the Thunder winning a single game but, as you know, first impressions are not always right. When you look at the season series they played 4 times with Houston winning all four. That doesn’t tell the whole tale though because in 3 of those games Houston won by 3 points or less. This will be a hotly contested series and it is the playoffs which is to say the intensity is ramped up and I don’t see the Thunder being swept. I just don’t see it. Game 2 will be in Houston on Wednesday night. If you are a Houston sports fan you can watch the Rox until halftime and switch back and forth between between them and the Astros who begin at 9:10 PM who will be concluding their 3 game series against the LA Angels.

 

Here’s the NBA playoff bracket with the little green triangle signifying how the current series stand.

 

http://www.nbaplayoffsbracket.com/2017/index.php

The Rox blew a big chance to take a 3 games to none lead in their Western Conference playoff series last night but James Harden missed a 3 pointer at the buzzer which would have given them the win. Instead OKC, behind yet another triple-double by Russell Westbrook, hung on for a 115-113 win at home to get their foot in the door in the series. Houston leads 2 games to 1. Game 4 will be in OKC Sunday.

 

Most of the series in both conferences have 3 games in the books with all but the Cleveland-Indiana series standing at 2 games to 1. The only series not to have played 3 games so far in the Golden State-Portland series and they play late tonight in Portland. Cleveland is leading Indiana 3 games to none as expected and they could close out the series tomorrow afternoon. Don't underestimate this sweep as the extra rest is a big advantage heading into the next round. Especially if their prospective opponent has to go all seven games to advance. That is quite possible because the next opponent of the Cavs will either be the 3 seed Toronto or the 6 seed Minnesota with Minnesota leading 2 games to 1.

 

Here is the latest bracket update for the playoffs;

 

http://www.nbaplayoffsbracket.com/2017/index.php

The Rockets are up 3-1 in their opening round series with OKC despite yet another triple-double by Russell Westbrook. OKC played the Rocket really tough at home over the last few days but they only managed one win in the two games in Oklahoma City. They didn’t go down without a fight as the Rockets had to battle all the way down to the wire until Westbrook finally missed a 3-ball with just seconds remaining that Houston corralled a rebound and Patrick Beverly ran off the final 6 seconds in the game to give the Rox a 113-109 win. Houston can close out the series when they return to Houston tomorrow night. OKC put pressure on James Hardin and he finished the game with just 16 points. Nene led the Rockets with a double-double of 28 points and 10 rebounds. It was Nene that hit a layup in the waning seconds to give the Rox their final 4 point margin of victory. OKC was so successful shutting down Hardin he was actually the 4th leading scorer for Houston yesterday. Besides Nene’s 28 Patrick Beverly and Eric Gordon both scored 18. Nice win for Houston as they proved they have a team that can step up if their opponent decides to take Hardin out of the game. Houston needs to close out the series tomorrow because if they let OKC win and the series goes back to Oklahoma City the Thunder could very well upset the Rox. I say this because the games in this series except for Game 1 have all been close and Houston has shown no ability to shut down Russell Westbrook.

 

As expected, the Cleveland Cavs swept their series with Indiana beating the Pacers yesterday 106-102 with LeBron leading the way for Cleveland with 33 Pts. The Cavs are the only team to advance so far. Golden State will likely sweep Portland since the series is all Warriors who are up 3 zip on the Trailblazers. The only reason this series isn’t over is because, for some reason, it is taking forever to play the games. This isn’t the only series dragging its heels as the Washington-Atlanta series has only gone 3 games with Washington up 2-1. Both these series are scheduled to be played tonight. Every other series has gone four games and every other series is tied 2-2. The Celtics have come for 0-2 down to win the last two behind the play of Isaiah Thomas who has obviously gotten past the death of his sister 10 days ago. Okay, he isn’t over her death but he has found a way to move on, at least on the basketball court.

 

San Antonio has found itself in a fight with Memphis who edged the Spurs in Memphis yesterday by 2 winning 110-108. This is a 2 seed being stretched by a 7 seed which has to be somewhat of a surprise. The Spurs lost despite Kawhi Leonard scoring 43 points yesterday. The Spurs were basically a 2-man offense with Leonard and Tony Parker who scored 22 for the game. This is in contrast to the Grizzlies who had 5 players in double figures led by Mike Conley’s 35 points.

 

Gotta love playoff basketball!

Houston became the third team to advance to the 2nd round of the NBA playoffs with a 105-99 win in game 4 of their 1st round series matchup. It wasn't like the Thunder rolled over and played dead. Russell Westbrook especially who finished with a game high 47 points, 11 rebounds and he just missed notching his 4th triple-double in as many games by one assist, he finished with nine for the game. 3 other players for OKC scored in double digits but it wasn't enough to overcome a Rockets team that was bound and determined to finish the series off on their home court. James Hardin tossed in 34 points with Patrick Beverly (16 pts) and Nene (14 pts) combining for 30. A bit of a surprise was the offensive output of Lou Williams who shot 50% from the floor (7 of 14) and he made all six of his free throw attempts as he pitched in 22 points for the game.

 

Every other series has played 5 games and this gives the Cavs, Warriors and Rockets a little extra rest heading into the next round. Cleveland will play the winner of the Toronto-Minnesota series with Toronto leading 3-2. Game 6 will be in Minnesota tonight. Golden State will play the winner of the Cippers-Jazz series with the Jazz up 3-2. They play Game 6 in Utah tomorrow night at 10:30. Houston will face the winner of the San Antonio-Memphis series. The Spurs are up 3-2 with Game 6 slated to be played in Memphis tonight at 9:30.

 

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The Rockets took Game 1 of the 2nd round matchup between the Rox and the San Antonio Spurs IN San Antonio by 27 points with the final score of 127-99 and, believe me, it wasn’t even that close. It was just a total smack down by the Rockets who went into halftime leading by 30 points. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the 69-39 halftime score any more than I could believe the final score was as lopsided as it was. James Hardin wasn’t the leading scorer for Houston last night, he only scored 20 points but he dished out 14 assists as he kept his teammates involved in the game. The high scorer for the Rockets was Trevor Ariza who scored a game high 23. The good thing was that Houston had 6 players in double figures scoring and every single player for Houston scored. Kawhi Leonard was the top scorer for San Antonio throwing in 21 points and only 3 Spurs scored in double figures. Houston has taken home court away from the Spurs but it’s too early to make a big deal about that. Game 2 will also be in San Antone in the late game on Wednesday night.

 

Cleveland played Toronto in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference 2nd round series and the Cavs won by 11, 116-105. Game 2 will be Wednesday in the early game. The other 2nd round series in the Eastern Conference was played Sunday as Boston took Game 1 by 12 winning by the score 123-111. Also on Sunday the other Western Conference 1st round was finally completed when the Utah Jazz beat the LA Clippers 104-91 for the Jazz’ first playoff series win since 2010. The Jazz will face off against the Golden State Warriors tonight in Game 1 of the second round in the late game. The early game will feature Boston hosting Washington in Game 2 with the Celtics ahead 1-0 in the series.