Houston Rocket 2016/7 Season

You knew it would happen, didn’t you? You knew that 27 point blowout of the Spurs on Monday night was an anomaly, right? Shame on you if you didn’t but anyone in their right mind outside of straight up Rockets homers new good and well the Spurs would come back and win Game 2 last night. That’s just exactly what happened. In fact, San Antonio beat Houston by 25 in a blowout of their own just to serve notice to the Rox that they weren’t going to roll over and play dead after losing Game 1. The Spurs 121-96 win did come at a price though. Veteran point guard Tony Parker is lost for the rest of the playoffs, you might as well season, with a torn quadriceps muscle in his left leg. The injury occurred in the fourth quarter in a non-contact injury that happened when Parker came down awkwardly after jumping for a rebound. The Spurs will be looking for Patty Mills to step and make a big contribution from here on out. The Rox again had 5 players scoring in double figures led by Ryan Anderson’s 18 points. The Spurs again were successful shutting down James Hardin allowing him only 13 points and he shot just 17% from the field. Unlike Monday night when he got major help from his teammates scoring points they couldn’t reproduce the red hot shooting from earlier in the week last night. On the flip side Kawhi Leonard had another 30+ point night scoring 34 but he got a lot more help from his teammates last night with a total of 5 Spurs scored in double figures. The Spurs as a team shot 53.9% from the field while Houston shot just 44%.

The series moves to Houston beginning Friday night. They will again be playing the late game while Cleveland gets the early game. Cleveland won again last night beating Toronto 125-103 giving the Cavs a 2-0 lead in their series.

 

The other playoff series will continue tonight with Washington hosting the Boston Celtics in a Game 3 matchup. Since the troubled beginning to these playoffs by Boston, mainly because of the untimely death of Isaiah Thomas’ sister in a car accident, the Celtics have righted the ship and since falling behind Chicago in the first round of the playoffs 2 games to none Boston has reeled off 6 straight wins. They won 4 straight to beat the Chicago Bulls 4-2 to move on to the 2nd round and so far they have taken a 2 zip lead over the Washington Wizards. Maybe the Wizards will find home cooking a little more to their liking.

In the other Western Conference playoff series the Golden State Warriors will host Game 2 in San Francisco when the Utah Jazz look to even their series to 1 game apiece. The Warriors won a closer than expected 12 point win over the Jazz, 106-94, in the opening game of their 2nd round series.

Houston and San Antonio played Game 3 of their semi final Western Conference series back in the friendly confines of the Toyota Center but it wasn't as friendly as Rockets fans would have hoped. San Antonio came away with a 103-92 win with Kawhi Leonard and LeMarcus Aldridge both leading the way with 26 points. Three other Spurs also scored in double figures. What the Spurs are also doing is playing good defense on the Rockets. In Game 2 they concentrated on James Hardin holding him to a mere 13 points and 17% shooting from the field. On Friday night they seemed to have the strategy of allowing Hardin to do what he wanted but putting the hammer down on his teammates. Hardin scored a game high 43 points but only two other Rockets scored in double figures. Clint Capela (12 pts) and Trevor Ariza (17 pts) were the only other Rockets in double figures. Game 4 is today in Houston and, of course, they play the late game. Here's hoping that Houston finds a way to defeat the Spurs defense while finding a way to play effective defense against the Spurs.

 

There are also 2 other series that will be playing their Game 4. The Washington-Boston series continues in Washington while the Cleveland Cavs looked to complete their series sweep against the Toronto Raptors. Cleveland went up 3 zip on Toronto on Friday night while Washington took their Game 3 to get off the schneid after Boston went up 2-0 to begin the series in Boston. Washington will be trying to even the series at two each this afternoon in the 2nd game today beginning this evening.

Last night Golden State took a 3-0 lead in their series against Utah with a 101-92 win in Utah.

 

So far, the stars area all lining up toward the expected rematch of Cleveland and Golden State in the finals. LeBron James would be making his 7th consecutive NBA finals which would be the first time since the Boston Celtics in the 60's that anyone has had that kind of success in the NBA.

The Rockets came back in Game 4 last night and evened the series at 2 games apiece with a 125-104. Every game in this series has been won by double digits and two of the games were won by over 20 points. Both of those games were won by the Rockets. In my last post I said Houston needed to find a way to cope with San Antonio’s defense and they needed to play some better defense themselves. That is what happened last night. The Rox didn’t allow any Spur to score as much as 20 points in the game. In particular, the held Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge to 16 points each. While on the other side of the ball Houston did, in fact, deal with the Spurs defense. James Hardin led the way with a game high 28 points followed by Eric Gordon’s 22 but 5 other Rockets scored in double figures on the night. The series continues in San Antonio on Tuesday night and, lo and behold, they are the only game on the schedule and they will play at 7 o’clock!

 

There were two other games yesterday including a series clinching win by Cleveland over the Toronto Raptors. Cleveland’s 7 point win, 109-102 gave the Cavs the series sweep and, like their sweep in the first round, it give the Cavs a few extra days of rest before heading into the Eastern Conference finals against either Washington or Boston. Speaking of which, the Wizards and Celtics played their series Game 4 with the Wizards beating the boys from Boston 121-102 to tie the series at 2 games apiece. Game 5 will be back in Boston on Wednesday night. The other Western Conference semi-final will be played tonight when Golden State will take on the Utah Jazz in Utah. The Warriors are looking to complete the sweep of their series. It would be nice if Utah can push the series to a Game 5 and even a Game 6 but most smart money is on the Warriors putting the Jazz out of their misery tonight.

 

http://www.nba.com/playoffs

The Rox lost Game 5 last night San Antonio in overtime by a score of 110-107. James Hardin was lining up a 3 point shot at the end of the OT period but his shot was blocked from behind by the Spurs Manu Ginobili. An interesting fact brought up by Mike and Mike this morning is that when Ginobili was drafted in 1999 James Hardin was 10 years old. This series seems to be one of surviving the attrition that has plagued both teams. So far San Antonio has lost Tony Parker for the rest of the season and last night they lost Kawhi Leonard in the 3rd quarter and he did not return. Leonard appeared to have severely twisted his ankle but just how bad it is or how much time he will miss, if any, is not yet known. The Rockets lost their backup center, Nene, in the first quarter of Houston’s Game 4 win over the Spurs on Sunday. Nene tore a muscle in his left thigh (ouch!). James Hardin had a bit of a Russell Westbrook moment when he scored a triple-double on the night with 33 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Four Rockets scored in double figures but it just wasn’t quite enough to get them over the hump. Despite missing a quarter and a half Kawhi Leonard was still the leading scorer for the Spurs but San Antonio had six players in double figures and they spread the ball around enough that Houston had no clue who was going to score next.

Game 6 sees a return to Houston and it will be a case of do or die for the Rockets. Every game this series goes further is just one more day the Warriors get some much needed rest. Golden State completed the sweep of the Utah Jazz with a 121-95 blowout. After the game Draymond Green told reporters that Cleveland has had it too easy in the playoffs and the Eastern Conference series’ are boring. He said the Cavs didn’t have any competition and the whole series between Cleveland and Toronto was boring. This after Golden State swept Utah winning by 20+ points in every game. He went on to say that the Celtics Kelly Olynyk is a dirty player. Olynyk has had 4 technical fouls in 2016/17 while Green has 45 to go along with his reputation for kicking opposing players in the groin. It’s likely Green’s suspension for one game in last year’s finals against Cleveland for kicking LeBron in the family jewels had a lot to do with the Cavaliers winning the title. As they said on Mike and Mike yesterday, Green likes to hear himself talk and the media is more than happy to get a sound bite from him so they keep sticking a microphone in his face. It doesn’t mean that what he says is inherently profound, he’s often kind of stupid as in the Kelly Olynyk comments but it’s better than the boring gibberish most players spew. You don’t have to be right. You don’t have to be wise. You just need to be outrageous and that’s the sad state of the media today.

The Rox got blow out at home by 39 points by the Spurs who won 114-75 to win their Western Conference semi-final series 4 games to 2. The Rox looked like they had already given up by tipoff and they could do nothing against the Spurs. James Hardin didn't even score until about half way into the 2nd quarter. It was an embarrassing loss for the Rockets that was made even more so by the fact that San Antonio didn't even have Tony Parker or Kawhi Leonard. LaMarcus Aldridge was the star of the game for the Spurs. He scored a game high 34 points and he led a pretty much no-name Spurs team to the series clinching win.

James Hardin stunk in the game scoring only 10 points on the night and then he got bashed by everyone for being seen at a gentleman's club later than night and, according to Mike and Mike, he was making it rain at the club. I don't even know what that means but I assume he was throwing around a lot of cash. I don't have a problem with what Hardin did postgame. The season is over so you're disappointed, you were largely to blame for the poor showing who you're pissed and you just need to blow off some steam. What is Hardin supposed to do, go home and cry about it? Of course the media is going to blow it out of proportion and all the moralists are going to say that it's not a good look for him to be partying after his team is eliminated from the playoffs. Really? Who gives a crap what he does after a game. It doesn't mean he isn't sad his team is out of the playoffs. I doesn't mean he has no remorse for a bad game. It just means he wants to go and forget that sadness or disappointment. I don't think less of Hardin because he went out after the game and neither should anyone else. It's too bad Houston lost but they had an uphill battle against the Spurs and they were the higher seed in the tournament.

Wanna bitch about something? Get on the Rox GM for not having more A+ players to go along with Hardin. Much like Russell Westbrook in OKC, Hardin is left alone to carry the load for the Rockets and you can do that during the regular season but a team will need more talent as it head through the NBA playoffs.

 

Last night the Washington Wizards beat the Celtic in their Game 6 in a close game that came down to the wire. The Wizards prevailed by a score of 92-91 to sent the series back to Boston on Monday night for Game 7 and all the while the Cleveland Cavaliers are sitting back waiting for a winner to advance to the Eastern Conference finals.

The Western Conference series is beginning tomorrow in San Francisco.

The Celtics beat the Washington Wizards last night 115-105 to take Game 7 in the best of seven series that will see Boston advance to the Eastern Conference finals against the well-rested Cleveland Cavs. The finals series will begin on Wednesday night in Boston who, amazingly enough, is the One seed and hold home court advantage in the east. There are two stories of this win and that is the unlikely heroics of Boston’s Kelly Olynyk who rained in 26 points, most of which came late in the game. The Celtics were led by Isaiah Thomas’ 29 points but it was Olynyk that carried the Celts down the stretch. The other big story was the complete disappearance of John Wall who missed his last 11 shots of the game. This coming just one game after he drilled a 3 to force this Game 7. Washington teams have been horrible in Game 7’s in their history last winning a G7 way back in 1979 when they were known as the Washington Bullets.

 

The other huge story, one that almost eclipses the Celtics-Wizards game, is the response by San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich’s comments about his Spurs Western Conference finals Game 1 loss to Golden State. As he so eloquently stated, Popovich pointed out that, “….we were ahead by 23 half way through the 3rd quarter (when Kawhi Leonard when down), how do you think I feel?” The whole controversy was the way the Warriors’ Zaza Pechulia stepped into Leonard after he shot causing Leonard to come down on his foot reinjuring Leonard’s ankle again. It appears that Leonard will miss Game 2 in Golden State tonight with the Warriors up 1-0 in the series. This link from NBA.com recaps Popovich’s reaction to the Spurs loss in which he compared Pachulia’s play to manslaughter. There is a video of the Popovich presser in the article.

 

http://www.nba.com/article/2017/05/15/san-antonio-spurs-gregg-popovich-sounds-golden-state-zaza-pachulia

Why is it the best coaches are insufferable to the media? It is a true statement about the Patriot’s Bill Belichick who is notoriously impatient with the media and it’s the same with the Spurs Gregg Popovich. Granted the media is insufferable too and most of the time they ask the most inane, bordering on just plain stupid, questions but do they deserve to be treated like dirt? You can sort of look at Bill Belichick as sort of cute with his one word answers and general lack of interest in the whole presser experience but Popovich is just plain rude a lot of the time and certainly hateful all the time. I like Pop as a coach and there is no denying his skill as a strategist but genius gets pretty pedestrian when you don’t have the players to execute the game plan. Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals is a prime example of this. His team quit on him before the game even started. The Spurs were down 14 after just the first quarter on the way to a 36 point blowout in a 136-100 laugher of a game. The Spurs are down 0-2 as the series will head back to San Antonio on Saturday night. The fact the Spurs get three full days off before the next game is big in that they will get to stew in their own give-up juices which, hopefully, will recharge their competitive fire and Kawhi Leonard will have extra time for his ankle to get better. Notice I said, ‘get better’ and not healed. It’s unlikely Leonard’s ankle won’t completely healed until he can get off it and let it get the rest it needs to truly get better. It doesn’t mean the Spurs are going to come back and win the series it just means they can at least make it respectable before they actually fall to the Warriors who are clearly younger and better than the Spurs. The Spurs know how the Warriors feel because at one time they had Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili in their prime and they were the team to beat in the Western Conference. Tony Parker is done for the season, Tim Duncan is retired and Ginobili is a role player as they are another clear example of Father Time winning every battle. The Spurs are reinventing themselves with Kawhi Leonard and LeMarcus Aldridge leading the way but neither player is truly a great franchise player. If the Spurs could somehow lure James Hardin to San Antonio then you might have something but Daryl Morey isn’t letting Hardin leave Houston any time soon. If San Antonio should be able to get Russell Westbrook then the Spurs would be a real threat to Golden State and it would be an interesting story line to talk about going forward. That’s in the future and in this present the Spurs are toast against the Warriors. The only question is, how many games will it take for the Warriors to put the Spurs away?

 

The Western Conference Finals is getting an extended set of days off so the Eastern Conference Finals can sort of catch up. The Celtics-Cav series will play tonight and Friday night to get that series caught up to the WCF who have already played 2 games. Beginning Saturday night the WCF and ECF will alternate nights as they progress through their respective series. There is no accounting for a series sweep and it could very well be that in both conferences. Certainly nobody would be surprised if Cleveland sweeps the Celtics and the way the Spurs rolled over and played dead for the Warriors last night you could see Golden State pulling out the brooms on the Spurs. The Celtics won a big thing last night when the got the #1 pick in the draft when they won the ping pong ball lottery with the Lakers getting the #2 overall pick behind them. But, again, this is now and tonight the Celtics and Cavs will square off in Boston.

The Spurs have forks sticking out of them as they head into Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals down 3 games to zip. They have not had Kawhi Leonard since the midpoint of the 3rd quarter and the Spurs have played like didn’t have a chance in hell of winning a game since. It is unlikely Leonard will be back for Game 4 tonight and thus I believe the Golden State Warriors will pull out the broom and complete the sweep of the Spurs in San Antonio tonight.

I really thought the Cavaliers would sweep the Celtics especially after taking Games 1 and 2 in Boston. The table was set for a sweep in front of the home crowd but Boston had one of those backed into a corner type of games and, like the Spurs, their best player was not in the game. Isaiah Thomas was unable to play because of a hip injury but, unlike the Spurs, they had someone who stepped up and played his ass off leading the Celtics to a very unlikely Game 3 win. In fact, the Cavs did their best San Antonio impression by losing a 21 point lead on the way to a 111-108 loss. Marcus Smart came out and played unconscious basketball in relief of Thomas scoring 27 points. The Celtics in general raised their level of play and Cleveland countered with the worst game of the season from LeBron. LeBron owned his poor game saying he just didn’t have it. He shot just 4 of 13 from the floor and he generally played a lousy game. That kind of thing is going to happen even to players as good a LeBron but his boys Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love have to take some ownership. They did have a 21 point lead and they let it slip away. The Cavs seemed to take their collective foot off the gas pedal as they played what can be best described as a lackluster 2nd half against Boston. So, the Eastern Conference Finals are going at least two more games and the 2nd game will be back in Boston. It’s good that Cleveland has had plenty of time off after the first two legs of the playoffs because they will likely be the team going into the finals against Golden State without benefit of the rest the Warriors will have after they finish punishing the upstart Spurs.

Update: The Spurs are toast. Golden State put yet another ass whoppin' on them and completed the sweep and they are also the first team in NBA history to go into the NBA finals 12-0. As Stef Curry said last night they are just going to kick back and wait on the winner of the Eastern Conference Finals. Stef was diplomatic enough not automatically crown Cleveland as the champs but we all kind of know who is going to get the dunious honor of facing what looks like an unstoppable Golden State Warriors team.

The Cavaliers beat Boston to take a 3-1 lead in their Eastern Conference Finals by a score of 112-99 in Cleveland. The Cavs were led by Kyrie Irving’s 42 points answering an unspoken call to step up his game because LeBron James got into foul trouble in the 2nd quarter picking up his 4th foul of the game. Kyrie answered the call and led the Cavs to the win. Game 5 is tomorrow night in Boston with the Cavs hoping to close out the series and head into the expected rematch with Golden State.

Old news by now but Cleveland won Game 5 against the Celtics which is a huge understatement when a team wins by 33 points. The best thing from a fairness standpoint is Cleveland clinched the Eastern Conference title on Thursday and the NBA Finals doesn't start until this coming Thursday meaning Cleveland will get a full week to rest up. Golden State had a few extra days but it doesn't matter at this point. A full week of rest is good enough so there should be no excuses from a fatigue standpoint. It's going to be, may the best team win. Personally, I think Golden State will prevail but you just can't count out the team with the best player in the NBA.

I know you can't go strictly on one game. We've seen it before, a team looks dominant in the first game only to have reality rear up and strike back showing what a fluke that game was. I am not sure this is the case with the matchup with Cleveland and Golden State. Golden State put a pure D smackdown of the Cavs beating them by 22 points. Golden State looked a little sloppy for about 2 or 3 minutes in the 3rd quarter when Cleveland closed a 21 Warriors lead to 12 points but Golden State woke back up and pushed the lead back to 22 again and they never were threatened again. Golden State's lineup is just too friggin' deep and Cleveland can't match up against this lineup.

I've been wrong before, terribly wrong in some cases, but I don't see Cleveland as much of a threat to this particular Golden State roster. This team is the best team money can buy and they are ridiculously deep. LeBron might be the best player in the NBA but when Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love don't do squat how can you compete with a roster chalk full of All Stars? Well LeBron had 24 pts and Love had 15 and Kyrie added 24 but outside of Richard Jefferson's 9 points the rest of the Cavs were a no-show on offense and sort of inept on defense.

By contrast of the 13 players GS dressed last night 12 players scored. Only Kevin Durant, who had a game high 38 pts, and Steph Curry, who added 28 pts, were the only players in double figures but to have so many people involved in the offense it makes you wonder who the hell can defense that balanced of a team.

Just based on what I saw last night I can't imagine this series going more than five games. Of course, I thought the same about the Rockets-Thunder series after Houston wiped out OKC in Game 1. That series ended up going just 5 games so I guess I am right SOME of the time.

Game 2 of the finals will be in Golden State on Sunday night at 7 o'clock.

The Warriors won the NBA title. Big shock there. So far the Rockets have been quiet this offseason other than rumors Chris Paul has had interest from the Rox front office. The big news is Cleveland fired their GM a week before the draft. That is such a Buffalo thing to do.

Paul's name is also being associated with Cleveland but who's isn't. The Cavs need to match up better against Golden State especially on D. Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving didn't show up all that great and Tristin Thompson and JR Smith should've had their faces on milk cartons. LeBron is no spring chicken and if Cleveland wants to win another ring they need some serious upgrades of talent.

Unless Houston gets James Hardin some help Houston will continue to play second fiddle to the Warriors in the Western Conference.

So, the Rockets needed a big upgrade in talent to be able to compete with the other teams in the Western Conference, particularly the Golden State Warriors. Let’s look at the moves Houston made so far this offseason.

6/28 – Houston trades for Darrun Hilliard, shooting guard, with Detroit for cash considerations. Hilliard was then traded to the Clippers in the Chris Paul deal.

6/28 – Houston trades for Shawn Long, forward, with the 76ers for a future 2nd round draft pick. Long came to the NBA as an undrafted player in 2016. He’s young and has some length and he can score. Not a bad deal for Houston for a talented player who looks like he will get better.

6/28 – Ryan Kelly, power forward, came to Houston in a trade with Atlanta. Kelly came into the NBA in 2013 with the Lakers as their 2nd round pick. He spent most of the 2013 – 2016 seasons with the Lakers developmental league. He split time in 2017 with the Atlanta Hawks and Boston Celtics and the developmental league. 4 years and he can’t stick with an NBA team I wonder how good he’s going to be.

6/28 – The Rockets trade with the LA Clippers for veteran point guard Chris Paul. This was a big signing and even at 32 years of age he still has a couple of prime years left. At some point prior to completing the trade Houston acquired DeAndre Liggins from the Mavs for cash and he and Darrun Hilliard were included in the deal for Paul. In all Houston gave up 8 players and beside Liggins and Hilliard Houston send Patrick Beverly, Lou Williams, Sam Dekker, Montrezl Harrell and Kyle Wiltger plus a the Rox first round pick in 2018 AND cash considerations. I’m sad about losing Beverly but Paul is an upgrade. The Problem is James Hardin was the Rocket’s point guard for 1st year coach Mike D’Antoni and Paul is a point guard. It will be interesting to see how that situation is handled.

6/29 – Jarrod Uthoff, a forward from Dallas, was acquired from the Mavs for cash considerations. Another predominantly developmental league player. The Rox just got younger in their depth but older in their starting lineup.

7/6 – PJ Tucker signed as a free agent. Tucker is a 32-year-old veteran of 7 NBA seasons mostly with the Phoenix Suns plus 5 seasons split between the Israeli Premier League, Donetsk in the Ukrainian Super League in Russia and a couple of teams in the European Basketball league. The last 6 seasons he’s been with Phoenix and in 2017 he was traded to the Toronto Raptors where they made the playoffs and won the first-round series but bowed out in the 2nd round to Cleveland. Tucker has both started and come off the bench and been productive. He should be a good role player for the Rox but he’s no star.

7/6 – Zhou Qi – Houston acquired him in the 2016 draft but he continued to play in the Chinese Basketball League because he was such a raw talent. On July 6th, He actually signed a contract with the Rockets. Qi is 7’1’’ and 210 lbs so he’s sort of a shorter and way more athletic Manute Bol. Qi also has one of the longest wingspans in the NBA at 7’7-3/4”. He’s listed as a power forward and his real skill is his shooting. He averaged 16 PPG and 10 RPG with a shooting % of 58.4. He was also named defensive player of the year in his league. His team, the Xinjiang Flying Tigers won the league championship last season. Qi is listed as a power forward but if he bulks up he would be a dandy post player. I think I might like having a twin towers back in H-town. Years ago, it was Hakeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson so this year is could be Nene and Zhou Qi.

7/7 – Houston signs Nene as a free agent. Nene became a free agent on July 1st and just 6 days later he resigned with the Rox.

7/8 – Houston signed a contract extension with James Hardin to add four more years on his deal with Houston. That is a very good thing.

7/1 – Tarik Black was signed as a free agent bringing him back to Houston where he began his NBA career in 2014. Black was in the Lakers organization between 2014 and 2017 going up and down between the Lakers and their developmental league team. Black is nothing special but he’s cheap and that’s something the Rockets needed with a lot of their signings because of their salary cap issues.

The Rox have also tried to woo Paul George to Houston but he ended up signing with OKC. It would have been sweet to get George but he has made it clear he wants to play for the Lakers so Houston would only have had him for one year. Houston has also courted Carmello Anthony but the dice have come up snake eyes where he’s concerned. All this doesn’t mean GM Darrell Morey isn’t beating the bushes for more talent.

I saw an article in Bleacher Report that there is a proposal to ditch the Conference system and just allow the top 16 teams record-wise to make the playoffs. This would certainly benefit the Western Conference at this time since they have most of the good teams in the NBA. This is an interesting proposal to me and one I sort of hope the NBA leaders consider.