NBA Houston

Houston, by virtue of running up a 22-game win streak last year but still finishing up without a playoff series victory, will be an odd duck to sort as 2008-09 prognostications come around. Yao Ming projects to be more tired than usual after a busy summer of rehab, smiles and international basketball, and Tracy McGrady remains precisely the sort of lightning rod that can be called a killer of other teams or his own.

Interesting is it, then, that Houston general manager Daryl Morey is talking about adding a third 'star' to the mix in a column by the Houston Chronicle's Steve Campbell.

[...] Morey and [coach Rick] Adelman are fully aware the Rockets as constructed are a nice team that doesn't have the chops to be a champion. [...] "That's our main focus: Get one more significant player on the roster somehow," Morey said. "That's the goal. That's my job, so hopefully we will get it done."

Who is the right piece, though? A point guard more potent than Rafer Alston could be a target, but point guards are scarce and Alston, while doing his job well enough, remains borderline untradeable. Luis Scola is a dream at the power forward spot, especially with solid defenders Carl Landry and Chuck Hayes able to pitch in. You'd be hard-pressed to find a more underrated defender than Shane Battier, and defense made Houston good last season.

If you trade for someone like Ron Artest, where's the upgrade? He's a comparable defender to Battier, and has more offensive weapons. But you'd assume Sacramento wouldn't take Battier back (long salary, plush position), so what do you do with him? Start a small lineup with Scola on the bench? Bring Artest in as a Manuish sixth man? (That'll go over well.)

The best bet might be replacing Alston with an offensive-minded point, and letting Rafer sub in as defense is warranted. Mo Williams, anyone?

Crystal Ballin' takes a team-by-team look at what should, could, and probably will happen in the June 26th NBA Draft.

The Rockets had a nice 22-game win streak to hang their hats on in 2008, but that was about it. The injury to Yao really wrecked the team's chances of advancing deep into the playoffs (or even past the first round). If the team can add some athleticism and boost their bench a bit, they could be contenders in 2009.

Picks: #25, #54.

Needs: Not to have the Chinese government force their All-Star center to shut it down mid-season to make sure he's ready for the Olympics. That, and some size to back up said center when he does play. I know it seems like Dikembe Mutombo might just play forever. But I promise you, Rockets fans: he won't.

Best case scenario: Chris Douglas-Roberts would be a nice player to get here, but if the fans were drafting, I don't think he'd be available.

In another of our continuing series, five things to keep an eye out for tonight in the Rockets-Jazz game tonight.

1. Home Is Where The Last Stand Is: Let's make this clear. Yes, Utah won Games 1 and 2 in Houston. But that was the old new Houston. This is the new new Houston. With Alston back, a nothing-to-lose attitude, Tracy McGrady resembling an actual player of substance, and a rotation starting to click again, a loss tonight in Utah for the team with the best home record would be an absolute disaster for the Jazz. There seems to be a prevailing current that this is a mere formality. Maybe I'm tempered by some anti-statutory-rape feelings. Maybe I'm tired of kicking dirt on the Rockets and promptly having their hand shoot out of the ground and attack me. Or maybe it's because all season long I've had the same feeling about this Jazz team. Good. Not great. And very succeptible to a hot team. A game seven would be nightmarish pressure for the Jazz, much the same way the Rockets felt (and whithered under) pressure last year in Game 7. The Jazz have to end this, tonight.

2. Bench Evaporation: An excellent article out of the Salt Lake Tribune today brought up an excellent analysis about the Jazz bench: it's completely evaporated. Jerry Sloan is a pretty tight-reined coach. He's not going to let a lot go by. So if you're out there and you're not producing, he's going to yank you. Especially in a series as tense as this one has gotten. But if you're not playing, how do you work out of your slump? The Jazz need to be a force on the boards and on the perimeter. Paul Millsap and Kyle Korver can go a long way in that direction. They need to step it up tonight to end this.

Last night's Houston-Utah Game 5 will get little play this morning, for three reasons: 1) D'Antoni's exit is a league-rattling event; 2) Dallas's loss will lead to a league-rattling shake-up; and 3) no one cares about defense. If Tracy McGrady had dropped 49 points, or Luis Scola earned a triple double? Then we'd hear about it. But if Houston holds the league's best offense to 69 points in 90 possessions (a pro-rated offensive rating of 76.7, which is about 20 points worse than the Knicks offense), forcing the Jazz to shoot 37% from the field and 22% from three, causing 18 turnovers? We should hear about this.

Houston's defense has been unbelievable all season (it finished second in the league behind Boston); but this work is likely the Rockets' best game of the season. The Game 3 win in SLC was solid, but it didn't remind you of Houston's 22-game win streak. This one did. The offense of McGrady and Scola got the bulk of the credit for the midseason roll. In actuality, the defense sparked the streak ... and that's largely in the hands of Shane Battier (who shot 1-for-8 and was still a +12), Rafer Alston, Dikembe Mutombo, and the bench duo of Chuck Hayes and Carl Landry. (Not to diminish Mac and Scola's roles in the defense -- they do their jobs, and McGrady's man D can be downright awe-striking in moments.)

Most may shrug at Houston's Game 5 victory -- even the Associated Press game story (linked above) leads the fourth paragraph with "Now, the Jazz can end the series at home, where they went 37-4 during the regular season." What a relief, a Game 6 at home! Whew, glad we just got out of Houston alive! Earth to ... um, Earth: Houston just destroyed Utah. Let's hold off on foregone conclusions for a minute, yes?

If Houston's defense plays like that again, Utah's going down.

In another of our continuing series, five things to keep an eye out for tonight in the Suns-Spurs game tonight.

1. Anybody Else Want To Try?: The Rockets have been looking for a hero in this entire series. So far, they've had Luis Scola as the rock, and Tracy McGrady as the nice, cheap paint. But other than Rafer Alston in Game 3, there hasn't been a support player to step up. Scola is supposed to be that guy, but he has to be a primary without Yao Ming. The Rockets need somebody, Rafer, Battier, Landry, heck, even Luther Head will work, to step up and give them the big playoff buckets. If it's just T-Mac versus Jazz, well, we know how that works out.

2. AK Can Maintain: Andre Kirilenko on defense has been stellar in this series, but he needs to step it up offensively. He's held McGrady from being absurd in this series, but he's only averaging 10 points a game. If he's able to step up and knock down his jumper, this thing ends tonight, and the Jazz can rest a bit.

In another of our continuing series, five things to keep an eye out for tonight in the Rockets-Jazz Game 4 tonight.

1. Sustainable resources. Houston's one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the league; Utah is the absolutely worst on the defensive glass. In Games 1 and 3, Houston was able to exploit this for tons of second-chance opportunities -- it didn't matter in Game 1, when the Rockets couldn't hit the broadside of Charles Barkley's ass; it was the difference, however, in Game 3 as Houston earned an almost remarkable 16 o-boards in 42 opportunities. Carl Landry and Luis Scola are the culprits here; Carlos Boozer and friends need to box out much better to keep Houston's wayfaring offense from bolstering it with easy buckets.

2. Retrospective exploration. Houston's vaunted defense (second best in the league this season) has had trouble slowing down Utah's vaunted offense. The Rockets are well equipped to contain an offense with a star wing scorer or a lanky post stud. But the Jazz offense is too diverse for easy solutions, and it's showed. Even in Houston's Thursday win, Utah's offense was strong, scoring 92 points in just 82 possessions. Rafer Alston's offense in Game 3 was beautiful, but he needs to make Deron Williams look less lovely to keep Utah's offense from romping.

Three more, after the jump.

Carl Landry's block on Deron Williams to seal Houston's win in SLC was (as Shoals notes at The Sporting Blog) the stuff of legends. (It might even be comparable to Tayshaun Prince's absurd block-from-behind on Reggie Miller earlier this millenia, insofar as a momentum-shifting play which catapaults an unheralded but excellent kid into some decent attention.) Landry was able to deny Deron, sure ... but he couldn't deny the missile-like desire of Rafer Alston. The one-minute mark is the ... sweet spot.



Via Awful Announcing.

Every single night of the playoffs there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the L. Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.

Everyone likes to blame Tracy McGrady when the Rockets. I know it, you know, he knows it. So in light of Houston's series-saving victory on Thursday (going down 0-3 isn't technically the same as being eliminated, but it's close enough), let's allow McGrady to soak in a little bit of the credit for this one: he scored 27 points with five boards, seven assists and a block, playing 43 minutes in Houston's slim 94-92 win. Yes, it took a last-second block by Carl Landry to seal the deal, but the Rockets would be lost without T-Mac.

Also Receiving Votes:
It's borderline criminal how much point guard talent the Raptors are hoarding this year. Check out the combined production of Jose Calderon and T.J. Ford on Thursday: 39 points (13-22 FG), 12 boards, 16 assists, two steals and four turnovers in 46 minutes. How'd the Magic fare?

Umm ... not as well. Jameer Neson and Keyon Dooling mustered just 14 points (5-13 FG) and seven assists in 46 minutes. Not surprisingly, the Raps won going away.

Every now and again there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the L. Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.

Washington's not-so-secret weapon was supposed to be their all-around depth and versatility: even if you contain one of their Big Three, there's no way you can stop the other two, right? Meh. On Monday, Gilbert Arenas (7 points, 2-for-10 shooting), Caron Butler (12 points, 4-for-13) and Antawn Jamison (9 points, 4-for-13) combined for 28 points, or roughly a third of what they're supposed to be putting up.

At least Arenas has some kind of excuse: he's still a bit rusty coming back from knee surgery, and he was playing Monday on a sprained wrist. He's also still coming off the bench, but with the Wizards returning to D.C. for Games 3 and 4 with down 0-2 with their tails between their legs, I wouldn't be surprised if he returns to the starting lineup. Antonio Daniels may have been a respectable fill-in starter while Arenas was hurt, but he's done jack lately, combining to score just eight points with two assists in the first two games.

We've mentioned it before, but one of the perks of being one of Yao Ming's teammates is that Chinese companies shower you with offers to endorse their product. That's how Shane Battier not only ended up wearing PEAK shoes but also becoming something of a national icon (at least in the Jared Fogle kind of way). From Ross Siler of the Salt Lake Tribune:

Battier said every NBA game broadcast in China goes to break with a Peak commercial starring himself and returns from break with the same commercial a second time.

"I'm much more famous in China than I think I ever was in America, which is kind of cool," Battier said.