Kleeman's Last Word

Rockets Steal 4th Seed From Jazz, at Least for Now

Who knew you could play this badly and still pass a team that was two games ahead of you one week ago for home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs?
The Rockets managed to temporarily grab the Western Conference's 4th playoff seed by a half game after escaping a spirited effort from the pathetic Supersonics. As poorly and lethargically as the Rockets have played in the last week, Utah has been one step worse.
Utah has lost 4 of its last 5 games, the only win an 86-83 victory over the Rockets that seemed to deflate any chances of catching them for the four spot. Since then, both teams have stumbled into an ugly race to see which team can play less badly.
Both clubs managed to make the depleted, lottery-bound Portland Trail Blazers look like a playoff team in consecutive losses.
The Jazz have dropped games to the Supersonics, Blazers and Kings. The Warriors pistolwhipped them by 24 points Monday evening, 126-102, in a game where the final score was hardly that close.
After dropping three in a row, two of which should have been blowouts in the Rockets' favor (Golden State and Portland), Houston barely skirted by two ball clubs whose hopes include little more than landing a decent lottery pick in the June draft.
Barely beating the embarrasing Sonics by five points in a hot seated race would most assuredly not be enough in most playoff races. But the Jazz's play of late has been so decrepit, it defies the classification of the negative adjectives "bad" and "ugly."
Yao registered 31 points and T-Mac dropped 27, but this one is on the shortlist of games not to remember when the postseason rolls around in a few weeks.
Lucky for the lackadaisical Rockets, the Jazz keep turning in performances that are even worse. For now, it's just enough for the Rockets to rest their pinkies on the coveted 4th playoff seed.

posted by Robert Kleeman @ 11:08 PM