Kleeman's Last Word

Rockets blow it in the clutch, again...

The first few weeks of the season, it's been hard to tell who these Houston Rockets are. How should they handle team X versus team Y? Would Rick Adelman have this bunch playing the same aggressive, snarly defense Jeff Van Gundy brought to Houston? Would a motion offense or faster tempo change the fact that a few of these Rockets couldn't buy a basket even though they were wide open against the Utah Jazz in the first round?
Would we find out that Van Gundy was never the problem, that his offense wasn't sticky and that it comes down to having player who can knock down open shots?

It's still too early to answer any of these questions wholly, but a few things are clear to me after watching the Rockets blow it all in a 100-94 loss at home.

The Rockets have dropped five straight, including two mind numbing losses to the Los Angeles Lakers and the Memphis Grizzlies.

Matt Bullard might be right when he says don't panic just yet. I hope he's right, but history is not on his side.

For the basketball team whose fans coined the term "clutch city," there hasn't been a hell of a lot of clutch lately. It's been mostly choke, give up or make excuses.
Tonight was no different.
"We didn't execute tonight," Adelman said after the loss. Well, no shit Rick!

The excitement about these Rockets has been genuine and deserved. General Manager Daryl Morey racked up some of the best deals of the offseason--nabbing Argentine forward Luis Scola, Mike James, Steve Francis and Aaron Brooks and Carl Landry in the draft.

There's no question about it. The Rockets have the physical talent to beat any team in the NBA in a playoff series. On paper, they are championship caliber.

On the court, a different story has unfolded. There have been stretches and signs--Scola pouring in two consecutive 20 point games and Wells' monster rebounding effort against the defending champion Spurs--but that's it. We've seen flashes of how great this team could be, but then again, when the Rockets thumped the 76ers late in the season 124-74, we saw it then too.

What these soul-searching Rockets will find is that promise won't cut it when it counts. If the Rockets fail again this year and fizzle out of the playoffs, no amount of excuses will get them off the hook.

Morey did his job, now the players must do theirs.

After a stinging loss tonight, some observations:

1) Avery Johnson is a filthy liar. The man will play his starters 70 minutes if it allows him to beat a Texas rival. The man's greedy, he wants to win. Rockets fans can only hope the Mavs coach's audacity and competitive spirit will backfire again as it did against the Golden State Warriors.

2) When Tracy McGrady's jumpshots go in, he looks like an unguardable God. When they clank, he looks like a poor decision maker in the clutch who has never been out of the first round.
Bottom line: The Rockets will never win an important playoff game as long as T-Mac continues shooting crap jumpers. With 24 seconds left on the clock, the star guard has no excuse to pull up for a contested step back.
Give the Dallas Mavericks some credit. They can defend bad decision making. Despite a season high 12 assists, his mistakes were ample.
Until McGrady learns that attacking the rim is not about garnering a status quo highlight on Sports Center, he will be a perennial loser. When will this underachiever and former scoring champ live up to his promise?
When he slahes to the basket every time he touches the ball, I'll bat an eye.
I hope Adelman understands as I do that shit heaves like the one he threw up with less than 30 seconds to go tonight will NEVER get it done.

I said it last year and I'll repeat: the Rockets are only as good as their inside scoring. I love T-Mac and his wonderful talent, but I hate him for rarely living up to it. Dunks and layups impress me more than jacking up ill-advised threes, Tracy.

3) Yao Ming has made strides in becoming a more dominant low-post scorer, but there's still work to be done.
Yao becomes undefendable when he plays up to his height and skill set. If he plays like a 7-6" center with more moves than the crowd at an Earth, Wind and Fire concert, he will answer to no one.

Dirk Nowitzki has not proven he can guard any dominant low post players in the clutch. Just as in the Nov. 5 loss, Yao found himself in a one on one situation with the reigning MVP. Rather than aggresively swoop to the basket, Yao backed down and passed the ball. Pardon my language, but Yao needs to fucking charge at Dirk, dunk on his fucking defensive liable ass and secure a three point play.

It hurts to use such ungraceful language to describe a beloved player, but he must do this if he wants to win.

4) The Rockets must understand that in games against rivals and title contenders, nothing in the first three quarters matters. I wish I could applaud Battier's three point play early in the first quarter, but I can't. Such brilliance was not duplicated in the fourth quarter when it counted.

They sucked away a commanding 17 point lead and blew it all. Or maybe they just plain sucked.

Why does this team I love frustrate me so?
With the team learning a new offense from a new coach, Bullard might be right in not immediately pressing the panic button.

However, given that this team has not triumphed the first round in 10 years, I wouldn't get too comfortable either.

posted by Robert Kleeman @ 8:11 PM