Rockets vs Nuggets

The Rockets and the Texas Longhorns both had perfect Februaries. The Rockets are looking to do what my Horns could not, keep winning in March. Right now we stand at 14 in a row, on a streak I have said would go to 16. That was prior to the devastating news that Yao is out for the season. With Yao sitting on the bench, and now opting for surgery, we have destroyed two teams. Washington and Memphis aren't exactly world beaters, lately they haven't even been bottom dweller beaters, but these were complete dress downs of two NBA teams. Tonight the Rockets take on the Denver Nuggets at 7PM CST in Houston on ESPN.

Denver Nuggets: 35-23 (12-16 on the road) 6-4 in their last 10

Houston Rockets: 38-20 (20-9 at home) 10-0 in their last 10

They have played each other twice, one was a 28 point beat down in November by the Rockets at Toyota, and a one point OT victory in December by the Nuggets in Denver. Over their last 10 games on the road, Denver has won by an average of 15, and lost 5 by an average of 12. So they aren't in a ton of close games, and the blowouts either way are huge. That makes a lot of sense to me, during the few games I've seen of them they haven't played more than 5 minutes of defense the entire game, either they are on fire from the field or the other team is.

In their last 5 games:
Clippers - Al Thornton scored 33 and Corey Maggette scored 28
Seattle - 4 players had 15 or more
Detroit - Prince, Billups and Hamilton each had 20
Milwaukee - Micheal Redd had 42 and Mo Williams had 26
Chicago - Ben Gordon had 37, Noccioni had 21 and 4 others had 14 or more

To their credit they have managed to win games while letting other players go off on them. I think they will have a tough time doing that if they don't play defense tonight. What's amazing is that Marcus Camby is getting so much run as Defensive Player of the Year. That's absolutely absurd as he only has one other team member that rebounds in Carmelo Anthony and they shoot a ton of shots are run a fast paced game. He's able to get a lot of rebounds that way. And in the games I've watched (admittedly only about 5 games) he isn't playing good one on one defense, he's getting his blocks on help defense since they are letting him roam.

What's my prediction? 15 in a row, on the way to 16

Check out The Nugg Doctor for more on the game