Rockets Versus Spurs, the final chapter

Game 4 in the Rockets Spurs series is today at 12PM CST in San Antonio. I'll be at Reliant Stadium watching the Texas Longhorns work there way to the Final Four, but I expect a great game and will be following on my blackberry. The Rockets own the series for now, at 2-1 holding serve in both home games and losing by 6 on the road.

San Antonio Spurs: 50-23 (30-6 at home) 6-4 in their last 10

Houston Rockets: 49-23 (21-13 on the road) 7-3 in their last 10

That 6-4 market in their record is deceiving as to how they are playing right now, that's because the 4 came all at the beginning and the 6 have come in a row at the end. They are not playing exceptionally well right now, but they are the Spurs, a supremely balance team even if they are getting older. And since for them, older is more experienced and with 4 titles, that's a little worrisome for the Rockets. It's the reason I think this could be one of two losses in the last 14 games for the good guys. I would not, however, be surprised if they won the game anyway though. The Spurs have a tendency this year to lose a little focus and lose games to teams they should/could be better than. They do not do that at home very often, but have lost to Phoenix, Toronto, Detroit, Cleveland, New Orleans, and Boston. All but Boston the Rockets have beaten this year. i would love to see this game, it's going to be a good one!!

Go Rockets! Go Longhorns!

Memo to our devoted readers

Sorry for the lack of interwebs communication and blog posting here today.

First, I had jury duty this morning.

Second, I have a trial in two weeks I am preparing for. We failed to plan around the NBA playoffs and this saddens me.

Also, Lee's college team is somehow still alive in the NCAA tournament even though that Durant guy escaped to Seattle. Or Oklahoma City. Or wherever the Sonics are playing these days. So, Lee is nervously rocking back and forth in his office chair unable to speak in complete sentences or maintain rational thoughts. Something about the word "jinx" I am told.

Meanwhile I'm afraid of jinxing the Rockets before the big game on Sunday. Which, unfortunately, I just found out I won't be able to watch on TV. Will instead have to suffer through ESPN's gamecast. Ugh. Now I'm going to miss Landry dunking on Duncan's head.

Also, we did a podcast thing with an operator of a Spurs blog yesterday. We will make sure to link to that whenever it's uploaded (sometime before the game).

Post Game Wrap up, Pre Game Write Up

Saturday night I was supposed to be celebrating my two year anniversary with Mrs. UofTOrange, but unfortunately she got sick and we stayed home. I got to make lots of chicken broth and cinnamon toast (that's some good shit). I also got to watch the Rockets squeak out a victory over the all of a sudden hapless Spurs.

Now I believe that the Spurs are still the best team in the league, and when all is said and done they'll be a top seed and probably win a 5th championship. They played hard against the Rockets but the Rockets found a way to not lose, something they could not pull off against the Chris Paul's of NO or the awful Sixers. So that's definitely a good sign that those were aberrations and not what we will see the rest of the way. It's just a sign though, and signs don't mean a thing if you can't prove it on the court.

Yao had another good game, 7-10 shooting, for 21 points. He added 14 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks to go with only one turnover. Unfortunately he missed 2 straight free throws at the end that almost gave the game away, but was still 70% from the line.

Luis Scola saved us twice towards the end with huge rebounds. Then Rafer tried to give it away by missing a free throw as well. Overall Rafer wasn't terrible, though his lack of passing into the post did cause him to shoot 15 times. I guess I have to point out that he was 3-4 from the 3 point line and had 6 assists, but 4 TOs unfortunately. 3 of those were on completely lazy passes. What is it with this team and lazy passes? We seem to have about 5 a game, eliminate those and we'd have about 6-7 more victories this year. Only 7 TOs for the game for everyone, that's pretty stellar though, so I can't complain too much.

Luther Head was awful, shooting 4-11 (yes more shots than Yao) for 9 points, 1 assist and 1 steal in 23 minutes. That's right, he almost had a shot for every 2 minutes of action. I saw his hitch a few times and that is not a positive sign. Honestly though, he's typically a good shooter, so I like the enthusiasm. I hate the lack of passing or dribbling ability though.

That brings us to TMac in his first game back. To start off he could not have been more passive. He launched 5 threes in the game actually converting on one of them. That one rattled around and really should have come out, but hey, it went in so that counts. Overall he was 4-12 with 9 points 4 rebounds and 4 assists in 27 minutes. He finally realized in the second half that he can't shoot as well as he thinks he can and took it to the basket a few times. That combined with his assists made me hopeful that he'll realize that is his game. The ridiculous barrage of 3s is still tempering that hope however.

Overall, good game for the guys, though ugly.

Next up, for two games in a row no less, the Seattle/Oklahoma/Las Vegas Kevin Durants. Now I'm a Texas grad, as you well know, and Kevin Durant is a fucking bad mofo, so I really wanted to be there today. Unfortunately I can't for two reasons: 1. They put the game at 1:30PM CST on a Monday. Yes it's MLK day, but most people don't get it off. 2. It's my 2 year anniversary and I like keeping my balls. (I'm probably in trouble already for that not being number 1).

KD is having a good year, but it's only the tip of the iceberg. His career is going to be outstanding. This year, the Supersonics suck though and it's not going to get any prettier for him or the team over the next two games. The Rockets will sweep both games, though that's not really a stretch.

A post of few words

I told you so. Terrible loss to the Sixers and a win versus the Spurs. Well, to be fair I also said we'd beat the Sixers by 14-18 or something like that. And, well, we should have.

I'll put up a breakdown of the game a little later, but good win in a horribly ugly game for the Rockets. I do like that when two teams have played terribly at the same time this year, the Rockets have come out on top.

Props to Carl Landry, taking the ball from Timmy and dunking on his head as well as just all around solid play. And welcome back Tracy, now stop shooting the three so much.