“A Match Made In Heaven” – It’s Valentine’s Day, so over at SI.com, Rob Mahoney is getting all mushy-gushy about how great all the Rockets’ players compliment each other on offense:
That aspect of Houston’s approach is often overlooked when we view this team as James and the Hardenaires. The Rockets’ entire offensive enterprise was transformed by Harden’s arrival, but such an approach is only possible because the personnel just so happened to provide a fantastic conceptual fit. Houston has the speed and young legs to get up the court quickly, the positional flexibility to go small and get away with it, the specialists that make the system go and a depth of shooters that space the floor for their bread-and-butter plays. When Harden looks to execute a high pick-and-roll, the attention of fans and opponents alike is fixed on his workings with the ball. He’s earned that focus with deadly drives and accurate shooting. Yet out on the periphery are a crew of complementary parts that make it all possible — spacing the floor, moving without the ball and doggedly adhering to the plan in place.
I mean, when you’re talking about chemistry, I’d put a Harden-Asik pick-and-roll right up there with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in Joe Versus the Volcano.
Hell Hath No Fury Like a Fan Scorned – Another theme of Valentine’s Day is the keen sting of unrequited love. With that in mind, this Knicks fan is still a little miffed over Lin’s departure:
There’s no need to rehash the old arguments. Why relitigate the trials of last summer, who said what to whom and the luxury tax implications that followed? We know. We know the PERs, the PPGs, the turnovers, the $139 million rise in MSG stock values, the astounding, defibrillating jolt to a comatose franchise. We remember what it felt like, that giddy mid-winter helium hit, for a fan base mired in yet another season in hell, in all likelihood the eighth circle. That’s the one shaped like an amphitheater, by the way, full of seducers and pimps, where the lamentations of the sinners make you put your hands over your ears and furiously scratch your skin off with your nails …
Frack – Ballerball.com comes through with some satire regarding the data released by STATS LLC earlier this week:
Houston - Rockets fans lead the league in explaining the benefits of fracking to players waiting to inbound the ball.
Boardin’ – As the Chronicle reports, Omer Asik has already accomplished something that Yao Ming never did:
Rockets center Omer Asik’s streak of games with at least 13 rebounds ended on Sunday at seven games when he had 12. By Tuesday, he began another one, getting 15 rebounds at Golden State along with 13 points, roughly his average save two rebounds over the past 10 games, and giving him 24 double-doubles.
His seven-game streak with at least 13 rebounds was the longest for the Rockets since Charles Barkley’s eight-game streak in the 1996-97 season.
Tweet That – Jeremy Lin zings the Beard.
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