The Daily Blast – March 13, 2013
The Once and Future Aaron Brooks - In yesterday’s post-practice interview, Jeremy Lin revealed that Aaron Brooks gives exactly the kind of veteran advice you would expect to hear from Aaron Brooks. “Like for example, in the Golden State game at halftime, I was talking to him like, ‘How do you counteract someone so explosive offensively as Steph Curry?’ And he was saying, ‘You have got to attack him. Get him in foul trouble. If he’s on his heels then you’re going to neutralize a lot of what he does just by attacking him on the (sic) defensive end.”
Of course the defense he is referring to would be Curry’s defense. This is classic Aaron Brooks–saying the best way to slow down a great scorer is to make said scorer work to defend you. We have one more game against Golden State this year to see a conscience-free shootout between Brooks and Curry. The basketball gods of Order forbid it. The basketball gods of Chaos are drooling.
The Working Man’s Kevin McHale – One reporter asked the coach about the players having a couple days to “recharge,” unwittingly opening the door for a basketball sermon.
“I guess I’m way too old,” McHale said. “You’re playing basketball for a living. Recharge your batteries? Every morning you should get up and get on your knees and thank God you are playing basketball for a living. Someone is actually paying you–in some cases, millions and millions, and in other cases hundreds of thousands at the minimum–to play basketball.
“If you have to recharge your batteries, to play basketball…I understand recharging my batteries if I’ve done three double shifts, I’m laying cement, and then I come home. I understand that. I don’t understand–recharge your batteries for what? To be able to come out here and play basketball for a living? If you have to do that, you’re in the wrong sport. You’re doing the wrong thing. This is a high energy game that requires total commitment, but it’s a joy to play. It’s fun.”
If McHale had been holding a mic, he would have dropped it and walked off the stage.
The Daily Blast – March 12, 2013
All That Power – The Rockets slipped from 8 down to 10 in both Marc Stein’s (ESPN) and John Schumann’s NBA.com power rankings this week, because that’s what happens when you blow a game to a team (Phoenix) that has no reason to do anything other than tank at this point in the season. Marc Stein writes:
Of the six teams realistically battling for the final three playoff spots in the West, Houston entered Sunday’s games with the easiest remaining schedule in terms of opponent winning percentage, with the Lakers not far behind. The toughest remaining schedules belong to Portland and Utah.
When your position in the rankings is paired with a note about the ease of your remaining schedule, that fits the definition of “damning with faint praise.” The good news is that while the Lakers continue to climb, Golden State and Utah have dropped like injured Vince Carters, so the Rockets’ playoff picture hasn’t really changed much.
All Those Power Forwards – The Dream Shake has a solid breakdown of the Rockets’ shaky situation at the 4 spot.
Are the Houston Rockets in Danger of Another Fatal Collapse?
The date was Wednesday, April 11, 2012. The Houston Rockets sat seven games above .500 in the 2011-2012 NBA season, set to see the playoffs for the first time since 2009. With only nine games left in the season, all they needed to do to face San Antonio in round one was to win four of those games. All they needed to do was keep up the winning pace they had all season. And then they dropped six games in a row. Sitting at seventh with a chance at sixth, will this year’s Houston Rockets share that fate?
The Daily Blast – March 11, 2013
Addition by Omission – The most significant thing about Bill Simmons’ piece on the worst contracts in the NBA, is what is left out: you won’t find a single player from the Rockets’ roster on the list of the worst 30. Only one current player was mentioned in the article (aside from speculation about Harden deals that never happened), and that player was Expiring Contract Francisco Garcia:
There’s light at the end of the tunnel of salary hell for Corey Maggette’s expiring deal ($10.9 million), as well as the ones for Stephen Jackson ($10.1 million), Mo Williams ($8.5 million), Devin Harris ($8.5 million), Chris Kaman ($8 million), Beno Udrih ($7.8 million), DeSagana Diop ($7.4 million), Francisco Garcia ($6.1 million) and Luke Walton ($6.1 million). Only two expiring deals cracked our master list of top 30 atrocities (we’ll get to them).
And Garcia wasn’t on that master list.
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