We waited longer than usual for Kevin McHale to appear from the lockerroom and take our questions. When that happens, it’s after a bad loss and we assume hell is being raised behind closed doors. He then is not very pleasant during the presser and in a very bad mood. We assumed tonight would be the same. Oddly, it wasn’t. McHale didn’t really appear too upset. I think the fact that the team fought back and made it a game let them escape his wrath.
This was the most disappointing loss of the year. A win tonight would have pretty much clinched the playoffs giving the team its first appearance in three years. Instead of looking up at the homecourt chase, after a 4-0 road trip, the Rockets are back in a dead tie with the Mavs and Nuggets for the 8th seed. So it goes for the Rockets this season. They are what they are. A pretty good team that has wildly overachieved in the face of adversity but not anything close to a contender.
From the start, the Rockets came out flat and got hit early. By the time they climbed back into it in the fourth, it was too late. They had run out of gas. The effort it took to cut down an 18 point deficit did them in and shots stopped falling.
Just extremely, extremely disappointing to see the team come out so flat in such a big game. But perhaps my expectations have become unreasonable.
I was thinking earlier today, on my drive to Toyota Center, about the Rockets’ offense: top 10 for pretty much the entire season, I thought back on the days when the team would go entire quarters in search of a basket, stubbornly trying to force-feed Yao in the post against fronting defenders. I smiled thinking, “gone are those days.” Ironic because the Rockets went ice cold tonight.
Chase Budinger went 2-11 giving the Rockets pretty much nothing. If Kevin Martin is able to make it back, would he be better in that spot in the rotation? You could go with Dragic, Lee, Lowry, Martin, Parsons as your perimeter with Camby, Patterson, Scola, and Dalembert upfront. Given that Dalembert played only ten minutes tonight, and that coaches typically size down their rotations to 8 in the second season, I wouldn’t be shocked to see Dally ousted altogether from regular minutes and only thrown in for spot minutes. Quite the fall from grace for the former starter.
The good: it seems Kyle Lowry is fully back.
