The regular season is nearing its end, and so the Rockets travel to the desert for a game that could guarantee them the 6th seed. The equation: win tonight and if the Warriors lose one of their last two games (vs San Antonio and @ Portland) then they’re locked into their spot. While there is a school of thought that says they would be more likely to advance against a banged-up Spurs team, the Nuggets (who only need to win one more game to guarantee the third seed) have their own injury problems and that match-up is likely to be ridiculously entertaining. The Rockets management has given no indication they’d prefer to strategically lose, so I can’t imagine we’ll see anything other than 100% from the team tonight.

That said, it is the second night of a back-to-back, a scenario in which the Rockets have been poor this year (6-14 record in games where they’ve played the night before). Fortunately, their romp against Sacramento was comprehensive enough that the starters could be rested in the 4th quarter, so they should hopefully have something left in the tank.

Their opponents this evening are in full-on tank mode at the moment. The Suns have had nothing to play for for some time – historically an unusual feeling out in Phoenix – and now have an eye on getting lucky with the lottery. Since they beat Houston on the 9th of March, they’ve gone 2-15. In their defense, it should be noted that Marcin Gortat has been injured for the entirety of that stretch, and his absence leaves them with a gaping hole at centre. But despite his noises about returning, it seems likely given their current situation that he will be shut down for the rest of the season.

Key Questions:

- This is the second team in a row with several former Rockets on the roster. In the teams’ last meeting they played very well – can the Rockets limit them this time around? Particularly Scola, who’s wily post moves will make life difficult for whichever of the Rockets’ many PFs ends up with the majority of the minutes.

- Beasley is one of those players who is usually terrible but every once in a while can take over a game. Will we see disinterested, pull-up-for-bad-jumpers Beasley, or dangerous, attacking-the-rim and making-baskets Beasley? These days it’s usually the former, but if the latter shows up, watch out?

- Will Lin and Harden have the energy to turn on the driving game? The Suns have a few competent defensive players in Dragic, Dudley and Tucker who could make it difficult to get that initial penetration, particularly on tired legs. But once that’s been surmounted the interior Suns defense is porous. O’Neal is experienced but his abilities are on the decline, and neither Morris twin is a particularly good help defender. If the Rockets’ guards can get past their men, they should profit.

- Who will be making their threes? As we know by now, the Rockets can struggle if the three ball isn’t falling. If a few players can make some outside shots, particularly if they’re at the 4, then it will make the game a lot easier.

- Have the wings got back to fitness? We’ve seen that when healthy Parsons and Delfino help to turbo-charge the Rockets’ offense. However, both have been struggling with injuries lately and that has left a void at the wing positions. They need to get back to their midseason form for the Rockets to stand a chance of progressing in the playoffs, and that starts with working their way back to that level in games like tonight.

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James Harden was a beast. He shot 7-10 from deep, grabbed 5 boards and dished  8 dimes. His 8 turnovers were grim indeed, but that wasn’t even half of the team’s total (19). As the game progressed and the win slipped farther out of Houston’s reach, Harden turned it on in the third and took over. The Rockets had been trying to create for a variety of scorers, to move the ball and to play as a team. That wasn’t working at all. When they simply gave the ball to Harden and let him break down his man, the Rockets scored. With fatigue aplenty to go around, perhaps there simply wasn’t enough in his tank to shoot more often. It’s too bad, because he was packing high octane in the tank.

Carlos Delfino was the only other Rocket making any headway against the Suns, turning in 21 points on 8-15 shooting. The rest of Houston’s had 9 points 25% shooting. The Suns’ bench, on the other hand, had 55 points on 44 shots. Jared Dudley led his team with 22 points on 75% from the field. Hamed Haddadi played solid defense and looked clearly better than Omer Asik. Kendall Marshall his huge, critical threes as well as a last second heave of a two that somehow found its way home. The Suns played their bench huge minutes, and those players simply looked fresher and more excited than anyone in red.

The difference in effort was striking. While a few 50/50′s went the Suns’ way, the fact of the matter is that the Suns’ bench unit simply beat the Rockets’ starters. Parsons had 14 points on 16 shots and Lin scored 11 on 9. The Rockets went 4-6 on free throws outside of Harden’s 9-12. Omer Asik grabbed 16 rebounds, but nobody else in red had more than 5. Patrick Beverley’s 5 assists beat out Lin’s 4 and the starters had 17 turnovers.

For a 2:45 stretch in the second, the Rockets went scoreless with 3 turnovers and 2 shot attempts. The Rockets’ offense has looked weak in recent games, and the ability to defense Golden State was crucial in their win on Friday. The Suns simply proved too much to handle as they scrambled and hustled to boost their chances. Discounting the four intentional fouls by Houston late in the game, both teams committed 20 fouls on the evening. The Suns, however, were much more aggressive with the ball, resulting in the Suns shooting 31 free throws to the Rockets’ 18. The Rockets shot over twice as many threes, and that’s not a recipe for shooting fouls.

There’s little good for Houston to take away from this game, save for perhaps a sense of urgency against the Suns on Wednesday, Houston’s next game. The Suns looked like a better team, winning despite starting center Marcin Gortat sitting with an injury. At the start of the year, these two teams were predicted to be between 30 to 40 wins, with the Suns being a bit better. The season so far has told a different story, but this alternate reality came true for a game tonight.

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Sorry to those of you wondering why I suddenly disappeared last night.

Let me get to a couple of notes I made after I bowed out from the live-blog.

• Watching Conroy, he has virtually no footspeed whatsoever offensively.  He’s almost treading through quicksand on the offensive end.  Not so strange by itself, but the interesting thing is that, at least on the possessions I saw, he looked very good defensively.  He moves his feet well and does a very good job of staying in front of his man, despite the lack of speed.
• Moments after Amare hit a jumper, Clyde remarked, “That’s so devastating that I can’t imagine them trying to trade Amare Stoudemire.”  Bill later also expresses his confusion. – I always found odd just how completely oblivious to financial matters most commentators are.  I don’t expect a detailed understanding of the cap, but how can you possibly think they are shopping him for actual talent personnel concerns?
• Final note is on Trevor Ariza: It’s gotten to the point where I just can’t watch this guy play anymore, at least until Yao Ming returns or some other factor forces down his usage.  The risk of hurling something at my television screen has become far too great.  Inside the 2 minute mark of the 4^th, he took quite possibly the worst shot I have seen all year, going to his right and banking in a runner off one foot.  (The worst part about Ariza made shots is that they reinforce his self-delusion.)  He then played hero, sending the game to overtime with a corner 3.  Make no mistake, this game-saver was yet another bad shot – my stomach sank when I realized what was about to happen.  He drove to his right, stepped back off the crossover and launched the 3 – a great shot for Aaron Brooks; an attempt with probably a 5% chance-in-hell for Ariza.  His luck finally ran out in overtime.  (Like I said, the worst part about Ariza made-shots is that they reinforce his delusions of grandeur.)  Inside two minutes in the OT, Ariza pulled up for a ‘3’, missing it horribly, allowing Phoenix to score and push the lead to three.  Just moments later, he launched yet another ‘3’ off a Landry kick-out, completely ignoring a wide open Aaron Brooks.  I’m not blaming Ariza for this loss –  frankly, I didn’t think they had a chance without Lowry – I just can’t watch him play on this basketball team anymore.

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Despite the result, this was one of the most entertaining games of the year.

The Suns burst out of the gates, building a double digit lead before Aaron Brooks caught fire and brought the Houston Rockets back.  The Rockets offense exploded upon Carl Landry and Chase Budinger’s entrances and the team built its own cushion.

The Rockets’ draft class of 2007 went nuts in this one combining for 65. Aaron Brooks had 34 points with 6 triples, while Carl Landry poured in 31 off the bench.

The Rockets choked in the end, but this was a fairly productive win.

Random Musings:

If I can’t write the entire post until the morning after, I like to at least put up a very brief recap immediately after the game to allow any of our readers the opportunity to vent in that critical period.  I withheld from even this last night out of fear that my anger would pollute my entire thought process and overcome my better judgment.

Once again last night, I made the decision to make no mention of Trevor Ariza.  Despite another maddening performance, I stuck to my guns and made no notes.  This was until I was left with no choice at the 50 second mark of the 4th.  I really wish I was making this stuff up at this point, but those of you who watched this game know of exactly what I’m speaking.  After what transpired, I was overcome with an anger that I hadn’t felt this entire season.

After falling behind by ten, the Rockets once more valiantly fought their way back, miraculously cutting the lead to four with just 50 seconds remaining.  Having possession of the ball, the team somehow still had a chance to win this game.  The red hot Aaron Brooks dribbled on the left wing, looking inside for the equally hot Carl Landry.  Having nowhere to go, Brooks passed back out top to Ariza.  It pains me to even revisit what then took place.

Ariza didn’t just shoot the ’3′ against coverage.  While that would have been maddening enough, that action would have been innocuous in comparison to what he really took the liberty to attempt.

With 50 seconds remaining in the game, with his team down by 4, with his team having the momentum, with his two nearest teammates having combined for over 60 points, having himself gone 5-13 from the floor up to that point, and having no basketball capacity for anything more than the utter basics, Trevor Ariza decided to square up his defender – Tracy McGrady 2003 style – hold the ball for what seemed like eternity, and then rise up for the contested 3 pointer, killing his team’s chances in a game they deserved to win.

It’s reached the point with Ariza where I’m starting to question my own assumptions.  It’s not about poor shooting.  A lot of guys shoot bad, but, while it hurts the team, its at least tolerable because it comes within the framework of their responsibilities.  Rafer Alston is a classic example.  He hurt the team many a nights, but from an analytical perspective, it wasn’t too painful because it was clear to understand what was going on: the defense was rotating off of Alston and thus Alston had no choice but to continue shooting those open shots.  The greater point here is that poor shooting, even poor play is tolerable.

What’s difficult to understand is when a player is given freedom of which he has no business having.  There’s just no excuse for allowing Trevor Ariza to actually square up his defender late in a close game as if he has even a modicum of capacity for the feat.

So naturally, I’m beginning to wonder if I’m wrong about this whole thing and Rick Adelman has given his blessing and told Trevor he is this team’s best player.  I don’t know but that’s the only real plausible explanation.  Enough on this topic as it has taken a toll on my blood pressure.

Carl Landry was again unhuman, winning his matchup with Amare Stoudemire.  I hesitate to say it, but Landry is actually more skilled than Stoudemire.  He’s not better (at least not yet…gulp) as Stoudemire possesses a superior combination of size and power, but it was painfully clear which of the two has the more diverse repertoire.  Carl basically showed us everything last night: jump hooks, drives, dunks, and some very impressive power moves where he threw off his defender by delivering a hard initial blow after receiving the ball.  The man just continues to amaze.

Chase Budinger also looked very good in his 22 minutes, scoring 9 points off the bench.  The Rockets’ offense simply just looks the way it was envisioned to be run when Budinger is on the court.  It comes as no surprise then that he is a part of the team’s 3 most efficient offensive 5 man units.  Chase was almost tailor-made for the Princeton offense.  He can shoot the ’3′, shoot jumpshots off screens, slash off the ball, pass, and already has one of the highest IQ’s on the team.  He’s the anti-Ariza and I think he will be a starter in this league at some point.

Final note: There was an absolutely awesome camera angle with 1 minute remaining in the 3rd quarter for which I am very grateful to the Phoenix Suns‘ television producers for providing.  If there was to be a DVD about the 2009-2010 Houston Rockets, this sequence would suffice as far as actual game footage.

The camera angle was from beneath the hoop. We saw Carl Landry face up against Robin Lopez out on the block.  He then drove and lost control of the ball at the rim.  He regained it and missed.  Andersen grabbed it and missed.  Landry once more snared the board and missed.  Lowry then came flying in and brought down the board.  All amidst a sea of white jerseys.

My description does no justice to the possession.  It was microcosmic of the determination and grit that has punctuated this team’s surprise season and the camera angle really captured those qualities to their fullest.  The Suns’ announcer remarked, “I have never seen a team show more tenacity.”  I would have to agree.

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•With 11.6 seconds left in the 4th, Bill Worrell said, regarding Trevor Ariza, “He’s trying to assume the #1 scoring load on this team.” – No. He’s not. That’s not why he’s here. Please, stop perpetuating this myth. Trevor Ariza was not brought here to assume any type of disproportionately significant allotment of the responsibilities.

•I’m starting to grow extremely frustrated with the leash afforded to Ariza. Let me clarify. I said earlier that I had no qualms with player development and experimentation. My problem here is that this is basically futile. He had two reckless drives late in the 4th that just left you shaking your head. The distinction between Ariza and a player with growth potential is that the latter will make mistakes that can be rectified with experience (ie: charging into the defender, getting trapped on the pick and roll etc.) Ariza’s mistakes come in the form of a simple lack of skill – he has sloppy handles and absolutely horrendous body control and footwork. These aren’t aspects of one’s game that will improve through in-game conditioning. As I said, in principle, I don’t mind the experimentation, but it is incredibly difficult to watch when the possibility for return is so little.

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