Houston and Yao posted by john howard

Yao Ming could miss the entire year and there is a slight possibility he may never play again. This is devastating for the Rockets.  They will already be without Tracy McGrady for half the season due to surgery on his knee.  Ron Artest and Von Wafer are already free agents.  Resigning both is a must if the team wishes to contend again.  If they found out that Ming's foot will not recover, the Rockets may think about rebuilding.  Trading McGrady would be a start. It may be a deal where they wait and see how the season plays out.  If it looks good, they may stick it out.  If they are struggling to make playoffs, they could trade McGrady as he gets back on the court.  He could go to a team looking to make that playoff push.  They had no first round pick and drafted 3 guards in the second round.   Let's all hope the foot heals.  Yao is a great player and a good person who deserves another shot at the title.Continue reading "Houston and Yao"

Rockets & Dynamo Players Do Viral Video; Player Appearance at adidas Store posted by mspradlin

Houston Rockets point guard Kyle Lowry and Houston Dynamo midfielder Stuart Holden put together an entertaining video with a few unique alley-oops, and I thought Houston Rocket News readers might want to take a look.  Fans can meet Holden and fellow Dynamo player Danny Cruz this Sunday at the adidas store in the Houston Galleria, where they’ll be signing autographs, giving away team gear and taking photos.  More info on this event is available below.

LOWRY AND HOLDEN VIDEO:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOOSVdvhcbU

DYNAMO PLAYERS VISIT ADIDAS STORE TO MEET HOUSTON FANS AND GIVE AWAY GEAR

WHAT:

Houston Dynamo midfielder Stuart Holden and Dynamo rookie Danny Cruz will be onsite at the adidas Sport Performance store in the Houston Galleria this Sunday to meet and greet fans, sign autographs, take photos and give away Houston Dynamo gear.  The Dynamo Girls and a live DJ will also be onsite, and Dynamo tickets, signed gear and adidas gift cards will be given away.

WHEN:

Sunday, May 31, 2009

1:00 – 2:30 p.m. CT

WHERE:

adidas Sport Performance Store

Houston Galleria

5155 West Alabama

Houston, TX 77056

(713) 627-9300

Miranda Spradlin

Kobe and LeBron facing similar dilemmas posted by Chris Strickland

Or is it dilemmi? Either way.

As the entire NBA world eagerly awaits the potential match-up of Kobe and LeBron in this year's finals, they also can't help observe it's getting increasingly difficult for them to get there. The Magic and Nuggets are hitting their strides at the right time, with bench players stepping up at crucial moments, Van Panic and Karl making good coaching moves, and both team's point guards acting as the leaders they can be. Even if the current and future MJ's of our time average 50 a game for the rest of the playoffs, it won't matter. That's not how you reach the Golden Summit (Yes, I just used "Golden Summit" as an analogy for the Finals. Deal with it. I like it.).

If Kobe's Lakers are going to utilize home-court advantage and take this 2-2 series, Lamar Odom's going to have to step it up, dawg. You can't just score 7.5 points a game against Denver. They aren't the Clippers. Also, learn to box out. CHRIS ANDERSON SHOULDN'T HAVE MORE UPS THAN YOU. As someone who watched last night's humiliation, I can safely say the only thing more embarrassing to watch than Anderson jamming home the tip-in on a missed shot was his lamer version of TO's eagle routine, shouting a "wooooot" bird call to Denver's lame bird-loving fans as he ran backcourt. That, to me, was the epitomy of the bench differential. Denver's reserves are whooping Los Angeles'. Where's the depth? James Posey was a HUGE reason the Celtics won it all last year. At least their bench showed up.

As for "King" James, his supporting cast has been getting manhandled by Orlando's size, speed, and a combination of the two. This is clear as day because Coach Van Panic has done a solid job of exploiting Cleveland's lack of depth. Michael Pietrus (Who?) has 39 points through the series' first three games, which is THE NUMBER ONE REASON Orlando has a 2-1 lead going into tonight's Game 4. Pietrus finds any way he can to get into the lane, while the Cavs just stand and watch. On the flip side, Wally, Joe Smith, and Sasha Pavlovic, what the f*** are you staring at? Putting Pietrus on LeBron, too, was a great move by Van Panic. If only he'd kept him there for that last shot in Game 2. 

Top 10 Things Mark Cuban MEANT TO SAY to K-Mart's mom posted by Chris Strickland

When Mark Cuban told Lydia Moore that her son, the Nuggets' Kenyon Martin, was a "thug" after Game 3 of the Nuggets-Mavs series, he crossed a line. I thought I'd point out the Top 10 Things he MEANT TO SAY to Ms. Moore:

10) "I know he's not a thug. No real thug would ever get sponsorship from K-Mart."

9) "I meant to say, 'Your son's a cool dude,' not, 'Your son included.' Had some margaritas during the game. Slurred my words."

8) "THUG is an acronym. It stands for Totally Hip Underestimated Gamer."

7) "I want Kenyon to be in my new show, 'Thuggin' It,' about a group of NBA players cleaning up run-down neighborhoods."

6) "I was trying to reward you! Every thug-mama received a free chalupa that night."

5) "Last I checked, you're not a thug unless you mock our national anthem, reference slavery, and get caught multiple times with grass (no, I'm not talking about you, Josh Howard)."

4) "Why are you looking at me like that? Seriously. Stop it."

3) "Look, thugness is a good thing. If Nowitzki had your son's thugness, he'd be unstoppable. Like a German ghetto man-child."

2) "As long as Kenyon's not friends with TI or Vick, I take it back."

1) "Your son may be a thug, but he's nothing compared to 'Melo." 

There's clearly no shortage of thugs in the NBA. Just look at Artest. The only way the Rockets are going to beat the Lakers is if Ron Artest literally KILLS Kobe Bryant. That's the only way. Lakers take Game 7 in a blowout.

The Element of Suprise posted by CaliDimples

Okay, so here we are on Friday, a day after the Lakers lost a very important game but learned a very important lesson. The one thing that stands out about this particular matchup is how much people were expecting the Lakers to trounce Houston. This is way before Mutumbo and Ming even got injured. Everyone pretty much wrote off Houston once they heard they were facing my home town team. Showtime at Staples. It was supposed to be set in stone. This was supposed to be an easy series. The Lakers were supposed to do to Houston what King James (can I say how awesome he is? LOL) and The Cavs have done in the East. Steamroll. Sweep the Rockets and send them home to eat Ben and Jerry's in their favorite PJ's or whatever men do when their team is out of the playoffs.

But Houston was not having that. Insert visual of Mutumbo's finger wave here. Sure they don't have a Kobe Bryant like we do, so what. Sure they don't have a Pau Gasol. So what. What they do have is three injured top guys and hearts of steel. These guys are playing like no one's business. Now people are talking about how suprised and shocked they are. Really? This is the NBA, the best of the best play here. Battier, Scola, Artest and Brooks have rallied the troops and have not looked back since. I have a feeling the Laker players are just as shocked as most of their fans. However, it should be a lesson to us all regradless of who you root for or play for. A great war strategist once said, "Never underestimate the enemy". Truer words have never been spoken.Still, you gotta love Kobe, he will go down as a legend.

Round 2, Game 6, Lakers Fail to Seal the Deal; Orlando Wins posted by Peace Wilson

95-80, Houston. These effin' (s)La(c)kers are getting on my nerves. 40 pt. winning landslide followed by Kobe and the Anemia Drips. As the coach noted, Jekyll-Hyde. Question: Who's the winner, Killer Hyde, or Mild Doc Jekyll? One of those bad means good, good means bad conundrums.

A quick glance at the box score and you see those other fellers besides Kobester (32 pts.) apparently thought their previous efforts counted in this game. Only Farmar's 13 pts. in 21 mins. off bench sparked. No wonder Kobe was sober and cautionary after Game 5, noting they weren't playing "chumps," like he knew it was gonna swing the other damn way again. They closed gap some in 3rd, fell back again in the 4th.

Now, the Celtics last year had at least two 7-game battles on their hands, and it didn't hurt them. This year, Garnett-less, they're heading into second 7th game, pre-Finals, since Orlando beat 'em tonight. I just don't remember the Lakers' degree of schizoid swing, seems the battles were closer fought throughout, bespeaking mental discipline and tough opponent.

Houston's tough all right. But I'm starting to question whether the Lakers really have a championship-tough mentality. Will they win Game 7 at home? Probably.

Should they have been able to close out Houston tonight? Yeah.

The Cavs sweeping cakewalk through two rounds is both a tribute to improved LeBron and team play, but also an indicator that only Boston or Orlando can really challenge them.

Houston has a proud championship history, IS a tough team, with or without the Chinese Tower of Brittle Feet, so it's not ALL on the apparently schizy Lakers team character -- but enough of it is.

Manny being Manny: The Latest twist in the Steroid Saga posted by Chris Strickland

Steroids has officially gone postal.

The list of all-star players who have been revealed to be using steroids: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Andy Pettitte, Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada, Alex Rodriguez, now.......MANNY RAMIREZ.

It makes sense when you think about it. The baggy uniform. The dreads to cover up his huge head (they all have huge heads). How he erupted last year when he was with the Red Sox and practically mauled a team assistant. How he always used to spend time in the Green Monster and no one would question what he was doing. This brings us to my theory.

My theory of why Manny started juicing is because upon signing with the Sox, at his press conference, he swore to the front office, the media, and the Fenway Faithful that he was going to BEAT THE YANKEES. I'm sure he woke up the next morning, in an empty Boston apartment full of scattered Tecates, and uttered..."What happened last night?" It's like when you're drunk and you get carried away, you end up doing something you regret. Either you make a bad dance move, throw the ping pong ball into some girl's boobs at beer pong, or in Manny's case, make a promise to beat the most bad-ass dynasty in baseball at the time. Oops.

So the next morning, Manny calls up his friend. Say his friend's name is, um..."Big Papi." Let's call him that for now. "Big Papi" offers Manny something that can help him beat the Yankees.

Manny: "What you got, ese?"

Papi: "Don't call me ese."

Manny: "Sorry. I'm just being myself."

Memo to Kobe: Be like Mike posted by Chris Strickland

If Kobe Bryant expects to win a championship this June, he needs to trust his teammates more. If he doesn't, the Lakers will not only struggle to win the Finals, they may have trouble even getting there. Last night's loss to the Houston Rockets, putting them down 1-0 in the series, is to me, enough cause for concern. Phil Jackson needs to sit down Kobe and tell him the same thing he told Jordan: trust your teammates more.

The Lakers have problems whenever Kobe takes too many shots. Last night Kobe took 31. His selfish side came out and Kobe got greedy, as he had as many assists as Pau Gasol last night: 4. That's also the same number as the amount of shots Sasha Vujacic, LA's self-proclaimed "3-Point Machine," took. If you're 2-17 from 3-point land, and that's a huge reason you're losing late in the game, why not toss the ball to your best three-point man? Kobe, be like Mike, and pass the ball more. Have more trust in your teammates late in the game.

Andrew Bynum, putting together a sub-par effort with 10 points and just 3 rebounds, took more shots than Lamar Odom, Trevor Ariza, Sasha, and Jordan Farmar. On any given night, I expect each of those players to take more shots than Bynum. That's partly Kobe's fault. He needs to be looking to pass. The Houston Rockets are going to be tough and physical this entire series. They're going to expect Kobe to come at them, knowing this, and they'll double-team him. If Kobe doesn't pass the ball, or even look to pass, LA's in trouble.

On a separate note, Yao Ming pulled off a great Willis Reed last night. Not even walking all the way to the clubhouse before changing your mind? He turned around half-way through the tunnel. His trainers couldn't even take a look! Trust me, Yao is laughing at all of us for buying this right now. He thinks he fooled us. Well Yao, you didn't fool me. I know you're a soccer player deep down. You squirmed and wriggled like Materrazzi after Zidane's World Cup head-butt. And that's a sick comparison. I have even less respect for you, now. Kobe's knee hurt YOUR knee? He's half your size, Yowie. Please.

A Season to Be Proud Of posted by Michael J. Shambaugh

It’s set in stone.  The Houston Rockets will play the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round of the 2009 NBA Playoffs, while the Portland Trailblazers start their off-season earlier than any of us would have liked.

This first round elimination for Portland helped me realize something that I should have known all along: people will jump off the bandwagon as quickly as they jumped on it.

When I came into work today, a co-worker pointed to my Portland Trail Blazers lanyard and said, “Oh, take that off.  That’s embarrassing.”  This was the same “fan” who, prior to the start of the season, was excited about “his team’s” chances this year.  Now, they’re embarrassing.  He was also quick to do the “I told you so” speech about Greg Oden being a bust. 

Let’s take a minute to clear things up.

Last year the Portland Trail Blazers grabbed 49.3% of rebounds per game.  Not even half.  This year they improved 4.1%, bringing their total percentage to 53.4%.  That was good enough for 1st overall in the league.  They pulled down 5.4 more rebounds per game than their opponents, which isn’t bad considering they were coming up 1 rebound shorter than their opponents the year prior. 

Where did this rebounding come from?  Let’s look at last year’s main rebounding players and compare their positions to this year’s players.  Brandon Roy, Portland’s All-Star, stayed the same in his average rebounds between this year and last.  Joel Przybilla averaged 0.3 more, while LaMarcus Aldridge lost 0.1.  Travis Outlaw lost 0.5 and Channing Frye’s dropped dramatically, which could have been a direct reflection of his drop in minutes. 

Playoff Excitement Part 1: Winning in the West posted by Michael J. Shambaugh

With the first round of the playoffs slowly crawling towards the end, and so much excitement developing around the league, I want to take some time out side of the Blazer Box and take a quick look at the two conferences and what they have brought us this playoff season.

We’ll start with the West…

Los Angeles Lakers versus Utah Jazz:  It was no question as to which of these two teams would be moving on in the first round, but building up to their season finale match up, a lot of people wondered: “Is L.A. going to give their final home game of the season away to Utah for a chance to play Dallas in the first round?”  Most of us expected as much to happen, but there was obviously something the Lakers knew that we didn’t.    We saw it once Dallas destroyed San Antonio in the same fashion that Los Angeles destroyed Utah.  Not much excitement out of this series.

Denver Nuggets versus New Orleans Hornets:  After watching Monday’s Game 4 in New Orleans, would you believe me if I told these two teams split the season 2-2?  The Nuggets bullied the Hornets around like a Varsity team beats up on a Junior Varsity team, or the Freshman team for that matter!  There is no excuse for losing a game by 58 points.  Chauncey Billups now has one more thing to add to his already extensive resume.  New Orleans is probably in the worst situation of the teams left in the playoffs.  They have won 1 game by 2 points while they have lost the other 3 by double digits each time.  Where do you start when trying to adjust for game 5? How about turnovers? Chris Paul and his Hornets committed 27, which lead to 41 Denver points. Shame on you New Orleans.

Source: Rockets meet with Lakers F Ariza (AP)

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From Yahoo! Sports

Rockets GM Morey woos Gortat at midnight (AP)

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Rockets keeping quiet about Yao's injury (AP)

On the eve of theNBA draft, Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey said that the franchise was still determined to build around All-Star center Yao Ming. "He's the cornerstone of the team," Morey said. A few days later, the future of the team and the All-Star center from China have suddenly been thrown into question amid ominous reports from the team doctor that the hairline... [read full article]

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Reports: Yao may miss season, or longer (AP)

Rockets center Yao Ming's broken left foot could be a "career-threatening" injury. Dr. Tom Clanton, the Houston Rockets' team physician, told the Houston Chronicle on Monday that Yao's injury "has the potential for him missing this next season and could be career-threatening." Yahoo! [read full article]

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Rockets taking over D-League team (AP)

The Houston Rockets are taking over basketball operations of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers in what it says is the first partnership of its kind with an NBA Developmental League team. The move will give the Rockets control over the players assigned to the D-League team. The Rockets will also have the final say on staff hirings, coaching decisions and even the schemes used in games. [read full article]

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