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He’s Back! Defensive Mastermind Jeff Bzdelik Returns to Rockets as Houston Looks to Continue Winning on the Road Against Overlooked Indiana Squad

 “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!” is one of the more recognizable quotes, echoed by Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) in the Godfather Part III, after realizing he’s never going to be able to escape his position as a member of the mafia. I can’t help but think Jeff Bzdelik was echoing this quote in his head after finally being persuaded to come out of retirement by Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta to rejoin the squad as their defensive coordinator. No, Bzdelik isn’t in the mafia, at least not to my knowledge (and you never really know with some made guys), but what this man is returning to, the goals are just as ruthless. Especially for as rare a specimen as Bzdelik is in NBA circles nowadays, a defensive specialist! Just when he thought he was out, they pulled him back in. Such is the life of an NBA coach trying to preach defense and survive in a treacherous league where the new rule changes give all the advantages to the offense. It’s harder than ever before to play defense in the modern NBA with the freedom of movement rule posing that if an opposing player is merely touched (especially by a Rocket) he draws the foul. Similar to the NFL, where defense has seemed to be penalized for the glory of offense, defense in the NBA has all but disappeared. At least in the NFL you can still tackle someone. In the NBA you can’t even touch somebody without committing a foul. Jeff Bzdelik may not be the star player the city or the fans want right now, but he’s the piece the Rockets need right now. More than ever. It will also give the team a chance to see if Bzdelik’s absence was the main problem (which I suspect) to Houston’s torridly awful start, or if the Rockets really miss Trevor Ariza’s impact as much as some fans cautiously expected. The man who’s most commonly known as the Rockets defensive guru executed the defensive game plans, to go along with running the effective switches that worked so efficiently last year. His importance to the team last season was most noticeable in his ability to give in-game adjustments on defense, specifically against great teams who had figured out the Rockets scheme, Bzdelik would tweak the defensive style and always seemed to be one step ahead of the opponent, something the Rockets have sorely missed on the defensive end this season. Tonight, the Houston Rockets entertain the Indiana Pacers and look to jot another win in the W column on this road trip. The overlooked and underrated Pacers are off to a great 7-3 start through their first ten games. Victor Oladipo is having the best season of his career and looks to be an All-Star again this year. Houston’s defensive focus will primarily be on Oladipo on the perimeter, but don’t forget about Indiana’s big men in the post. They have several underrated, young interior players who play harder than most at their position, in particular Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner. The Rockets will need to control the glass, win the rebounding battle, and CONVERT easy-baskets (something that has confounded everyone in the NBA universe) if they want to move their win streak to 3 in a row on this road trip that continues in Indianapolis. Clint Capela will need to play BIG and P.J. Tucker will need help on the hustle plays as this is a hungry, young Indiana Pacers team that plays hard every night, and is an even tougher out on their home court with their explosive offense. Lucky for the Rockets, just when they thought he was out, they pulled their “Defensive Whisperer” back in.

Bankers Life Fieldhouse – Indianapolis, Indiana

6 PM CT – ATT Sportsnet

New Pieces Start to Fit More Comfortably as Rockets top Bulls, 96-88, En Route to Back-to-Back Victories

 The Rockets came into the United Center on Saturday night, and energized by the return of their MVP, along with key contributions from several new additions, they were able to avoid early season fatigue on their way to back-to-back wins for the first time this season. James Harden started the game the way he should most games, getting other teammates involved. James Ennis got off to an excellent start on both ends of the floor and had his best game in a Rockets uniform with 15 points in a mere 17 minutes. Carmelo Anthony was efficient for the second consecutive night, posting 17 points on 8 of 14 shooting from the field. He wasn’t as effective from long range (1 for 7) as last night’s 6 for 9, but Anthony still found ways to make his shots fall from inside the arc. Clint Capela posted his 5^th consecutive double-double (tying the longest streak of his career) with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Although Capela hasn’t had any monstrous games in terms of his stats this season, he slowly looks to be returning to form as one of the smartest and agile true centers in the game. The Rockets’ third option has been consistent, they just need him to be consistently better if they want to beat the best teams the NBA has to offer. Gary Clark looked like a seasoned vet instead of a rookie in his second excellent game in a row in limited minutes off the bench. The rookie chipped in 6 points to go along with 7 rebounds in only 21 minutes. James Harden was solid, garnering 25 points and 7 assists in his first game back from injury. The Rockets will need to be better if they want to continue winning as the road trip only gets more difficult from here on out with Indiana, Oklahoma City, and San Antonio (all probable playoff teams) next on the schedule for Houston. Next up are the Indiana Pacers who are off to a great 7-3 start and currently sit as the 3^rd best team in the Eastern Conference. Led by All-Star guard Victor Oladipo, and some underrated young big men (Myles Turner, Domantas Sabonis) the Pacers will pose as Houston’s greatest road threat so far this season. The Rockets will look to continue their winning streak on the road, in order to do that, they will need to play better. The Nets and the Bulls are two of the worst teams in the entire NBA, teams in rebuilding mode. The Pacers are slowly shifting from rebuilding to contender and now have their best team in years. The Rockets need to continue to communicate and work together on the defensive end if they want to beat a young, hungry Indiana Pacers team.

Rockets Try and Win Back-to-Back Games As Harden Returns, Road-trip Continues in Chicago

 The Houston Rockets finally won a game, last night, against the Brooklyn Nets. It seemed like, forever, since they had previously won. It was only 13 days, but to Rockets fans who’ve become accustomed to the success of the Rockets during the Harden-era, 13 days is a LONG time. The Rockets get right back to business tonight in Chicago as they take on the lowly Bulls, who sit at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings with a 2-7 record. James Harder returns from his hamstring injury, which will hopefully give the team a boost. However the squad will be without Eric Gordon, and James Ennis, the latter apparently re-injured the hamstring injury that’s kept him on the sidelines for most of this season. Yikes. Anyways, the Rockets will look to continue to build on their momentum to start of this road trip as they try and string back-to-back wins together for the first time all season. The Rockets should play with energy, given their star is back, and should be able to put the Bulls away handily. We’ll see if last night’s game was a swing in season momentum, or just a rare victory. The Rockets look to prove to everyone that they’re back to their winning ways.

United Center – Chicago, Illinois

7 PM CT – ATT Sportsnet

Houston Snaps 4-Game Skid as CP3, Melo Ignite Rockets Past Nets, 119-111

 We’d all seen this one before. It was a sadly familiar sight. The Rockets trailed in another game early, against an inferior opponent. They were down 57-43 in the second quarter, and things looked like they had all season. The Rockets were on their way to another embarrassing defeat. Then, out of the blue, during a timeout the Rockets vocal leader, Chris Paul, had finally had enough and told the coaches to “stay back” during a players-only huddle that may have turned the season around. The Rockets came out of that timeout and cut the deficit from 14 to 5 at the half. They looked different. It’s too early and too small a sample size to see if they truly have their “swagger” back, but it’s a step in the right direction as the Rockets closed out the Nets behind a stellar CP3 performance and Carmelo Anthony’s best game in a Rockets uniform. Melo hit two clutch 3’s late that helped seal the Rockets’ win in his return to the New York area. The team as a whole looked more determined defensively in the final 30 minutes compared to the first 18 minutes, where the Rockets looked like a 1-5 team. It’s a step in the right direction. A win is a win and the Rockets desperately needed one and now need to use this momentum moving forward as they get the Beard back for tomorrow night’s game in Chicago against the Bulls. The Rockets will try and string back-to-back wins together for the first time all season again another inferior Eastern Conference opponent.

Rockets Slump Into Brooklyn, In Desperate Need of a Win

 The Houston Rockets begin their 5-game road-trip with against the Brooklyn Nets, another team the Rockets should beat, because they are (or were built to be, the better team). As more time passes, and more games are logged into the books, the Rockets could slowly see themselves as shifting from championship contenders to playoff contenders in the heated Western Conference, which seems to be more brutal this year than in record. The schedule gods were kind enough to give the Rockets a manageable East coast back-to-back, against two teams (Nets, Bulls) they should beat, even with all their injuries. Carmelo Anthony returns to New York City for the first time as a Rocket. Not to take on his former team, but we’ll see if the change of scenario can spark better play from Melo and the rest of his teammates as the Rockets look to rise from the bottom of the Western Conference standings and begin to make a footprint (albeit, a positive one) on this season. In their two previous road games, the Rockets got their first win of the season, and just avoided a comeback rally to fall short against the Clippers. One can only hope the inspired play on the road, at least compared to at home, will continue on this road trip. Maybe this road trip can act as a much-needed team bonding exercise that helps integrate the new faces into the Rockets organization. Players get to spend more time with each other on the road, and this can even be the road trip that really bonds the team together, and deepens the chemistry between players and coaching staff for the rest of the season. As many Rockets fans know, they need it. Desperately.

Barclays Center – Brooklyn, New York

6:30 PM CT – ATT Sportsnet

Blazers Blast By Rockets, 104-85, As Early-Season Woes Continue

 The Portland Trailblazers came into Toyota Center on Tuesday night and beat the Houston Rockets handily, by a score of 104-85, in an outcome that felt like the final score would differentiate by more than 30 points. The Rockets trailed by 15 at the half and were never really in the game. They seem to not care anymore, or maybe it’s the frustration of missed layup after missed layup countered by open layup after open layup for the other team. This Rockets team is still without Harden, Ennis, and other key pieces, but after six games into the season, its obvious changes are necessary for Houston, no matter who is on the court. The team as a whole looks like its sleepwalking through the season. The defense hasn’t gotten any better. Tonight the Blazers usual suspects, their “Big 3” of Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum, and Jusuf Nurkic, did the most damage. On the offensive end the Rockets have missed so many layups and easy shots that it seems like they a have a major lack of focus they’re dealing with as a group. Gary Clark was the lone bright spot for the Rockets, as he scored 11 points in 19 minutes and looks like he’s going to be a solid role player in the NBA, if not even better. Hopefully it has something to do with Harden’s absence, and the new pieces are still trying to get acquainted with a new team and a new system, but the squad can’t continue to play with this lack of focus, energy, and determinism on the court or they will find themselves out of the playoff hunt, sooner than later. Up next for the Rockets is their longest road trip of the season, a 5-game road trip that starts Friday night in Brooklyn and culminates November 10^th in San Antonio. The Rockets will likely still be without their MVP, James Harden, for Friday’s matchup as he is eyeing Saturday in Chicago as a return date to the court. The Rockets will try and replicate the Astros’ road success this season, as they were much better on the road than at home. The Rockets lone win this season has come on the road in Los Angeles. When the team returns to Houston, hopefully they’ll have come up with a few answers to the multitude of problems that have plagued the team throughout the first 6 games of the season.

Rockets Look to Swing Season Momentum, Eye Focus on Defense

 The Houston Rockets will try to conjure up some winning spirits and improve to 2-4 on the young season as they play host to the Portland Trailblazers at Toyota Center on Tuesday night. Hopefully, Houston is starting to feel a sense of urgency related to the lack of communication and commitment on the defensive end, and their play tonight should emphasize the urgency felt throughout the locker room and the arena, as the team has yet to win a home game this season. Just to put things in perspective, the Rockets had 25 wins when they lost their 5^th game of the season after the team’s blazing 25-4 start to last year’s campaign. A loss tonight against Portland would put the Rockets at 1-5, taking them a mere 6 games to record 5 losses, after last year it took them more than a third of the entire season to get the 5^th L of the year. I’m expecting the Rockets to come out with the team’s hungriest, most energized game of the season as they try and put the first home W on the board. Other players will have to step up as the Beard, Ennis, Knight, and Nene remain out with injuries. Look for CP3, EG, and maybe even Carmelo Anthony, if he carries any momentum over from his biggest scoring night of the year in the previous game, to have big nights for Houston en route to a victory. The Rockets need to focus in on Blazers star Damian Lillard, who has been a Rocket killer his entire career and is off to a fast start this season. If they can contain Lillard and McCollum, as well as control the glass with improved defensive communication, Houston should finally win a game in front of what should be the most raucous, rowdiest crowd the team has played in front of this season.

Toyota Center – Houston, Texas

7 PM CT – ATT Sportsnet

Clippers Sail Past Houston, 133-113, Awaken Rockets’ Identity Crisis

 The Los Angeles Clippers did what they wanted, when they wanted, pretty much all night on Friday at Toyota Center as they beat down a Harden-less Rockets team by 20 points in Houston. Former Rocket Montrezl Harrell, who was part of the trade to bring Chris Paul to Houston, scored a career high 30 points (many of them wide-open dunks) against his former team in a game where the Rockets had no answer for Harrell inside, or anyone on the Clippers for that matter. Los Angeles’ bench alone scored a monstrous 85 points on a Rockets defense, that at best, seemed to be staring into space, searching for answers to a defensive start that is slowly becoming, historically, the worst in NBA history. The effective switch-everything defense on screens from a year ago seems to be gone, and opponents seemed to be one step ahead of the Rockets’ attempted switches on the defensive end of the floor. Maybe Trevor Ariza’s loss really WAS as impactful as some of us dreaded it might be. The lack of communication on the defensive end is glaringly obvious. The Rockets seem to be lost on every possession as they give up layup after layup, dunk after dunk, and one wide-open shot after another to their opponents. True, Houston is still dealing with injures to the likes of MVP James Harden, James Ennis, Nene, and others. However, this Rockets team is deep enough and was constructed to beat bad teams like the Clippers at home without their MVP, not get blown away by 20. Carmelo Anthony finally had a good game, but it required garbage time against inferior competition for Melo to show he can still be an effective contributor in the NBA. The injuries, new pieces, and the overlooked Jeff Bzdelik’s absence as the defensive coordinator all factor into why the Rockets are 1-4 when they haven’t even played a contender yet. A Houston Rockets team whose identity was so clear and visible to every player in the D’Antoni system last year seems to have vanished. The offense will come. The red flag in the system is the defensive end of the floor, where Ariza’s loss in free agency is shining brighter than the sun itself. There’s a quote from Ted Kotcheff’s seminal, criminally overlooked masterpiece, Wake In Fright, about a man who loses his self-identity after succumbing to a society reeling under the malign influence of its own basest impulses, that resonates when thinking of this Rockets team and the team everyone is gunning for, the Golden State Warriors. “We break the rules. But we know more about ourselves than most people.” The Warriors, in traditional basketball fans eyes, have “broken the rules” by being able to acquire five sure-fire future Hall-of-Famers in their PRIME, while no one else in the league can summon more than two. Despite this “breaking of rules”, the Warriors know and understand their identity as a team. That is never a question. I’m the LAST person who would ever root for the Warriors, but even I can admit they have the best chemistry in basketball and their identity is undeniably set in stone. The Rockets, on the other hand, have lost their identity completely, and despite keeping the competitive balance in the NBA even, they need to look in the mirror and figure out who they are as a team. The defensive switches are killing Houston on what seems like every play, and without improved communication this problem will only plunge the Rockets into a deeper early-season hole. Only 5 games into the season is still early, but if this Rockets team continues to sleep through games, when they eventually wake, it could be a frightening circumstance that may be too late to save the season. The schedule doesn’t get any easier as the Portland Trailblazers, another Western Conference playoff team from last year, rolls into town on Tuesday night. Sometimes a glaring issue isn’t complex, it’s just obvious. The Rockets obviously need to start playing better, focus on getting back to the basics of help defense, or hope a player from another city comes catering to the team’s most essential needs… or it could be a long, frightful season for the Rockets and their fans.

Rockets Limp into Rematch with Clippers, Severely Undermanned, Need Help From Supporting Cast

 It’s only been four games into the season, but people are already talking about other teams, NOT the Houston Rockets, as being the teams that are most likely to unseat Golden State from their historically overrated throne as NBA Champions. However, people don’t always know what they’re talking about. Especially when it’s from afar. True, this hasn’t been the start the Rockets or their fans had hoped for or envisioned. No one saw a weak Brandon Ingram push on Harden, either from frustration or self-awareness, after realizing he’s never going to be even close to the revolutionary player James Harden is, cause an early season ripple effect on this very young season. That play out of frustration, that’s usually seen on the streets when people quit or are tired, was the fuse that instigated the entire brawl. Sure, Rondo’s decision to spit rather than just sit really cost the Rockets. There was nothing Chris Paul could do. Anyone would have retaliated in that situation. I’m just glad PJ Tucker was there to shield him as Brandon Ingram returned to THROW PUNCHES from as he approached the spittle huddle from behind. The fact he only got 4 games is astounding, but that’s a story for another day. The real story here is that the season is barley under way and the Rockets have dealt with quite a bit through only 4 games. Chris Paul’s absence for 2 games is obviously a huge loss in leadership on and off the court because he wasn’t allowed on the bench for being suspended. Adam Silver might actually think Rondo’s spit is deadly. It’s certainly killed the aging vet’s ability to play, even play fair. It’s very unfortunate the injury bug has hit the team, but especially James Harden, who is one of the most durable players the league’s ever seen. It doesn’t help that they most important new addition to the team, James Ennis, is sidelined as well. He needs to be on the court to be fully integrated into the D’Antoni system and gain chemistry with his new teammates. All of these factors play a role into the Rockets’ current situation, along with the additions of new players, sloppy play, and an opener where Harden was bound to come out somewhat unfocused after FINALLY receiving an award he’d earned for 4 seasons in a row. So, despite being 1-3, the Houston Rockets are much deadlier than any 1-3 team I can remember, and I doubt any NBA GM would want a first round matchup again the Rockets when at full strength. Once this team gets healthy and gets the new players cohesive in D’Antoni’s lethal system, the Rockets will once again be Golden State’s biggest rival to their “title” as NBA Champions. Tonight, the squad just needs to band together, players will obviously have immense opportunities for playing time and expanded roles and they need to seize this advantage. The Los Angeles Clippers are not a great team, even though they beat the Rockets earlier this year. On defense the Rockets need to focus in on Tobias Harris, don’t be intimidated by Patrick Beverley’s defense, and they’ll get the victory. This is a rematch the Rockets should be motivated for and be able to win. Clint Capela, PJ Tucker, Eric Gordon, Carmelo Anthony, and the rest of the guys who are ready to go is more than enough to take down a Clippers squad that competes hard, but lacks talent. The Rockets just need to outmatch the Clippers’ intensity and play together, and they’ll get their first home win of the season.

 

Toyota Center – Houston, Texas

7 PM CT – ATT Sportsnet

Injuries Mount as Harden Exits Game Late as Rockets Remain Winless at Home

 Just when you thought it couldn’t get much worse, James Harden suffered a hamstring injury late in Wednesday night’s 100-89 loss to Utah, and never returned. Even with Harden, this was another game in an ugly pattern that has seen the Rockets trail their opponents for the majority of this young season. The severity is unknown, however the Rockets will exercise caution with the MVP, and certainly won’t rush him back before he’s ready. Donovan Mitchell was the best player on the floor tonight and had his first on-par game of the season, finishing with 38 points, 7 assists, and 5 rebounds, while the Rockets had nothing to counter the second year star’s skillset on the court. No one else on the Jazz was terribly effective, the Rockets were just outplayed by Utah on a night when they were undermanned and lost THEIR man near the end of the game. It’s been a rough start to the season, but the Rockets will have Chris Paul back for the next game against the Clippers as the Rockets try and avenge their loss to L.A.’s spit-free team Friday at Toyota Center as they try and right the ship and get their first victory of the season in front of Red Nation and the home crowd.