Rocket-Bottom: Portland Trounces Houston, 117-107
Falling Out of Line. Basketball to be Murdered By. Follow the Leader.
“It’s just playing hard… it’s as simple as that. Everything else is going to fall into line.” Russell Westbrook spoke up and led a team-meeting after the Rockets 117-107 loss to the Blazers on Wednesday night. Hopefully it worked, because Houston needs more than a team-meeting that makes it sound like this team is taking the regular season seriously. The Rockets need to start acting like it, or everything will continue to fall out of line. Houston’s now lost 3 of their last 4 games. The defeat at the hands of Portland is the Rockets’ second loss in two nights to teams with losing records. And this was one was never really close, with the Blazers in control for the entirety of Wednesday’s contest. With a record of 26-14, Houston’s is now 6 games behind the Los Angeles Lakers for the top seed. They’re L.A. and the West’s second-seed, the Jazz, recently lost. But the Rockets continue to shoot themselves in the foot falling to clubs they should easily handle. Against Portland, Westbrook had a 31-point triple-double. However, former Rocket, and aging veteran Carmelo Anthony outscored the NBA’s leading scorer, James Harden. The Beard scored a season-low 13 points. Harden took only 12 shots, making 3 of them. Five Rockets attempted more shots than the Beard, something that never happens. It seemed like Harden could’ve been passively-aggressively telling teammates, “you’re sick of me always having the ball, here, you carry the team.” Obviously, that didn’t work. Danuel House Jr. continues to be in an odd mid-season funk. He hasn’t been as effective coming off the bench. House’s confidence may have taken a hit. The Houstonian needs to be inserted back into the starting lineup. And hopefully, it was just a bad night for Houston’s MVP. More nights like that will bury the Rockets into the ground. Expect Harden to have a huge bounce back game on Saturday night as the Lakers come to town.
Houston should be ready for LeBron and co. for this weekend’s showdowns. Harden and company show up against the good teams. It’s a tired record at this point, but the bad teams are ones that give the Rockets the most struggles. Luckily, Houston won’t see any bad teams in the playoffs. However, they’re killing themselves playing this way. Championship teams play the NBA season like a golf course. The Rockets are just focusing on holes. They need to focus on the big picture, and realize how important seeding is this season. Houston still has a chance for the top seed, they can get within 5 games at the halfway mark with a win over L.A. Still, a lot of work has to be in the season’s second half. Saturday’s night game is even more important with all the toying around the Rockets have done with the NBA’s lottery. It’s Basketball to be Murdered By, and the Rockets are the victims. If this trend of not showing up against inferior competition continues, Houston will have fallen so out of line in the standings, their climb to the Finals will be so much harder. If the Rockets can somehow get back on track, and make a push for the top seed. they’ll avoid having to play both L.A. teams, Houston’s best competition for the Western throne.
All it takes is playing harder. The squad has to follow their leader. That may not be James Harden in the locker room, who was tight-lipped during a team meeting sparked and led by Brodie. Regardless, the Rockets need to listen to Westbrook. It all starts on Saturday night. The Lakers come to H-Town for a Saturday Showdown in arguably the most-anticipated home game this regular season. LeBron and the Purple and Gold’s lone visit to Houston. Thank God it’s not a losing team the Rockets are playing. Ironically, looking at last season, it was a home game against the Lakers that sparked the beginning of the Beard’s Unguardable Tour last season. Hopefully, a visit from LeBron does the same this year. Coach Mike D’Antoni had a remark post-game saying: “The focus is not on getting it right. The focus is more looking at the back of the jersey instead of the front of it.” Guys aren’t stepping up. Was this a passive-aggressive jab from D’Antoni at certain players? Who knows. One thing’s sure. Houston needs a spark. Or maybe they just need to play harder. It’s as simple as that. Right?