Posts Tagged ‘Kevin McHale’

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Former Knick Ray Williams Dies At 58

March 22, 2013  ·  3:59PM

 

NBA.com staff

Former Knicks and Nets guard Ray Williams, whose life was turned upside-down after his 10-year playing career by bankruptcy and homelessness, died Friday at 58.

Williams, a native of Mount Vernon, N.Y., had been battling colon cancer at Manhattan’s Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Drafted 10th overall out of Minnesota in 1977 by the New York Knicks, Williams played 10 seasons that included two stints with the Knicks. He signed with the Nets as a free agent in 1981 and then was traded to the Kansas City Kings. Williams, who played two seasons with current New York coach Mike Woodson, was traded back to the Knicks in 1983. He then bounced around the league to Boston, Atlanta and San Antonio before being traded to the Nets where he finished his career after the 1986-87 season.

“I was just with him last week at the cancer hospital,” Woodson told the New York Post earlier this month. “Awesome. Physical. Tough. Knew how to play.

“He was a prototype combo guard because he could play the one, could play two and could guard the three because he was so physical. To see him in the hospital like that, you don’t wish that on anyone.

“We talked about fond memories. We have a lot of fond memories. A year here. A few years in Kansas city. We laughed about a lot of things. It was kind of nice.”

The 6-foot-3 Williams had career averages of 15.5 points a game and 5.8 assists a game. From 1979-82, he produced three consecutive seasons — the first two with the Knicks and the Nets — of averaging at least 19.7 ppg and 5.5 assists. His best season was his third with the Knicks in 1979-80 when he averaged 20.9 ppg and 6.2 apg.

Williams’ life took a dramatic swing once he retired. Financial issues plunged him into bankruptcy and homelessness, ultimately leading to his wife and children leaving him. He reportedly bounced around odd jobs in Florida and was ultimately able to get back on his feet with the help of former Celtics teammates Larry Bird and Kevin McHale, who helped him financially, according to a January article written by Ben Hohler in The Boston Globe.

Doctors reportedly discovered the tumor in Williams’ colon after he was given a free colon-cancer screening offered through the NBA Retired Players Association. According to the Post, Knicks owner James Dolan reportedly paid for Williams to be flown from Florida to be treated at Sloan-Kettering.

Ray Williams (here in 1984) was the 10th pick in the 1977 NBA Draft. (by Dick Raphael/NBAE via Getty Images)

Ray Williams (here in 1984) was the 10th pick in the 1977 NBA Draft. (by Dick Raphael/NBAE via Getty Images)

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The Hunted: Warriors, Rockets & Jazz

March 7, 2013  ·  9:48AM

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It’s not a question of if we make the playoffs. We will. And when we get there, I have no fear of anyone — Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Denver…whoever.
– Kobe Bryant

Over his 17 seasons in the NBA, Bryant could always guarantee that he’ll do something absolutely amazing with the basketball just about every time he steps onto the court.

He can shake off an 0-for-10 shooting start to bury a half dozen jumpers and an opponent in a fourth-quarter blink of an eye.

He can duck and whirl through traffic, change hands with the ball and squeeze through a crack in the defense for a clutch how-did-he-do-that bucket.

He can rise up with a hand in his face, almost down his throat, and knock down an impossible 3-pointer with the sheer grace.

He can lead a 20-0 comeback in the final 6 1/2 minutes to pull out a dramatic and critical 108-106 win over the Hornets.

But no matter how many times or how emphatically he says it, what Bryant cannot guarantee is all that can happen with the teams in front of his underachieving Lakers in the Western Conference standings. For even if the Lakers put on a strong finishing kick — say 14-6 or 13-7 — they will still likely need one or more of the Warriors, Rockets and Jazz to tumble.

Can it happen? Sure. Will it happen? Nothing guaranteed. Sometimes it’s not about the hunter, but the prey.

No. 6 — Warriors (35-27)

Back in those long ago days of early February when his team was threatening to compete for the No. 4 seed and home-court advantage in the playoffs, coach Mark Jackson liked to shake his head and scowl at the doubters who didn’t think his Warriors could run and shoot and play defense all at the same time. Maybe those doubts were just premature. Over the past five weeks, the Golden State defense has fallen off any one of the area’s picturesque bridges and sunk to the bottom of the bay. (more…)

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After Trades, Rockets Take Pace And Space To New Level

February 23, 2013  ·  11:02AM

BROOKLYN – The general consensus is that the Houston Rockets made a great deal in acquiring Thomas Robinson from the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday. Robinson, selected with the No. 5 pick just eight months ago, has the potential to be one of the best rebounders in the league some day. He’s an active athlete who will only benefit from escaping the dysfunction of Sacramento.

But in making the trade and a subsequent deal with the Phoenix Suns, the Rockets traded both their starting power forward, Patrick Patterson, and his back-up, Marcus Morris. And they either compromised an offensive system that ranks in the top five in efficiency or a defense that has been just good enough to keep them on the right side of the .500 mark.

Robinson may one day start at the four for Houston, but he’s a very different player than both Patterson and Morris. And it’s unclear how he fits into how the Rockets have been playing all season.

Houston is the ultimate pace-and-space team. They play the fastest tempo in the league and they keep the floor spread, allowing James Harden and Jeremy Lin to attack the basket off of pick and rolls. Patterson and Morris played their part as stretch bigs.

At the time of the trade, 13 of the Rockets’ 15 most-used lineups included either Patterson or Morris, who attempted about 60 percent of their shots from outside the paint and accounted for about two 3-pointers per game.

Kevin McHale admitted to having seen very little of his new rookie, but he knows that Robinson isn’t that kind of player.

“We’re going to have space a little bit different,” he said Friday.

For now, the Rockets are making due with Carlos Delfino playing the four, alongside Chandler Parsons at the three. It’s a lineup they’ve used before, but only once (previous to the trades) had it played more than nine minutes together.

General manager Daryl Morey believes that his team can survive, and even thrive, with the Parsons/Delfino tandem at forward.

“It’s sustainable,” Morey told reporters on Thursday. “If you look across the league, when teams play small, they play well. Your offense goes up. Your defense goes down, but your offense goes up more than your defense goes down. So a lot of teams are playing small. We’ve got the personnel to do it. We’ve got the style that fits. I absolutely think it’s a sustainable way to play against almost any opponent.”

McHale doesn’t seem to be completely on board with that sentiment, saying that the Rockets can play Delfino at the four “situationally.” The bottom line is that the two trades took two guys out of McHale’s rotation and replaced them with a question mark.

But so far, so good. After Friday’s 106-96 win in Brooklyn, the Rockets are 2-0 with their new starting lineup, with wins over the Thunder and Nets. They’ve been outrebounded in each game, but have shot 31-for-63 (49 percent) from beyond the arc.

Over the course of the season, the Rockets’ new lineup has been excellent offensively, scoring 112.9 points per 100 possessions in 133 minutes together. It’s yet to be really hurt on the glass and held its own defensively.

Really, it’s just taking the pace-and-space style to a new level. Less size, more shooting. Delfino has played 79 minutes over the last two games after averaging just 25 per game before the trades. He knows that he can only try his best to keep power forwards like Reggie Evans off the boards, and that the Rockets can take advantage of the same matchup offensively.

“When we go small, we play against big people and we try to create space,” he said. “Sometimes, it’s not just me getting my shots or having the ball, but [it's] rotations. They don’t rotate off me and they have more space in the paint.”

That’s exactly what happened in the first half on Friday. The Nets stayed at home on Delfino on the weak side, and the Rockets got a handful of dunks and layups off their pick and roll. Harden was the star against OKC on Wednesday, but his team managed to beat Brooklyn on Friday despite a relatively quiet night (22 points and only five trips to the line) from their All-Star.

Time will tell if the small lineup can hold up over time and keep the Lakers at bay in the playoff chase, and if Robinson has a place in McHale’s rotation this season. Certainly, 49 percent from 3-point range isn’t sustainable, but Houston does have an easier schedule than L.A. going forward.

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One additional note: While the Sacramento trade makes complete sense, the trade that sent Morris to Phoenix for the Suns’ second-round pick was a little more curious. Morris wasn’t playing big minutes every night, but he obviously would have helped replace Patterson’s production if the Rockets had just made the one deal.

Morey said that he likes having high second-round picks and one has to wonder if the Rockets have already fallen in love with a player they project will be available when that Suns selection comes up. Right now, it’s set to be the No. 35 pick in the draft.

Houston got Parsons with the No. 38 pick two years ago.

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How Many 3s Does It Take To Insult You?

February 6, 2013  ·  12:13AM


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HOUSTON — Now, if the question ever comes up and you have a chance to win a bar bet, you’ll know.

How many 3-pointers in a single NBA game does it take to make an insult?

The answer, evidently, is 23.

That’s the NBA record-tying number poured in by the Rockets on Tuesday night that finally got under the Warriors’ skin.

Not 17, 18 or 19. Not 20, 21 or 22.

23.

It wasn’t until there were just under four minutes left in a 140-109 thumping and 7-footer Donatas Motiejunas slung one in from the right corner that it seemed to occur to anyone wearing a Golden State jersey that this was just a bit embarrassing.

So with the Toyota Center crowd on its feet and chanting: “One more three! One more three!” the Warriors decided it was time to play with whatever pride — if any — they had left.

Which then resulted in the final three minutes more closely resembling recess at an elementary school. The Rockets kept running their offense and shooting 3s. Houston reserve Patrick Beverley hammered home a dunk, then taunted the Warrior bench and drew a technical foul.

Golden State’s Draymond Green was flagged for a Flagrant Foul 2 and ejected when Beverley tried to let fly with a corner jumper in front of the Warriors’ bench. Houston’s Marcus Morris was hit with a technical and tossed out on the same play.

In the final two minutes, the Warriors would not let the Rockets even attempt a 3 in order to break the record. Warriors coach Mark Jackson ordered his players to foul the Rockets intentionally on each possession.

“We’re not going to lay down,” said Jackson, ignoring the fact that his team already had. “I’m an old-school basketball player and an old-school coach. If you can’t appreciate that, that’s on you.

“We’re not going to lay down. If you’re going to get the record, we’re going to stop it. There is a way to do it, that’s all. Understand it, appreciate it and I would expect nothing less if I was on the other side.”

Rockets coach Kevin McHale just happens to be an old-school guy himself. You can tell from his limp. And also from searching on YouTube for a clip of him clotheslining the Lakers’ Kurt Rambis in Game 4 of the 1984 NBA Finals.

“We just had to keep playing,” McHale said. “I really didn’t even know we had a chance to break the record until late in the game. We shoot a lot of 3s, that’s just what we do. If we were to get them in the flow, we get going to get them. Mark didn’t want it to happen and fouled and I didn’t have no problem with how they played. Mark’s got to coach his team. I have no problem with that.”

For 44 minutes, the Warriors didn’t seem to have a problem with anything the Rockets did either. Otherwise you’d think they might have played just a little bit of defense.

“At the end of the day, we just continued to play,” Morris said. “… And we were just taking the shots the defense was giving.”

Until the Warriors decided they’d had enough.

How many 3-pointers does it take to make an insult?

If you’re asked, remember to shout: “23!”

Then duck.

Old School Rules or New Age Touchy Feely?

Round Two is Tuesday night in Oakland.

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Rockets Young, Dangerous, Confused

January 16, 2013  ·  4:25PM

HOUSTON – There are nights when the 3-point shots rain down like the quenching drops from a summer thunderstorm, when the pace of the game is faster than a car chase in an action movie and everything is right in the Rockets’ world.

Then there are the others.

A 10-point lead to start the fourth quarter in New Orleans vanished like a drunk’s wallet on Bourbon Street. Down by two with seven minutes left to play in Boston, they lost. Down by three entering the final 4 1/2 minutes in Philly, they lost. Then a one-point halftime lead at home turns into a bag of hammers that falls on their heads in a beat-down by the Clippers.

A season-high five-game winning streak is followed by a four-game losing streak and the NBA’s version of a treadmill has taken them exactly where?

The Rockets are young and fast, young and entertaining, young and unpredictable, young and lethal, young and inconsistent. Did I mention young?

The Rockets have less experience than any team in the league. They’re like toddlers carrying around scissors — you’re never sure who’s going to get hurt.

“First of all, in an NBA season, if you have all veterans and you have 10 years of experience, you’re going to have slides,” coach Kevin McHale told reporters after the loss in Philly.

“That’s no excuse for it. We still have to do what we have to do. I’ve said it all along. Our guys are getting closer to understanding how we have to play and taking ownership of how we have to play.

“But then we’ll backslide and get into how they want to play. I think it will be a constant all year, just trying to get everybody on the same page.”

Perhaps no team in the league changed its DNA so dramatically and so swiftly as the Rockets, who pulled off the stunning trade to bring in James Harden from Oklahoma City just four days before the season opener.

Suddenly a franchise that had been in the limbo of having the best record in the draft lottery for three straight seasons since the Tracy McGrady-Yao Ming era ended with an implosion of bad knees and broken feet, had a bonafide star in Harden, a foundational player, to use the phrase of general manager Daryl Morey, upon which to build.

Harden has been all that and more, after barely unpacking his suitcase before dropping 45 and 37 points in the first two games of the season and since then tucking in among Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant and LeBron James as one of the top five scorers in the game.

Harden is the big-time star that Morey has been chasing with his home-run swing for years and is not only an anchor for the future, but the magnet that the GM believes will draw more. While the Lakers can offer him the most money and the “Bank of Cuban” has been declared open for business in Dallas, Morey is of the opinion that he’ll have at least a puncher’s chance to get Dwight Howard to return his phone calls next summer.

Whether he lands the All-Star or not, Morey will go into the offseason knowing that he’ll have the salary cap space to land a max level player or divide that money up among a couple of others. While point guard Jeremy Lin still rides up and down the bumps in his first season as a full-time point guard running a team, fellow free agent signee Omer Asik has become a virtual double-double machine and undeniable success in the middle.

But for all the scoring outbursts and attention that Harden has brought to Houston, for now The Beard is more of a comb-over for lineup with plenty of bald spots. Though they play at the fastest offensive pace in the league, the Rockets don’t regularly combine smart with swift. And too often they try to substitute their own pace for playing defense. Their offensive rating is ninth in the league and their defensive rating just 17th.

In the past three games the Rockets have allowed their opponents to shoot 51.6 percent from the field and given up an average of 109 points.

Not many in Houston are complaining because their up-tempo style is fun to watch and Harden can be transcendent. Yet in terms of wins and losses, not much has changed. A year ago, at a similar point in a 66-game schedule, they were 17-14 (.548). Now the Rockets are 21-18 (.538) with a four-game road trip beginning in Dallas and a return to the playoffs could still be an uphill climb.

Right now, the Rockets are young and dangerous every night. The question is to whom?

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Chocolate Thunder Still Wants Big Bang

January 9, 2013  ·  8:31PM

RENO, Nev. — Lovetron is now a distant world in a faded memory, and the interplanetary funkmanship of Chocolate Thunder has been in mothballs since the days of disco.

But the larger-than-life presence of Darryl Dawkins can still fill up an arena, even if there is less of it these days.

Credit zoomba, a popular and highly suggestive dance exercise that Dawkins says has enabled him to drop 50 pounds in the past 10 months.

“I always had the moves,” he said. “It was just time to use them to get rid of that extra size.”

Yet size, strength and aggressiveness are exactly what Dawkins — now a scout/consultant for both the 76ers and Nets — was hoping to see at the NBA D-League Showcase.

“The word that I got coming in here was that there were some big men who could play,” said Dawkins, who was 6-foot-11, 265 pounds when he jumped straight from high school as an 18-year-old to the Sixers in 1975. “My question is, when people say a big man can play these days, do they mean he’s out on the wing shooting jumpers like a ‘4’ or really playing the way a big man should?

“Look, I’m not running down the league or game in any way, but I think it would all be a lot better if we developed some big men who would take control of the lane on defense, take down all those little guards who want to drive through the lane, and would be able to finish on offense with dunks.”

It was, of course, the dunks that made Dawkins famous during his flamboyant 14-year NBA career. He rattled rims, bent imaginations and most notably brought down the house with his Chocolate Thunder Flyin’, Robinzine Cryin’, Teeth Shakin’, Glass-Breakin’, Rump Roastin’, Bun Toastin, Wham, Bam, Glass-Breaker I Am Jam that shattered the backboard at Kansas City’s Municipal Auditorium on Nov. 13, 1979.

“An accident, an old building, old rims, old glass,” he still insists with a sheepish grin.

Dawkins’ duties on Wednesday included serving as a judge for the Showcase Slam Dunk Contest.

“I’m telling these boys going in that they better not try to win without bringing something special,” he said. “I don’t go for plain dunks.”

Not when his repertoire included his self-named collection: Yo Mama, Spine Chiller Supreme, Rim Wrecker, Dunk You Very Much and Sexophonic Turbo Delight.

Dawkins, who’ll turn 56 on Friday, misses what he calls the days when the NBA was less about the business side and more about the simple fun. But it is the lack of dominant big men and the lack of consistent low post play that drives him crazy.

“I hear people saying that the game has changed,” he said. “Why’s that? Because big men grow up these days trying to just shoot like guards or small forwards. I watch teams like Miami where nobody has a real position and they’re able to win the championship. Look, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade are great players. I’m not denying that.

“I listen to people say the game now is all about cutting and motion and moving — that’s getting back to the fundamentals. But I’m saying if you put guys like Moses Malone and Charles Barkley and Kevin McHale out there, you’re not just gonna dump that ball inside and beat everybody up to win games?

“Everybody’s here at the Showcase looking for talent. I want to see big men, the old-fashioned kind.”

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Delfino Makes Milwaukee Return ‘Special’

January 5, 2013  ·  11:09AM

 

MILWAUKEE – Fine, so it wasn’t as big or as triumphant as Jeremy Lin‘s return to Madison Square Garden. Emotions weren’t raw and racing just below the surface the way they were for James Harden and the Houston Rockets when he went back to Oklahoma City just a month after being traded.

But Carlos Delfino enjoyed his time with the Milwaukee Bucks, wasn’t eager to leave and wound up taking some real satisfaction from his first trip back Friday at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.

“It’s always special going against your old team,” said Delfino, the eight-year NBA veteran who spent the past three seasons in Milwaukee. The 6-foot-6 swingman stuck the Bucks for 22 points – nine in the second quarter to whittle down an 18-point deficit, then 13 in the fourth to seal the comeback in a 115-101 victory.

Delfino averaged 10.6 points and 4.5 rebounds for the Bucks, starting 159 of his 178 appearances. He helped them reach the playoffs in his first season, then was badly missed in 2010-11 when he sat more than two months with concussion symptoms and neck strain.

Last summer, after a second straight lottery appearance, Milwaukee headed in a non-Delfino direction, counting on Mike Dunleavy and young Tobias Harris at small forward while committing to Monta Ellis alongside Brandon Jennings in the backcourt. Delfino was on the market until late August, his work for Argentina (15.3 ppg, 3.8 rpg) in the London Olympics done.

It wasn’t Bucks GM John Hammond ringing his phone, it was the Rockets’ Daryl Morey instead.

“I was sad in the moment. I thought I was staying in Milwaukee,” Delfino said. “I had a good feeling with everybody in the city, after you’ve been defending the colors for three years. Then when I didn’t have any offer, I didn’t get sad about that or blame anyone. It’s a business. But I was feeling more about the personal stuff. Getting a call. … I was more sad about that.”

What the Bucks and Bradley Center fans saw Friday was classic Carlos: Not his rousing, somewhat unexpected, one-handed driving dunk but his 8-of-11 shooting, including 6-of-7 on 3-pointers (while the rest of the Rockets were going 7-of-26 from the arc). Houston is 9-2 this season when Delfino makes at least three 3-pointers in a game; the past two seasons, the Bucks were 20-10 on those nights.

“When Carlos makes a couple, he’s got a beautiful shot,” Houston coach Kevin McHale said afterward. “I watch him in practice sometimes just shoot. When he’s relaxed and guys are rebounding for him, he goes for long, long stretches without missing.”

Delfino, who is 29 but seems to have been on the NBA scene much longer, also is a helpful veteran on an extremely young roster. “Carlos has no agenda,” McHale said. “He’s a pro. … It’s the same thing I felt about Luis Scola last year – these guys have been playing pro ball since they’re, like, 14. They have such a relaxed feel, they’re fun to be around.”

The Bucks aren’t having much fun at the moment. They have dropped three in a row and four of six, heading into their game at Indiana Saturday. Coach Scott Skiles, his staff, Hammond and half the locker room are working in the final years of their contracts.

The roster is heavily tilted toward the frontcourt, with only Beno Udrih as a reliable backup at guard. The guy they acquired to plug Andrew Bogut‘s hole last season, Samuel Dalembert, doesn’t play these days. Neither does Drew Gooden, who did what he could to plug that spot last season.

As the Bucks threw the ball away 19 times and shot 38.9 percent in the second half, they could have used someone exactly like Delfino. But he was working from the other end, in road colors, making sure his trip back to town stayed special.

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History: Fear The Streaking Clippers

January 1, 2013  ·  9:51AM

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HANG TIME, Texas — It might be time to change the name of Lob City to Titletown or Bannerburgh.

Either way the streaking Clippers are on the verge of moving into a rather exclusive neighborhood that merits quite serious attention. It’s a ritzy place that comes with lots of shiny gold hardware.

When Chris Paul and his pals won back-to-back games over the Jazz to run it up to 17 consecutive wins, they squeezed into a tie for the ninth-longest single-season streak in NBA history.

With one more win tonight at Denver — No. 18 — the Clippers would take another step toward forcing themselves into the conversation as honest-to-goodness contenders.

Of course, the 1971-72 Lakers top the list with their all-time record 33-game win streak that many consider to be unbreakable. But of the eight teams currently ahead of the Clippers, five of them went on that same season to win the NBA championship and two others advanced to the conference finals. Only the 2007-08 Rockets failed to get out of the first round of the playoffs.

1971-72 L.A. Lakers
Streak: 33

Coach: Bill Sharman
Stars: Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, Gail Goodrich

Start: Nov. 5, 1971 (110-106 over Bullets)

End: Jan. 7, 1972 (120-104 to Bucks)

Record: 69-13

Playoff result: Won NBA championship

2007-08 Houston Rockets

Streak: 22 games
Coach: Rick Adelman
Stars: Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming

Start: Jan. 29, 2008 (111-107 over Warriors)

End: March 18, 2008 (94-74 to Boston Celtics)

Record: 55-27

Playoff result: Lost in first round

1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks

Streak: 20
Coach: Larry Costello
Stars: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson

Start: Feb. 6, 1971 (111-105 over Warriors)

End: March 8, 1971 (110-103 in OT to Bulls)

Record: 66-16

Playoff result: Won NBA championship

1999-2000 L.A. Lakers

Streak: 19
Coach: Phil Jackson
Stars: Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal

Start: Feb. 4, 2000 (113-67 over Jazz)

End: March 13, 2000 (109-102 to Wizards)

Record: 67-15

Playoff result: Won NBA championship

2008-09 Boston Celtics
Streak: 19

Coach: Doc Rivers
Stars: Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen

Start: Nov. 15, 2008 (102-97 over Bucks)

End: Dec. 25, 2008 (92-83 to Lakers)

Record: 62-20

Playoff result: Lost in conference semifinals

1969-70 N.Y. Knicks
Streak: 18

Coach: Red Holzman
Stars: Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, Dave DeBusschere, Bill Bradley

Start: Oct. 24, 1969 (116-92 over Pistons)

End: Nov. 29, 1969 (110-98 to Pistons)

Record: 60-22

Playoff result: Won NBA championship

1981-82 Boston Celtics

Streak: 18
Coach: Bill Fitch
Stars: Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish

Start: Feb. 24, 1982 (132-90 over Jazz)

End: March 28, 1982 (116-98 to 76ers)

Record: 63-19

Playoff result: Lost in conference finals

1995-96 Chicago Bulls

Streak 18
Coach: Phil Jackson
Stars: Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman

Start: Dec. 29, 1995 (120-93 over Pacers)

End: Feb. 4, 1996 (105-99 to Nuggets)

Record: 72-10

Playoff result: Won title

2012-13 L.A. Clippers
Streak: 17
Coach: Vinny Del Negro
Stars: Chris Paul, Blake Griffin
Start: Nov. 28, 2012 (101-95 over Timberwolves)
End: ???

* 20 consecutive wins by 2011-12 San Antonio Spurs was split between 10 regular season and 10 playoffs and thereby does not qualify officially.

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Can Rockets Prove They’re For Real?

December 24, 2012  ·  5:14PM


HOUSTON — When the Rockets wore down and sprinted past the creaking Celtics, it was youth over age.

When Jeremy Lin recreated the old magic at Madison Square Garden and the Rockets wore out the Knicks, it was hope over their own struggles.

When James Harden made it all look easier than a walk in the park in a thumping of the Grizzlies, it was speed over power.

Now after winning five of their past six games, the Rockets have to prove they are as much substance as style.

While hanging around the .500 mark (14-12) through the first third of the season, this totally reconstructed Houston lineup has been equal parts entertaining and unfulfilling.

So as they enter the meat of the schedule, our very good buddy Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle notes this might be as good a time as any to determine whether the Rockets are legitimate playoff contenders in the Western Conference.

Beginning with the Christmas Day game in Chicago, the Rockets will play four games in five days, facing the Bulls, Timberwolves, Spurs and Thunder. Only the final game of that stretch, against Oklahoma City (21-5), will come at home.

“This road trip is key for us,” guard James Harden said. “It will be a good test having three games on the road against really good teams. In order for us to make the playoffs, we’re going to have to win some road games, and this is the time. I think we’re on a roll now as far as us playing together, so this is going to be big for us.”


Assuming some of that stretch will be difficult, the Rockets said they are better prepared for what will come than they were a week ago, when they crumbled.

“We are different,” guard Jeremy Lin said. “We made some big differences in terms of figuring out what works with our identity and what doesn’t work. A week ago, I would say we were not as sure of what to do as we are now.”

Since returning from his leave of absence two weeks ago, coach Kevin McHale has repeatedly stressed that the young Rockets lineup has to remain committed to the team’s up-tempo style of play.

“Every team has a style,” McHale said. “A lot of teams are trying to find that style. Once you find what works, you have have to be dedicated to doing it.

“I liken back to the old Hakeem Olajuwon days. The team didn’t one day say, ‘We’re never going to throw the ball to Hakeem tonight. We’re going to ice him out. We’re just going to shoot jumpers.’ They threw the ball to him every single time. That was their style.

“As a team, we’ve got to find our footing where we play the same every night. We may not shoot it as good and may not do a lot of stuff, but we have to play the same style.”

That is, besides pushing the tempo, sharing the ball, moving it side to side to create open jump shots and open lanes for Harden and Lin to drive through.

Since losing at Toronto eight days ago, the Rockets have averaged 118 points, 25 fast break points per game and hae made 53.6 percent. In Saturday night’s whipping of Memphis, they assisted on a season-high 32 of 44 field goals.

But now Houston starts a difficult week with a Christmas night game at Chicago, where the Bulls rank third in the NBA defensively, allowing 90.3 points per game on 42.4 percent shooting and 32.6 percent 3-point shooting.

The Bulls are quite good at stifling opponents’ pace by playing solid half-court defense and having the hyperactive Joakim Noah blow up the pick and roll and many attempts in the lane.

Often this season when they’ve been slowed down and forced to play deliberately, the Rockets have deteriorated into a group of individuals that stand and eventually tried to do too many things 1-on-1.

They say they’ve grown. They say they’ve changed. They say they are for real.

Now they are staring at a short, difficult window — four games in five nights, ending with OKC at home — to prove it.

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Lockout Just A Painful Memory Now

December 22, 2012  ·  10:52AM

“Do Not Open Till Christmas.” It’s something that is so magical when it’s written across brightly wrapped packages arranged under a tree, but sure can look miserable when it’s slapped across the entirety of the NBA regular-season schedule.

Everyone found that out last year, when a bitter labor lockout chopped 16 games, most of the preseason and nearly three months off each team’s 2011-12 season.

For perspective, think of all the games, stories, moments and highlights generated already in 2012-13 — with about 70 percent of the schedule still to be played. Now, think about all that was lost –- beyond whatever financial or stability gains were achieved by the warring owners and players in their CBA talks –- as everyone waited and wondered and worried for the NBA to begin last season.

The league won’t be celebrating any sort of anniversary on Tuesday. The five games stacked up that day will be special -– Christmas games always are -– but they won’t be extra-special in the way the holiday and Opening Day got rolled into one, pulling a season back from the brink.

Boston coach Doc Rivers, asked recently for his takeaway from last year’s lockout, said: “I got to see a lot of Duke games [where his son Austin Rivers played] –- I thought that was terrific. I got to go to Hawaii, to the Maui Classic –- I thought that was fantastic. My [golf] handicap was as low as it’s been in years. And then we had a whole season, in my mind. And that was terrific.

“I’m gonna stop there.”

Houston coach Kevin McHale was even more circumspect. He stared blankly, then raised his gaze to the ceiling when asked for his lockout memories. “I’m trying to think if there was anything good,” he said. Of his glassy expression, he added: “It keeps me from getting in trouble.”

Muzzled under penalty of hefty fines, NBA personnel avoided talking about the lockout last season like it was a pass-around fruitcake. It remains something about which many folks in and around the league would rather not speak, because it was one of the NBA’s more regrettable episodes.

Oh, it wasn’t as bad as the lockout that chopped the 1998-99 season down to just 50 games per team. But it was bad in its own right, costing them all hundreds of millions of dollars and forcing a hurried-up, ground-down product on the public.

“Pointless,” Miami’s Dwyane Wade called it the other night. “We ain’t going to go into all that -– I just think it was a pointless lockout.” (more…)

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