HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS — The Utah Jazz made some comeback magic for the second straight night and John Wall showed off a little triple double wizardry of his own before the Magic Man himself.
We’re only three weeks into this marathon but it’s clear we were right about this being the most anticipated season in years, for all the reasons you see on a nightly basis.
Don’t just take our word for it, take a couple of minutes (with the Daily Zap) and see for yourself:
The Top 10, complete with the vocal stylings of our main man Kyle Montgomery, is yet more proof that you’re seeing things this season you never have before:
Wall’s first triple double was historic (he’s the third youngest player in league history to do it) in addition to being filled with sick highlights. Here he is talking to the Game Time crew about his huge night:
Not all the news Wednesday night was good.
In that same Wizards game Yao Ming limped off the floor in the first quarter with a strained tendon in his left leg, the same injured leg that cost him all of last season. The details of the severity of his latest injury won’t be known until later today.
But Yao did not seem “optimistic,” per Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle, who detailed the Rockets’ breakdown and sixth loss like this:
After taking their last lead midway through the fourth quarter, they gave up a 10-0 run in which they missed all four of their shots, had five turnovers and surrendered three offensive boards with the Wizards scoring on them all.
That’s how you lose to the Wizards, and not terribly different from how they lost to the Lakers, Warriors, Nuggets and Hornets.
“You get paid to make plays,” Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. “Our guys, we got to make plays. With the game on the line, you have to find people who can do that. Right now, we’re searching for it. It’s not happening.”
Yao of course could be the Rockets’ closer, at least on the offensive end. He didn’t look like it on Wednesday. He did not take one shot in his six minutes. But he has that ability.
Now, the Rockets don’t know if they have him.
They won without him last year, but don’t know how to win this season.
Most NBA games are close in the fourth quarter. That’s when teams are defined and revealed, and the Rockets have been exposed. They are 1-6 for a reason and it’s not because Yao Ming limped off in the first quarter. That just made the latest loss hurt just a bit more.
Ouch!
Stay tuned for more details on Yao later.
*** Check back later for a complete breakdown of all 10 of Tuesday night’s game in our weekly edition of Did You See What We Saw? ***
