Houston Rockets: A Run To Respectability

Yes!

How sweet it is Houston Rockets fans!

This team is edging closer back to .500 as the start we expected this team to make was a bit marred as they sputtered out the gate.

To be honest with you, I’m not surprised by the start.

I had a feeling it was going to take a bit for the new parts of this team to fuse together as one so every member of this team can come together at meet one goal — to win basketball games.

Yes, that’s certainly the goal of all 30 teams in the NBA but it’s actually more attainable for some franchises rather than others.

Luckily, at this moment, this particular franchise shouldn’t have any problems in doing that.

We’ve got too much talent from top to bottom to be underachieving as we were doing and it’s making our 0-3 start look like a distant memory.

These two wins haven’t necessarily been the prettiest but they’re doing what needs to be done to win games.

For right now, this early in the season, I’ll take that.

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With as competitive as the Western Conference is, we can’t afford to get to far behind or else we’ll be playing catch-up just to try to get in the playoffs when it counts down the stretch.

The biggest problem with the Rockets at this time is their part-time commitment on the defensive end and their erratic sense of momentum on both ends of the court.

The Rockets will start out guns a-blazing but then will start getting cold as far as their shooting to eventually lose their leadership and have to scrap with every bit of their energy to take over and down their opponent.

That certainly was the case with the Orlando Magic last night.

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The Rockets were in control for most of the 1st half but then let things slip through their fingers in the 2nd half to grind it out in overtime.

But here’s the deal — the Rockets won’t steam-roll over most of their competition.

Gone are the days of guaranteed “W’s” as there is more parity in today’s NBA and any given team can win any given night.

That’s why it’s imperative that the Rockets not take the weaker opponents lightly as they don’t want to instill confidence in the teams that they’re supposed to be beating.

It’s likely why they got into their 0-3 hole in the first place.

But I just want to say that Dwight Howard was phenomenal last night — putting up 23 points, 14 boards and going a perfect 10-for-10 from the field.

Another guy that has fit in nicely with the Rockets is off season pick up Marcus Thornton.

He was aggressive on both ends of the floor and got it going early, finishing with 18 points to his credit.

I see Thornton as more of niche player — finding his way to fit in with whatever the Rockets need the most at any given moment.

James Harden will get his shooting on track eventually but it’s been awhile since I’ve seen him fire away this badly as he was a measly 6-for-22 from the field and 2-for-11 from the behind-the-arc.

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He still nails his free throws — where he’s making most of his keep — nailing for 14-of-17 last night. He’s sinking 84.7 percent of those so far on the season but just netting 29.4 percent FG and 16.4 percent from three so far.

So with the 119-114 win the Rockets secured over the Magic last night, they have now won two games in a row.

A streak? Gasp?!?

Things may finally start to get interesting now for this team, so stay tuned, hold on to your hats and fasten your seat belt.

Go Rockets.

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