Houston Rockets Redux: Week 20: 03/08/2015

Thank goodness this week is over!

This wasn’t the most graceful of weeks for the Houston Rockets as it comes to a close.

This week definitely demonstrated how our weaknesses were exposed and they were done so big time by our opponents.

The biggest weakness you might ask?

Our lack of a large presence in the paint!

This is certainly something that has plagued teams since the evolution of the game at the turn of the last century.

If you don’t have dominant big man on your roster, you’re likely not going to win at the highest of levels.

It makes so much of a difference for a team to have one at their arsenal to protect the rim and cause match up problems alike.

Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Hakeem Olajuwon, Shaquille O’Neal…I could go on and on.

All these men have multiple championships because they were unstoppable for their respective teams.

In our case, Dwight Howard is that guy, one of the greatest big men of this era of professional basketball.

He’ll be back soon but until then, this Rockets team will have to press on without him.

And they can’t make excuses in regard to his absence either.

But any way, it was a tough week for our team as they had plenty of rest but finished 0-2 against the Portland Trail Blazers and Utah Jazz.

Let’s take a look at how they did:

Blazers 105, Rockets 100: There were high hopes for the Rockets as they had three days of rest to prepare for one the West’s top teams that were on deck. You’d think that without Wesley Matthews, their three-point shooting would severely diminish but it didn’t. Guys like Meyers Leonard stepped up for the Blazers keeping the Rockets at bay. This game was a perfect example of how much a match up problem LaMarcus Aldridge is for us — he got going early and could not be stopped. He finished with 26 points and 14 rebounds. The Rockets hung tough for most of the game but had big slump in the 4th quarter trailing by 11 points with 2:42 left in the game. But guess what happened? Corey Brewer is what happened — he scored 13 points in the last couple of minutes of the game to help the Rockets pull within one — 101-100 — with 15 seconds left. He played tenacious defense, he dunked, he monitored the passing lanes as well as hit big-time jumpers to do this. He was on fire! Keep in mind that he was the only Rocket that scored in that stretch as he took command. With seven seconds left — the score being 103-100 — he had chance to tie with a three-point play designed just for him but his attempt hit the front of the iron. The Rockets ended up succumbing to the to Blazers 105-100. Brew had 23 points and Terrence Jones had 17 points and 12 rebounds in the effort. James Harden was not a factor as the Blazers suffocated him plenty.

More from House of Houston

Jazz 109, Rockets 91: This is the worst game I’ve seen the Rockets play all season. From the opening tip, the Rockets looked out of it as the Jazz had a strong-arm and they did not relent. This was because of the spectacular play of the Rudy Gobert who already had a double-double at the end of the 1st quarter — he had 10 points and 10 rebounds. He dunked, he blocked shots, he ensured that his area of the paint was covered — and so it was. Gobert, a guy that was raw coming into the league, has now come into his own and will continue to be the focus of the Jazz’s defensive strategy to win basketball games. It certainly worked against the Rockets as the team simply could not find an answer for him. The Rockets did get within two points twice in the 2nd quarter but most of the game was a clinic put on by the Jazz. Brew put on another show near the end of the game but his efforts were futile in comparison to how far the Rockets were back. The Jazz had led by as much as 22 points in the 4th before the night was over. Brew had 25 points and five rebounds for the Rockets, Beard had 15 points/seven assists and TJones had 11 points/eight rebounds. Gordon Hayward led all scorers with 29 points/seven assists for the Jazz, Rodney Hood had 20 points; and, last but not least, Gobert had 19 points and 22 rebounds…ugggggh! This was certainly a game I’m sure they were glad was over so they could get the hell out of Salt Lake City.

Houston Rockets Redux: Week 20: 03/08/2015 – 03/14/2015

By Brian K. Patterson | Mar 14, 2015

More from House of Houston