Houston Sports: Good Bad Ugly: Top three moments of 2017

For Houston Sports, the year 2017 was monumental in many regards. There was good, bad and then downright ugly. It’s time to break down my three moments that fit each of those aforementioned categories.

The Good: Houston Astros

Your 2017 World Series Champs, the Houston Astros, were the best thing to happen to Houston Sports since 1995. The team posted 101 wins to only 61 losses including winning the American League West. They won that AL West title by 21 games.

They would finish with the second best record in the AL behind the Cleveland Indians. The Indians needed a 22-game win streak to catch back up to the Astros.

In the Division Series, the Astros would take down the Boston Red Sox three games to one.

The local-nine would need seven games to prevail over the New York Yankees 4-3 series win.

Then came the World Series. The Astros first appearance since 2005 (when they competed as a National League team). In the 2005 series, the team was swept by the Chicago White Sox.

The National League foe was the Los Angeles Dodgers. The MLBs best team all season. They finished with a record of 104-58. They have a once in a generation pitcher in Clayton Kershaw.

After six epic games, the Astros would triumph in Game 7 winning 5-1.

Jose Altuve wins the American League MVP and George Springer wins the World Series MVP — an exclamation point to a legendary season.

A World Series Championship with a parade is definitely the good moment of the 2017 Houston Sports year.

The Bad: The Houston Rockets season ending loss

The Houston Rockets would finish the season 55-27 and begin the playoffs as the 3rd seed in the Western Conference.

They would breeze by the Oklahoma City Thunder as James Harden proved himself deserving of the MVP trophy that would later go to Russell Westbrook.

Then came the dreaded San Antonio Spurs. A rival in most fans eyes. The Rockets would dominate game one, 126-99, in San Antonio. Then the next two would go Spurs way, 121-96 and 103-92. Game 4 would go to the Rockets 125-104.

Game 5, a final in overtime of 110-107. Harden would put in 33 points with 10 assists leading all on the floor that night. Then came the game tying shot, one in which Harden would be blocked from behind by Manu Ginobili. A crushing blow to the confidence that the Rockets carried after evening the series up 2-2.

Game 6 would not be close at all. Harden struggled, going 2-for-11 from the field and only scoring 10 points. LaMarcus Aldridge dominated the Rockets scoring 34 points on 16-for-26 shooting and grabbing 12 rebounds. The Spurs won that game 114-75.

Those two final games were just bad. From the block that killed Hardens confidence to the no -show by the team as a whole. The season that showed so much promise finished in an utter collapse.

This season, however, the Rockets are currently in 2nd place in the Western Conference. They have Chris Paul and Clint Capela is playing at an All-Star caliber.

The Ugly: The Houston Texans 2017 campaign

This will be a year to forget for most involved and emotionally invested in the Houston Texans. The team finished 4-12 on the season and dead last in the AFC South. Rick Smith has now taken a leave of absence from the organization. Numerous coaches have been shown the door.

Coming out of training camp, head coach Bill O’Brien went with Tom Savage as the starter. He would only last one half of one game. The Texans would lose their season opener to the Jacksonville Jaguars 29-7. Deshaun Watson proved to be a glimmer of hope and the team wavered around .500 until the week 9.

During the week of practice before week Nines bout with the Indianapolis Colts, Watson would

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sustained a torn ACL from a non-contact injury. This, to go along with season-ending maladies to J.J. Watt, Whitney Mercilus and later D’Onta Foreman, proved to be too much for the Texans to handle.

The team would then lose eight of their last nine and six straight to close the season.

The team showed such promise with Watson but after the injury they were less than impressive. Savage, T.J. Yates and even Taylor Heinicke saw action.

Tom Savage would suffer a concussion that lead to an NFL investigation on the handling of it. The team would later be cleared of all charges but the whole thing left a black eye on the organization.

To cap it all off, the Texans will not have a first or second round pick in the upcoming 2018 NFL Draft.

Next: Three New Year's Predictions for 2018

They were truly the ugly of the Houston sports landscape in 2017.

To recap, the Houston Astros were the good, the Houston Rockets playoffs loss the bad, and the Houston Texans 2017 season was the ugly. A script not even Clint Eastwood would want to star in.

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