Alright the facts...Houston is 11 games over .500 and on pace to be right at a 50-win season.
Their record in the 2nd half is just 7-5, but the 5 losses are to Indiana, Philly, New York, Memphis and Milwaukee. That is a pitiful list of teams with no chance to make noise this year, and it's unfortunately more of the same from earlier this year, it also means the Rockets are played just fine against the best. Despite having zero continuity and dealing with the Tracy McGrady soap opera, the Rockets are still 5th in the West, one-half game from holding home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Against the 8 playoff teams in the East and the 8 playoff contenders in the West - the Rockets are 15-13. Might not sound like much, but for comparison's sake the Nuggets, who have the 2nd best record in the west are 16-15.Look the story of the '08-'09 Rockets has not yet been written -there is more than enough time for them to stand up and take control of this season. Let's be honest too - they have done more to prove this season is already lost and out of control.
--------------------------------------------
On to the weekend in review...
--- All-Star festivities were as usual quite ho-hum. The three point contest was essentially unwatchable as Kenny Smith and Reggie Miller were bitching at each other the whole time like 7th grade girls. The game itself was never competitive and I'm sorry I'm just not enthralled by the 1 night reunion of Kobe & Shaq in an exhibition game. It was meaningless - stop hyping it up. And co-MVP's? REALLLYYYY!!!
There were some good dunks by both Nate Robinson and Dwight Howard, again the announcing crew was sub-par and with so much downtime it's a big factor. Nate's dunk over Dwight should not have been knocked for any reason. He's 5'9" and Howard is nearly 7 feet tall!! Stop complaining that Nate might have slightly pushed off of Howard's shoulder!!
(ADDED) - And you thought Phoenix firing head coach Terry Porter just after the All-Star festivities was the worst news out of Phoenix. Nah, worst story of the weekend in Phoenix that I'm going with is Jason Richardson - Bad Driver, Bad Parent.
--- While Astros GM Ed Wade was refuting reports that Pudge Rodriguez was on the radar, Pud
ge is telling the reporters that he'll sign with one of three teams and the Astros are one of them. I understand that there is nearly a 100% guarantee that he's better than anyone they have in camp - but I don't think everyone else understands that he isn't any good anymore.He'll turn 38 during the season. Here are his numbers the last 4 years....
2005 -- .276 BAvg, .444 Slug, 14 HR, 50 RBI, 53 XBH
2006 -- .300 BAvg, .437 Slug, 13 HR, 69 RBI, 45 XBH
2007 -- .281 BAvg, .420 Slug, 11 HR, 63 RBI, 45 XBH
2008 -- .276 BAvg, .394 Slug, 7 HR, 35 RBI, 30 XBH
Kinda looks like some serious decline to me. Not to mention this guy is a disaster when it comes to reaching base. Last 4 years OBP for Pudge, starting with last year.
.319, .294, .332, .290
Now to the really scary part - here's the OBP for Brad Ausmus the last 4 years.
.303, .318, .308, .351
Better be an incentive -laden contract, Ed.
------------------------------------------
Killer Vids
Hope everyone survived another Friday the 13th. These 160 people didn't. Maybe not a full list of those who've perished at the hands of Jason Voorhees and others in the Friday the 13th series - but fun to watch nonetheless.
------------------------------------------
New HBO Comedy series began last night... East Bound & Down. If it anything like Curb Your Enthusiasm, Flight if the Conchords, Entourage, The Larry Sanders Show, Dream On and others then this should be a good one.
------------------------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment