Big Bad Loss

The Rockets lost an important game tonight in Utah. Notice that I said "The Rockets lost..." Not any one player, the entire team. A few players were only mediocre, but most were just bad. Poor shooting, turnovers, missed opportunities, sloppy defense... If the Rockets had not hit 10-26 from beyond the arc, it would have been a massacre.

The standouts were Luis Scola, Shane Battier and Aaron Brooks. Scola has been the most consistent Rocket all year. Shane Battier hit 4-7 threes and had 18 total points - an offensive explosion for him. Aaron Brooks was the game's high scorer with 20. Brooks led the team well and was the only starter with a positive +/- stat.

The goats were Ron Artest (5-22), Von Wafer (2-7) and Yao Ming (6-16), though Yao had 13 rebounds and 4 blocked shots.

Oddly enough, Houston outrebounded the Jazz by 10, but it's hard to find positives when the Jazz blocked 12 shots, indicative of the forced shots the Rockets settled for all night. The Rockets did not play as a team and the final score showed it.