Tough Loss

The Rockets seem to be revealing their true selves this month. They are a good team, but not yet among the elite of the league. They have consistently beaten the weak sisters of the poor, usually by wide margins, but have lost close games to the Lakers and Spurs in Toyota Center.

This season was to be the one that put the Rockets over the top, with Tracy, Yao, Shane and Ron-Ron as the team leaders. Tracy's absence hurts. Battier and Artest have been slowed by injuries and I suspect will not be at 100% the rest of the year.

They traded away the stable, consistent (if unexciting) veteran point guard to be replaced by a couple of inexperienced waterbugs. Rockets basketball has become an adventure everytime down the court with Brooks. He is anything but stable, consistent or unexciting. The Spurs won in part because Tony Parker beat him like a bastard stepchild. Parker had 28 points and 8 assists. Brooks had 18 points but zero assists. Got that? The Rockets' starting point guard in over 31 minutes had zero assists. Unacceptable.

Again, Ron Artest tried to put the team on his back at the end of the game and could not pull it off. This time, he at least took a good shot, but missed. Artest has many fine qualities, but he is just not the go-to scorer that McGrady is when he's healthy.

My prediction of one month ago still stands, though I will soften it a bit. If the Rockets draw the right match-up in the first round, it's possible they could actually win a series, but they will not get past the second round. They are just not an elite team right now.