Bad Omen or Just a Bad Evening?

Multiple bad things had to happen last night for the Rockets to lose home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Guess what? Everybody that had to win, won - and the Rockets lost. And they didn't lose in a good way. They lost in the same way they've been losing all season. Artest tried to do too much, Brooks had numerous brain-farts and the entire team forgot how to get the ball to Yao - or in lieu thereof, how to score from elsewhere when Yao was double-teamed. In short, they fell apart offensively in the fourth quarter and played poor defense almost the entire night. Moreover, nobody seemed able to corral Dirk Nowitzki. Usually solid Luis Scola couldn't lay a glove on him and Carl Landry didn't fare much better, either on defense or on the boards. Kyle Lowry was something of a bright spot, leading the team well through three quarters, though he too lost his composure late in the game. I renew my petition to start Lowry. He has been playing better than Brooks and the Rockets could use Aaron's offense of the bench.

As the real show opens Saturday night, the big question is was Wednesday just a night of bad bio-rhythms and horoscopes or was it indicative of what we can expect in the playoffs? In theory, the Rockets drew a good first-round matchup in the Portland Trailblazers. Though they suffered a demoralizing last-second defeat to the Blazers in Portland in November, it must be noted that Shane Battier had not yet come back from off-season surgery and Ron Artest was still getting his feet wet in the Rockets lineup. Since then, the Blazers have lost twice in Houston.

Conclusion? The Dallas game was a fluke. In recent months after tough losses, the Rockets have shown a penchant for picking themselves up, dusting themselves off and delivering an ass-kicking to whoever was unlucky enough to be next on the schedule. It's Portland's turn to be the whipping boy.