Hopefully, The Blazers Caught The Rockets At Just The Right Time

[ABM]

to wit:

From: The Houston Chronicle

The Rockets will face the Trail Blazers tonight with a chance to be playing Portland again when the playoffs begin, and for tonight’s game to decide home-court advantage.
But with all that uncertain, Rockets coach Rick Adelman said there are substantial reasons to consider this an important game.

“I told the team, I think we have to validate our season,” Adelman said. “We have to come back and win at home. They’re one of the teams we could play, one of the teams we’re fighting for position with.”

Bad timing

Since moving into first place in the Southwest Division, the Rockets have played four games (losing three on the road and beating the Clippers at home) and held five practices, working on their offensive execution.

But against the Lakers, they spent much of the game bogging down offensively and racing the shot clock, with their frustration obvious.

“From the first minutes of the game until the last minutes, we did not run our plays well,” Yao Ming said. “We did not execute well. We said that from the first day of the season until now. In two weeks, the playoffs will start. We’re still not executing well.”

 

[BlazerCaravan]

It sounds like our new defensive intensity and offensive sets could prove to be fruitful against their current on-court behavior set. That's as close as I dare come to woofing about this game... it's too damn important.

 

[Nate Dogg]

This is a good Team Report on the Rockets. Hopefully Nate has figured this out.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_y...9-nba-hou&prov=sportsxchange&type=team_report