Rockets Fall to Phoenix in Overtime. Thank God January Is Over.

The Houston Rockets tried to get this game to last into the early morning of February 1st so that they could get a win (since they are not allowed to do that in January) but the 6:00 start would make that impossible, even with overtime.

Kyle Lowry is going to miss the next 8-10 days but the Rockets still had a chance against a team that has dropped 7 of their last 10, right? Well, yes, they had a chacne but they found a way to lose anyway.

The Rockets started 2/16 from the floor and gave up fast break layups like they were Shamhat giving up the booty to Enkidu. I don’t expect you to get that but Houston went scoreless for over 5:00 in the middle of the quarter until Chase Studinger came in and scored a few nice baskets.

28-21 Suns after 1.

The 2nd quarter was even worse as the Rockets were “sleep walking” according to Bill Worrell. And Sideshow Dave was “sleep getting killed on the boards” according to me.

60-48 Suns after 2.  

The Rockets looked much better coming out of the locker room and the defense was outstanding. The Suns only managed 6 points in the first 7:00. Houston actually took the lead after back-to-back threes by Aaron Brooks and a Luis Scola put back. It was 69-68 thanks to the 21-8 start but Phoenix answered with a 9-0 run.

79-73 Suns after 3.

Amare Stoudemire was huge in the 4th with 10 straight points for the Suns but Brooks was big in the frame as well the Rockets were able to tie the game at 97 with about 1:30 to play. After a Steve Nash 3, Trevor Ariza threw up this prayer and it was answered:

100-100 after regulation.

Stoudemire fouled out with the game tied at 104 but the Rockets couldn’t execute when they needed to. Scola committed a bad turnover, Ariza missed 2 threes and Brooks blew a layup that would’ve put Houston up by 1 with under :10 on the clock. Brooks had another chance to get his own rebound after he intentionally missed a free throw with Houston down by 2 but he was called for a lane violation (see the video above). I just want to clarify that the call was correct because the rule reads:

The free throw shooter may not cross the plane of the free throw line until the ball touches the basket ring, backboard, or the free throw ends.

Final Score: 115-111 Suns.

Positives:

1. January is over.

Negatives:

1. The Rockets were 5-9 in January. Pitiful.

Insights:

Trevor Ariza needs to forget about trying to help the team win and go for the record! He has a decent shot at breaking one the NBA’s most revered records, the most missed 3-pointers in one season ever!

I have been ripping Ariza for being a pathetic defender but I didn’t realize he was on the precipice of something so legendary. Antoine Walker missed 423 threes in 2001-2002 but it took him 645 attempts to do it; George McCloud missed 421 in 1995-1996 but it took him 678 attempts. Ariza could feasibly slaughter that record in a stunning 550 attempts. Seriously, that’s 95 less attempts than Walker and 128 less attempts than McCloud!

Right now he is 84/276 but his percentage has been heading toward 28% for a while. All he has to do is miss 5.2 threes per game for the remaining 45 games and well be looking at something like 125/550 which would crush Walker’s mark that nobody ever thought would fall.

Nobody on the Rockets has set any records since Hakeem Olajuwon so this accomplishment would make Ariza worth his $40 million by itself. I can’t wait until the guys at ESPN pick up on this and give him the McGwire-Sosa type coverage he deserves. Oh wow, I just realized something, Ariza is taking steroids!

That is the only possible explanation for the fact that he could annihilate this record. It also explains his robust physique. Below he is pictured after his only meal of the year (left) and with his family (right).   

grafxhq.com

Watching Ariza Continue to Shoot the Rockets Out of the Playoffs Is Going to be So Much Fun,

Multatuli

Houston Rockets (25-22)
field goalsrebounds
	pos	min	fgm-a	3pm-a	ftm-a	+/-	off	def	tot	ast	pf	st	to	bs	ba	pts
S. Battier	F	44:45	3-12	1-7	4-6	+2	3	8	11	0	3	3	1	0	1	11
L. Scola	F-C	34:03	6-18	0-0	5-6	-1	2	1	3	4	4	1	2	0	3	17
C. Hayes	C-F	17:51	1-2	0-0	0-0	0	3	2	5	1	2	2	0	0	1	2
T. Ariza	G	45:15	7-21	4-10	3-6	+3	3	4	7	4	3	2	0	1	0	21
A. Brooks	G	43:22	8-22	4-11	4-6	+12	0	3	3	6	5	1	2	1	1	24
C. Landry		31:59	8-14	0-0	0-1	-9	5	2	7	0	3	2	1	1	2	16
C. Budinger		23:09	4-8	2-5	2-2	-11	0	3	3	2	1	0	0	0	1	12
D. Andersen		10:42	2-6	0-1	2-2	-2	2	3	5	0	2	0	0	0	1	6
W. Conroy		09:38	1-2	0-0	0-0	-16	0	0	0	1	3	0	1	0	0	2
J. Dorsey		04:15	0-1	0-0	0-0	+2	0	2	2	0	1	0	1	0	1	0
B. Cook	DNP – Coach’s Decision
K. Lowry	DND – Sprained Left Knee
Total		265	40-106	11-34	20-29		18	28	46	18	27	11	8	3	11	111
			37.7%	32.4%	69.0%		team rebs: 11			total to: 8