So I witnessed the Rockets in person Wed. night in D.C. and was actually able to enjoy a win. (The last game I went to was the Western Conference Finals blowout in Houston vs. Golden State.) I'm still salty over spending money on a flight ticket and hotel, actually believing the Rockets were going to represent on their home court.
I live in D.C, so seeing your team in person is a pretty cool experience. Sitting two rows behind the bench was an even better experience (outside of Harden, JB and Ariza constantly staring at my fiance after every timeout) . There was a point in the 4th quarter during a time-out where I jokingly yelled out to them to focus on holding onto this damn game and not my girl (Jason Terry and Ariza chuckled---Terry shook my hand after the game-I told him he needed to coach). I heard his voice the loudest during every single huddle/timeout.
Anyways to elaborate on my experience, I see why this team struggles. I was in shock by the lack of focus before the game:
- dance battle contests (Dwight)
- Half-Court shooting contest from both Harden and Howard (our two best players) for literally 5 minutes (seriously???)
- non stop jokes and laughing on the sideline (Dwight)
I don't see how J.B doesnt say anything. He just stood there watching this nonsense for 30 min before the game.
The only players who actually "warmed up" and took the pre-game serious was Marcus Thornton and Harden.
You would think this team was 23-0!
While we pulled out the win behind Harden's big game, that type of winning is not sustainable. This team is below .500 and has been consistently under-achieving. I couldn't believe what I saw pre-game. The MAIN culprit was Dwight Howard. Everything's a joke to him. I can see why certain players can't play with him. This guy just doesn't take the game serious.
Stupid fouls, no offensive moves whatsoever, that technical foul where he slammed the ball on the floor 20 feet in the air? Really?
To prevent this post from becoming a bash Dwight Howard thread, I wanted to get your take on the team's approach/focus, and whether or not you think it's affecting the team's play night in and night out. I think it is.
They play well, then they let teams back in the game. Or they start slow and are constantly digging themselves out of a hole. Harden shows up and drops 40 or he doesn't and we lose. It's clearly not coaching, although they have been incrementally better with JB (small sample size).
It was a bitter sweet feeling after this game. Yeah we won, I saw Harden play well, but I left the arena (also stopping by to shake Les and Morey's hand - who were surprised I actually knew who they were) feeling like this team isn't really good. I witnessed it live.
It's going to be a long season. I don't know what changed from all the success we had last year. I refuse to believe it was Josh Smith and Prigioni.