What is the word I'm looking for? Oh, yeah - "idiot"!!

Anna-Megan Raley has now turned her attention to the Rockets.

God help us.

Today's gems:

"The Rockets have won three in a row. With Tracy McGrady back for the last three games, it seems the Rockets have found their way. With a pair of wins over Seattle and a victory at home over the defending champion San Antonio Spurs, it seems as if the Rockets have their act together again."

Ummmmm... McGrady is clearly still hobbling; Seattle is possibly the worst team in the NBA and the Spurs don't pay too much attention to regular season games in January. I fail to see how this is evidence that the "Rockets have their act together again" - clearly Ms. Raley has not watched Rafer or Luther play lately. And she must have fallen asleep watching American Idol during the Hornets and Sixers games.

"The Rockets are 23-19, a winning record, of course, but they play in the best division in the best conference in the NBA."

23-19 is a winning record? Holy shit - I had no idea!

"They are fourth in the Southwest Division, and they've got to make up a lot of ground."

Please tell me she doesn't actually think our goal is still to win the Southwest Division. We are not leap-frogging Dallas, San Antonio or the Chris Pauls. It's time to re-adjust our level of expectations. Insert Jim Mora rant here.

"The Rockets play 10 games before the All Star break. They will face only five teams with losing records. Three of those games are on the road."

My favorite. Let's think about this logically - if we play 10 games, the odds would dictate that half would be against winning teams and the other half would be against losing teams, right? Oh, and yes, I should point out for Anna-Megan's benefit that in this instance, "half" equals "5". So, this isn't exactly a statistical anomaly. Granted we do get 7 games at home, but we were on the road for what seems like all of 2007. Law of averages and shit. I bet she'd be surprised to learn that when the season is over, exactly 41 of our games will have been at the House that Hakeem Built.

"Despite the rough spots and Adleman's disappointment over the inconsistency, here's what I'd like to know: Do you think the Rockets will make the playoffs, and if you do, do you think they'll advance beyond the first round?"

Uhhhh, I think Ricky has a reason to be disappointed. The team is about 15 games behind the expected pace! Yes, the Rockets will make the playoffs, but at best the 6th or 7th seed. Which would NOT make us a favorite to advance beyond the first round. That would practically make us roadkill! Unless we get moved to the Eastern Conference. What kills me in this "report" is that at no time is it mentioned that if the playoffs started today, WE WOULD NOT BE IN THE PLAYOFFS!!! So, uh, yeah, there's reason for concern!

Rockets v. Trailblazers* tonight. Go Rockets!

* note: if the playoffs did start today, the Blazers would be in the playoffs. You're welcome, Anna-Megan.