Very disappointing loss in Phoenix. But watching the 1st quarter, you can tell how the game was going to be. Phoenix just couldn't miss and Houston just couldn't rebound or defend the fast break. Adelman needs to do a better job of getting the team into a better mindset so they don't think they can just cruise to a win. They barely got the win last time these teams met. They need to have a killer mentality in every game especially this game. If they won this game, Phoenix would have kissed its playoff hopes goodbye, would have taken advantage of a SA loss, and put more pressure on Denver and the other teams contending for home court advantage. Yao Ming needs to be more agressive. With Shaq guarding him, Yao gets the advantage of playing 1 on 1 the whole night. He needs to take advantage of that, but instead he seemed too tired and fatigued after a long rest. Ron Artest on the stat sheet looked good. Behind the box score, we see him playing lackluster defense. Grant Hill playing look a 20 year old. In my opinion, he needs to give 100% of defense while only 70% on offense. Shane Battier has stepped it up tremendously and our bench has been doing good at scoring. Also add that Carl Landry should be returning around playoff time, our offense will be set. We just need to enforce our will on the defensive end. In the NBA, offense will come, but defense has to be worked for.
Our next game against Lakers will put us to the test. Definitely will test Ron's defense, and also his sanity. Last time they met, they had a friendly chat and Ron took it personal and tried to play HORSE with Kobe. Epic fail. Hopefully the Rockets will come together as a team and come up top even being underdogs. A win at Lakers will more than make up for a loss at Suns. Every game counts, if they win this they have a good chance to go 7-0 to finish the season. The games they might lose are at home. So any Rockets home games are winnable. The only away game against a playoff contention team is against Dallas. And that game is very winnable. Here's to hoping that we win against the Lakers to start this 7-0.