Does anyone else find it completely ironic that the one player who is single-handedly reducing the value of one of Houston's draft picks is the same player that Houston cut a few weeks ago? New York is now back in the playoff hunt and I am not looking forward to seeing how the rest of the season plays out with a competent point guard paired up with the rest of their starting lineup.

Hello fellow Dream Shakers!

First of all let me say that this is my first fan post after a couple of years reading and commenting on TDS. I would've liked to have got involved sooner but living in Australia means that I dont watch the Rockets games until I get home after work. By then, most of you folk would be fast asleep and/or probably not interested in hearing comments about the game the day before!

Anyway I am writing to open a discussion (hopefully) on a very interesting stat I picked up on whilst watching the Rox v Suns game yesterday. While (the surprisingly good) Phoenix commentators were taking note on Houston's' "scary" second unit, a quick stat flashed up listing the 4 lowest producing second units in the league. They were (I forget the order) Lakers, Heat, Orlando and Clippers. I would think that all 4 teams, in most peoples minds, would be contenders to the championship this season.

It got me thinking. The Heat would probably have a similar bench to last season as far as production goes (just guessing here though). The Heat didnt win the championship (yes I know they got close). The Dallas Mavericks however did win the championship. Now you will have to forgive me here because I have not done the research but I am guessing the Mavs, with Terry, Barea and co., had relatively high production from their bench during the regular season last season.

Where am I going with this? Well I am wondering if there are people out there who can shed a little light on whether poor bench production (lets say bottom 3 in the league) puts an automatic road block on a teams ability to win the championship. When was the last time a team with a bottom 3 in the league second unit (points production wise) won the championship? Has it happened before?

I guess where Im REALLY going with this is......the Rockets surely have one of the best second units in the league this season with regards to point production (again, a little help with the official stats please). Now I am not one to get excited simply because the boys have pulled 3 road wins against a DEPLETED Denver, a DEMORALIZED Portland and a D...............not so good Phoenix. But is this second unit production thing something we can genuinely get excited about? Secondly, does history suggest that a team with a low scoring bench cannot win the championship?

Please feel free to get involved and comment on my post (positively or negatively, I dont mind). Help me pop my TDS cherry!!!

John

I'm not sure what the hell got into this Houston Rockets squad, but whatever it is, I like it.

An article came out about a week or two ago about how the Rockets wanted to follow the "Denver model" with this year's team. It's safe to say the envy didn't last long. The Rockets beat Denver on the road, beat fellow starless darlings Portland on the road and now stand in fourth place in a tough Western Conference with a record of 16-11.

The season is in a stage where you can get away with saying it's still "early," but it's really not. The Rockets are nearly halfway through their schedule (the tenth toughest in the league, mind you). A month ago, we were wondering when the Rockets could be written off and when Tankapalooza 2012 could begin. Suddenly, the Rockets have put together a legitimate playoff resume with a team that isn't getting as much as usual from former consistency kings, Kevin Martin and Luis Scola.

There was a point back near the beginning of the season where I tried to defend this squad for what it was: unproven. The youngsters had taken off so quickly that we had forgotten they were still youngsters and had plenty of room to grow. They appear to be growing, and in doing so, they're saving the starters' hides with some fantastic bench play.

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All Star reserves were announced before the game. Kyle Lowry didn't make it, but he deserves a spot. Our illustrious commentators speculated that he would want to come out and play great against one of the guards who took his spot: Steve Nash. And that kind of happened at the start of the game -- Lowry shot well enough, after all, but the Rockets' starters largely sputtered and died on offense as the game wore on.

Steve Nash is an all-star, and he deserves it. Anyone watching this game can see the massive difference between the Nash Suns and the Sebastien Telfair Suns. Yes, his defense is bad, but he's still one of the most efficient players in the NBA and a brilliant passer at the age of 38.

So I guess Lowry vs. Nash could be the all-important "storyline" coming into this game, but it was instead a story of another sort: that of the Master vs. the Student: Nash against Goran Dragic. And, like Vader slaying Obi-Won (wait, that's predictable) like Sauron betraying the Elves, the student was the victor tonight.

Dragic pulled off an excellent game, 11 points (on 9 shots, which is kind of meh) with 11 assists (very good), 2 steals, and just 2 turnovers. Altogether very solid. The 11 assists are the key -- he kept finding the open man (usually a wide-open Patterson) and kept the ball moving for the second unit. Yes, there is a reason they are the Dragon Army (NOTE: McHale's Navy is stupid. It's what Basketbawful calls the Rockets. C'mon) and not Patterson's Bears or something. Dragon is absolutely Nash's student -- you can see it in the clever passes, after all -- and his ferociousness on the break, combined with his smart decisions (like a mid-air touch pass to Budinger at the rim) is proof of his lineage.

Goran Dragic played very well, but Nash put together something a little better. 14 points on perfect shooting and 13 assists (with 4 turnovers) is a great game, though one that will perhaps go unnoticed because of the loss. The difference, of course, was that the guys around Nash (Marcin Gortat excepted) just aren't as good as the guys around Dragic.

Dragic may have been the bench leader, but the bench as a whole was just wonderful. All were great. But the best performer (after Dragic) was certainly Patrick Patterson. Patterson played like the Rockets' power forward of the future, knocking down everything he was given, rebounding well, and just rarely making a mistake. We talked about this in the OALABII post -- Patterson plays very intelligent basketball. The game-icing rebound (I like thinking of it that way) was a clever little tip from Patterson (against Gortat) towards Lowry. Oh, and he scored 14 points (on 8 shots, half of which must have been wide-open jumpers he found). So, you know, P-Squared was great.

Dragic-Patterson reminds me of the '09 bench one-two of Lowry-Landry. That was pretty cool back in the day, too.

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Start Time: 8:00 PM CST

Useful Links:

Bright Side of the Sun

Game Preview

Useful Notes:

We're going to get this started a little early, because the full All-Star rosters are going to be announced on TNT at 6:00 PM (CST).

Don't forget that Lee (UofTOrange) will be on 1560AM at 6:30, too.