You had to watch this one to really get it. Highlight packages aren't going to do it any justice.
Too many NBA clubs mimic simple transcripts. You can check the game stats, read the recap, and there, you're immediately caught up with whatever it was that you missed. To do the same with the Houston Rockets is to sell yourself short.
You may not know who T.J. Simers is. He's the L.A. Times columnist who called out Phil Jackson after the Rockets wrecked Jackson's Lakers in Game 4 of the '09 playoffs, prompting The Zen Master's infamous response: "Give them some f-----g credit. I mean, for real."
Out of curiosity, I e-mailed Simers shortly after viewing the clip on ESPN. In the e-mail, I basically asked him what he thought the right approach to building a relationship with a coach was. Should a journalist ask easy questions to get on a coach's good side, or ask them the nitty, gritty annoying questions for the betterment of the story?
This is the response that I got from Simers in my inbox the next morning: "We are writers. We are not stenographers."
Of any team in the NBA, none makes it easier to write with expression and color and emotion than the Houston Rockets. It's a worn-out statement, and will continue to be exercised as long as Kyle Lowry, Luis Scola and Carl Landry are around.
It takes a special trust between a coach and his players for Rick Adelman to pull Aaron Brooks, his starting point guard and second-leading scorer, from the scorer's table with two minutes to play in favor of The Bulldog. Lowry delivered with back-to-back assists to Landry, who was dynamite around the rim. Hell, Landry was dynamite just about everywhere.
Shane Battier and Chase Budinger delivered in the effective absence of Brooks, who only scored eight points in 23 minutes. Battier had fourteen points, while Bud Light added twelve.
As we well know, the Kings aren't the same pushover that they have been in past years. This is an impressive win, whether or not anyone cares to notice, especially coming off of the Atlanta loss.