Not to be considered the post-game recap - I'm sure BBN will have that up sometime soon - but here are some post-game thoughts following the Rockets' most recent soul crushing defeat in Utah.
- Kyle Lowry may never play that bad again for the rest of his professional career. It was that ugly. So, that makes me hopeful next time we are in Podunkville, Utah (playoffs, perhaps?).
- I had no problem with the Kyle Lowry/Von Wafer "race up the court" moments in the 3rd and 4th quarters. I know Doug Collins did not understand why they kept running, but Coach Sleepy put them in to push the pace and maybe get easy layups. They usually make those shots, they just didn't last night. So be it.
- The charging call on what would have been a Von Wafer 3-point play was killer. Not only did it take away three points from the Rockets - it also made Von gun-shy. As shown in 10 seconds later when he had the ball in the open court. Grrrrrrr.
- After Yao's complaining about flopping the last time we were in Podunkville, I think the NBA noticed. Millsap and Brewer both tried to flop for a call... both times the refs swallowed their whistles. Amazing. The flip side is that the refs called NO fouls near the rim. The Jazz had 10 blocked shots, and on maybe 2 of them they actually blocked the ball and not someone's forearm or elbow. Maybe...
- I've never seen Battier and Artest make so many fundamental defensive mistakes in one game. Constantly turning their head and losing sight of the man they are guarding. Missing rotations. Just seemed to be a step slow the whole game. Maybe Artest was just dreaming about his next three-point attempt?
- Artest was abused by Brewer throughout the game.
- Crazy Pills has really got to stop being a black hole on offense.
- Brent Barry's three consecutive missed three-point attempts in the 1st half was depressing. Instead of a big Rockets' run, each miss led to easy Utah points. Yikes.
- Deron Williams is like... really good. Too bad he plays for Utah.
- Carlos Boozer is still a bitch.
- Stop settling for early three-point attempts! Give the ball to Yao and play inside-out. You'd be amazed how much easier it is to make three-point attempts after the defense has sagged onto Yao. It worked wonders for Hakeem. Why can't we use the same playbook!!?!?
- There's this guy on your team. His name is Luis Scola. You should really try to get him in the offense. Utah never has an answer for him, but he always gets frozen out by his own teammates in these games. And he's too nice to demand the ball. Please do not make me have to remind you of this again.
- I really, really hate the Utah Jazz
Utah fans may have their glory today. Yeah, yeah, you knocked the Rockets out of first place in the division. Woo hoo. Laugh it up. I still call scoreboard. And why? Because of this:
Houston Rockets
Utah Jazz
Someone is "up" 3 games in the win column. It's not Utah.
The better part? Utah still has to play a bunch of games on the road. Most against the elite of the Western Conference. Utah isn't exactly good on the road. In fact, they may not even be good enough to be mediocre on the road. (Utah is 0-2 in Houston this year, in case anyone forgot.)
So, yeah, if by chance the Rockets/Jazz meet up again in the playoffs... I'm all for it. Bring it on Utah.