Rockets Drop Third Straight, Fall to Jazz

This game was a rough one to recap for you guys. As you can tell from the box score this one was not pretty. The Rockets came out strong but as soon as the Jazz decided to play basketball again the Rockets looked as though they had no interest in putting up a fight. Frustrating habits resurfaced and indecisiveness ran rampant. The defense showed no energy whatsoever and the offense was sloppy and poorly coordinated. It would be one thing to have to tell you that the team was tired but, by the looks of the effort on the court, I'd be lying to you to say it was just fatigue. Since the Rockets decided to put forth about 20% of their effort, I figured I'd return the favor and coast by. Special comment for anyone who can't see the game due to the Comcast rights issue, be grateful tonight.

Three Up:

Attendance: The Rockets showed up in Utah. Or, at least guys wearing Houston Rockets jerseys were spotted in Energy Solutions Arena. The Rockets were consistently out-hustled and I cannot count to you the number of times one white jersey plucked an offensive rebound from a sea of red jerseys. If you step on an NBA court you step out there to play and play your game. The Rockets showed no inclination to do either tonight.

Patrick Patterson: The guy Rockets fans seem to love to dump on put on a strong performance and was virtually the only reason the Rockets put points on the board. He doesn't deserve half the venom he gets and this is from a guy who was pretty well done with him last season.

Time: Thankfully it expired and I didn't have to keep watching this shameful product that the Rockets called basketball tonight. Seriously, be grateful that you don't have Comcast if you couldn't watch the game tonight. Omer Asik airballed a free throw and even that wasn't the lowest point of the night.

Three Down:

Defensive effort: I'd like to call it that but really it was just a clinic as to how useless you can make yourself when you know you're supposed to be an impediment to another player putting a ball in a hoop. Tonight, everyone was Toney Douglas with about 10% of the effor that he puts in to be that bad.

Lane stripping: Can I please get ONE Houston game where 30% of our drives through the lane don't result in a stripped ball turnover we kicked off our knee? Seriously. They teach you this stuff in elementary school. If you're going to drive, clasp the ball to prevent getting stripped. I've checked the roster like twelve times tonight and I don't see Terell Owens's name on it, there's no excuse for this many dropped balls.

Assists: The Rockets are supposed to be a pick and roll team and pride themselves on having two playmakers on the floor in Jeremy Lin and James Harden. None of that was on display tonight. Helen Keller could have quarterbacked this team better than our playmakers tonight.

Notes:

James Harden did not start the second half; he was playing with flu-like symptoms or something similar. Marcus Morris started the second half of the game.

The second half showed more effort but it also showcased the same amount of ineptitude and selfishness. Admittedly this recap was written before the first half was over.

Fourth quarter scrub time saw a great deal of hustle but it's like asking an ugly chick for her phone number, she's just grateful for the attention.

It wasn't mentioned on the three up because honestly the Rockets atrocious play overshadowed it BUT the turnover numbers continue to come