THE NBA OFF-SEASON
John Granato: Hey, Rockets fan - it's time to man up
Jul 6, 2018, 6:00 am
I can’t believe how almost everyone has lost his mind this NBA offseason. I say his mind because I haven’t heard any women complaining about it. Women are far more level headed about these types of things. Either that or they don’t care what LeBron or Boogie Cousins does. Count me amongst those ladies.
That’s right. I don’t care. Nothing has changed. Nothing.
The Rockets are still the team to beat in the West. Lest we forget it was the Rockets that had the best record in the league. It was the Rockets that had the MVP. It was the Rockets that had the NBA’s executive of the year. It was the Rockets who had a 3-2 lead over the Warriors before Chris Paul went down.
Please don’t tell me that it was the same as Andre Iguadala getting hurt. A guy who has $5 million and loses a million is a lot better off than a guy who has $2 million and loses a million. He still has $4 million. The other guy only has one and apparently you can’t buy a 3-pointer with $1 million. Didn’t know that until after the game. Found out the hard way.
I heard last week that the Lakers signed LeBron James. It really didn’t get much coverage but I have sources who have confirmed it. And? How has this changed anything? Even if Kawhi goes there, which I think is unlikely but could well happen. So? Chances are they will have to give up some of their young talent. If they lose Kuzma and Ingram bringing Kawhi in they’re not going to be better than the Rockets. We’ve seen teams with stars and no supporting cast before. They always fizzle out.
If I was Magic Johnson I’d take a page out of William Wallace’s playbook. (That’s a Braveheart reference for you younger readers.)
Hooooold. Hooooold. Hooooold.
Magic, do not trade away your good young players when you can just wait a year and get Kawhi for free. LeBron will be there waiting patiently. The young guys will get a dose of what it’s like playing with his majesty in pressure situations and your organization will be set up to win over the long haul.
Why am I giving Magic good advice? I hope he trades them all away and stinks forever.
On to Boogie Cousins. Everyone is freaking out over this. Why? First of all he’s not going to be there until March and when he does get there is he really going to make that big a difference? The Warriors didn’t use a center against the Rockets in the postseason. Would they use Boogie? Yes, probably unless the Rockets take advantage of his lazy defensive tendencies and Steve Kerr has to pull him. That’s if he isn’t already on the outs with Kerr because he’s pouting about not getting touches. That’s if he actually comes back full strength from the Achilles. That’s if he can actually handle playoff pressure which he’s never had. That’s if he’s not a round peg in a square hole on this team. That’s if. That’s if. That’s if.
There are no guarantees that the one year Boogie Cousins experiment works. If you’ll remember correctly, the Pelicans were better without him and the Warriors have been pretty good without him.
But the Rockets were better.
And they still are.
But wait. They don’t have Trevor Ariza anymore. You’re not better without Ariza, not now at least. If I had told you that PJ Tucker, Luc Mbah Moute and Gerald Green would be key contributors to you passing the Warriors as best in the West you’d have laughed. But it happened and the executive of the year can make it happen again. I’m not sure what those names are right now. Daryl might not know right now either.
But no one knew at this time last year that the Rockets would do what they did and it appears that no one thinks they can do it again. I’ve heard that a few times. That was their one shot.
Why? Why can’t they be as good or better than last year? What if Chris Paul is healthy throughout the playoffs? What if he plays 70 games instead of 58? What if Clint Capela is even better than he was last year and why shouldn’t he be? What if Eric Gordon gets back to sixth man of the year form?
There are about 100 games ahead to play. You never know. That everyone is throwing in the towel in July is silly to me. Let’s stop whining about how unfair it is how good the Warriors are.
This reminds me of when Johnny Fontaine was crying because he couldn’t get the big role in a major motion picture “Godfather I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do.” Vito shot back, “You can act like a man!”
Come on Rockets fans. Act like a man.
Tari Eason scored a career-high 30 points to lead the Houston Rockets to an easy 133-96 win over the Dallas Mavericks Friday night.
Jalen Green added 23 points with nine rebounds, despite sitting the entire fourth quarter to help the Rockets to their fifth straight win, tying their longest such streak of the season.
Houston led by double digits most of the night and was up by 16 in the third quarter before scoring the next seven points, with a 3 from Eason, to make it 80-57 midway through the quarter.
The Rockets were up by 21 later in the third before using a 10-0 run to push the lead to 96-65 near the end of the period, and most of their starters didn't play in the fourth.
Brandon Williams scored 25 points off the bench for the Mavericks as they lost for the seventh time in eight games. Klay Thompson was 2 of 16 for five points with nine rebounds.
Mavericks: Dallas continues to struggle with most of its top players out with injuries and lost another one Friday with coach Jason Kidd saying that Dante Exum sustained a broken left hand that will likely end his season.
Rockets: Houston has taken advantage of a schedule with six straight home games, going 4-0 so far on the homestand as it tries to climb the Western Conference standings.
Houston was in control of the game from the start but put it out of reach with its 37-point third quarter.
The Rockets had 29 second-chance points to just two by Dallas on a night Houston had a 17-6 advantage in offensive rebounds.
Houston hosts Chicago on Saturday night and Dallas hosts Philadelphia on Sunday.