The Pallilog
Rockets find themselves in a familiar position. Will the result be different this time?
May 10, 2019, 6:25 am
Two years ago Saturday the Rockets suffered the most pathetic loss in franchise history. Down three games to two in the Western Conference semifinals, the Rockets had a home game to win and force a decisive seventh game. They were playing a San Antonio Spurs team without its best player (an injured Kawhi Leonard). The Spurs humiliated the Rockets 114-75. James Harden made two field goals the whole game (two for eleven from the field).
That was then this is now. The Rockets trail three games to two in the Western Conference semifinals, with a home game to win and force a decisive seventh game. The two-time defending NBA Champion Golden State Warriors are without their best player (an injured Kevin Durant). So now what?
Obviously the Warriors can win at Toyota Center. Friday night's game either extends or ends the Warriors' amazing NBA record streak of 20 consecutive playoff series in which they have won at least one road game. With Durant sidelined by his strained right calf, the Rockets are a bigger favorite in game six than either team was in the first five games. Add it all up, and if the Rockets don't force game seven it will be widely viewed as a colossal choke job.
That is too simplistic. Could they choke by, say, missing 27 consecutive three point shots? I guess. Just remember that before they had KD the Warriors won a title then added a 73-9 season and another Finals appearance. If Stephen Curry came out of his poor play rut in the fourth quarter of game five, he, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green can lead the way to victory though this squad is not as great as those teams of three and four years ago.
James Harden has an unfortunate track record of clunker games in closeout losses. As great as he's been for years, this Harden is a clearly better player. He needs to come through. No way in a competitive critical game should Harden go more than eight minutes of the fourth quarter without taking a shot as he did in game five. For an offensive machine who shoots step back threes by the truckload and can get to the paint for floaters and layups like few others, "making the right plays" does not entail going almost all of crunch time not taking a shot unless being double teamed upon every touch, which was not the case Wednesday.
Chris Paul's decline has been on display in this series. Can he summon up one big performance over the next two games? Sure would help the Rockets' chances. If he cannot and the Rockets get taken out, the three years 124 million left on Paul's contract is going to look flat out depressing.
My guess is the Rockets win game six handily, Warriors' coach Steve Kerr concedes earlier than he ordinarily would and saves what the champs have left for the winner takes all game seven at Oracle Arena Sunday. As for Game Seven, I have no good idea.
In the end you will or you won't, you do or you don't.
Astros are doing just fine
The Astros mash away, as they begin to pull away in the American League West. No division leader in Major League Baseball tops the Astros four-game cushion. They have hit 66 home runs in their first 38 games, a season pace toward a whopping 281. The Astros set the franchise record for homers in the first season of Enron Field in the peak of the steroid era. They hit 249 that year. Last season the Yankees set the MLB record with 267 homers. They did so with only Giancarlo Stanton hitting 30 or more (38). 12 Yankees hit at least 10. As the Astros cross the one quarter mark of the regular season this weekend they have five guys on pace to hit 35+: George Springer, Alex Bregman, Michael Brantley, Carlos Correa, and Jose Altuve.
This while Altuve endures the lengthiest slump of his career. Over his last 18 starts Altuve is just 10 for 67, bad for a .149 batting average and a .523 OPS. Reference point: in his 10 seasons with the Astros the offensively anemic Brad Ausmus never finished with an OPS below .593.
Springer last season endured a nightmarish stretch in which he went eight for 87. Bregman began his big league career one for 32. It's no hyperbole saying hitting a baseball is the hardest fundamental skill required in a major sport.
Buzzer Beaters
1. Albert Pujols is pretty much a washed up player. But one of the three greatest first basemen of all-time getting his 2000th RBI Thursday is still quite an achievement. 2. The NHL seventh games this week were beyond fantastic. If the Stanley Cup Final goes seven, pledge to watch! 3. Greatest 1Bs of all-time: Bronze-Pujols Silver-Jimmie Foxx (though Pujols over Foxx is fine) Gold-Lou Gehrig
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Ten months from free agency, José Altuve knew what he wanted.
“Houston is my home,” he said.
He achieved his goal to remain with the Astros, agreeing to a contract that will pay $125 million from 2025-29, when he will be 39.
“I have obviously two homes," he said Wednesday at a news conference, a day after the deal was announced. "I grew up in Venezuela, my country. Every time I go there, I tell my wife ‘Let’s go home.’ And then when it’s time to come back, I tell her ‘Let’s come back home.’”
An eight-time All-Star, two-time World Series champion and the 2017 AL MVP, Altuve had started to discuss free agency last year with wife Nina.
“I come back every day, after a night game, and I see my daughters sleeping," Altuve said. "I can wake up the next day and take them to school, so that was where the conversation where everything started, and we decided to stay here in Houston. We will never move from here.”
Houston Mayor John Whitmire declared Wednesday Jose Altuve Day, with the date, 2/7, matching Altuve’s jersey number. More than a dozen of Altuve’s teammates and coaches attended the news conference along with Hall of Fame second baseman Craig Biggio.
“Jose Altuve is the heartbeat of this organization,” Astros general manager Dana Brown said. “He’s a franchise player. He’s on pace to be in the Hall of Fame. He’s a fan favorite, and without a doubt, he’s the spark to our Clubhouse, to our dugout, and he’s an Astro for life.”
Altuve's deal raises his career earnings above $300 million, the most among second basemen. It was negotiated by Scott Boras, who also represents Astros third baseman Alex Bregman. Boras said he spoke with Brown on Wednesday about Bregman, who can become a free agent after the World Series.
“Alex has made it clear that he’s open to listening to whatever the Astros have to say,” Boras said.
Just 5-foot-6. Altuve is among the shortest big leaguers. He went to an Astros tryout and was sent home without a contract but returned the next day at the urging of his father. He signed for $15,000 as a 16-year old in 2007.
Altuve debut in 2011 in the first of three straight 100-plus-loss seasons and helped set a winning culture for a team that went on to World Series titles in 2017 and '22. The Astros have reached the AL Championship Series in seven straight seasons.
“ José does a lot of things that not a lot of people get to see,” Astros manager Joe Espada said, “I get to witness his ability to connect with his teammates, to lead a clubhouse, to when we need somebody to step up and speak up and he speaks, and how he commands the room.”
Altuve joked that he didn't remember the lean years on Wednesday but said they made him a better player.
“Obviously, nobody likes to lose, so I think as an organization we learned a lot from those games, and we did the transition," he said. "Now we are a winning team.”