Series/Season Recap: I'm Not Complaining

Nor should I be. If there was one constant through all of the injuries, tough losses and elbows that made up our season and playoff run, it was the effort. There was never a night when you could say that the Rockets did not put in the most that they could. There were nights when you could say that our offense resembled a paraplegic trying to run a marathon (In other words, our efforts were futile. Also, yes, that was a cripple joke), there were nights when you could say that the only reason Ron Artest shot was to drive away every single fan and supporter he's ever had, there were nights when you could say that the Rockets were just not talented, athletic or big enough to win, but there were never, ever nights when you could say that we didn't play our hardest. And honestly, I don't care how bad a team does, ff they play with as much passion and pride as the Rockets did, I'll support them until the bitter, possibly embarrassing end. And I'm happy to say that that's exactly what I did. All the way up until the discouraging, 59 points-in-two-games end that we had at the hands of those damn Lakers. Which by the way is how I'm going to be referring to them for the rest of the playoffs. Those damn Lakers.

Series

In Game 7 and as a result in the entire series, the Lakers were the better team. Believe me, that wasn't easy to say. I spent a good 5 minutes typing, re-typing, wording and re-wording that sentence to find the least painful way to put it, and that was the best that I could come up with. The truth is that the Lakers have been better than Rockets all along, but there was no way in hell you were getting us to admit that while we were still playing them. Now that it's all over, I want to, no matter how grudingly it may be, congratulate the Lakers. In the NBA, upsets in the playoffs are hard to come by. In a seven game series, the team that deserves to win will usually win, and that's the way it should be. Despite all of their laziness, arrogance and downright hate-ability, the Lakers were the better team in this series. Now that that's out of the way, I'd also like to say that I've never seen a team with as poor a work ethic as the men in purple (hah), and I hope Denver hands their asses to them in the Western Conference Finals. If you think that's the Bitter Rockets Fan side of me speaking, you're damn right. As for Game 7, I think it's enough to say that I don't want to talk about it. I watched it, yelled at the television once in a while and ended up with my face in my hands wondering where we went wrong. The sad part is, I knew exactly where we went wrong. Our two best players were injured and we could not score the ball. And even though we faced obvious shortcomings and exceeded any reasonable expectations people might have had for us, the end of your season is always disappoiting. I know I said I didn't care what happened to the Rockets after Game 4, but the truth is I did. And no matter how stacked against you the odds are, losing the last game of the year always hurts. It hurts a little less because of what this team accomplished, but it hurts nonetheless. So what now? We take a few days to recover emotionally (done), analyze what happened (in progress), clean up our wounds and hope for next year. The problem is, that's what we do every year. And that's why a season in which we overachieve so much has to be put into context. Because as much as we want to say "If we pushed the best team in the Western Conference to seven games without our two best players" or "Imagine if we were just healthy for one year" we have to realize that that's what we say every year. What I'm trying to say is that before we start planning the 2010 championship parade, let's remember why we're sitting here reading/writing this instead of getting ready to play Denver. So mix little bit each of apprecation of a special season, understanding of what went wrong and cautious optimism and I think we'll be on the right track. Now about our season.

Season

For simplicity, I like to divide our season into three parts. First, there was the "We're Winning The Championship This Year Because Our Team Kicks Ass" section. That was followed by the "Oh We're F**ked" stretch, and then of course there was the season-ending "We Might Not Get That Far, But I Really, Really Like This Team" part.

Part One:

We started the year with the addition of Ron Artest and essentially Yao Ming to a 50-win team. In other words, the David Stern might as well have called of the season and handed us the trophy. There was no way Kobe, Scruffy and the rest of them were going to touch us. Our pre-season optimism soon faded away when we realized that Tracy Mcgrady was overweight and undermotivated (I know that's not a word), Ron Artest and Battier were injured, and that we just weren't winning that many games. Thus we entered phase two.

Part Two:

Tracy Mcgrady was playing every other game, Ron Artest wasn't sure when he was ever going to play and the Rockets looked lost. We didn't know what to do on offense, we weren't defending as well as we used to and we were looking at another disappoining season. Then Mcgrady announced that his season was over, meaning that our title hopes would be going to the same place the debris in his knee was: the toilet. On a side note, I don't think they actually discard of the waste from surgeries in the toilet that doesn't seem sanitary. Mcgrady's injury pushed us into the third and final division of our season.

Part Three:

Just when things were looking worse than Tracy Mcgrady's back/knee/shoulder/desire to actually be a winning NBA player, something clicked for the Rockets. In case you're wondering, that something was approximately 7'6" and had unworldly basketball talent. We started focusing on defense and running the offense through Yao. We traded Rafer Alston and handed the reigns over to Aaron Brooks and we were there. Suddenly we were kicking asses and taking names. But were mostly just winning basketball games. The city of Houston fell in love with these lovable overachievers and we won our first playoff series since the Dream was shakin'. And even though our season ended 7 games and one hairline fracture later, there isn't anybody who can honestly say they aren't proud of the way the Rockets carried themselves, stuck together and found a way to win this year.

Next Season

And as for next year, of course I'm excited. A new season, a new 82 games, a new playoff run, it's impossible not to be. But I'm also aware. Aware that we have suffered a major injury every single year since 2004. Aware of how dangerous it is to get too hopeful about this current Rockets team. Aware of how many times I've been let down before. Ideally, we find a way to get rid of Mcgrady for a star (Kevin Martin, anyone?), keep Artest and KEEP VON WAFER. But that's a topic for another day, and one that will surely be addressed on this very blog as the offseason continues. In the meantime, I'm sticking with the controlled optimism and hoping that we can find a way to put it together next year. Because, at the end of the day, no matter how many times we've said it before, one simple statement still holds true: If we were completely healthy for just one year, there's no way we wouldn't win the championship. On that note, I'm done talking about the Rockets. At least for the next hour to hour-and-a-half.

(Our) Future

As for the rest of the playoffs and, more importantly, the future of Bring Back Novak, the tea leaves look good. We're hoping to keep running throughout the offseason and into next season, so don't forget to keep checking. Visiting hourly would be ideal, but we're just as happy with daily or even weekly. We're going to try our best to keep you updated on the Rockets actions/inactions during the summer and what we think about what they are doing/not doing/should be doing, but we're also going to expand to cover the whole NBA for the rest of the playoffs. As soon as playoffs are over we're going to go back to mostly being exclusively for the Rockets, but as of now we're a blog about everything NBA-related. Starting tonight. With the Western Conference Finals.

Nuggets-Lakers

Just to quickly preview the Lakers-Nuggets series, I want to say a few things about the Nuggets. If there's one team more inspirational than the Rockets, it's the guys the Lakers are about to be playing. They've overcome testicular cancer, drug suspension, a lack of mental stability, an angry coach and a major mid-season trade to become, in my opinion, the best team in the Western Conference. To put that in perspective, that's like if Lance Armstrong, Robert Downey Jr. and Mariah Carey combined all their problems into one person and still got over them. Also, is there any backup combination more badass than Chris Andersen and J.R. Smith? I'm excited to watch these guys for another possible 14 games, and am going to be pulling for them. Not just because they are playing the Lakers and not just because their tattoo total is far and away the most in the NBA, but because if anyone can appreciate a team fighting through obstacles it's a Rockets fan. So, as usual, I've got two words for you. They're not nearly as heartfelt, permanent or important to me as the other two, but they still stand for a sentiment that I hope you share with me. At least for the next 1-3 weeks. Go Nuggets