Golden State Warriors

After a Successful Season, Big Questions Loom for Young Rockets

It's difficult to believe anyone outside of the most hardcore fans truly believed the Rockets would be a playoff team this year. Most, including myself, assumed they would finish under .500 and back in the lottery. Even with James Harden, an unproven starter, added before the season, it was tough to ... More >>

A Surprising Amount on the Line Tonight for the Rockets in LA

It's always amazing that after 81 games, it can come down to a single contest between two teams. Such is the case tonight in Los Angeles as the Rockets face the Lakers in the final game of the season. For both, a win is paramount but for different reasons. The Lakers, the preseason favorite to win i ... More >>

Clearing Up the Western Conference Playoff Picture

I always find it amazing that after an entire season, spots in the playoffs and seeding can come down to the final few games. This year in the Western Conference it is no different. The east has been settled for over a week and there is only limited jockeying for position. But the west is deeper and ... More >>

Goooooooal Tending: Rockets Beat Suns, Make Playoffs on Bizarre Final Play

"What a long strange trip it's been." -- The Grateful Dead It is fitting in a season as crazy as this one that the young Rockets' road to the playoffs would ultimately come down to a game, a play and a call like the ones that occurred Tuesday night at Toyota Center. All season, the Rockets have don ... More >>

Rockets Edge Closer to the Playoffs with 2-1 West Road Trip

The Rockets loss to Denver on Saturday night was almost a given. Very few teams who faced the Nuggets in Denver on the second half of a back-to-back travel game in the last couple seasons have won. It's tough to travel and play a game at altitude against a team that likes to run. Plus, the Nuggets a ... More >>

Playoff Chase: Rockets Beat Utah, Warriors Lose to Spurs

Last night, as I mentioned yesterday, was a big night for the Rockets. In their hunt for a playoff spot -- they missed the last two seasons -- they faced Utah at Toyota Center and while the Jazz have not exactly played like world beaters recently, their formidable front line would seem to match up w ... More >>

The Good News-Bad News for the Rockets as They Drive for the Playoffs

Last night was a frustrating night for the young Rockets squad. They had their worst offensive output of the season, scoring just 78 points (10 in the first quarter) and getting it handed to them in the most lopsided loss of the season against the team directly ahead of them in the playoff chase, Go ... More >>

Keep Hope Alive: Rockets Meandering Along Towards the Playoffs

"It's the same old story, same old song and dance, my friend." - Aerosmith All year, I've repeatedly said that following the Rockets is like riding a roller coaster. There are some tremendous highs and some devastating lows, but no matter what happens, it's always exciting. This weekend was more of ... More >>

Rockets Crush Mavs: 44-Point Third Buries Dallas, Probably Ruins Playoff Chances

It's never a bad thing when, in one night, you can absolutely destroy a Dallas sports franchise on the floor and, for all practical purposes, ruin their chances of making the playoffs. Given that the Rockets haven't beaten the Mavericks in nine straight tries leading up to last night's win at Toyota ... More >>

Seven ZERO Time NBA All-Stars Who Made More in Career Earnings Than Michael Jordan

I once had a boss who told me "The only thing worse than being underpaid is being overpaid." Looking back, perhaps he was trying to send a message to me personally, but the general message was this -- making too much money makes one utterly expendable. That's a fine notion, and in most walks of li ... More >>

Rockets World: Tough Loss, Royce White a Viper, Jeremy Lin Does ESPN (with Videos)

It's been a strange week for the Rockets. They obliterated two Western Conference playoff contenders, tying an NBA record for three-pointers in one of the games, lost to the NBA champs and a really bad team on the road even if Jeremy Lin did drop a posterizing dunk during the game, saw the return of ... More >>

Rain of Threes: Rockets Bury Warriors, Bogut Drops C-Bomb on Twitter

When it rains, it pours. The Rockets took on the surprising Golden State Warriors Tuesday night in Toyota Center without three-point specialist Carlos Delfino who was out with a sore elbow. Clearly, it didn't matter. The Rockets absolutely poured it on the Warriors in the form of a three-point barra ... More >>

Rockets Confounding Season of Ups and Downs Continues with a 45-Point Win in Utah

For all their inconsistency this season, there is a certain amount of relative consistency to the Rockets season. Whenever they lose a few, they come back and win a few, or vice versa. The league's youngest team will struggle to shoot with any consistency and turn the ball over like playground balle ... More >>

RiFF RaFF and Hip-Hop's Greatest Method Rappers

There's an idea floating around in the pools of rap consciousness that most guys within the genre are merely method actors on par with Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln. Rick Ross might have already secured a few Academy Awards with his confusing portrayal of a flamboyant mafioso kingpin who dwells in mat ... More >>

Rockets Crash Back to Earth With Losses to Division Rivals

Check out our slideshow from the Thunder game! This was not the best weekend ever for Houston sports fans. The Texans...well, let's just leave them to their misery and inevitable playoff floundering and talk about the other team that went from boom to bust, the Houston Rockets. Of course, there wer ... More >>

NBA Season Jump Starts with Spate of Christmas Day Games Including the Rockets

In 2011, Christmas Day was the literal start to the NBA season thanks to a lockout that kept the season from starting for nearly two full months. Most every other year, the season starts in October, but for the casual fan, it doesn't really get going until Christmas Day. With the NFL taking the day ... More >>

Picking Rockets Team of the 2000s Not an Easy Task

Throughout the course of this frustrating season, the Houston Rockets have been allowing fans to pick their choices for the starting team of the decade beginning with the 1970s and continuing with the '80s, '90s and 2000s. They had all but one of their starting five for the 2000s on had for their wi ... More >>

Houston Rockets: Their Bench Is the Hottest Team in the Western Conference

In my season preview for the Houston Rockets, I cited the current portion of the season as the "make or break stretch" for the team -- a six-game road trip against a bunch of pretty-good-but-not-great teams followed by a six-game homestand against mostly good teams. And once the season started, and ... More >>

Linsanity: Little-Known Jeremy Lin Helping Knicks Hurt the Rockets

Daryl Morey's incessant shuffling of second-rate players over the past few seasons, constantly tweaking and tinkering looking for "assets," came to an almost comical head last week when a player the Rockets cut in the offseason to make room for Jonny Flynn, who they acquired from Minnesota, came to ... More >>

2011 NBA Draft -- The Live Blog

Keep coming back for the latest​The overwhelming consensus on the 2011 NBA Draft is that it's, by and large, a pretty underwhelming group of players, and it may quite possibly be completely devoid of future All-Stars. So why am I so excited about tonight's festivities? Because of all the thin ... More >>

Rappers: Which NBA Player Would You Be And Why?

Some rappers happen to be thoughtful, intelligent people. Every Monday that isn't the day after a gigantic local music festival, Rocks Off will have some of them here discussing issues relevant to their culture. Photo illustration by John Seaborn Gray​This Week's Panel: Bun B, Zavey, Kyle Hub ... More >>

Last Night: Brett Dennen & Dawes At Fitzgerald's

Photos by Liana Lopez​Brett Dennen, Dawes Fitzgerald's May 5, 2011 While many celebrated Cinco de Mayo last night with margaritas and sombreros, Aftermath was at Fitzgerald's watching a folk-rock band and a pale, red-haired dude wearing a Golden State Warriors T-shirt. Nevertheless, we're use ... More >>

Bryan McCarthy: Illegal-Livestreaming Defendant Gets Some Web Help

Bryan McCarthy gets some help​Bryan McCarthy, the Deer Park man arrested last week for illegally livestreaming sporting events on the Web, is getting some support. A Web-freedom group called Demand Progress says McCarthy's arrest represents "a radical shift" in federal-government policy becau ... More >>

NBA 2010-2011 Preview -- Reconstructing LeBron

Please, no more operations on Yao Ming​"What should I do?" -- LeBron James, over and over and over again his new Nike spot The fact that LeBron James is posing the question in his new Nike spot perhaps tells us that he is not completely devoid of self-awareness, as he appeared to be last summer. ... More >>

UH Basketball Tries Once Again To Resurrect Phi Slama Jama (And Our List Of The Five Best Basketball Coogs)

While the University of Houston tries to resurrect its basketball program, we reflect on the glory days. ​Bryan Williams, who was a part of the University of Houston's Phi Slama Jama teams, took pictures for this week's cover story in the Houston Press about the incredible decline of the universit ... More >>

Game Time: LeBron James -- Seven Scenarios For Thursday Night

@dramaqueen​"Hello World, the Real King James is in the Building 'Finally'. My Brother @oneandonlycp3 gas'd me up to jump on board so I'm here. Haaaa" -- LeBron James (oh sorry...@KingJames on Twitter, and what is sadly his most interesting tweet thus far)I've always thought that when Twitte ... More >>

Game Time: NBA DRAFT -- Worst Lottery Picks Of The Last 15 Years

cutline​As "must see" events on the sporting calendar go, the annual NBA Draft is highly underrated. If you ask the average sports fan his or her five most watchable sports nights of the year you'll probably get canned answers like the Super Bowl, a Game 7 in the MLB or NBA playoffs, and any inte ... More >>

Yet Another Phi Slama Jama Connection For Yates High

Coach Greg Wise watches over the Yates players. Photos by Bryan Williams​When the Houston Press was looking for a photographer to take pictures of the Yates basketball team for this week's cover story, "Third Ward High," we found the perfect guy: Bryan Williams, a member of the University of Houst ... More >>

Game Time: For Sale -- NBA Two Guard, 30 Y/O, Excellent Condition, Trades Accepted

​First, I want to thank everyone for their reaction, positive or otherwise, to my post yesterday which chronicled the high points of the era of Tracy McGrady's Expiring Contract I seem to learn something with every new post that I generate here on Hair Balls, and yesterday I learned that there are ... More >>

Game Time: The Week In Tweets

​Maybe I'm biased because I use it all the time, but I'm going to make the bold statement that Twitter has surpassed "fad" status and that it's here to stay. Even at this point, people who don't use Twitter recognize kinda sorta how it works, and even recognize a Tweet when they see it -- "it's go ... More >>

Bun B's II Trill

Bun B’s II Trill: An Underground King, alone on the throne

Slideshow: Listening Party for Bun B's II Trill

Rockets-Nuggets: 15 and Counting

Rockets-Warriors: Hope at Last?

All about Eve

Our guide to Houston's best New Year's parties

Jamaal Tinsley's Car Gets Shot Up in Indy

Rockets vs. Grizzlies: Just a Little Patience…

Q&A with Daryl Morey: Surprise! Rockets Need Better Point Guard Play

Jason Friedman's NBA Predictions: Mavs Beat the Jazz, the Suns, the Rockets and the Pistons, Take the Championship in '08

Because All Great Sports Rivalries Should Be Settled in the Courtroom

We Can All Be Golden State Fans for at Least a Day or Two

Rocket-hater or Realist?

Dear Diary

Which Texas Team Will Take Home the Title?

Hustle Time

Damon Jones has traveled from UH to all around the NBA chasing stardom and a sound bite

Dizzee Miss Lizzee

The Boy in Da Corner comes out swinging

Greed Head

There's a darkness at the edge of Clutch City, but one thing is clear: Les Alexander will get his. And maybe yours, too.

The Man Behind Mad Max

Vernon Maxwell has made a reputation by going crazy. Now he says he wants to go straight. Really?