Subject:

NBA Pacific

  • Blogs

    April 26, 2012

    Rockets Mediocrity: Blame the Strategy of the Owner

    There's something unholy about a team playing out the string of games knowing it won't make the playoffs. It's even weirder when said team felt its season end with a thud after a horrid stretch of games that lasted right up until the second-to-last game of the year. Going one step farther, that game ... More >>

  • Blogs

    April 11, 2012

    Rockets Sweep Road Trip, Bear Down on the Playoffs

    Photo by Groovehouse This Rockets team, it just sneaks up on you. It's loaded with second- and third-tier players, most of whom would be backups (albeit rotation players) on good teams. They struggle with interior defense and have an unproven coach who was once a hated rival. They lost their entire ... More >>

  • Blogs

    March 26, 2012

    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 >>

  • Blogs

    March 16, 2012

    Five Questions Answered About the Rest of the Rockets' Season

    A buddy of mine texted me when news came of the Rockets trade of Johnny Flynn -- the guard with a name like a `40s-era movie star -- and Hasheem Thabeet to Portland for Marcus Camby and a draft pick. "This team was one Marcus Camby from being a championship contender." I responded, "Six years ago." ... More >>

  • Blogs

    March 16, 2012

    Houston Rockets 2009 Draft Lottery Posse -- Final Scorecard

    I've mentioned this in previous posts, but one of the most amazing and envy-inducing pictures I've ever seen is a picture on Rockets general manager Daryl Morey's Mobile Uploads page on his Facebook account. It's a shot of a blackjack hand, split three times (for four hands total), with a blackjack ... More >>

  • Blogs

    March 9, 2012

    Comparing the Rockets Starting Lineup to the Best in the West

    The Rockets are mired in a five-game losing streak and slumping their way towards the NBA trade deadline next week. They lost two overtime heartbreakers to the Clippers and the Celtics and dropped an uninspired road loss the the abysmal Toronto Raptors. The Rockets aren't exactly free-falling, but t ... More >>

  • Blogs

    March 1, 2012

    Say What You Will About the Rockets, At Least They Aren't The Clippers

    We all learned yesterday that the Rockets have fallen to the bottom of the heap when it comes to local television ratings, worse than all but three woeful NBA franchises despite having a winning record now halfway through this lockout-shortened season. In fact, their ratings dropped a whopping 40 p ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 28, 2012

    Houston Rockets Second-Half Preview in Gambling-Speak

    The Rockets kick off the second half of the 2011-2012 season tonight. I'm not sure how many of you care about this. The acres of empty seats at Toyota Center lead me to believe that fewer of you care than Kevin McHale, Daryl Morey and Leslie Alexander would have hoped for. Television ratings indicat ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 15, 2012

    Top 5 Musical NBA Players

    The NBA All-Star Game is coming up in a couple of weeks. There may not be any Rockets on the roster - even ex-Rocket/Knicks sensation Jeremy Lin didn't blow up in time to be added as a reserve - but musical names such as Kanye West, Rihanna (the halftime entertainment), Lenny Kravitz, Josh Groban, ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 10, 2012

    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 >>

  • Blogs

    February 7, 2012

    One Man's NBA All-Star Reserve Selections

    Go ahead and chalk up the NBA All-Star Game taking place in a few weeks (Sunday, February 26, to be exact) in Orlando's Amway Center as the next "feels weird" moment of the NBA season. It feels like the season just tipped off a few weeks ago and yet here we are, about 20 games in, deciding who the b ... More >>

  • News

    January 12, 2012

    NBA Purgatory

    Neither the best nor the worst, the Rockets remain stuck in professional basketball's great midsection.

  • Blogs

    December 22, 2011

    NBA Season Win Totals and My Rockets Prediction

    Bet the over on wins​Last add on my post from yesterday about Kris Kardashian Humphries re-signing with the Nets: For those of you who think I was a little too hard on Big Humph (and by my count, there were exactly none of you who felt that way), just know that according to results of a rece ... More >>

  • Blogs

    December 9, 2011

    Pau Gasol Thoughts, My Texans Prediction and Other Weekend Best Bets

    Pau Gasol: The closest he'll get to Rocket red.​On November 23, the Texans signed quarterback Kellen Clemens to take over third-string duties. On December 4, the Texans signed Jake Delhomme and two days later they cut Clemens. I never thought there would be a less satisfying era for a Houston ... More >>

  • Blogs

    October 31, 2011

    So How Much Do You Really Know About the Astros and the DH?

    ​There has been a strange uproar over the Astros' possible move to the American League. There's been whining over start times, bitching about Bud Selig, and much, much discussion about the designated hitter not being real baseball. And while people are upset, it needs to be noted that the As ... More >>

  • Blogs

    July 18, 2011

    Women's World Cup: Five Other Seeming "Game-Winning" Scores That Weren't

    The USA's run in the Women's World Cup seemed to be finishing in grand style when Abby Wambach put in an extra-time header to give the team a 2-1 lead. It didn't last, and Japan won in overtime. Wambach's late goal joins a storied list of scores that seemingly iced a game or a series, only to be o ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 24, 2011

    2011 NBA Draft -- 4 Winners, 4 Losers

    Tough night for Dick Vitale​My fingers are still recovering from the lengthy (eight printed pages!) live blog I did last night here on Hair Balls, but the day after the draft necessitates some post-draft analysis. I've now had a day to sleep on it, and without further ado, a few post-draft tho ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 23, 2011

    NBA Draft Rewind -- 1986, The Worst Draft Ever

    Plus the shorts sucked​As much as those who construct teams in sports would like to think that they have a formula and a blueprint that they can go execute with any team in any market and be successful, the fact of the matter is that even for the best personnel men in the best-run organization ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 23, 2011

    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 >>

  • Blogs

    June 9, 2011

    Comment of the Day: The Only Way to Ride Out A Flood

    ​We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involv ... More >>

  • Blogs

    May 27, 2011

    ESPN's Doris Burke's Difficult Week (w/ VIDEO)

    Doris Burke and a moment of Zen​Of all of the on-air personalities who put their fingerprints on a sporting event -- studio host, play by play, color analyst, sideline reporter -- I've always thought that the sideline reporter has the hardest job out of all of them. It starts with the inhe ... More >>

  • Music

    May 12, 2011

    Happiness Through Hustle

    Cordial but guarded promoter H-Kane has become one of the local hip-hop scene's most important movers and shakers.

  • Blogs

    April 15, 2011

    The NBA's Top-Selling Jerseys List (And Seven Things It Tells Us)

    NBA jerseys: We CAN just all get along!!​I'll admit, I don't own any sports jerseys. I'm not a jersey-wearing guy, partially because the fit and feel of an authentic professional sports shirt are not optimal, but mostly because I'm over the age of 14. Full disclosure, I don't buy many jersey ... More >>

  • Blogs

    April 13, 2011

    Space Shuttles: Ten Ways Los Angeles and New York Can Show Theirs Off, Dammit

    Bi-wing airplanes...pfft. Try this on for size, Kong.​This week, we learned that Houston, essentially the birthplace of the space shuttle program, will not be given one of the four remaining shuttles. Two of the four cities receiving them are both deserving and appropriate: Washington D.C. (fo ... More >>

  • Blogs

    March 28, 2011

    Rockets Playing Well Under the Radar

    Photo by Jeff BalkeFinally, the Red Rowdies have something to actually cheer about.​Houston's three major sports franchises have spent the last few seasons in the equivalent of purgatory. None have been good enough to contend for a title, but none have been horrid enough to elicit the types of ... More >>

  • Blogs

    March 10, 2011

    Delo's Hood Politics Vol. 2 Best Local Mixtape Of 2011

    ​On his first tape, Hood Politics Vol. 1, Missouri City product Delo did one great thing ("Ghetto Boy"), one excessively beautiful thing ("Ain't My Style"), six good things ("Dream On," "Tell Me Mamma," "16 David," "Can I Live," "Hold On," "Money & Blood"), two bad things ("I Got Wings," "Hwy ... More >>

  • Blogs

    March 3, 2011

    Top Five Athlete-Rapper Team-Ups

    ​Speak of the devil... Give an NBA player a mike and he'll give you one of the worst performances of all time. Put the same athlete in the company of a decent rapper and the result might surprise you. If you're still haunted by the bitter taste of our worst rapper-athlete collaborations, here ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 25, 2011

    Houston Rockets -- Screwed City

    Daniel KramerDaryl Morey needs to go big time​It's no surprise that Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey has a Facebook page. And it's not one of those aloof "Fan" pages, either, where all you can do is click "Like." Morey has one of those "regular guy" Facebook pages where you can send him me ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 27, 2011

    Houston Rockets -- Chuck Hayes Needs To Ease Up

    Chuck Hayes, ripping off the dunk-seeking consumer​"He is as good as any defender in this league in the low post. I'm going to start talking to the coaches at the end of the year when they have the (All-NBA) defensive team. If he's not on one of the defensive teams, there's something wrong. . ... More >>

  • Blogs

    December 10, 2010

    Nasty Nique EP Has The Heart Of A Champion

    ​This year, the New Houston Collective has really become a force. In no particular order, their attendance sheet: Fat Tony, Propain, B L A C K I E, Hollywood FLOSS, Preemo, Eskabel, Hubbard, Nosaprise, hasHBrown, Thuro, H-Kane, Delo, Les, Roderick, The Niceguys, John Dew, Montana, Virgo, Dirty ... More >>

  • Blogs

    October 27, 2010

    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 >>

  • Blogs

    October 26, 2010

    The 7 Basic WWE Metaphors For Real Life Situations (w/ video)

    Let's get ready to....examine life!!!​I'm working on my 2009-2010 NBA Preview which should be done by tomorrow. I hope that some of you will cut me slack given that a whopping three games will be in the books by the time it gets posted here on Hair Balls, including the Rockets opener against the L ... More >>

  • Blogs

    October 15, 2010

    Houston Rockets: In Yao We Must Hope, Pray And Trust (Or Use As Drinking Game Material)

    Power walkers are tough to pick out of size 18s.​'Melo ain't coming. Rockets Nation has to resign itself to that fact.But that should be all right. With the current roster, we're young, we're quick, and we don't have a scorer (we'll discuss Kevin Martin later). But you heard the young and quick pa ... More >>

  • Blogs

    July 29, 2010

    Game Time: Best of the Best -- Top 10 Moments from Clutch City Rockets (w/video)

    Consensus Number One​I am a total sucker for lists.This makes me like roughly 95 percent of society; the fact that I openly admit I'm a sucker for lists makes me a little more unique. There are so many list books, list columns, list blog posts (many by yours truly) that it seems by admitting you ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 25, 2010

    GAME TIME: NBA Draft: 8 Winners and 8 Losers

    As in most things in life, Calipari is both a winner and loser​"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 2010 NBA Draft..." -- David SternI'm not going to lie, those words give me a tingly feeling every year that I hear them. It never gets old -- like reruns of The Sopanos or seeing that Bree Ol ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 24, 2010

    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 >>

  • Blogs

    June 21, 2010

    The Week In TV: What Do You Watch During The Summer?

    With Treme off the air, what are you going to watch the rest of the summer?​Blah blah basketball blah blah soccer blah blah I miss real shows. This was the week in TV Land: • Treme wrapped its first season last night with an episode that was probably among its best so far, though it also hi ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 21, 2010

    Ron Artest Releases The Song He Couldn't As A Rocket: "Champion"

    No fans were injured in the making of this song​Former Rocket Ron Artest, the current Laker who thanked his psychiatrist after the Game 7 win, is celebrating his new ring with yet another rap song.The song has been written and sitting around for a long time, but Artest tweaked it to capitalize on ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 18, 2010

    Commiserating The Lakers Win With Five Predictions About Bun's Forthcoming LP, Trill OG

    ​Welcome back to Five Spot. Every Friday, we'll examine a recent bit of music news and, albeit sometimes awkwardly, tie it to a bit of Houston rap. We'll incorporate the number five in there somewhere. Send tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. Ack. The Lakers won the NBA Championship las ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 7, 2010

    Summerfest Short Cuts: Mix Master Mike, Kid Sister, Miniature Tigers, Etc.

    Marc BrubakerSpain Colored Orange​Spain Colored Orange: Although technical difficulties with one ticket scanner caused an enormous line of hot and restless festival-goers outside one gate, Spain Colored Orange started its set at 2:05 p.m. on the dot - before the gates had even opened. SCO informed ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 4, 2010

    Game Time: Ken Griffey, Jr.: Baseball's Tracy McGrady?

    Not as good as Tom Gordon. Who?​I'm not sure if the back-burnering of Ken Griffey, Jr.'s sudden retirement yesterday speaks more to the magnitude of the Jim Joyce/Armando Galarraga aborted perfect game fiasco or just how far the perception of Griffey as a sure-fire lock of a future Hall of Famer h ... More >>

  • Blogs

    May 20, 2010

    The Five Best Houston Sex Scandals, Such As They Are

    It takes two hookers to get James Worthy ready for Showtime​Houston is not a big town for sex scandals. Whether it's because we have a sophisticated European, laissez-faire attitude to such things, or because bigfoot Houstonians are better at hiding things, we don't know. Although we guess it's th ... More >>

  • Culture

    May 13, 2010

    Special Regional Anti-Mexican Slur Edition

    It takes two hookers to get James Worthy ready for Showtime​Houston is not a big town for sex scandals. Whether it's because we have a sophisticated European, laissez-faire attitude to such things, or because bigfoot Houstonians are better at hiding things, we don't know. Although we guess it's th ... More >>

  • Blogs

    May 5, 2010

    Protests Against Arizona's Law At The Astros Game: One Way To Spend Cinco De Mayo

    A team spokesman walks a tightrope in responding to the planned protests​Haven't found the perfect way to celebrate Cinco De Mayo yet? Some organizations have what they think is the perfect way to kick it off.Several Latino groups, including LULAC and Houston's Youth Coalition, will be protesting ... More >>

  • Blogs

    March 25, 2010

    Happy Hour Scene: Darkhorse Tavern

    ​ It was sometime during our field sobriety test that we remembered how much we absolutely love Washington Avenue. We were thinking a lot of things when the officer asked us to step out of our vehicle, but chief among them was all the fun that we'd have at jail and who would be calling Tyler F ... More >>

  • Blogs

    November 5, 2009

    In Make-Or-Break Year, Rockets' Landry Looks To Fill Low-Post Void

    Photo by Jeff Balke​There's a popular belief in NBA circles that the third year is when a player makes the transition to stardom, if he's going to make it. Among point guards, that worked for Chris Paul and Deron Williams, and much has been said about Aaron Brooks making a similar - though sma ... More >>

  • Calendar

    November 8, 2007

    The Houston Rockets vs. the L.A. Lakers

    It’s the new and improved Rockets (we hope!)

  • Dining

    July 1, 2004

    African Hideaway

    Addisaba has an air of foreign intrigue — and awesome kifto and yedoro wot

  • More >>
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