Shane Battier

NBA Draft Cautionary Retro YouTube Video -- Kwame Brown's Draft Night!

The NBA Draft is tonight, and you know what that means -- yes, bad suits, incoherent interviews, lots of Stuart Scott, and tons of upside potential. So basically, one big engrossing train wreck. It used to be a virtual guarantee a few years ago that every pick in the first round would be deemed a " ... More >>

NBA Playoffs: "Good Job, Good Effort" Kid Has Been Located

Well, that didn't take long. On the heels of the Boston Celtics' 94-90 win over the Miami Heat on Tuesday night, there were two stars usurping the spotlight after the game. One was Boston forward Kevin Garnett, whose 26 points and 11 rebounds led the Celtics to the huge upset. The other wasn't a pl ... 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 >>

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 >>

The Definitive Duke Basketball Flopping Anthology (with VIDEO)

Flopping like it's the World Cup​The calendar flip-over from February to March has a definitive feel to it, different than most "calendar flips." Most of them tend to blend into one another, but March 1 definitely feels like the beginning of something. Most will say it feels like renewal with ... More >>

A Houston Rockets Christmas: Rating The Unlistenable

The Houston Rockets like to put out Christmas videos in which the players mangle carols, to the general merriment of all. It's a good idea in theory. In practice? Cover your ears. 4. "Let It Snow" No one gets close to being in tune, but this is worth it if only for the bizarre way Yao Ming looks l ... 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 >>

Openings and Closings

It's been an exciting past week for diners and restaurateurs alike, with a rash of new and planned openings to please pretty much any palate. The biggest news, of course, was that our own Robb Walsh is working with Bryan Caswell and Bill Floyd -- the team behind restaurants like Little Big's and Re ... More >>

The Rockets' Shane Battier: A Man Who Should Never, Ever Sing In Public

Among the tortures the U.S. has inflicted on Gitmo detainees and Panamanian dictators, an old favorite is blasting music. But usually it's something like AC/DC.You want to torture someone? Make them listen to Shane Battier sing. Battier took the mike at a charity auction and -- for some reason -- th ... More >>

As Losses Mount, Rockets' Battier Looks To Power Of The 'Stache

​In many sports, the growing of facial hair is symbolic of success. It's a frequent routine of playoff teams in baseball, for example, including the Astros' franchise-best seasons of 2004 and 2005.But Shane Battier of the struggling Rockets (24-20) has a different idea. On a dare, he's growing ... More >>

Game Time: Rockets Midseason Report Card

​I grew up as the oldest child in a family with three boys. There was me, two years behind me was my brother Kevin, and then six years behind him was my brother Ryan. While all three of us were, and for the most part still are, pretty intelligent fellows, report card time meant different things to ... More >>

The Nine Five Movies You Must See On 9-9-09

It's September 9, 2009, a date which has absolutely no significance to anyone except those celebrating Shane Battier's 31st birthday and people who regularly say things like, "Well of course you're having communication issues; you have retrograde Saturn in your 5th house." Today also marks the rele ... More >>

Despite Loss, These Aren't Same Old Rockets

Photo by Katharine ShilcuttThe ending was all too familiar, but the ride was so, so different. Sure, history will show another Rockets season concluded without a title, this time on an 89-70 second-round, Game 7 loss to the Lakers on Sunday afternoon at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. And ... More >>

Second Round Preview: Lakers Defense May Pose Biggest Threat To Rockets

The Rockets finally got the first-round monkey off their backs  last week, so what did the NBA give them as a reward? Only a second-round date with the prohibitive title favorite Lakers, beginning tonight at 9:30 in Los Angeles. It's a terrifying matchup by nearly every quantifiable metho ... More >>

Do You Believe In Miracles? Rockets Advance

May 17, 1997.Aaron Brooks and Von Wafer were in sixth grade. The Oilers were only a year removed from their Houston existence. The Texans were still more than five years from their birth. The Astros had yet to make the playoffs in the Biggio-Bagwell era. Then-President Bill Clinton was still eight m ... More >>

Rockets-Portland Game 4: Hayes Takes One For The Team

In a gritty comeback effort that epitomized a team win, it seemed only fitting that the game-winner came from a Rocket whose only contribution to the box score was a personal foul.With the Rockets clinging to a two-point lead with under 15 seconds left, Chuck Hayes read Brandon Roy's drive to the bu ... More >>

Rockets Playoff Preview: Yao, Rockets May Have Finally Landed Favorable First-Round Matchup

At least for now, the Rockets' stunning collapse might not be all bad.The negatives to the Rockets blowing a 14-point, second-half lead at Dallas on Wednesday night, coupled with New Orleans' meltdown in San Antonio, are of course falling from the No. 2 seed, losing home court advantage in the first ... More >>

Rockets-Hornets: Point Guards Finally Get Defensive

Photo by Aaron Sprecher(Note: This is written by Ben DuBose. We're working on that byline  glitch, honest.) At least for one night, the Rockets answered their only remaining defensive questions in a resounding way. Since dealing incumbent point guard Rafer Alston at the February trade deadline, ... More >>

Rockets-Cavaliers: Yao's Revenge

Photo by Wootang01 LeBron James has a lengthy history of poster-quality slam dunks. But on Thursday night, Yao Ming emphatically turned the tables on the Cleveland superstar. Yao overwhelmed James on two game-defining plays, sparking the Rockets to a 93-74 home victory over a Cleveland (44-12) tea ... More >>

Rockets-Bobcats: Yao-Artest Form Improved Dynamic Duo

At some point during the will he, won't he saga of Tracy McGrady's ongoing knee problems, the heart and identity of the Rockets shifted from a Yao Ming and McGrady-led team to one led by Yao and Ron Artest. So far, the Rockets seem all the better for it. Artest scored 26 points on five three-point ... More >>

Rockets-Bobcats: Yao-Artest Form Improved Dynamic Duo

At some point during the will he, won't he saga of Tracy McGrady's ongoing knee problems, the heart and identity of the Rockets shifted from a Yao Ming and McGrady-led team to one led by Yao and Ron Artest. So far, the Rockets seem all the better for it. Artest scored 26 points on five three-point ... More >>

Rockets-Mavs: Brooks Delivers Opening Statement

Aaron Brooks knows what many of you think. You fear the Rockets' new starting point guard is too small to defend big guards, like Dallas' 6-foot-4, future Hall of Famer Jason Kidd on Friday night. You expect him to be worked over in the post. You wonder if he's too young to lead a veteran playoff ... More >>

The Rockets Get Some Times Love, The Only Love They Apparently Can

The Houston Rockets are quickly becoming an afterthought in town as Spring Training opens and their tedious soap-opera mediocrity gets pushed to the sidelines. (All of which will change in a blink, of course, if they put together a streak.)But they're getting noticed elsewhere.The New York Times' Su ... More >>

The Rockets Get Some Times Love, The Only Love They Apparently Can

The Houston Rockets are quickly becoming an afterthought in town as Spring Training opens and their tedious soap-opera mediocrity gets pushed to the sidelines. (All of which will change in a blink, of course, if they put together a streak.)But they're getting noticed elsewhere.The New York Times' Su ... More >>

The Rockets Get Some Times Love, The Only Love They Apparently Can

The Houston Rockets are quickly becoming an afterthought in town as Spring Training opens and their tedious soap-opera mediocrity gets pushed to the sidelines. (All of which will change in a blink, of course, if they put together a streak.)But they're getting noticed elsewhere.The New York Times' Su ... More >>

Rockets-Jazz Game Five: Return of the Streakers

Rockets-Clippers: Ready or Not, Here Come the Jazz

Rockets-Celtics: Requiem for a Streak

Rockets-Lakers: McGrady and the Miracles

Batman Forever: Battier Gets His Due

Rockets-Nets: Just Another Step Along the Road to Redemption

Rockets-Pacers: All Aboard the Chuck Wagon

Rockets-Nuggets: 15 and Counting

Rockets-Wizards: The Show Goes On

A Grief Observed: Yao Ming's Injury and the Rest of the Season

Rockets-Bulls: Introducing the Next... Bruce Bowen?

Rockets-Kings: Steve Novak and The Shot

Rockets-Warriors: Hope at Last?

Rockets-76ers: Night of the Living Dead

All Apologies: The Rockets Are Cursed, and I Blame Myself

Rockets vs. Magic: Hoping, Waiting, Wishing

Rockets vs. Grizzlies: Just a Little Patience…

Rockets-Spurs from Press Row: Now with 75 Percent Less Jumping to Conclusions!

Shane Battier by the Numbers

Beyond stats, there's stats

Rocket Science: Daryl Morey Brings Hard-Core Statistical Analysis to the NBA

Houston's pro basketball team pins (at least a part of ) its hopes on a brainiac GM

Blast Off

Dear Diary

Rockets Win While Fans Yawn

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks