Rounded up some articles. Again. Went for earlier rounds of the playoffs, and more obscure facts. Again. Mostly looked for headlines. Again. Blah blah blah, pain in the ass. Again.
Get the idea.
RocketsIt took time, but Malone's prediction proves accurate
DALLAS - When the Rockets traded for Sleepy Floyd last December, Utah's massive power forward, Karl Malone, was upset. And it wasn't just because he lost his favorite punching bag, Ralph Sampson, who would not longer be a power forward.
"The last thing I need," Malone said, "is a two-man game with Sleepy Floyd and Akeem Olajuwon."
The thought was terrifying: Floyd, who is arguably the game's greatest coast-to-coast driver, leading the break downcourt with Olajuwon, the game's fastest center, trailing behind.
But throughout the regular season, that scene rarely unfolded.
The word was that Bill Fitch's offense was too restricted to allow Floyd to play his driving game.
Not that Fitch had an easy job. His No. 1 assignment is to make Akeem the Team happy. The other players, including Floyd, would have to be subordinate.
But fitting Floyd into that picture would not necessarily be easy. After trading Floyd to Houston, the coaching staff for the Golden State Warriors spread the word through the very busy NBA grapevine that Floyd was "incoachable," that he was determined to play his game and not somebody else's.
So it seemed no surprise when ill will appeared to develop between Olajuwon and Floyd. Last month, Olajuwon publicly criticized his new teammate's playmaking ability. And a big issue was made over Olajuwon briefly chiding Floyd for not passing him the ball in an incident during Thursday's playoff game.
Floyd, for his part, has held his tongue, doing all he could to avoid any controversies with Olajuwon or Fitch.
It appeared that what Olajuwon wanted was a point guard in the style of Dennis Johnson, John Stockton or Terry Porter, one who would shoot the ball only when the pass wasn't available.
Floyd, however, is more in the mold of Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas. He wants to force the issue himself.
He has the brains and physical skills of a point guard, but Floyd is a shooting guard at heart. In fact, he began his NBA career as a shooting guard.
It was beginning to look like there could be no accommodation of Floyd and Olajuwon, and there were even rumblings around The Summit that Floyd would have to be traded in the off-season to a more wide-open offensive team.
What Saturday's victory over the Dallas Mavericks showed, for the first time this year, was that Olajuwon and Floyd definitely can play together with each making full use of his talents.
Floyd's scoring 42 points didn't prevent Olajuwon from scoring his 41.
In fact, Floyd's penetrations brought Olajuwon some of his points, as Karl Malone was fearing would happen.
In the first quarter, Floyd drove to the hoop but passed back to Olajuwon trailing, and the Rocket center dunked.
Soon after, Floyd drove the baseline and missed his layup, but Olajuwon, following right behind, scooped the rebound and dunked, for a 20-15 Houston lead.
So it went, two of basketball's top stars in perfect concert 48 minutes.
There is, after all, room in Fitch's system for Floyd. And room on the same team for Floyd and Olajuwon.
Nowhere is the difference between the Mavericks and Rockets greater than in the team's owners.
Charlie Thomas is very much a behind-the-scenes guy with the Rockets, although don't think he isn't in regular contact with Ray Patterson and letting his thoughts be known.
But Thomas sits several rows back at games, rarely makes public statements and never makes threats.
Now look at Don Carter of the Mavericks. He's on the front row, midcourt, wearing his Stetson. He is a constant visible presence.
Go to the team's training facility, and there is a caricature of Carter standing with his players very much in the background, their heads not even in view, as Carter spins a basketball on his big finger.
The message is always apparent who is running this team.
But how wise is it for Carter to be always in the foreground? Considering that the Mavericks' biggest problem is their reputation for folding under pressure, does it really make sense for Carter to add to the pressure by promising "major changes" if they blow the first round of the playoffs again?
It seems more sensible to take the Charlie Thomas wait-and-see approach. Let the general manager, coaches and players do their jobs, and then at the end of the season, if you're not satisfied, make the changes. You don't need a lot of hype and buildup for this sort of event.
Applying more pressure is not going to make anybody's job easier.
ELSEWHERE - Doug Moe points out the key to the Denver Nuggets' success in the regular season: their turnover ratio. The league's most surprising teams this year, Denver and New York, happen to be the leaders in forcing more turnovers than they allow. The Nuggets were plus 1.9 in that category, the Knicks plus 1.3.
"That's an unbelievable statistic, and nobody knows it," Moe said. "It's something people don't understand, and you never even hear it being mentioned around the league."
But each turnover means you've denied the other team a chance at a basket while creating an opportunity for your own team. Thus Denver gets about two extra baskets per game, which explains how the Nuggets outscored their opponents by 4.0 points per game this season. ...
Lester Conner is the seldom-seen twelfth man on the Rockets, but Robert Reid insists he's appreciated by his teammates.
"Lester reminds me of Craig Ehlo when we went to the championship (NBA Finals) in '86," Reid said. "Ehlo is very smart, and he was always pointing out things he noticed sitting on the bench. Now Check (Conner) is starting to do that, too. He's always egging everybody on, and when he sees something from the bench, he tells us."
Mavs faced with a same time, next year proposition
DALLAS - They didn't even bother to boo.
Thirty-four seconds left at Reunion Arena on Saturday afternoon, and almost as one they got up and filed to the exits. All of a sudden, 17,007 turned into a fourth of that, a quick and quiet procession that may have delivered the loudest message of all to the Dallas Mavericks.
No boos, no catcalls to speak of. It was almost as though their own fans had expected this.
They all had pointed to this one, from Coach John MacLeod down through the last player. Winning Game 1 was nice, but this the big one, the Heimlich game, the one that would really show how far this team had come from a year ago.
Gut Check Time in Choke City. And to the local cynics who had called this a test of "The Gutless Pig Theory," the Mavericks responded with a resounding "oink."
So after Houston 119, Dallas 108, it was back to square one.
Just as they had in Game 2 against Seattle a year ago, the Mavericks folded down the stretch. Once again, the home-court advantage was gone, the threat of another season closing out of town was very real, and the local prints would be filled with more amateur psychoanalysis.
They knew what was coming, and the Dallas locker room contained all the levity of your average wake ... with an interesting twist.
Disappointment? Yes. But surprise? Not really.
"Houston made the big plays, and we made the big mistakes," center James Donaldson said succinctly. "It didn't matter that we were playing at Reunion. It was close, and then it was over."
And now, the pressure builds. Donald Carter, the owner who has promised big changes in the event of a first-round loss, was touring the place with a 10-gallon hat and a painted-on smile, imploring everyone to "get 'em next time." General Manager Norm Sonju sat slumped in a chair, looking over the box score in seeming disbelief. Some of the players dressed quickly to escape the questions, but many stayed and faced the music.
Cross out Seattle, pencil in Houston, and the song remains the same. The trick now, they said, will be to change the next verse.
"Pressure, momentum, those are all just words," guard Rolando Blackman said. "Momentum can be gained, but it can be given up, too. We don't feel like we're going to cave in or give up. Those are all mental things. They're inside, and the game is decided out on the floor."
This one was, too, though. And what happened on the floor didn't speak well of whatever the Mavericks may have left inside.
They could find excuses, certainly:
Who expected Sleepy Floyd to score 42 points, 30 more than he had in Game 1?
Who expected Mark Aguirre and Rolando Blackman to stink it up again, combining for just 34 points on 12-of-31 shooting?
Who would have thought Roy Tarpley (23 points, 13 rebounds) would get fouls No. 5 and 6 in a span of 18 seconds, putting him out of the game with 1:49 to play and the Rockets up by just two at 105-103?
And who would have expected Akeem Olajuwon to rip down 26 rebounds against the NBA's top rebounding team?
No one, however, seemed interested in excuses. The point, they claimed, was that the Rockets - two of them, at least - had elevated their game, while Dallas had been inexplicably flat. This one was close, it was there for the taking, and it was the kind the good teams win at home.
And while the Mavericks talked bravely about Tuesday night at The Summit, it was a deflated team that left Reunion Saturday evening.
"We lost the game down the stretch," guard Derek Harper said. "Sure, there's concern. Now we have to go to Houston and win a game down there."
That's very possible, they insisted. After all, they won the last two regular-season meetings at The Summit, and they only need one of the next two to bring the series back for a fifth and deciding game on Saturday.
Still, this was a loss that cut to the heart of what this team had tried to accomplish on its way to this game. Dallas put together a 53-win season on balanced scoring, improved defense and domination of the boards. That was supposed to make the Mavericks choke-proof, providing any number of ways to survive in a close, pressure-filled game.
All of that went down the drain Saturday, in large part because Floyd took the play right at a surprisingly passive Dallas defense.
"There's a psychology here," Mavericks assistant coach Richie Adubato said. "A guard gets the ball. He thinks `drive.' Then he thinks about the consequences of the drive."
Adubato shook his head.
"Today," he said, "there were no consequences for him."
Other than points, that is.
"Sometimes there's nothing you can do," said Harper, the principal victim of Floyd's work. "You can get a hand in his face, but everything he put up today was going down. He was unconscious."
Even at that, Dallas was very much in the game until Tarpley departed. That, as it turned out, simply added to the sense of history repeating itself. A year ago, the Mavericks folded when Donaldson left Game 2 with a stress reaction in his right leg. This time, the air went out when Tarpley went to the bench, and the Rockets finished the game with a 14-5 run.
"We needed to have someone step up down the stretch," said Harper. "Unfortunately, nobody did."
So after dismissing last year as ancient history for most of the week, the the Mavericks are faced with some familiar questions again. "The Gutless Pig Theory" will be back in vogue as the series shifts to Houston. The tank beckons.
"It's going to be very tough for us now," Donaldson admitted. "Very tough."
That's something short of a concession speech, certainly, but a near empty arena at the final buzzer may have said it best.
The Reunion Rowdies had gone quietly.
So, for that matter, had their team.
NBA playoffs/Mavs hold on for win
The Dallas Mavericks were supposed to roll over like cowering dogs. Instead, they attacked like a pack of angry wolves Tuesday night in The Summit.
They dominated the Rockets in the fourth quarter and had such large statistical advantages it was hard to see how they won by merely a point 93-92.
This time it was the Rockets who wilted in crunch time. Choke, you could call it. They started the fourth quarter with an 0-for-10 shooting streak, and even Akeem Olajuwon let them down, as he missed a 14-foot shot that would have won the game in the final second.
Rockets Coach Bill Fitch said, "If we were forced to take that shot five times we would make it four."
Olajuwon agreed. "It was a good shot. I just didn't make it."
Which was pretty much the story of the night: Good shots, and the Rockets couldn't make them, as they fell behind 2-1 in their best of five playoff series.
"We gave ourselves a good opportunity in Dallas," said forward Rodney McCray. "We came back here and gave it away."
The Rockets shot 41 percent for the game, while their rivals from up the road shot 51 percent and also led the rebounding tables, 46-44.
"We were fortunate," Mavs Coach John MacLeod said, "because they moved the ball well and they had a lot of good open shots, but they missed them."
They missed 18 of 24 in the fourth quarter.
The Rockets did get another big-numbers performance from Olajuwon, who scored 35 points, gathered 12 rebounds, blocked 3 shots and had 3 steals.
And Joe Barry Carroll came alive with 16 points and 9 rebounds.
So the Rockets had a decent inside game. But they got practically nothing but bricks from the outside.
The Mavericks put a blanket over Sleepy Floyd, who turned out to be a one-game wonder. After his 42 points in Game 2, he managed just 10 points Tuesday, on 4-of-13 gunnery.
Before the game, MacLeod was beseeching somebody to step forward and accept a scoring role for his team, but once again, it didn't happen.
Rolando Blackman managed just 6 points in the second half and 15 for the evening.
All-Star Mark Aguirre did his usual second-half vanishing act (two points), and his services were requested for only 27 minutes of the game.
MacLeod contended that was no knock on Aguirre and that "Mark understands the situation."
Aguirre sat on the bench because "their awesome rebounding made us make some substitutions."
MacLeod obviously uses the term "awesome" very loosely, since the Rockets have been outrebounded every game of this series.
In fact, the Rockets might as well concede the boards to Roy Tarpley, who had a game-high 13 rebounds and for the third consecutive game was the Mavs' leading scorer, this time with 17 points.
Not bad for a sixth man.
But the Mavs' balanced offense was enough, as they put enough pressure on the Rockets to keep their offense off stride.
"They came in fired up, ready to play from the beginning," Olajuwon said. "That was the difference. They attacked us. They were really attacking in the fourth period."
They were also running, something the Mavs hadn't done on their home court.
As Carroll noted, "They were getting the ball off the boards and running down the floor quickly."
Fitch said his team was slow in defensive transition, but he also blamed the outside shooting for starting the Mavs' fast break.
MacLeod made a significant defensive adjustment to deal with Floyd. Derek Harper picked up the Rockets point guard after he crossed midcourt. Then Harper would force his opponent to the outside, preventing the down-the-middle-drives that had blown Dallas apart in Game 2.
The Mavs still couldn't stop Olajuwon, but they kept the rest of the Rockets under control as they swept to a 53-45 halftime lead.
In the first half, the Rockets had no perimeter game other than an occasional 18-foot turnaround by Olajuwon. Shooting guards Robert Reid and Purvis Short were a combined 1-for-9 to start the game.
The Rockets came out with a more determined inside effort to start the third quarter.
McCray, who missed 6 of his first 7 shots, went coast to coast for a driving layin as Houston tied at 59. That brought the crowd into the game.
When Carroll hooked in a rebound, the Rockets led 64-63, and Olajuwon followed with a fast-break slam to put the Rockets up by three. By now The Summit was in pandemonium.
The Mavericks continually sagged in on Olajuwon and gave the Rocket guards the outside shot, aware that they were having trouble hitting it.
Reid continued to miss open shots and became visibly frustrated, pounding the press table after he clanged a 16-footer that bounced over the backboard.
Floyd did sink a 3-pointer to put the Rockets ahead 75-71 with a minute left in the third period, and they carried a four-point lead into the final period.
But then they went into their half-court, motionless shell and produced 15 points for the quarter.
"We were double-teaming Akeem all the time," Tarpley said. "We were hoping to force someone else to shoot."
But no one else could hit. And finally, not even Olajuwon could.
At last, Mavs shake specter of `87 crash
They had been carrying this around for nearly 12 months now. They might say otherwise, might even believe it, but it was always there, a little burden of proof left over from the Crash of `87.
That's all the Dallas Mavericks had been hearing about since last spring. Seattle. The first-round flop after the 55-win season. How could it have happened? How could anyone be sure it was safe to come back to Reunion?
Twelve months of questions not about talent, but about dedication and heart. A nice subject to have to address every time a microphone is shoved in your face.
Now, ironically enough, those questions were moving down the hall to the other locker room Thursday night. And if the Mavericks seemed more relieved than elated about the whole thing, that was easy enough to understand: Carry something this heavy for this long, and it's reward enough just to be able to put it down.
"Vindication? I guess you could say it is," James Donaldson said after Dallas did unto the Rockets 107-97, ending the Texas Death Match with a no-nonsense 3-1 decision. "We heard a lot about last year. It was something people have been talking about a long time."
Now they will talk about something else, as in the second round, maybe even a Western Conference final against the Lakers. Anything but the Crash of `87 would be fine. In four often-comical games, the Mavericks hardly laid claim to "elite" NBA status, but at least they can say they slipped the collar this time around.
That's a start.
And as things turned out, this series could not have evolved more sweetly for the Mavericks. They had split the first two games at home, just as they had a year ago, and the way the fans fled Reunion Arena after Saturday's Houston win suggested that these were people who didn't expect to be back again this season.
"After splitting at home, and some of the things people said about us, yeah, this was nice," said guard Brad Davis. "It was especially nice to end it here."
On the road. Against recent history. In spite of a 14-point first quarter. In a game they didn't even have to win.
"We kept hearing about last year," said guard Rolando Blackman. "That was to be expected, I suppose. But it's nice to get this behind us now."
Fittingly, perhaps, it was the old guard that got the job done.
Mark Aguirre, largely missing in action the first three games with a 15-point scoring average (more than 10 below his season norm), dropped in 27 points in the pivotal third quarter and finished the game with 38.
Donaldson, whose first-round injury a year ago was the chief rallying point for Dallas apologists, had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Davis (literally an old guard at age 32) added 14 points off the bench. Overall, in fact, Davis might have been the best guard in the series, averaging 10.5 points on .667 shooting.
Certainly, the manner in which he outclassed Sleepy Floyd in the fourth quarter was an unexpected crimp in the Rockets' plans. Twice in a 36-second stretch, he ran give-and-go plays with Aguirre, with Davis ending up with easy layups, drawing a foul and completing the 3-point play on the second to put Dallas ahead 92-84 with 6:19 to play.
Those two plays typified the difference. While Houston unraveled, waiting for Akeem Olajuwon to do it all by himself, the Mavericks improved as the game went on. Aguirre's outburst was the setup, but he scored just 5 more points in the fourth. Davis' 7, plus 5 each from Blackman and Sam Perkins offset a subpar night from series star Roy Tarpley (6 points, 8 rebounds in 20 minutes).
When it was done, Dallas owner Don Carter was soaking it all up in a happy Mavericks dressing room. It was Carter, of course, who had talked of major changes in the event of another first-round collapse, making it clear that jobs were on the line.
Crisis averted.
"This series was as important as any we've ever played, even past last year," he said. "Last year was devastating to us.
"To get this one did more for our character. It wasn't a basketball growth, it was inner growth."
Carter, though, was about the only one prone to overstatement. For the most part, the Mavericks seemed to take this one not so much with euphoria as with a sense of relief.
"It's sweet, real sweet," said guard Derek Harper.
And short-lived.
"Now," said Harper, "everyone will want to know about the next round."
Rockets vs. Mavericks/Game 4/Rockets report
Play of the game
Mark Aguirre capped a 27-point third quarter with his third 3-point basket, with 1:12 left. That shot, with Rodney McCray standing helplessly by, seemed to take out whatever air was left in the Rockets' sails. It put Dallas ahead 79-70.
"When a great player like Aguirre gets hot," McCray said, "there's not much you can do."
Hot and cold
Hot: Akeem Olajuwon, 16 of 24 FG, 8 of 8 FT, 15 rebounds, 40 points; Aguirre, 13 of 21 FG, 9 of 9 FT, 38 points.
Cold: Sleepy Floyd, 4 of 16; Robert Reid, 1 of 5; Derek Harper, 1 of 5; Sam Perkins, 5 of 15.
The bench
Throughout the series, this was a key area of Dallas domination. But this time the Rocket reserves held their own, outscoring the opponents 27-24.
For once, the Rockets did a reasonable job of stopping Roy Tarpley, who scored just 6 points and had 6 rebounds. Houston's Jim Petersen outplayed him, with 12 points and 6 rebounds before fouling out.
Dallas point guard Brad Davis played another superb game, hitting 5 of 9 shots and scoring 14 points. But Houston's Allen Leavell was also effective, hitting 2 of 4 from 3-point range and scoring 10 points in his 13 minutes.
Short on points
Purvis Short, slowed throughout the playoff series by a sprained left ankle, never could give the Rockets the outside shooting they so desperately needed.
Short scored just 4 points in 18 minutes Thursday night. For the series, he hit 7 of 26 shots, averaging 5.5 points per game - eight points under his season average.
"We just never played together as a team, never played up to our potential. We were so inconsistent during the year. And you just can't turn it on in the playoffs.
Rockets bow out without a fight
Say this for the Rockets, they went out in style. The sort of style that has characterized their season of turmoil and disappointment.
They couldn't shoot, they couldn't run, they couldn't think. They bowed out of the NBA playoffs Thursday night with 107-97 home-court loss to their I-45 rivals, the Dallas Mavericks.
In losing their opening - and closing - round 3-1 to the Mavs, the Rockets left angry fans distributing bumper stickers saying "Ditch Fitch" - a call for the firing of Bill Fitch, the team's coach for the past five years.
It is easy to blame Fitch for a team that all season long underperformed. But Akeem Olajuwon, who at one point was one of the most vocal of Fitch critics, insisted what the Rockets need is not a change of coaches but a change of players.
"I don't think you can blame it all on the coach," said Olajuwon, who himself was blameless with 16-of-24 shooting, 15 rebounds and 40 points.
"We need to make a lot of improvement on this team," Olajuwon said. "Management knows that the Houston Rockets should not be out of the first round of the playoffs. Bring in new players. Make changes. They have to make major moves to get warriors who will fight. Not just play. Fight.
"Management's been there for years," Olajuwon said. "They should know what to do."
Robert Reid, the 32-year-old guard who also has had his differences with Fitch, agreed with Olajuwon that the coach should stay. But Reid disagreed about the need for new players.
"Chemistry starts at the beginning of training camp," Reid said. "You can't bring in two players for one team and say, `Go out there and do it."'
Reid felt the team had no chance of coming together following the December trade of Ralph Sampson to Golden State for Sleepy Floyd and Joe Barry Carroll.
"Everybody expected miracles," Reid said. "Sleepy had a new type of offense to learn. You take the 12 players in this locker room and let the coaching staff we have work with them. I don't think we need a coaching staff change or a players personnel change.
"We need a training camp to play together. That's what this team needs."
Fitch said he expects to be back coaching the Rockets next season. Asked if he would be shocked to lose his job, he said: "Yes, it would shock me. I think I'll be coaching here next year."
Rockets forward Rodney McCray, who followed a 4-point performance in Game 3 with a 7-pointer Thursday, said Fitch "has done a good job. It's the players, the team, that didn't execute.
"He gave us a game plan. We made it look good at times. At times we didn't."
Rarely did it look good Thursday night in The Summit. The Rockets shot .439 from the floor and committed a shocking 22 turnovers. They looked like they were in training camp.
It was only because of the Mavericks' wild early shooting that the Rockets were in this game at all.
Only two players made this game worth watching: Olajuwon for Houston and the much-maligned Mark Aguirre, who scored 38 points for Dallas.
The Mavs played the first quarter as if they needed radar to find the basket. They shot 7 for 24 and trailed 23-14 with their lowest-scoring period in the team's sordid playoff history.
Dallas, which has only 4-12 road playoff record, looked fit for a knockout. As Fitch said, "Had we made the layups and the fast-break opportunities early, it looked like we could have blown them away."
But the Rockets, as so often has been the case this year, had no knockout punch.
Like a weary, punch-drunk boxer, the Mavs staggered to their feet and pulled themselves back into the game, as the Rockets played as though they were in a daze.
In a second quarter that was filled with brainless play, one episode stood out. With three seconds left, Buck Johnson tossed a lollipop of an inbounds pass, and Sam Perkins easily picked it off and raced for a dunk to give the visitors a 46-44 lead at halftime.
The Rockets did not fire in the third period but just stood around and watched Aguirre make his belated playoff entrance.
The sullen Aguirre, who had been a silent gun throughout this series, finally exploded with a 27-point quarter. He came within two points of Floyd's record for most points in a playoff period against the Los Angeles Lakers last year while Floyd was with Golden State.
The Mavericks led 83-76 entering the fourth quarter, and The Summit crowd was restive. Fitch was taking much verbal abuse for an offense that could find no openings.
"If we don't hit the outside shots," said Floyd, "we can't beat them. I'm at fault as much as anybody for not hitting the outside shot."
Indeed, Floyd was off stride all night, going 4 for 16 from the floor and coughing up 5 turnovers.
The Rockets seemed to derive no benefit from playing at home. This was the fourth loss in their last five playoff games in The Summit.
It was enough to make a lot of Rocket fans angry. Whether it was enough to cost players and/or coaches their jobs remains to be seen.
Problems to remain even if Fitch gone
DALLAS - It would be convenient to say Bill Fitch is the problem with the Houston Rockets and dismissing him will bring a championship.
Yes, it would be convenient, because Fitch is not a pleasant man to deal with, whether you're playing forhim or writing about him.
His failings as a human being have been enumerated many times: arrogance, defensiveness, offensiveness, etc.
As long as he's coaching the Rockets, the season will seem about three times longer than it is.
But the truth is that firing Fitch is not likely to produce dramatic improvement in this team.
Oh, there might be an extra win here or there. Then again, if you hire the wrong guy, there could be fewer wins.
Fitch has a difficult cast of characters to work with.
The buzzword around the NBA these days is chemistry, and this is where the Rockets are in trouble. They have all the elements, but they don't mix together, and there's probably nothing any coach could do about it.
Akeem Olajuwon, the franchise player, has emerged as an outspoken team leader, and the Rockets needed one.
But Olajuwon goes too far in trying to make sure the team revolves around him. His basketball background may be too limited for him to understand how championship teams are put together. They are not one-man gangs.
Olajuwon has publicly criticized point guard Sleepy Floyd for taking too many shots instead of passing the ball. And it's true that Floyd often shoots when he'd be better off leaving the gun in the holster.
But no one on the team has a more outrageous shot selection than the great Olajuwon. What's a 6-11 center doing taking spin-around jumpers from 18 feet when he's double-teamed?
So he makes a lot of sensational shots. Likewise, Floyd last year hit 49 percent, trying basically the same shots he's taking now and missing.
After Floyd left Golden State, the Warriors coaching staff spread the word around the NBA that this brilliant player was "uncoachable," that he insists on doing things his way, that while he has a point guard's brain and physical skills, he is a shooting guard at heart.
So what the Rockets have is two players fighting to take shots neither should be taking.
Since Olajuwon is a superstar while Floyd is merely a star, Fitch has to kowtow to Akeem.
Floyd knows he cannot win that battle, and he graciously has avoided getting into it.
Yet to take a player of Floyd's ability and handcuff him would be a mistake. To some extent, Fitch has done that, but to some extent, there's nothing else he can do while appeasing Akeem.
Last year the Rockets' biggest problems were uncreative point-guard play and lack of perimeter shooting.
In acquiring Floyd and Purvis Short, General Manager Ray Patterson took care of those needs.
But it still isn't working, because there's conflict among the players' egos.
What Olajuwon seems to want is a point guard more along the lines of Dennis Johnson, Terry Porter or John Stockton. These are players who will take the shot themselves only when there are no other options.
Floyd's style is more like Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas, players who force the issue themselves.
Floyd simply does not prosper in a setup game, though he tries to make it work. It's looking more and more like there isn't room on this team for both Olajuwon and Floyd, just as there didn't seem to be room for the Twin Towers, even though Ralph Sampson was willing to suppress his game to let Olajuwon blossom.
Maybe Fitch is at fault, as Olajuwon and other players have said he is, for not making their roles clear.
But consider this: If Fitch did assign the proper roles, would Olajuwon and Floyd accept their parts?
Would Olajuwon be willing to sacrifice some of his offensive razzle-dazzle to allow a multi-dimensional team offense to develop?
And would Floyd be willing to eschew those wide-angle 20-footers from the left side that are knocking paint of the rim?
Both Olajuwon and Floyd are used to having the lead role, and there may be no way to accommodate them both.
Regardless of what happens the rest of the way in the playoffs or what changes are made in the off-season, chances are the turmoil will continue.
Getting this team together is a job for Henry Kissinger.
Sure, bring on a new coach. But wait for the same old problems to resurface.
Nowhere is the difference between the Mavericks and Rockets greater than in the team's owners.
Charlie Thomas is very much a behind-the-scenes guy with the Rockets, although don't think he isn't in regular contact with Ray Patterson and letting his thoughts be known.
But Thomas sits several rows back at the games, rarely makes public statements and never makes threats.
Now look at Don Carter of the Mavericks. He's on the front row, midcourt, wearing his Stetson. He is a constant visible presence.
Go to the team's training facility, and there is a caricature of Carter standing with his players very much in the background, their heads not even in view, as Carter spins a basketball on his big finger.
The message is always apparent who is running this team.
But how wise is it for Carter to be always in the foreground? Considering that the Mavericks' biggest problem is their reputation for folding under pressure, does it really make sense for Carter to add to the pressure by promising "major changes" if they blow the first round of the playoffs again?
It seems more sensible to take the Charlie Thomas wait-and-see approach. Let the general manager, coaches and players do their jobs, and then at the end of the season, if you're not satisfied, make the changes. You don't need a lot of hype and buildup for this sort of event.
Applying more pressure is not going to make anybody's job easier.
ELSEWHERE IN THE NBA - Doug Moe points out the key to the Denver Nuggets' success in the regular season: their turnover ratio. The league's most surprising teams this year, Denver and New York, happen to be the leaders in forcing more turnovers than they allow. The Nuggets were plus 1.9 in that category, while the Knicks were plus 1.3.
"That's an unbelievable statistic, and nobody knows it," Moe said. "It's something people don't understand, and you never even hear it being mentioned around the league."
But each turnover means you've denied the other team a chance at a basket while creating an opportunity for your own team. Thus Denver gets about two extra baskets per game, which explains how the Nuggets outscored their opponents by 4.0 points per game this season. ...
Ex-Rocket Conner Henry may finally have found a home in Sacramento, after stops in Boston and Milwaukee. He played very well for the Kings in their final 15 games, as he averaged 7.8 points in 13 minutes a game, shooting 47 percent from the floor and 87 percent from the line. He also made 15 of 31 3-point shots ... Dominique Wilkins is getting carried away when he claims, "I think I'm in the Larry Bird-Magic Johnson class." Not when you're shooting 46 percent from the floor and getting almost as many turnovers as assists.
Satisfying Dream may turn into Rockets' nightmare
It tells much about the Rockets' state of internal unity when the Franchise Player wants every other starter replaced except the one he punched out in a shoot-around.
It turns out the only teammate Akeem Olajuwon can play with is the one he can't practice with, Robert Reid, who is probably Miami-bound, anyway.
Olajuwon's displeasure with the point guarding of Sleepy Floyd has been public knowledge for more than two months, and the All-Pro center announced on the final day of the season that major moves needed to be made. His call for "warriors who will fight" seemed at the time like an unintentional pun against the erstwhile Golden State Warriors, Floyd, Purvis Short and Joe Barry Carroll.
But Olajuwon revealed in last week's Channel 13 interview that he was not happy with his one-time buddy, Carroll, who along with Floyd, were said to "play for themselves, not the team."
Also struck in the Channel 13 blast was small forward Rodney McCray, a five-year teammate of Olajuwon's and the team captain.
Olajuwon was correct in citing the Rockets' need for "a small forward who can shoot from inside and outside" and a power forward who will rebound.
But how are the Rockets going to assemble a Dream team?
Do you think New Jersey will give up Buck Williams for Carroll? Think again.
Do you trade McCray for a sore-backed Kiki Vandeweghe to get a small forward who can hit an 18-foot jumper?
The Rockets' best opportunities may come in the free-agent market, where they have a good chance of landing two of the NBA's most dependable scorers, Tom Chambers and Dale Ellis of the Seattle Sonics.
One question, though, is whether Olajuwon can get along with Chambers and Ellis, who can't get along with each other.
A lot of people feel the best place for these guys is Houston, where dissenters and complainers are much in vogue. Most Rocket players have two things in common: they don't like each other and they can't stand the coach.
Removing the coach, Bill Fitch, would take away the players' one area of agreement, which may account for management's reluctance to make what seemed like an obvious first move, sending Fitch to a fresh start somewhere else.
Anyway, Ellis should find himself right at home here, as long as he stays clear of the Ocean Club. Ellis was arrested there two years in a fracas during the playoffs.
Ellis is a 25-points-a-game scorer and a 50 percent shooter. He was runnerup to Larry Bird in the Long Distance Shootout. He is a free-agent-with compensation, and one rumor has Floyd going to Seattle as compensation.
Chambers, last year's All-Star MVP, is an unrestricted free agent who can sign and play for any team that can fit him inside its salary cap. Chambers would not even have to give the Sonics the right to match an offer.
Chambers is known to be interested in Houston. The salary cap, which will expand at least to $6.7 million for next season, would leave the Rockets room to maneuver, particularly if Carroll (and a $1.4 million salary) can be shipped.
Chambers, 29, averaged more than 20 points a game for each of the last two seasons. He can make the most difficult shots and too often tries to.
But he won't help Olajuwon much with rebounding. Chambers had one more rebound this season than Carroll, who played 600 fewer minutes.
Ellis, 27, griped continually about his $375,000 salary that put him in the bottom third of NBA players. "I like Seattle," he said, "and I love playing for Bernie Bickerstaff. But if I can't be treated any better than I was being treated, maybe I'd rather play somewhere else."
Ellis reportedly has such a large chip on his shoulder it may require surgery as well as a change of cities. He quarrelled not only with management but with Sonics center Alton Lister, who in Ellis' view was grossly overpaid at $850,000.
The feud reached the point where even the two players' wives fought each other outside the team's locker room. The Sonics do not want the Ellises and Listers together for another season.
World B. Free, who recently recommended that the Rockets sweep out just about everyone, including himself, said, "I heard Akeem talk about Dale Ellis coming in here, because they have the same agent (Lee Fentress). But Dream wouldn't like Dale Ellis. He doesn't realize it, but he wouldn't like him."
Free's thinking is that Olajuwon couldn't play with someone who takes as many shots as Ellis, who took 133 more during the season than Olajuwon did.
Others say, though, that Olajuwon won't mind at all if Ellis takes all those shots, as long as he hits half of them and the team is winning.
As much as the Rockets appear to need a player personnel director, you have to wonder, what would they do with one?
After all, the personnel decisions will have to be agreed upon by Olajuwon. If Olajuwon can't get along with his next supporting cast, there will have to be another landslide personnel shift. And probably another personnel director.
After all, you can't trade a Franchise Player. Can you, Moses? Ralph?
Rockets fire beleaguered coach Fitch
In the wake of the firing of Bill Fitch, Houston Rockets President Ray Patterson was calling for "an atmosphere of openness and not paranoia."
Although he wasn't naming candidates to succeed Fitch as coach of the National Basketball Association team, Patterson did provide a list of prerequisites for the position.
"The new coach," Patterson said Monday, "will be experienced as an NBA coach or an assistant coach."
Patterson also said he prefers a coach with experience as an NBA player.
However, the Rockets' majority owner, Charlie Thomas, said Monday, "There isn't any criteria," and that the new coach "could come out of the college ranks. We're looking for somebody who communicates very well and has a good knowledge of the game."
Thomas said he and Patterson would begin interviewing potential candidates immediately.
Patterson expects a new coach to be hired before the June 28 college draft. He ruled out three names that had been rumored as possibilities for the position: Larry Brown, K.C. Jones and Rudy Tomjanovich.
Brown, coach of the NCAA-champion Kansas Jayhawks, has had a history of short tenures, and Patterson is looking for a new era that will last. Brown said Monday he was not interested in the Rockets' position.
The 56-year-old Jones, who recently retired as coach of the Boston Celtics, does not fit the picture as a long-term coach.
Patterson said Tomjanovich, formerly an All-Star for the Rockets and Fitch's assistant for the past five years, "is a candidate for director of personnel. He is not a candidate for head coach. Rudy has expressed a desire to be director of personnel and not to be head coach. He doesn't need the grief."
Patterson said the Rockets' other assistant coach, Carroll Dawson, would remain "as part of the organization," but that Dawson's role would be determined later and would depend on the wishes of the new head coach.
Although Fitch has three years to remain on a contract estimated to be worth around $800,000, he is not expected to remain with the organization in any capacity. Patterson predicted that Fitch would be hired by another NBA team "within six months."
Fitch, who has long maintained that his position in Houston would be his last coaching job, was unavailable for comment. He was reportedly at his summer home at Lake Conroe.
Patterson indicated Fitch took the news calmly when he was given the final word over the weekend that his services with the Rockets no longer would be required.
Asked if he had any candidates in mind to succeed the 54-year-old Fitch, Patterson said, "I have in mind a few names, but I haven't pursued anybody. I don't want to throw out any names at this time."
Two names that would qualify under Patterson's criteria and who are considered NBA head-coaching material are Allen Bristow, assistant coach for the Denver Nuggets, and Jerry Sloan, assistant coach of the Utah Jazz.
Patterson emphasized that the new coach "will be someone the players can communicate with. We want openness throughout the organization. I want a coach who will seek input from his assistants and from the players."
Communication problems appeared to be the key to Fitch's demise with the Rockets. A two-time coach of the year who won a championship with Boston in 1981, Fitch is an authoritarian who did not want his decisions questioned. He also insisted on having control over personnel matters, and this became a major area of conflict with Patterson.
"I felt we needed two positions," Patterson said, "a coach and a personnel director. But I got the feeling Bill would not be happy with that arrangement. He believed all the responsibilities could come under one head."
Fitch's job began to look shaky late in the season when the Rockets' star player, Akeem Olajuwon, began to express publicly his disenchantment with Fitch and with teammates Sleepy Floyd, Joe Barry Carroll and Rodney McCray.
Patterson said Olajuwon's outbursts showed "immaturity," and that "he's been talked to about that."
But the Rockets' president and general manager also blamed Fitch for not encouraging internal communication that could have dealt with disagreements before they became public.
"Akeem may have felt he had no place to turn but to go to the media," Patterson said. "But this is not the way you build an organization."
Fitch coached the Rockets for five years, and the first three featured steady progress culminating in the team's appearance in the NBA Finals in 1986.
But the last two seasons have been disappointing. The team's record slipped to 42-40 in 1986-87, and this past season the Rockets were 46-36 but were eliminated by the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs.
After the season ended, Rockets guard World B. Free said a majority of the players wanted Fitch relieved as coach. Fitch also was criticized by ex-Rockets Ralph Sampson and Richard Anderson. And most recently, Jones, who was Fitch's former assistant coach in Boston, commented that his former boss was "bad with people."
However, two of the current Rockets, Robert Reid and Jim Petersen, moved to defend Fitch after hearing of his firing.
Reid cited the banishment, because of drug use, of John Lucas, Lewis Lloyd and Mitchell Wiggins, and an upheaval last season that resulted in five new players joining the team. Asked Reid: "Could any coach have kept control of what happened? For three years the team has not had a good solid lineup. Bill has made the Rockets a contender."
Petersen said, "I was thinking Bill could get a chance to redeem himself. I thought Charlie and Ray would give him a second opportunity. I thought Bill helped me a lot. He was meticulous. He's the most knowledgeable guy I've been around, basketball-wise. he knows so much about the game."
But now he will have to take his knowledge elsewhere.
