[ESPN] Hollinger: Streak Reaches Surreal Zone

Rocketsterps · Post #1 » by **Rocketsterps** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 6:18 am

How is this getting surreal? Let us count the ways.

Start with the fact that tonight's victory came in large part because of a double-digit fourth quarter from Mike Harris. If you have no idea who Mike Harris is, there's a good reason -- a week ago he wasn't in the NBA. Yet, in keeping with Houston's theme of a different role player stepping up each night, Harris was the difference-maker as the Rockets stretched their lead from 64-62 at the end of the third quarter to 77-64 on his dunk. He ended up with more points in that stanza (10) than in his entire NBA career to that point [8].

Then add the good fortune that came in other games around the league.
First, New Orleans beat the Lakers, allowing Houston to catch L.A. atop the West. Second, the Spurs faltered in Detroit, thanks in part to Bruce Bowen's one-game suspension, which let the Rockets push the defending champs down to fifth (though just one game back) in the insanely close Western Conference playoff chase. Now, here's the real kicker: Remember how we've been saying for the past several days that Houston's upcoming week would provide the real test of their strength, with a slate that began with the Lakers, Celtics and Hornets?

What if I told you that each of those three teams suffered injuries to at least one star player tonight -- in the Hornets' case it was two -- those making that upcoming three-game test look much easier on paper?
Unbelievably, it happened. In the first half the Rockets trailed by 13 points -- tied for their largest deficit of the winning streak -- and it looked like the streak could end at 20. By the second half, news of the other injuries crossed the press table just as Houston rallied. So in an amazing couple of hours, the Rockets not only extended the streak, but got the kind of breaks that might help them continue it.

read on...
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/s ... ets-080314

Iggyemu · Post #2 » by **Iggyemu** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 6:42 am

Yea interesting. But IMO Pau will play. Jackson is just playing mind games. Allen probably won't b/c the game doesn't mean that much to them. And Paul and West of course will play. You gotta remember...these big games for us...but for LA and NO...they are just as big. So they'll play through injuries.

As far as the win tonight...it was remarkable to see us fight back when all looked lost. When no shot was going down. It was a great effort especially by McGrady who played the entire game.

Baller 24 · Post #3 » by **Baller 24** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 3:08 pm

Dang, talking about catching a break this week, hopefully we can keep it going, but I doubt it will happen.

tisbee · Post #4 » by **tisbee** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 5:21 pm

And I guess the Rockets caught a break w/Yoa being out for the yr,then got another break w/Landry being out for a week+. :banghead:

PhatPat23 · Post #5 » by **PhatPat23** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 7:25 pm

tisbee wrote:And I guess the Rockets caught a break w/Yoa being out for the yr,then got another break w/Landry being out for a week+.

hilarious use of the smiley guy banging his head.

moofs · Post #6 » by **moofs** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 9:12 pm

Haha yeah I love it. We've lost two key players, one a six time all star center, yet we're "catching breaks". One big break is that no one picked up Mike Harris after preseason, but seriously - anything we get at this point is a karmatic make up call (assuming I believed in karma)

PocketRockets · Post #7 » by **PocketRockets** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 10:23 pm

Injuries happen. Stupid media people basically trying to say if we do go 5-0 this week, it won't be because we're a good team. It's because we're "lucky." Well I don't believe in luck and karma, I believe in hard work. The league would be full of "lucky" people off the streets and not the gifted athletes that play in nba, if luck was involved. So I say F*** luck and a bigger FU to the haters.

RaoulDuke79 · Post #8 » by **RaoulDuke79** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 10:24 pm

I believe in karma. I also believe in hard work. I also believe the media is probably taking a page out of Ralph Wiggum's book when it comes to writing their nonsense.

jove9 · Post #9 » by **jove9** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 4:28 am

PocketRockets wrote:Injuries happen. Stupid media people basically trying to say if we do go 5-0 this week, it won't be because we're a good team. It's because we're "lucky." Well I don't believe in luck and karma, I believe in hard work. The league would be full of "lucky" people off the streets and not the gifted athletes that play in nba, if luck was involved. So I say F*** luck and a bigger FU to the haters.

Of course, one could argue that the gifted athletes are lucky to have such skill to begin with. No amount of hard work is ever going to get me to play like T-Mac... or even John Lucas III.

KaZiSaiZ · Post #10 » by **KaZiSaiZ** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 9:29 am

injuries happen in an athletic sport.... medias job is to hype it up

Post #11 » by **TMU** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 12:49 pm

moofs wrote:Haha yeah I love it. We've lost two key players, one a six time all star center, yet we're "catching breaks". One big break is that no one picked up Mike Harris after preseason, but seriously - anything we get at this point is a karmatic make up call (assuming I believed in karma)

Yep, I was kinda surprised that Mike Harris wasn't picked up by any team in this league. Dude was killing summer leagues... I guess I am just glad we got him back on this team. Now, who's still gonna cry about waiving Gerald Green?