Terrence Jones could return as soon as Wednesday for the Rockets, who upgraded his status to questionable for the team’s showdown with Western rival Dallas. It’s the first time in months that the Rockets have changed Jones’ status from “out”. Jones, a third-year power forward from Kentucky, has missed Houston’s last 41 games with a nerve issue affecting his left leg. At one point, his mobility was so limited that Jones worried if his basketball career might be over. But Jones has
On Tuesday night, publisher Chris Sheridan was supposed to appear on the Red & Orange Report, a podcast hosted by Josh Reese and Sheridan Hoops contributor Ben DuBose that covers Houston sports. Maybe Sheridan was chasing down more info on Tom Thibodeau’s shaky future as coach of the Chicago Bulls. Or maybe he was watching President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address. But I was asked to fill in for him. In a lengthy discussion, I talked about how the Rockets
The Cleveland Cavaliers (22-20) seem to finally be turning things around, having won three straight — two over the Clippers and Bulls — after a brutal stretch of 10 losses in 12 games. But they aren’t forgetting what got them in that hole. The Cavs are 1-8 this season without LeBron James, and injuries to both he and Kevin Love have exposed Cleveland’s roster for lacking depth. They addressed that need up front (Timofey Mozgov) and at the wing spots (J.R.
One of the biggest knocks against the NBA is that when the season starts, there are only five or six teams that can truly win the championship, making the regular season and the early playoff rounds interminably tedious. Not this season. As we reach the midway point – 18 teams have played at least 41 games, another nine have played 40 – there are no less than a dozen teams with legitimate title aspirations, including a handful that haven’t been in the
When you’re already a proven NBA superstar, improvement usually comes in subtle ways. For Houston Rockets star James Harden, his ascent into the MVP conversation (it’s essentially a two-man race at this point between he and Stephen Curry, unless Anthony Davis’ New Orleans Pelicans make the playoffs) has come from a slight improvement across and board and an understanding that league MVPs are, and always will be, two-way players. The Rockets have had to rely on Harden this year more than
HOUSTON — For the doubters, the story behind the Rockets’ unbeaten start is about who Houston hasn’t beaten, rather than the teams they have. There is some logic to that, of course. The Rockets are 6-0, but the Lakers, Jazz, Sixers and Celtics are a combined 3-16 entering Friday. And the Spurs, whom the Rockets romped past in Thursday’s nationally-televised showdown, were missing Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili. Of the six wins, only the rested Heat in Miami, where the Rockets
Should we really be surprised that the league’s most interesting general manager chose to take the path of higher risk, higher reward? That’s where the Houston Rockets, led by daring and analytically driven GM Daryl Morey, enter the 2014-15 season. When we last saw them, contention didn’t feel far away. In the first year of the Dwight Howard-James Harden foundation, the Rockets went 54-28 in a loaded West and secured home court advantage in the first round. That was in line with preseason
On Thursday, we gave you our All-Breakout Team for the upcoming season for the Eastern Conference. Today, we bring you our Western Conference All-Breakout Team. These are the players we believe are on the verge of breaking out or standing out. We used the same parameters – five players, one at each position, but no rookies. Let’s get right to it. [Read more…]