Rockets Long To Leave L.A. Blues Behind

Rockets at Suns, 9:30 PM, FSNHOU, ESPN

Jason Friedman
Rockets.com Staff Writer

Phoenix - There are two ways to look at the Rockets’ season to date: The half-full view focuses on the fact that the club sports a 4-3 record, despite not having played particularly well up to this point. In fact, with a little bit of luck, it’s not a major stretch to suggest that the Rockets could be sitting pretty at 6-1 right now. As for the cynics: They typically have a tough time looking past the fact that, well, the team just hasn’t played particularly well.

How do the players themselves see it?

“Well, in both of your scenarios you’ve stated that we’re not playing well, so maybe that’s all that need be said,” quipped Brent Barry when posed with the question. “We didn’t have the repetitions in training camp that we necessarily needed, since some of our guys were out, so that’s rearing its head during game time. The only way we’re going to improve on those things is to find out in games what’s working and what’s not working, and we can assess those things and just try to get better. The great thing about it is there’s a tremendous opportunity for us to get better, and that’s what you want – progress throughout the season.”

Indeed, the Rockets seemingly have nowhere to go but up right now – especially on offense. Shooting – Houston ranks 28 th in the league in field goal percentage (41.2%) - has been a problem from day one, and the team is still searching for its first game when all three of its top players simultaneously display their considerable talents.

The key, however, is patience. The ‘P’ word is particularly distasteful to fans, but it’s essential to what the Rockets are trying to do and hoping to become. Given the myriad injury issues with which the team has had to deal since the beginning of camp, it’s not surprising that on-court chemistry has been slow to develop. The players are still playing catch-up in their attempt to establish an identity, while the coaching staff tinkers with various line-ups and combinations in an effort to figure out what works and what doesn’t. It’s almost as if the Rockets are in an extended preseason of sorts.

“In a way, it is,” agrees Barry. “We obviously understand the importance of every game, given what happened last year and how close the races were, but we have to keep assessing game after game and start to see some progress as we go along… I think our team in general is frustrated because we understand what we have the potential to be. So what we need to do is be calm, understand that on the practice court is where we can get better and when we make those strides in practice like we have the last two days, we have to try to carry those things over into the game and see if we’ve made some marked improvement.”

The measuring stick for that improvement comes tonight against the Phoenix Suns (6-2), a team which still scores plenty of points under new coach Terry Porter, but one which also remains somewhat vulnerable on the defensive end. So it should be fascinating to see whether the Rockets’ offense can transform from stagnant to staggering by capitalizing on the soft spots in the Phoenix ‘D.’

“It has everything to do with energy,” says Rafer Alston. “Sometimes guys feel like they have a good match-up going so we throw them the ball on the block or get them in an iso situation so they can take advantage. We trust our guys to do that. But the flip side is that, if it’s not working, we’ve got to go back to what’s going to work - and that’s a total team game.

“I understand where we are on the plus side of things, having four wins and only three losses, but we’ve really got to start to get going here. We’ve got to find a way to play 48 minutes on both side of the ball. We’re showing flashes, but we’re not playing a complete game and that’s always a concern.”

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