I believe in B-ball ...

He’s as close to a completely dominating offensive force as I’ve seen. When he takes over, it’s over!
The criticism on defense is mostly overstated. He’s grossly under-appreciated on defense as he’s improving in general - lettting less opponents do blow-bys. He does force the kick-outs to the perimeters where tougher shots are located.

This is not to say he’s the only valuable player or that this team is lopsided and not competitive when he’s not on the court. Barring injuries they should go a long way in the playoffs. I like their chances.

Harden has made me into a fan. I never did watch any complete games before he joined the team.

Here's some analysis on trending of Rockets and their over-all chances in the playoffs (re against Warriors):

" Rockets went into the break with a 10-game winning streak and a 17-2 record over the last six weeks, ranking third offensively and seventh defensively over that stretch. Over the same six weeks, the Warriors had the league's best offense, but went 12-6 and ranked 16th defensively.

The Rockets are 28-1 with Chris Paul, James Harden and Clint Capela. Both Harden and Luc Mbah a Moute (Houston's best defender) missed their loss to the Warriors (who were playing without Kevin Durant) on Jan. 4.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr has made it clear that his team was fatigued over the last few weeks and needed the All-Star break. Time will tell if he was right, or if the wear and tear of three straight trips to The Finals affects their defense going forward."

Great analysis, do or anybody have any stats on how many games the Rocket players have in post season experience? I know it isn't totally definitive, but it is relevant.

OK...don't ask me why I did this but...here goes:

I can't speak about the other teams stats but here are the numbers for career playoff games played by the current roster of Houston Rockets:

Team total 591 games
player individual breakdown

Joe Johnson 112
Harden 88
Ariza 85
Chris Paul 76
Nene 73
Green 40
Andrerson 35
Capela 33
Tucker 23
Gordon. 15
M.A. Moute 11

Thanks Ragman. My team is the Thunder but the Rockets were for many years before. I only look for the Rockets to lose when the two teams play each other. The Rrockets are quit scrappy and I love scrappy. If youl look up scrappy in the dictionary, you will find a picture of Harden. I also love what Paul has done this year and bow he is used in the game.

Yes, the Rockets post season can probably be the most enjoyable set of series this year. I hope the Thunder and Rockets are on opposite sides of the Conference brackets so that maybe they could play each other to decide the Conference Champion.

But, the Thunder gotta get going if they are gonna make the playoffs. The Thunder have been very inconsistent all year long. They have shown they can beat anyone and then lose against the worst team in the league in the next game.

If the Thunder can't have the Championship, then I want the Rockets!

Rockets on the verge of breaking into new territory if they win tonight.

They won handily over a Pelican team that had played several games without a rest. Most wins in a season ever for the Rockets. No matter the final outcome this year, I'm loving it.

The Suns managed to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory tonight.

The Rockets may be feeling the pressure. Last time they blew a 24 point lead. Hope they get over it before the playoffs get underway.

(espn)

for the stat heads, he has had some eye-popping trip-dubs recently...

That's my man......go Russell go!!!!!! The one big reason I place Oscar Robertson at the top of my list - TRIPLE DOUBLES! Those were the days, Wilt and Oscar!

BTW, this doesn't necessarily mean Russell over takes Oscar. He may be the all time greatest in turnovers, also <sigh>........

five are ahead of him on turnovers...



https://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/tov_career.html

Wow, that is a neat list. LeBron is kinda startling along with Michael Jordan and especially Clyde Drexler. Clyde always had his hand on the ball, with such a low count!

Steph Curry is set to break Ray Allen’s all-time three-point total. All he needs is three more, and the Dubs are playing the knicks tonight at 7:30ET

Out of the three American sports basketball is the only one that has some measure of popular support over here.

In all my years of teaching I have never known a kid to show any interest in baseball at all. One kid played American football, and he wasn't exactly popular. Definitely niche.

Basketball is different, schools actually play it, and basketball players have come to talk to the kids. It may have been the success of Michael Jordan and Spacejam, but it has stayed reasonably popular.

It had a tricky start. When I was at school sports were strictly segregated along gender lines. Boys played football, and girls played netball which is very similar to basketball.

Which meant that for a long time basketball was seen as like netball, and only for girls really. That is not the case any more. I don't think we're going to be winning any Olympic medals any time soon, but we should be able to put a half decent team together.

Netball still remains a girl's sport, not through segregation but because girls were the only played it meant women were the only ones playing it as adults.

from last night...