Houston Rockets Daily Rocket Science: Still panicking, no answers

A broken record doesn’t fix itself.

Most disappointing teams, who needs to panic, worst story lines… these will all be story titles that include the Houston Rockets somewhere in them for the next couple of weeks – until something changes.

A lot needs to change too. The defense, the team dynamics, getting healthy, perhaps not playing in the Western Conference? These all could help in getting the Rockets back to where they were in May. However that is a long, difficult list of things to fix.

If J.B. Bickerstaff is in fact the man to take Houston all the way through this season, he’s got his work cut out for him. The more you zoom out and look at the big picture, the more hopeless this situation seems.

Maybe these three days will give the boys some time to soul search. In the mean time, use these articles to bide your time until Wednesday’s game.

Houston Rockets news and notes from around the web

Here’s one of those “panic” pieces mentioned from above. It seems to be a contest of who’s the more disappointing team in the west: the Rockets or the Los Angeles Clippers. On its face, the answer seems obvious. The Rockets have been a train wreck, but this article makes a good case for the Clippers too. Check it out:

NBA 3-Man Weave: Who should be panicking more, Clippers or Rockets? [CBS NBA – Matt Moore, Zach Harper, Brad Botkin]

"The Rockets are the worse team but the Clippers are in more trouble, and it’s all about expectations. I don’t personally think the Rockets were ever true title contenders to begin with. We got very excited about their finishing as the No. 2 seed and advancing to the conference finals last year, but they were one game from being the six-seed and they should’ve been gone in the second round. We also got very excited about their signing Ty Lawson, but that move was more splash than substance. He doesn’t fit great with James Harden. They both need to dominate the ball to be at their best. And now the coach has been fired. The Rockets, as it would appear right now, aren’t going anywhere meaningful anyway."

So now that the problems have been presented, here’s a couple of potential solutions to make y’all feel better. In his second consecutive appearance in DRS, Jonathan Feigen details how the Rockets are focusing on shooting during practice. They could use the practice, because who would have ever thought a Daryl Morey team would be last in three-point shooting?

Taking – and making – shots in practice instills confidence in Rockets [Houston Chronicle – Jonathan Feigen]

"The idea of getting a basketball team to put the ball in the hoop is far from novel, but the Rockets are not in position to seek originality. In the past week, they made significant strides defensively. They played and competed harder. But the shooting remains too shaky for other improvements to lead to wins."

So we covered team dynamics, now let’s cross off health. Patrick Beverley is set to reappear Wednesday against the Memphis Grizzlies and it couldn’t come sooner. Harden seems to play better when Bev is on the court, and he can improve things on the defense when guarding the point. The downside to this? Bev can’t seem to stay healthy for a descent period of time.

Houston Rockets: Patrick Beverley Set To Return To Game Action [Space City Scoop – Andre Cantalogo]

"Patrick Beverley injured his left ankle in the match against the Denver Nuggets on November 13th after playing just 8 minutes. That was Beverley’s second injury of the season as he already missed a couple of games prior due to a concussion."

In remembrance of the 1993-94 team, let’s watch this video and mourn the loss of this once precious record. Yeah, it’s not broken yet – but the Golden State Warriors play the Los Angeles Lakers tonight. I’m pretty confident it dies tonight.

As the @Warriors streak reaches 15…. we look back at the 1993-94 @HoustonRockets 15-0 start! #WarriorsStreakhttps://t.co/tuCvB6kAHC

— NBA (@NBA) November 23, 2015

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They say it’s always darkest before dawn, but I don’t see the sun coming up anytime soon. A lot has to change in a short period of time before the Rockets fall too far behind in a loaded Western Conference. All we can do is hold out for hope… happy Tuesday folks.