Houston Rockets Daily Rocket Science: Another bad team down

A win is a win, but it’d be nice to see the Houston Rockets score one against a worth-while team.

Three out of four is nice, hell it’s the best Houston has looked on the schedule in a month. But context is key, and the fact is the 76er’s, Knicks and Pelicans all stink. They’re all teams Houston should be beating with this roster, so it’s nothing to get real excited about.

I’m not urinating on a good Rockets win, but I just don’t want hopes to get up to high for them to come crashing right back down. However, it was nice to see Twitter say nice things about the Rockets for once this season:

Rockets had moments tonight where they looked like the team a lot of expected they’d be. Good energy from Jones, some quick takes by Lawson

— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) December 3, 2015

It’s true they looked a little better tonight, but the three-point shooting was still a mess (8-27) and New Orleans still topped the century mark. We’ve still got a long ways to go.

In the meantime, take some time to read these tidbits about Houston is about to hit an easy stride in their schedule until mid-December.

Houston Rockets news and notes from around the web

So this one seems all too obvious and even with the trade rumors swirling around him – it’s true. Ty Lawson looked so much better last night, registering a whopping +23 plus/minus. If he can even play half of that consistently, fortunes can change for the Rockets quickly. Also, if he can play half of +23 consistently the trade rumors may die down a bit.

Lawson must return to form for Rockets to go places [Houston Chronicle – Brian T. Smith]

"Lawson was benched the day Kevin McHale was fired. He hasn’t started since. The seventh-year vet mysteriously didn’t take the court Sunday in New York, received just 2 minutes, 41 seconds of breath in a recent defeat to Memphis and entered the evening averaging his worst numbers since his rookie campaign: 7.2 points and 4.4 assists on an embarrassingly low 33.6 percent shooting from the field and 30.8 percent beyond the arc."

On to another problem, James Harden. He wasn’t particularly efficient on the scoring side of things, but was able to still up his end of the box score with some nice rebounds and assists. It came out recently that Harden has been exhausted with his minutes load, using it as cause to why he hasn’t been great on both ends of the floor. I laughed it off, until I read this Calvin Watkins piece:

The James Harden minutes issue [ESPN NBA – Calvin Watkins]

"Too many times he cheats in the paint only to rush over to the corner, where an open man shoots a jumper. Along the perimeter, Harden gets beaten off the dribble, and on Monday in Auburn Hills, Michigan, where the Pistons beat the Rockets, there’s video of him failing to box out a charging player who scores on a putback layup."

Finally, something awesome. I’m not going to say too much, but I hope this guy shows up to every home game. Enjoy:

Rockets use dancing fat guy to distract Anthony Davis [Fansided NBA – Barry Leonard Jr.]

We have exclusive video here at Space City Scoop of something very rare in the wild. Something so few-and-far between we saved it for the last part of the article. Ladies and Gentleman, I give you – James Harden playing defense.

?https://t.co/PP90hmY9xK — Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) December 3, 2015

Next: Houston Rockets Bench Resurgence Leads to Win - Player Grades

Enjoy three out of four while you can, a much tougher test awaits with the

Dallas Mavericks

on Friday – a true litmus test to see if things have turned the corner.