Houston Rockets Daily Rocket Science – It’s too late for this mess

Only loyal Houston Rockets fans will sacrifice a good nights sleep for a game against the Los Angeles Lakers ending at 1:30 ET.

Only crazy ones too.

When Byron Scott decided to go Hack-a-Howard down 15 points with five minutes left in the game – I was ready to give up. There is a special place in hell for men who do such atrocious things – and it wouldn’t be the first heinous act Scott has committed this year.

But like many of us here on the East coast, I prevailed for a 20 point victory. Leave it to the lowly Lakers to be a guaranteed slump buster to end the “easy stretch” I have been talking about.

6-3 in their last nine games against lame opponents is nothing to be encouraged about, especially when you have a bevy of title contenders in the next stretch of nine games. Saturday night will be a big test against the Los Angeles Clippers – another team who’s disappointed in the West.

All I’ll say is, if Houston could barely hold it together against nine sub-.500 teams – they’re in for a world of hurt with this next stretch of teams.

Houston Rockets news and notes from around the web

Ah yes! Let’s deal with you.. you conniving, attention-seeking, annoying little harpy. Khloe Kardashian, the regrettable boo-thing of James Harden, has come out and defended herself for the first time this season. Many, including myself, have pointed fingers at the youngest daughter of America’s worst family as to one of the reasons Harden hasn’t looked himself so far. Her response is, well.. let’s just say I can’t print it here. (and I caution you the article uses some colorful language)

Khloe Kardashian fires back after being blamed for James Harden losing streak [Hollywood Life – Emily LaCroix]

"She’s not going to just lay down and let people hate on her man, either! She defends his skills by calling him the “f**king sh*t,” while claiming that there’s no way she has enough of a hold over him to distract him from his true passion, basketball. That being said, she admits she does have some killer skills of her own. “Someone’s trying to give me too much power,” Khloe said … “but my p**sy is f**king powerful bro, let me tell you that.”"

Here was a touching note from Thursday night’s game: Trevor Ariza doing some Kobe Bryant reminiscing. Ariza was a part of the last great Lakers team back before the turn of the decade and probably did learn a thing or two from the Mamba. You might also be suprised as to how far back him and Kobe go.

Houston Rockets’ Trevor Ariza largely credits LA Lakers’ Kobe Bryant for his development [La Daily Mail – Mark Medina]

"Then, Ariza averaged 11.3 points on a 47.6 percent clip from three-point range and also stole two key inbound passes in Games 1 and 3 of the Lakers’ Western Conference finals victories over Denver. Bryant and Ariza also often guarded each other in practice, which soon became learning experiences."

Here’s a another obvious statement: the Rockets are inconsistent. The title of the article is an obvious statement too, and if you watched last night it rings especially true on defense. There was one particular play where Kobe to a pick from Roy Hibbert and drove down the lane, sucking in the defense with him. Kobe then passed to a cutting Larry Nance Jr. down the baseline and had Patrick Beverly not had the awareness to turn around and swat the ball – it was an easy two. Point being – it was extremely disorganized.

Rockets’ defensive inconsistency maddening [Houston Chronicle – Jonathan Feigen]

"The Rockets allow more points in the paint per game than any team in the league, largely because the Rockets give up the second-most points off turnovers and off second shots. The defense has improved, ranking 16th in December. But that still includes wild extremes from solid to spectacularly porous."

Sad about working on a Friday? Well the I’ll just leave this here: #BarkTheVote

Having a ruff day? Let James Harden & this guy make you feel better. RT this to send the Beard to Toronto. #NBAVotepic.twitter.com/1aGTwXeV0o

— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) December 17, 2015

Next: Dwight Howard Reportedly to Opt Out Final Year of Contract

Hopefully a puppy with the Beard will guide you through this dreaded workday. Perhaps it will be the prospects of a potential win tomorrow against the Clips. Either way, hang on to something! There’s a storm brewing in Houston and it’s grabbing up everything with it.