Rockets Using New Formula to Overtake Texas

For several months, we’ve all semi-grudgingly included the Spurs in a list of the league’s elite. Tim Duncan’s as productive as ever, the injuries are over, the bench is reloaded, and after all, it’s the Spurs. You can’t count them out even when you’d never expect them to hang with the Lakers, (healthy) Celtics and Cavs.↵
↵
↵But after the Rockets bested them last night, it was Houston sitting atop the Southwest division, and trailing Los Angeles by a measly 9.5 games. Yes, the Rockets, minus McGrady and Alston, with Artest arguably the stable center of activity. Rick Adelman may be the opposite of Popovich, but right now they’ve got that stealth Spurs thing down to a tee. And I promise you, Shane Battier will get at least one MVP vote. At Pro Basketball News, Sam Amico offers up the following trenchant analysis:↵↵⇥Hard to believe so late in the season? Perhaps, based on the Rockets’ history.↵⇥
↵⇥
↵⇥But this year’s Rockets may be different. They may no longer be a team that’s hoping to find itself during the regular season then pray it gets on a roll in the playoffs. They may no longer be at the mercy of great teams like the Spurs. They may no longer be the Rockets of the previous two years.↵⇥
↵⇥
↵⇥And if you’re the Rockets, there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, right now, it has to feel like plenty is right.↵↵Like Amico says, maybe a little hard to believe. But it’s better than trying to keep an improbably win streak going, or hoping that a great-but-flawed star combo will come through in the clutch. These Rockets may have taken a while to find their voice, and it isn’t the kind of formula that screams “championship.” But for a team looking to unseat the Spurs as the kings of Texas, this makes a strange kind of sense.↵