The Basketball Gods hate the Rockets, and for good reason

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

FIX THIS! Taking intentional fouling to its logical conclusion, the Rockets fouled Andre Drummond 12 times in a row to begin the third quarter. That’s right: K.J. McDaniels started the third specifically to foul Drummond away from the ball enough times to get Detroit into the bonus. Then Houston fouled Drummond on every Pistons possession -- three minutes worth -- until Stan Van Gundy yanked him. Why’d he yank him? Houston was making up ground.

The Rockets ended up losing because the Basketball Gods are sick of this bulls--t. So are we. Change the rule.

SCORES ...

PHI 96, ORL 87
MIA 87, WAS 106
CLE 91, BKN 78
UTA 111, NYK 118 (OT)
BOS 109, TOR 115
GSW 125, CHI 94
DET 123, HOU 114
CHA 95, OKC 109
MIN 94, DAL 106 (OT)
SAC 112, LAL 93
ATL 104, POR 98

LET’S CHECK IN ON THE PLAYOFF RACE ... Oh hey, look at that! The Sacramento Kings are currently in the No. 8 spot in the West! This is a big deal for a team that hasn’t been in the playoffs in 10 years and a team that hasn’t been in the playoff picture this deep into a season -- halfway, mind you -- since 2007-08.

Meanwhile, the East race remains a relative mess, although Toronto is doing strong work separating itself from the pack, with Atlanta as an exception.

LIL’ SPLASH BROTHERS: Mike Prada on how Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum play off of each other to get consistent open looks.

KEMBA! Yaron Weitzman breaks down how Kemba Walker has opened up his game and become more effective for Charlotte.

THE BORISTA: This Jeff McDonald story on Boris Diaw’s joie de vivre and totally chill attitude about everything (except dinner) is phenomenal.

HMM: Facebook is trying to replicate Sports Twitter on its platform.

AGAINST THE CATCH-AND-HOLD: Ian Levy breaks down the data on “catch-and-hold” shots -- shots where the player doesn’t take any dribble but holds the ball for at least two seconds. It’s not pretty.

NOTABLE: Rajon Rondo dunked on Ryan Kelly.

WELP: Not a great possession for Clint Capela: he blows a layup, recovers and blows a dunk.

NOTED: Ken Berger on how LeBron responded to the Warriors’ drubbing of the Cavs.

MEANWHILE ... Brian Windhorst on the imperative that Cleveland figure out how to use Kevin Love to his fullest potential.

THAT’S SO WARRIORS: Two Warriors stopped to tie their shoes after a made Bulls basket, so Golden State played 3-on-5. They still scored easily and quickly.

BEST BROS: Rob Mahoney on the magic of the Gasol brothers.

YIKESVILLE: Carmelo Anthony got stifled by Rudy Gobert.

FORBES RANKINGS: If you’re into the Forbes franchise value rankings, they are out. They have the Knicks at $3 billion, which sounds about right. Forbes estimates 13 NBA teams are now worth at least $1 billion.

THIS IS STARTING TO SUSPICIOUSLY RESEMBLE A VACATION: Steve Kerr tried improv at Second City. I’m just saying: if any of us were out of the office on injury leave and we popped up doing improv, we might have some explaining to do ...

AWESOME: Rachel Nichols will have a daily NBA show on ESPN beginning in February.

TONIGHT: Your TNT doubleheader begins with a fire game -- Clippers-Cavs -- and ends with Spurs-Suns. Ah well. You can flip to Hawks-Kings if you get bored.

Happy Thursday. See you next time.