Rockets Review: The Season Shall Be Televised

Courtesy of Houstonpress.com

As a mea culpa for going on vacation right before the NBA season, DeQuiency will be writing weekly updates about the Rockets' season. Now we here at Two Eighty Eight aren't exactly sure how he's going to do this since he doesn't have CSN, but he is the boss so we're going to let him try.

Sorry that there was no column the last two weeks. We here at the Dorsey household were too busy handling the family travel plans for Thanksgiving and the week after we were just super lazy. Apologies. 

So where are we now? 
We're in a good news/bad news situation.

First the good news: last Monday at 6 a.m.,  ROOT Sport Southwest launched in Houston, bringing every Rockets and Astros games to all of Houston and ending the terrible reign of CSN. While I feel awful for the 160+ employees that lost their jobs in the wake of CSN's season bankruptcy, I cannot describe how awesome it feels to not have to pray for a non-blackout national broadcast game in order to watch the team. 

Now for the bad news: the injury bug has hit and hit hard. Terrence Jones hasn't played since November 3 because of a bruised nerve in his leg, and might miss another 3 weeks. Patrick Beverley has been in and out of the line-up with knee and hamstring injuries. No one knows how long Dwight Howard will sit out after missing 9 games and counting following a PRP (platelet-rich plasma) injection on his right knee. And with Isaiah Canaan suffering a sprained ankle last Friday, the Rocket's depth has been severely tested.

And thank God for those bench options. Kostas Papanikolaou looked like the long range shooting 4 that this team needed until he strained his knee against the T'wolves on Friday. Tarik Black and Joey Dorsey (no relation) have both filled in admirably at center for an ailing Howard. Jason Terry's been forced to start the past 4 games and has proved that age is just a number: 16.5 points on 48% shooting/50% 3-pointers.  Two weeks ago, Nick Johnson was down in the D-League dropping 20 points a game for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers; now he's pulling rabbits out of his hat like this:

Last week, I told Anthony that this Rockets team was my favorite team in the past 5 or 6 years even though it looked extremely top heavy. Now they have a proven bench and the confidence to play against any team on any night. More importantly to me, I'll be able to see it. 

Last three weeks: 7-3
For the Season: 16-4