We had so much fun going to Rockets games last spring that we ended up buying a 14-game season ticket package for this year. Our friends Meryl and James got the same package and we even got seats right next to each other, so it will be a fun season. Last night was our first game of the season, and Jose has been giddy with anticipation all week.
It was a good game, and the Rockets led most of the way until Kobe Bryant turned into the machine that he is and won the game. (It didn’t help that the Rockets couldn’t so much as LOOK at him the wrong way without getting called for a foul.) I’m pretty sure the only way to effectively guard Kobe Bryant is to kick him as hard as you can in the shins or hope he breaks an ankle. And neither of those things happened last night.
The Rockets did take it into overtime, and in the end lost by a measly ONE POINT. The most frustrating part is that the Rockets had the ball with 24.7 seconds to go, down a point, and didn’t even manage to get off a shot. 24.7 seconds and you can’t even attempt a shot? So frustrating.
I think the Rockets are probably a better team this year than we gave them credit for. Without Yao, and yet again with Tracy McGrady, there didn’t seem to be a lot of hope that the Rockets could really be competitive against the toughest teams in the West. But after wins against Portland and Utah and a near-win against the Lakers, I’m thinking it may not be a bad season after all. They won’t win the championship, but at least they’ll be reasonably competitive. They’ve just got to figure out a way to maintain a high level of play in the closing minutes of the game. Last night at the end, the Lakers marched forward like a well-oiled machine (a well-oiled KOBE machine) while the Rockets just sputtered out.
On the way home, we heard that the Yankees won the World Series. So it wasn’t a great day in sports if you root for a team that doesn’t have a bazillion dollars and arguably the best player in the game.
