| On Wednesday, one of those odd things that sometimes happens and defies sense or reason, took place. The Houston Rockets beat the Brooklyn Nets, fairly comfortably in the end, 114-104. That’s right, the utterly hapless and rebuilding Rockets, who already possess a 15-game losing streak and have head coach Stephen Silas precariously positioned on the chopping block, who lack anything approaching even a secondary superstar on the court, beat the Eastern Conference-leading Nets, the NBA title favorites (+250 with FOX Bet). Sure, Kevin Durant wasn’t playing and Kyrie Irving still isn’t doing basketball, but Brooklyn still had former Rocket James Harden leading a squad so good and deep that Blake Griffin rides the bench. Simply put, the Rockets are terrible and the Nets are really, really strong, and the result was just plain weird and … oops, wait, back up a minute. There’s been a bit of a mix-up here. If Wednesday’s game at Toyota Center had taken place two weeks earlier, all of the above would have been both correct and up to the minute. As recently as Nov. 24, the Rockets were indeed useless, nursing a horrid record of 1-16. Yep, Silas was on the rack at the time, with multiple reports claiming owner Tilman Fertitta was considering bringing in a replacement. There was doubt about whether Houston could even scramble its way to 10 wins on the campaign. Things looked dire, with no optimism in sight, as players spoke openly of the pain and embarrassment of each fresh loss. But that was then and this is now, despite the time separating the two being essentially the blink of an eye in NBA terms. Now, just like that, wouldn’t you know it, the Rockets are the hottest team in the league — no, you didn’t read that incorrectly. “(We were) fighting so hard to get out of the hole we were in,” Silas told reporters. “Slowly but surely your hard work starts to pay off. The spirit of our group is high and we are in a good spot right now. The adversity we went through prior to this point has made it even sweeter, and we are feeling pretty good about ourselves.” For the first time in the history of American professional sports, the Rockets bounced straight off their 15-game nightmare by plunging directly into a seven-game winning streak and soaring all the way up to, er, 13th in the Western Conference. (Look, it’s hard to undo the damage of going nearly a month without winning, alright?) There has been no obvious catalyst, but each small success has spawned an extra dot of confidence. The whole thing has snowballed, admittedly helped by a section of the schedule that allowed for six of seven games at home and soft-bellied opponents such as the New Orleans Pelicans, Oklahoma City Thunder and Orlando Magic. John Wall, all $44-million-a-year of him, is still benched, with a view to an offload, and the rebuild is still firmly underway. But naturally, the mood could not be more different than when losing every night seemed like a formality. Christian Wood has greatly enjoyed being moved to his natural position at center, two-way contracted guard Garrison Mathews has found a hot shooting hand since being thrust into the starting five and veteran Eric Gordon is playing with fire, collecting a team-leading 21 points before getting ejected against the Nets. “It has been a tale of two seasons so far,” wrote the Houston Chronicle’s Rahat Huq. “The question now is who do the Rockets want to be?” It is a valid query. Having previously seemed certain to end with one of the three worst records in the league and secure the best possible chance of landing a No. 1 pick, the Rockets are now just 2.5 games out of a Western play-in spot with nearly a third of the season gone. As for that mark of double-digit wins, shoot, they might be there by Saturday night. All things being equal, they probably won’t beat the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks at home on Friday. But they weren’t supposed to beat the Nets either, or beat anyone much, or still be with their coach, or have any cause to smile at all, according to what everyone was saying recently. Who knows what the next stretch of time will bring, but for the moment just applaud the new Houston Rockets, flavor of the month, doing all the things they couldn’t, displaying short memory in the best possible way, enjoying themselves again and masterminding a turnaround — temporary or otherwise. That’s kind of awesome. |
