The Rocket Way

The Houston Rockets have won twenty games in a row. That’s right. Twenty games. 20.

It’s been 9 years since any team was even close to doing such a thing. The Lakers, led by the ridiculous duo of Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, won 19 straight in 1999. That was Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, though. That was maybe the greatest coach in NBA History, Phil Jackson. That was Glen Rice and Ron Harper, fantastic veterans who could lead a team anywhere.

The Rockets are hardly the that team. Yao Ming, their starting center and leading vote getter in the NBA All-Star game, went down with an injury two weeks ago. Only two active players on their roster score over ten points per game. The average basketball fan can’t name anyone on their roster other than Yao and Tracy McGrady. There is no way that this team should be winning so many games. Yet, somehow, they have outdone those Lakers and the many teams before that tried to string together an unlikely string of wins. They are better than those teams and they are still going.

The reasons for this unbelievable streak? There definitely isn’t just one, but in my opinion, these are the big three:

1) Rafer Alston: ‘Skip to my lou’ is his alias, but he'll be skipping to the NBA finals if he continues playing the way he’s playing. During the streak, he has averaged double figures in scoring in all but three games. He runs the team better than Peyton Manning runs the Indianapolis Colts. His defense is stingy and he never turns the ball over (1.7 turnovers per game, unbelievable for the job that he does). Right now, there may not be a better starting point guard in basketball. Sounds stupid, sounds ridiculous, but how many other teams in the league are winning games with such ease? It all starts with the point guard.

Tracy McGrady is the team's inspirational leader.

2) Nothing will stop us : That is the mentality that the Rockets are playing with. They lose their leading scorer and rebounder in Yao, no problem. There is nothing that will stop the Rockets. Tracy McGrady has instilled that into his entire team. The team is a direct reflection of him. Imagine losing in the first round of the playoffs almost every year and being one of the best players in basketball. Imagine that frustration. It just doesn’t matter what happens, Tracy McGrady will not let himself lose. Not anymore. It would be ridiculously satisfying to watch Kobe Bryant square off vs. Tracy McGrady in the playoffs. We can only be so lucky.

3) Luck : Well, maybe not luck, but in the western conference this year, how could it be anything else? Since Yao went down, their schedule has been very helpful in their endeavor. The past eight games without Yao, they have only played two teams who are respectable. The Mavericks and the Nuggets. In those games, the amount of help they received was undeniable. Against the Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki was inactive because he was suspended by the league for a foul he had committed the previous game. Against the Nuggets, Allen Iverson played maybe the worst game he’s played all season. Despite his 17 points, the Nuggets’ best player failed to score more than two points in the entire second half. That doesn't happen very often.

The feat that the Rockets have accomplished is without question the most impressive thing I’ve been alive to witness in professional sports.

To stand in front of hostile crowds night in and night out with a huge target on your back and continually quiet them is unheard of. To lose your best player and continue to win games in the tightest western conference race we’ve seen in ages is very impressive.

Nobody thought it could happen. Without Yao, the Rockets wouldn’t make the playoffs. Now it looks as if they will not only make it, but will flourish.

The Rockets have blasted off into NBA history.