Houston beat Boston tonight, but I'm not about to give them any props. Boston has been sliding lately, it happens. Just goes to show that any team in the league, no matter how good you are, has their bad days. Ok, so Boston lost to L.A. on Christmas. Then they lost to the Warriors, Blazers, Knicks, Bobcats and Rockets....these guys are still the defending champs, and are just on a slide right now. If I give Houston props, then that means Golden State, Portland, New York, and Charlotte all deserve props too..I don't think so. So no, Houston is still not legit. Sometimes a team's shots just aren't falling. Tonight was one of those nights for Boston. I still don't think Houston will get very far. Yao won the game tonight for the Rockets, it's amazing what can happen when the guy supposed to be taking a majority of the shots, takes them. But when Aaron Brooks is your 2nd leading scorer in the game, your team has got problems.
Boston's problem tonight? Ray Allen. He hit on only 4 of 13 shots from the floor for 13 points...if he had 5 more points tonight, Boston wins this game plain and simple. Houston did not deserve to win this game tonight. Good job on only letting Rafer Alston take 5 shots though, he shouldn't be taking any more than that in a game, actually he should only be playing about 10 minutes a game.
Conclusion: Boston had an off-night. Houston just happened to be around when Boston had an off-night. Otherwise this is Boston blowout. If the Reno Bighorns of the D-League were on the floor tonight, they probably could have beaten Boston too, so the Rockets shouldn't feel special.