A team posing as the Houston Rockets showed up at the Forum for a game 7. It was a testament to fortitude that the Rockets were still in this series at all. Just who were these Rockets, anyway? They were led by Scola and Brooks in scoring.

Who?

You know, Scola and Brooks. Oh, you were probably wondering about that Yao guy and the one named McGrady. Those two were not seen at the scene. It was more up to Battier and Artest. My thoughts exactly, do you want to trust your playoff fortunes to Battier and Artest?

Pau Gasol in the 3 man jumping drill

It did not matter as Pau Gasol and half of Hollywood led the Lakers to a huge 51 – 31 advantage at half and then just coasted to victory. Pau had 21 points and 18 rebounds. Kobe had a slightly off day with 14 points.

With Gasol scoring 21 points and grabbing 18 rebounds, the Lakers looked like the conference’s top-seeded team, not the maddeningly inconsistent one that was pushed to the decisive final game by the undermanned Rockets.

The Lakers dominated the paint on both ends, forcing the Rockets into turnovers and bad shots, and owning the backboards. They had an 8-0 lead a few minutes in and widened it to 25 points on Gasol’s jump hook shortly before halftime.

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Now the Nuggets and Chauncey Billups come into tinsel town on Tuesday. Stay tuned.
Photo source Newscom

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Tracy McGrady in his signature form, shooting the jump shot in Atlanta

It has to be smoke and mirrors.

How are they doing it? There is no Yao. The ultimate collapse was predicted.

Yet, the Houston Rockets rolled once again.

Houston 83 Atlanta 75

Ok, so the Hawks are not exactly prime time with Mike Bibby or not, it is still 20 in a row!

The Rockets tied the second longest win streak in NBA History and were led by Tracy McGrady.

The Rockets joined the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers (33 straight) and 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks (20) as the only teams to win 20 or more in a row.

“We did enough to win,” Adelman said.

Tracy McGrady scored 21 of his 28 points in the second half for Houston, which led only 71-70 with 5 minutes remaining. McGrady then scored five points in Houston’s 10-0 run to take control.
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Now this gets complicated, because the number of non-contenders on the win streak schedule. Even when they faced the Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki was serving a one game suspension for brutality. The experts will say that Houston has beaten no one and their playoff spot is still in jeopardy and there is some truth to that statement.

But come on, 20 in a row against Middleville Junior High would still be impressive. The NBA is a grind. You get any team at home and they are apt to shoot the lights out and beat you just for some momentary respect.

And give some credit to the players that have stepped up in Yao’s absence, like Battier, Alsten, Landry and others.

And defense, did anyone tell you, Houston is playing some fine defense.

Houston allowed only 89.3 points per game during its 19 straight wins and set a low scoring pace against the Hawks.

…Houston has held two straight opponents to 75 or fewer points, following a 91-73 win over New Jersey on Monday.

So there is Houston one game away from the Lakers and the best record in the Western Conference and still no respect for what they have accomplished.

“It’s unbelievable,” McGrady said. “For me to be on this team that has accomplished 20 straight wins, that has got to be right up there with the most gratifying things I’ve accomplished in this league. … You look at the Bulls that were 72-10, they didn’t even do it. So this is pretty remarkable.”

Added Adelman: “You could see the guys, it really means something to get this and just keep not only the streak going, but keep moving in the right direction.”

The Rockets are for real and seem to have rallied around Yao and the feeling of them against the world.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Will the Rockets make an impact in the playoff?

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