NBA Weekly

The Houston Rockets continue to roll as they have now won 20 straight games.

I have to say that I was one of those people who thought the Rockets were done when they lost Yao Ming. I thought Denver would take advantage of Yao's injury and move ahead of Houston but they have been playing horrible of late.

I'm not even really sure how the Rockets keep winning all these games. When I look at their roster, especially without Yao, I'm really not that impressed. So I've decided to break down the winning streak and see if this team is a legitimate contender.

The first thing I looked at and this is probably the most important thing is the winning percentage of the teams they have played during their 20 game winning streak. Well, it's not all that great at .461 overall. They have beaten 8 teams with winning records, Cleveland twice, Portland twice, New Orleans twice, Denver, and Dallas without Dirk.

The overall streak is impressive but I wouldn't be surprised if this team loses in the first round of the playoffs because they really haven't played any of the great teams and I think the loss of Yao will catch up with them in the playoffs.

My final analysis is that the streak is impressive but I don't consider the Rockets a serious title contender.

The next thing to look at is why is this team winning? Well, my thoughts are that Rick Adleman and the defense this team plays have been the main reason for the winning streak. I know Tracy McGrady has been given alot of credit for his play but I'm not so sure he's playing any better than usual and I think Rafer Alston, Louis Scola, and Carl Landry have been very efficient. So I wanted to look at some individual stats of players during the streak to see if I am right about my observations.

McGrady: 23.2 PPG 5.6 Rebs 6.6 Ast 1.2 stl 0.6 blks 2.6 to 44.2 % FG during streak
McGrady: 22.4 PPG 6.2 Rebs 4.7 Ast 1.3 stl 1.0 blks 2.4 to 43.9 % FG career

So McGrady is pretty much in line with his career stats except his assists are up 2 a game, which would mean he is including his teammates more so lets look at some of those teammates during the streak.

Rafer Alston: 14.9 PPG 6.8 Ast 4.2 Rebs 1.5 stl 1.9 to 43.0 % FG during streak

Louis Scola: 11.5 PPG 6.7 Rebs 1.5 Ast 0.8 stl 1.7 to 56.0 % FG during streak

Carl Landry: 9.9 PPG 5.2 Rebs 0.5 Ast 0.6 stl 0.6 to 61.1 % FG during streak

These three players have been key factors during the winning streak, all picking up their play and playing efficiently. Also, Luther Head has been shooting the 3Ball at 45.2% clip during the streak and Shane Battier has continued to be effective on the defensive end.

Add all these factors together with Tracy McGrady giving his usual All-Star performance and the Rockets have simply been taking care of business winning the games they are supposed to win. It will be interesting to see this team go up against the Lakers and Celtics in the upcoming week.

In other NBA news, Andrew Bynum is progressing in his rehab of his injured knee.

The Chicago Bulls continue to be a mess, as even Chris Duhon is causing trouble. This team needs an overhaul in the front office and a new coach if you ask me.

Allen Iverson has a fractured ring finger but is going to continue to play. Nobody can ever question Allen's competitiveness that's for sure.

Caron Butler is back at practice and should be playing soon and Greg Oden is back at practice too but don't expect to see him anytime soon.

ESPN ranked the 10 Greatest Shooting Guards ever. Can you guess who is # 1?

Here are the chances that players like Kobe & Lebron have at setting some all time records.

Finally, here is a look at the Rookie Rankings for this week, along with some observations.