Not the kind of problems you solve with a late-game isolation or a pull-up three. Not the kind thatKevin Durantwas brought to Houston to try and fix.
The problems currently facing the Rockets run much deeper than one player can solve or homecourt advantage can cure.
Right now the Rockets’ locker room feels fractured. You can see it in the body language, through every forced possession and argument on the bench.
Houston isn’t just down 0-2 after a101-94 loss on Tuesday nightto the shorthanded Lakers. They’re unraveling in real time.
And here’s a newsflash for you: This didn’t just come out of nowhere.
A month ago, when the Rockets were in the middle of a 6-8 stretch, Rockets’ legend Vernon Maxwell went on the “All the Smoke” podcast and said out loud what everyone else in Houston was thinking.
“Guys don’t like to high five each other no more,” said Maxwell speaking to the fractures inside the team that may have been caused from the rumors that spread aboutDurant’s burner accountcriticizing his teammates. “Nobody want to bump chest no more with each other. Everybody just spilt up the whole team… It’s a lot of s— going on out there in Houston.”
Durant returned from a knee injury, and that should have fixed everything.
The Rockets biggest problem without him in Game 1 was scoring. Durant is an instant fix for that.
Instead, it magnified the cracks. He finished with 23 points, but scored just three in the second half, and had a career-high nine turnovers. He’s committed a total of 20 turnovers in his last three games against the Lakers.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
