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It's safe to say that no team will be happier to ring in '05 than the
Rockets. Expected to be among the league's elite when they acquired Tracy
McGrady in the offseason, Houston instead has been mostly mediocre. Last
week coach Jeff Van Gundy's band of underachievers lost twice to the
expansion Bobcats, and on Tuesday they barely showed up in a 115-87
drubbing
at Milwaukee. Although they showed more spunk Wednesday night in a win at
Cleveland (LeBron James sat out the second half with a bruised eye socket,
courtesy of Dikembe Mutombo's famous elbows) the Rockets clearly rank
among
the NBA's biggest disappointments so far.
Perhaps not surprising for a Van Gundy-coached team, Houston's problems
have
been on the offensive end. As of Wednesday, the Rockets ranked 28th in
points per game (89.1) and 25th in field-goal percentage (.428). So far
Van
Gundy has simply not been able to harness the incredible inside-outside
combination of McGrady and Yao Ming. Early on T-Mac appeared tentative, as
he tried to keep his teammates involved. After a meeting with Van Gundy,
in
which the coach encouraged him to be more aggressive, McGrady has looked
better but still not the force he should be. For the season he is
averaging
just 23.3 points on 41.4 percent shooting, below his lofty standards even
when taking into account Houston's slower pace. Word around the league is
that T-Mac is growing frustrated.
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