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Tuesday February 03, 2009 2:14 PM

Now Or Never?

Rockets ready to make their move

Jason Friedman
Rockets.com Staff Writer

Houston - The news reverberated throughout the NBA landscape like a shotgun blast across the countryside. Los Angeles’ burgeoning young center Andrew Bynum was headed toward a two-to-three month stay on the inactive list after suffering a torn MCL. Just like that, the mighty Lakers looked just a wee bit vulnerable in their bid for Western Conference omnipotence.

But the news didn’t stop there; a few more shockwaves were still to come. Orlando’s Jameer Nelson tore his labrum last night and is now facing the possibility of season-ending surgery. Utah, already without the services of Andrei Kirilenko until at least the All-Star break, was forced to play without point guard Deron Williams, who’s nursing a thigh contusion. Even New Orleans was not immune to the injury bug, as its MVP candidate Chris Paul strained his groin in the second-half against Portland, and is now being listed as day-to-day.

It’s the sort of bad news every team hopes to avoid, but is inevitable over the course of the long NBA season. It’s also something with which Rockets’ fans are all too familiar. Talk to players and coaches about the subject and the first thing out of their mouth is that they never wish injury upon anyone – it’s always better, and more satisfying, to beat the opposition with both sides at full strength. But given the roller coaster ride the Rockets have been on this season with regard to the various mishaps and maladies which have befallen them, one thing is for sure: They’re not feeling any sympathy toward their competition, either.

“No, definitely not,” says Shane Battier. “Because even though injuries are never a good thing, they can also be a galvanizing force for teams, too. We were a perfect example of that last year. Yao went down, but it brought us together and we took our game to another level.

“Just look at how the Lakers responded [to Bynum’s injury] last night: Kobe went out and scored 61. They’re still a very good team and extremely dangerous.”

Indeed, Los Angeles clearly remains the team to beat out West, even without Bynum’s presence in the middle. Furthermore, the Rockets know none of their opponents’ misfortune matters if they don’t take care of business on their own end.

“You notice it, you think about it, but really our focus internally is on us,” explains assistant coach Jack Sikma. “The good teams make that adjustment to injury in a reasonable amount of time so that they don’t hurt them in the long run.

“Unfortunately, we’ve lost a few games because we haven’t adjusted fast enough. We’ve had some bad losses which are the ones that are going to haunt you later. But the important thing is, we’ve got one in a row, so let’s see if we can go out and build some consistency.”

That task continues tonight as the young yet talented Chicago Bulls invade Houston. Though Chicago sports a pedestrian 21-27 record, it also happens to be riding a season-high three-game winning streak, including an emphatic double-digit road win over the Phoenix Suns Saturday night. So the Rockets know they’ll have to be on guard this evening, especially against the sort of energy lulls which have too often plagued them while playing sub .500 teams at Toyota Center.

“There’s a certain way you need to play at home,” says Brent Barry. “We think in the past couple weeks we’ve had some uninspired play here at home and we have to get back to picking up our energy level. I think in some of the games we’ve played, we’ve not attacked or gone after teams and put them on their heels, which is what you try to do on your home court. So you try to make sure that message is sent as early and as often as possible.”

If the Rockets can somehow find a way to do that on a permanent basis, it shouldn’t much matter what fate befalls their Western Conference cohorts. Houston has shown it can compete with anyone – it just hasn’t demonstrated an ability to do so on a consistent basis. So with sixty percent of the regular season nearly complete and a favorable February schedule staring them in the face, now seems like as good a time as any to start living up to some of those lofty preseason prognostications.

“Rick talks about it all time: We have to get better throughout the season,” says Sikma. "Each month you have to improve your play so that, by the time the season is over and whatever playoff position you’re in, you’re playing well. With the injuries, we’ve had a late start in developing how we’re going to play - especially late in the game trying to figure out what things work for us – so it’s a discovery period here that hopefully doesn’t last too long and we’re hoping to get it rolling.”

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