Houston Rockets Weekend Recap: The Rockets Must Trade for Size

[The following was originally written in late January 2011]

HOUSTON--It's been weeks since Yao Ming yet again succumbed to injuries for the seventh straight season.

To say the Rockets have been missing him is the understatement of the century. When one combines the tall, brute and strong Dwight Howard, the nearly as strong Brandon Bass and dangerous 3-point shooters such as J.J. Reddick, it's not hard to see why the Rockets fell hard to the Magic, 118-104 Saturday night at the Toyota Center.

This was coming off losing a game where they led almost the entire second half against the Grizzlies in Memphis the night before. Memphis scored the final 8 points to pull off a 115-110 win, passing Houston in the race for the Western Conference's final playoff spot.

The Rockets rebounded on Monday with a 129-125 win in Minnesota but it was hardly a cause for celebration, especially given the fact they built a large lead and were lucky the game ended when it did.

Now at 21-25, far too often Rocket games too often resemble lay-up drills. This is a sad devolution of the team that's once held it's own with the entire league three seasons ago without Yao, most prominently in their 22-game winning streak. Back then, since Yao was injured a little past halfway through it, the Rockets relied on a tiny lineup (relative to NBA standards) of post players such as Carl Landry, Luis Scola and Chuck Hayes.

Two of those three are still on the team but the intensity on defense that was present in the Jeff Van Gundy era that carried into the Adelman era seems to have vanished. Perhaps it's due to the fact that the players are now more tired than they otherwise would be with Yao and are trying to compensate for his absence or perhaps teams have figured out how to better attack the team.

Regardless, the team often times has no answer for the other teams' ability to attack the rim, as evidenced by the fact that they have now given up at least 100 points in 14 of their last 16 games.

Rumors have circulated for some time that the team is interested in trading for Carmelo Anthony's services. Aside from the fact he has shown no interest in wanting to re-sign anywhere else except New York in the near future and that being with a team he may not like may turn him into a lockerroom problem, it would be wiser for the team to try and get a big body to at least patch up the wound that was gashed when Yao was once again lost for the season.

One way or another, a solution has to come soon or else the Rockets will be back in beautiful Secaucus, NJ for the NBA Lottery drawing once again.

Sean Mitchell is a writer in the Houston Area. He has followed Houston sports and college basketball since he was he was in elementary school.