Happy Holidays, Rockets fans! With Christmas finally here, let’s take a look at what Rockets fans should be asking for this Christmas.
1. Dorian Finey-Smith to make his debut-
After signing the forward to a four-year, $52.7 million contract, Dorian Finey-Smith underwent ankle surgery, which has led him to be unable to suit up for Houston yet this season. Due to forward Tari Eason’s oblique injury, Finney-Smith’s absence has been exacerbated, but Eason has since returned. The Rockets aren’t rushing Finney-Smith’s return and are giving him plenty
of time to recover, as Houston is erring on the side of caution. Earlier this month, head coach Ime Udoka mentioned that DFS is close to returning. Houston has struggled in the defensive department compared to last season, and hopefully the additon of DFS will help improve their defensive consistency.
2. Fewer turnovers
So far, Houston has the fourth highest turnover percentage at 16.3% according to cleaning the glass. This puts them only behind the Brooklyn Nets at 16.4% and both the Los Angeles Clippers and the Portland Trail Blazers at 16.5%. For a team that has championship aspirations, this is unacceptable. If an affordable point guard comes around near the trade deadline, Houston should act fast to make a move, because something needs to be done. So far this season, Houston is giving up the ball on 16% of possessions, which is part of why their offense has been struggling late in games this season.
3. To take care of business versus bad teams
In basketball, you would expect the better team to win most of the time, however especially as of late, this has not been the case for Houston. The Rockets have lost to the Utah Jazz, Dallas Mavericks, Sacramento Kings, New Orleans Pelicans, and Los Angeles Clippers in the past month, and all of those teams are at the bottom of the standings. A combination of poor offensive execution down the stretch and playing with their food, so to speak, has led to Houston going into overtime against two of these teams (New Orleans and Sacramento), where they lost both games. Even head coach Ime Udoka is aware of this issue, as after Houston’s disappointing overtime loss on Sunday versus Sacramento, he had this to say to the media: “Our approach wasn’t right,” Udoka told reporters. “We didn’t deserve to win. When you play around with a team, it usually comes back to bite you.”
It’s clear that at this point it is too late in the season to be making excuses, but not too late for something to be changed.
Houston takes on the Lakers on Christmas Day at 7:00 Central at Crypto.com Arena. You can watch the game on ABC or ESPN, and as always, be sure to check back at The Dream Shake for post and pre-game coverage. Have a happy holidays!
