Bullets in the Head: Kobe's 81 Outdoes Rockets for the Eleventh Time

Kobe left Mac and the Rockets floored last night... like Roadrunner vs. Wil E. and the Fudds, sticking out their legs. Van Gundy has strong words about it all:

"It gives you pause to think, 'What do we really have here?' " Van Gundy said. "No response. Very little fight. No adjustment. No nothing.

"There's so many things in that game, you have to sit there and say, 'What do we really have here?' I mean, to play so uninspired when we should have been frothing at the mouth like pit bulls. I so much want to have a team that's an everyday team that really, really wants to play every day, every night.

"We've been inspiring on the road and totally and completely apathetic at home. The word is not frustrating. It's much stronger than that."

We so much want home games to be worth watching. We've tried to examine the reason behind the Rockets' dismal play at home, albeit indirectly, but really, it's baffling.

Rockets.com didn't even try to make this look like a big trade. We're mildly impressed though. Keith Bogans gives the Rockets an athletic guard for once. Just hope that knee holds up. Still, we got a little fever... and the only cure is Latrell Sprewell. We thought Carroll Dawson (or "CD" as Rockets.com calls him) would have done a little more to try to salvage this season. CD says it's not his fault:

We had a chance to get a young talent [Bogans] here and we went for it. It’s been very hard; there hasn’t been many trades this year, and we’ve been trying for quite a while.

CD also adds that he hasn't quite given up on the playoffs:

“Mathematically, we’ve played a lot of road games and we’ve played fair on the road... we have a chance. We only have 14 road games left, so it’s possible, but we have to perform well to make that a possibility.”

Yea, Houston is 6-16 at home. You know, the more I listen to this kinda talk--Duke spits it well and often--the more delusional it sounds. But who wants to be the asshole who gave up on the team?

Derek Anderson's wondering why he hasn't been activated even though he's been ready to play for a week:

"I don't know why I'm not playing. I'm frustrated. I got in shape. I didn't go on the (two-game) trip, stayed back, worked on getting in shape. I hoped I would be playing today, but obviously I'm not." (Houston Chronicle)

Bullet in the Head Stat of the Week: Well, we already alluded to it. The Rockets have been outscored by Kobe's single-game mark of 81 points 11 times. Best in the league!