houston Page 27 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The NBA Got Out Of Basketball's Way
When Allie LaForce was dispatched to get a postgame interview from Tuesday’s Rockets-Warriors game, she or maybe her producer chose the sport’s third eye, Klay Thompson. Not bad, as these things go. Thompson is always a better choice than nearly anyone else for these say-little-and-then-go-inside se...

The Warriors' Death Lineup Is, Well, Death
The Warriors took Game 2 of their second-round series with the Houston Rockets, 115–109. Golden State didn’t play especially well, and the Rockets were able to hang around and give the impression of putting up a fight, but only in the way that a small child can be said to put up a fight while you pu...

Steph Curry's Finger Mangled And James Harden's Eye Gouged In Opening Minutes Of Game 2
Basketball fans had every reason to expect Game 2 of the Rockets-Warriors Western Conference semifinal series to be ugly, with the Rockets working the officials in embarrassing fashion and franchise enemy Scott Foster assigned to the refereeing crew. But this was not the start that anyone imagined!...

The Rockets Are Only Embarrassing Themselves
It’s not enough that the Houston Rockets have to whine that they lost Game 1 because the refs didn’t take their signature gaming of the “landing zone” rule as seriously as usual. They elected to follow that snit with what is perhaps the most pathetically lame sports media leak of all time, as ESPN m...

If This Is Rockets-Warriors, Let's Just Get It Over With As Soon As Possible
In case you ever decide to hate sports without the crutch of a rooting interest, financial, familial, or simply laundry-based, here’s your ticket. The pre–NBA Finals NBA Finals are already a drunken bar argument, and they’re only going to get worse. The Houston Rockets ... the Golden State Warriors ...

Well That Was An Officiating Clusterfuck
In an ironic twist, it was James Harden that spoke up about officiating problems in Game 1 of the Rockets-Warriors series. He told reporters after the game that “he just wants a fair chance” and that he’s willing to live with whatever results come from the game as long as it’s called “the way it’s s...

Rockets "Intend No Disrespect To Clippers" While Functionally Discounting Any Chance Of Clippers Advancing
The Rockets find themselves in the advantageous position of having closed out their first-round series days ahead of whoever they’ll eventually meet in the second round, giving them a head-start on preparations for the series to come. It would be reasonable, under the circumstances, to tilt the bala...

Rockets Survive Utah's Aggressive Butt Defense, Advance
The Utah Jazz needed a few games to get there, but they finally worked their way into fighting range of the Houston Rockets over the course of their first-round playoff series. The hilarious strategy of defending James Harden’s butt started to yield dividends, and a Rockets offense that scored 122 a...

There Should Be More Sweeps
At halftime of Game 4 in the Bucks-Pistons first-round series, Milwaukee found itself down six and on the verge of squandering the chance to match their potential second-round opponents (the Celtics) in sweeping away an inconsequential foe. Giannis and co. had taken not just a 3-0 lead in the series...

Not Even A Historically Bad Shooting Night From James Harden Could Stop The Rockets From Crushing The Jazz's Spirits
Given how badly the Rockets had crushed the Jazz in Games 1 and 2, if news were to come out of James Harden breaking some sort of postseason record during Game 3, the underlying assumption would be that it was related to scoring. That was half-true on Saturday in Utah when Harden set the NBA postsea...

James Harden Is Just Toying With Poor Ricky Rubio
The Houston Rockets have encountered little resistance through their first two games against the Utah Jazz. They’ve hung 240 points on the NBA’s second-best defense and hit 32 three-pointers. (Those would’ve come in handy last May.) Eric Gordon and P.J. Tucker are getting theirs, the weird bench uni...

Oakland's Lou Trivino Continues To Do Filthy Things On The Mound
In just his second season pitching in the majors, Lou Trivino is still doing the same nasty stuff from the mound that caused him to have a breakout year for the Athletics in 2018. The late-game reliever has continued to baffle batters with his arsenal of pitches that includes his infamous cutter, a ...

Collin McHugh's Absurd Reflexes Save His Face From A Screaming Comebacker
Baseball is perhaps the only sport where an act of self-preservation can lead to some really cool shit. Astros pitcher Collin McHugh became the latest example of this phenomenon on Tuesday against the Athletics....

Paul George Ended A Crazy Game On A Crazy Bucket
The final minutes of Rockets-Thunder on Tuesday night were a dense flurry of batshit. They featured Russell Westbrook swooshing a runner from 27 feet, Paul George earnestly looking to scrap with P.J. Tucker, and James Harden conducting the Rockets’ woozy show as usual. All of that is weird, but some...

Arrogant Dickwad Umpire Shouts "I Can Do Anything I Want" After Goading A.J. Hinch Into An Ejection
In the top of the second inning of Wednesday night’s Astros-Rangers game, home plate umpire Ron Kulpa called a low strike on a pitch from Rangers starter Mike Minor. It was not Kulpa’s first controversial strike zone call of the evening, and it greatly displeased the Astros bench. Kulpa, a sensitive...

Prosecutors Drop Extremely Bullshit-Smelling Charge Against Michael Bennett
Last March, Michael Bennett was indicted seemingly out of nowhere, on a felony charge of injury to the elderly. At an utterly bizarre press conference the next day, Houston’s chief of police called Bennett “morally bankrupt” and “morally corrupt,” and alleged that Bennett had shoved a 66-year-old pa...

Maybe D.J. Wilson Had Someplace He Needed To Be, Did You Ever Think Of That
It’s easy to watch this video of Chris Paul executing a sharp step-back crossover dribble, and Bucks defender D.J. Wilson careening off into the distance like God reached down and violently tilted the court under his feet, and assume that Wilson was somehow “owned.” That because Wilson’s wild, stumb...

James Harden Cooks His Spiciest Meatball Yet
At this point in James Harden’s absurd season, a 27-point first quarter is not all that shocking on its own. The dude has already logged 57 or more points five times in 2019, and the Rockets’ offense is weirdly at its most effective when Harden gets to step back across the three-point line to his he...

Pete Alonso Does His Best Troy Polamalu Impression On An Unsuspecting Josh Reddick
Red Sox manager Alex Cora called Mets first baseman Pete Alonso “probably the best hitter in Florida right now” after the two teams faced off on Saturday. Two days later, Alonso took an unconventional route to show that Cora’s words rang true....

Tacko Fall Taunts Smaller Human With Incredible Reach
Unranked UCF’s victory over No. 8 Houston was huge for a number of reasons. The Knights snapped the Cougars’ 33-game home winning streak—the longest active streak in the nation prior to today—and beat the highest-ranked road opponent in program history. ...