Leaving the US tomorrow

Well guys tonight is my last night in Houston + the United States.

Have been here since boxing day with the main reason behind the trip to watch Rockets' games.

My first was the Wizards game and managed to see the Heat, Raptors, Blazers, Jazz, Thunder, Hornets & the game last night against the Magic. (with a trip to Madison Square Garden to watch the Suns beat the Knicks last week).

We only won the Washington and Toronto game - but being at the games in person was easily the best experience of my life. Thankfully we didn't really get blown out until last night's showing.

I'm going to love going from the Winter weather here to the 40 degree (celcius) days of Sydney back in the office.

Being at the games in person you see a lot more then what you do in TV. Just a few observations:

-Chris Paul after every dead ball is always talking to the officials.

-No love between the Rockets and fellow Aussie David Andersen haha - there were no hugs before or after the game.

-Kevin Durant makes scoring look so effortless - i was shocked when i realised he had 30 points at the end of the game.

-Our defense is horrendous. It sucks to say that i wasn't surprised by the ending of the Utah game with Paul Millsap.

-Dwight Howard in person... wow. His demeanour, his attitude, his physical presence. The way he and LeBron conduct themselves are worlds apart. Sitting behind the Orlando bench last night i saw a lot of him and he is great. He was always one of my favourite non-Rockets players but is miles ahead my favourite now. He interacts with people in the crowd & has a smile on his face (i guess that had to do with how the game went as well). He gets punished in the post by the defense - i've never seen Yao play in person but i can only assume he experienced the same. The NBA is terrible considering the abuse these players cop on a nightly basis - to seeing Dwyane Wade looked at wrongly and he's at the free throw line.

-Again our defense. Our interior presence is non existent. Magic players had a field day with tip ins and the overall below par effort on defense. This has been discussed in other threads so there's no need to discuss here.

-My man crush on Ish Smith only grew in the Utah game where he knocked down a couple of tear drops in traffic in the second half. I really hope he finds his way back into the Rockets' rotation and not on another team.

-The Rockets fans are terrible - leaving in the 4th quarter of games.
Last night fans were piling out with 8 minutes left on the clock.
I had always read how the lower bowl was where non fans sit but i never expected it to be this bad. The game at MSG really was an eye opener.
EVERY bucket from the Knicks brought a loud cheer that would've only happened at the Toyota Centre if a buzzer beater happened to win the game. It makes you respect those on Clutchfans who are true fans and the Rowdies even more.

-The Rowdies are great. Really don't know why people complain about them. As mentioned in the thread i made after the Miami game - rocketgirl was getting stares because she was cheering loudly for the Rockets. If you're there to watch the Rockets - cheer for the Rockets - it honestly shouldn't be that hard to digest.

-Is a surreal experience to be making eye contact with all these players you idolise and only see on TV. It might be a different experience for those that attend Rockets games and functions regularly; but being from Australia and seeing hardly any Houston games - having your favourite players look at you during time outs and LeBron and Bosh looking over at you while you heckle them is unbelievable. Sounds gay... ... but being a huge NBA fan it's quite the experience for me.

These are just a few of the photos which are my favourites from the games i was here:









Was good to see Ariza shooting terribly.

 

This is an example of the crowd - this was near the end of the game...








This one is for rocketgirl - who has a peculiar desire for other team's head coaches.