Tales of fright and horror, my Rose Garden experience, 11-26-02.

You know, it's funny. I thought that no matter what happened, the Rockets were surely going to perform better than they did in the three games I attended last year.

99-81, 112-82, and 92-79. Those were the scores of two games in Seattle, and the final game in Portland last season that I attended. Pretty f***ing ugly, but that was an off year. Surely, the Rockets were going to do better this time around. Even in a loss, a score of 100-94 wouldn't have been so bad.

71 points? 71 points???!!!

Yep, it got worse.

That was the worst NBA game I have ever attended, if you can call it an NBA game. First of all, my seats were horrific. My advice to anyone attending a game in Portland, pay extra for some lower level seats. That arena has the worst nosebleed seats I have ever experienced. Yao looked like a midget from up there.

I guess I got what I paid for. I got a 10 dollar seat, and a 10 dollar game.

The Blazers simply begged the Rockets to defeat them the whole game, but they could never get going. Right now, this team is just a bunch of talented players, with zero chemistry, at least on the road.

I never thought I'd say it, but I miss Mobley. They really needed his shooting. Steve was too well defended, and left his jumper in LA. We need Mobley back so Moochie can take his place on the bench. I thought Mooch did a good job of getting to loose balls, but he did everything else wrong.

Yao looked okay. He did a great job in getting to the line, but missed six of ten free throws. Speaking of that, if the Rockets had done a half-decent job from the line, they would have won this game easily.

Interesting note: Yao and Steve both got nice ovations when they were introduced to the crowd. The Rockets seem to be a popular team.

There was definitely a large Chinese presence at the game. Hopefully they weren't too dissappointed in Yao's performance.

It was pretty disappointing to see Damon Stoudamire so roundly booed when he entered the game. Half of Portland smokes dope anyway, get over it people.

Probably the highlight of the evening was discovering that there was a balcony where I could have a ciggy during halftime. I really needed one after that first half.

I guess I'm just lucky. In the last two seasons, I have been treated to some of the worst live Rocket performances in history. My record is now 2-5 when in attendance. I have lost four straight.

Still, like I said, I got what I paid for; a horrible game in horrible seats.

I am not looking forward to Friday's game in Seattle. I have excellent, expensive seats. Is there any reason to think the Rockets won't be totally destroyed by the Sonics, an 80's Denver team offensively, by comparison? Is there any hope?

The Rockets need to stock up on great bench shooters if they are ever going to contend. I'm talking about guys like Matt Bullard, Mario Ellie, and Walt Williams (who they should never have let go).

Anyway, as far as positives go, there is one. As bad as the Rockets played, they still had a chance to win in the end. They played pretty good defense, and Bonzi "Rocket-killer" Wells just hit a tough shot near the end. Last year, the score would have been 100-71. 77 points? That's great defense.

Please guys, just make it a good game on Friday. PLEASE!!!