in NBA Betting Trends

The All-Star break was a welcome sight for most NBA teams who are routinely beat up after playing about 50 games, but Houston's leaders weren't very enthused. The Rockets had rattled off eight consecutive victories, the last by 30 points over Washington, and there was no hotter team in the league. Tracy McGrady feared the pause could possibly interrupt the team's momentum. Those fears were well-founded.

Houston has yet to win in the season's second half, dropping to 0-3 after Sunday's home loss to Utah. Don't blame it on momentum, though. The difference between the Rockets' previous strong play and their current inability to win centers on the absence of underrated guard Bob Sura and the domino effect it has created.

Sura came out of the break with a sore back and was put on IR, leaving a huge hole in the energy department; of course with Houston also being the home of Enron gaping lacks of energy are nothing new. 
    
When healthy, Sura has been a consistent spark for the Rockets by doing all the little things that typically go unnoticed. Getting a hand on a pass here, saving a ball from going out of bounds there, Sura made a difference. He facilitated ball movement very well and crashed the glass to a tune of six rebounds per game, one of the best averages for guards in the league.

Without him, the Rockets have lacked energy and toughness and been victimized on the boards - getting consistently out rebounded. The acquisition of Mike James from Milwaukee should help aid the energy -- he's already playing major minutes -- but the defensive-minded point guard isn't likely to help on the boards, which is why the finger of responsibility gets pointed at Yao Ming.

I've consistently praised Yao's offensive proficiency, his ball skills, his soft touch and even his ability to find an offensive groove of sorts while playing with ball monopolists Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley early in his career, and now the similarly, stingy McGrady. And, I have for the most part dismissed his lack of toughness as something he'll grow out of.  
    
I've made excuses for him...
    
He's young and inexperienced. There are cultural differences we don't understand that limit his aggressiveness. He didn't grow up having to brawl with neighborhood bullies fighting for loose balls and mixing it up underneath.

Not to mention, he has still not filled out and built up his upper body as much as it needs to be.

Well, the time for excuses is getting close to over. Yao is 7-feet-6, and the Rockets need every inch of him to become more aggressive. If it's not in him, someone had better find a way to implant it, because it's inexcusable for the tallest player in the NBA to ever finish a game with four rebounds.
    
That's been his output in the last two losses, games in which rebounding has been a deciding factor. He's grabbed double-figures in boards in just two of the last 12 games.

"We just haven't been prepared going into the fourth quarter to finish the game," Yao said following Sunday's loss to Utah. "Our opponents have been better prepared and tougher in the fourth."

Uttering those words should help Yao realize that being out-toughed on a basketball court is not only shameful, but synonymous with losing. With Sura unavailable to knife in for loose balls and thereby help mask his deficiencies, Yao should be taking it upon himself to claim a prominent position in the paint, to use his height as a weapon and let teammates know he's got their back. 
 
Rebounding is largely a co-efficient of toughness, determination and endless effort.  How else did Dennis Rodman lead the league annually, during the mid-nineties at 6'7' and 220 pounds? 

A little bit of a plain old fashioned mean streak doesn't hurt either, just ask Bill Laimbeer who also was a league leader despite having trouble jumping over the free throw line if it had just been repainted.

Otherwise, what good is it being the league's biggest presence when you're not going to play like it?  Despite having Kevin Willis style arms that make him play closer to 7'4" he has it in him to rebound well. Yao grabbed 17 boards in a 17-point victory at Golden State on Dec. 17 and has racked up 14 on a few occasions. Bringing that type of effort on a nightly basis would repair his reputation around the league, and supply the missing piece Houston lacks to truly be a championship contender.