Ron is still sleeping off his joy over Juju somewhere, so no recap yet, but we have a game tonight so I'm going to throw up a post about it now.

The Rockets roll into town on fire, having won 17 straight games by big margins.  Remember when we won 9 straight by 18 points a game?  They've done twice that, with Yao out for the last five.

They've gone from 24-20 in the West to 41-20, and just behind us in the standings.  We lose this game, we're tied with them.  I think their winning streak needs to end.

To get a little insight into the Rockets so we can wipe the floors with them, I traded questions with The Dream Shake, a fun, smack-talkin' blog.  They, of course, asked me questions about our team.  Unbeknownst to them, I answered with ALL LIES, so they will have nothing on our team.  You hear me, Lee and Dave?  NOTHING!

Ahem.  Here goes.

Hornets247: Let's play Name the Proper Third Option for the Rockets: Luis Scola, Carl Landry, or Shane Battier?  I refuse to list Alston.

The Dream Shake: The options, in order, are:  T-Mac, "Luis Landry", Shane Battier, Luther Head… and then Skip.  Though, yes, Alston has been playing much better – but it's only because we are constantly telling him he sucks and should not be shooting as much as he does.  If he somehow shoots 21 times in a playoff game, my head will explode.

Hornets247: Tracy McGrady got lambasted early this season.  Was it deserved?  If he had been shipped out, would this winning streak exist?

The Dream Shake: T-Mac most definitely deserved the criticism.  He did not buy into Rick Adelman's system until January when he came back from injury and saw how well we played without him (the first Hornets loss and the Philly debacle notwithstanding).  Now he's also trying some revisionist history on his performance in Game 7 last year.  So he's not 100% off the hook just yet.  Nonetheless, without T-Mac, there is no streak though.  Unless we traded for Kobe.  That was never going to happen.

Hornets247: I've always thought that Rafer sucked.  I mean, seriously sucked.  But he was very solid in the last couple game between these two teams.  Which impression is right?

The Dream Shake: Rafer sucks.  There are at least 70 posts on our site with the tag "Rafer Alston sucks".  Him sucking and me hating him for it was pratically the impetus behind us starting the blog (Lee denies this now).  But yes, he has played much, much, much better lately.

Hornets247: Screw you for giving us Mike James.  Just wanted to say that.

The Dream Shake: We gave you Bonzi, too.  He'll probably give your entire team the herp.

Hornets247: How is Bobby Jackson doing?  His first two months this year were terrible, but he was lighting it up the last few weeks of January.  Is he fitting in easily?

The Dream Shake: Bobby is still trying to find his way.  Last night he played great, but he was hovering at 30% shooting with some terrible turnovers in the previous few games.  Which was okay, because we've been up by 20 in the third quarter in every game for what seems like a month now.  The best way to work a new player into the rotation!

Hornets247: Your other players have taken up the slack, but does Yao's loss lower the ceiling of this team at all?  Or does the other player's energetic defense make up for the loss of offensive firepower?

The Dream Shake: The ceiling went from "sweeping the NBA Finals over the cannon-fodder offered by the East" to "a deep run into the playoffs".  The team chemistry and hustle and defensive focus will make up for Yao's huge presence, but we may still be a year away.  We just need to win one playoff series, and then the pressure is off and we can do some real damage to the San Antonios and Los Angeleses of the NBA world.

Okay, I admit it, I answered their questions truthfully, and you can see the exchange here.  As always, my insights will blow you away, man.

Tonight, as odd as it sounds, we have to contain the Rockets Rookies to win.  Luis Scola and Carl Landry are pure energy combined with surprising savvy, and have jumpstarted this team into an dangerous group, even with Yao out for the season.  Happily, Julian Wright should play, and he's shown he's got a lot of energy himself.  That should help.

David West and Bonzi will be game time decisions.  I bet we'll only see West.

This is a big one folks.  Someone's got to stop these Rockets, and we're just the team to do it.