"Najera played great," said Jim Boylen, who is the Rockets' head coach at the Rocky Mountain Revue. "We knew he was tough and played hard, but it looks like his skill level has improved. He's been with them for about four weeks, and they had him doing things like handling the ball and playing outside. He played well."

Hmmm...in Rudy we Trust? It seems that the Rockets misjudged the man's talents. I was certainly satisfied when we drafted Eduardo, only to see him traded away moments later.


Langhi was not able to prove the Rockets made the right move by aquiring his services, as he only managed 6 points. He was disastrous on the boards, grabbing a grand total of zero in 24 minutes of play.

Our other draft pick, Jason Collier, was also a source of shame, as he only scored 6 points. He did manage to grab 4 boards in 14 minutes.

Regulars such as Moochie Norris and Bryce Drew did not do too well, either. In the first half, the combined for 2-14 from the field. Bryce ended up with 2 points, while Norris did slightly better by scoring 4 points and dishing out 5 assists.

Seeing that we were able to get 59 points in this one, I bet you're wondering where the points came from. Relative unknowns did it this time, as Mark Young from Kansas State was able to get a team high 16 points while Mark Pope added 12 of his own.
"Mark (Young) is a talented guy," Boylen said. "He came to our mini-camp for free agents and showed us that he could play in our system and get to the basket."

The Rockets did lead after the first half, but let it slip away following a disastrous 3rd quarter. The Rockets saw the Mavericks pull away easily, and outscored the Rockets 27-12. Entering the fourth, the Rokets were down 56-47.

"The first 20 minutes I thought we were great defensively," Boylen said. "We did all the things we talked about. I thought we broke down defensively in the second half, and when you do that, you're going to get beat.

"We seemed to struggle to get into a rhythm offensively, too, but you have to give them (the Mavericks) some credit for that. They took us out of what we wanted to do and forced a lot of turnovers."

The Rockets face the Toronto Raptors tomorrow, while the Mavericks will try to extend their winning streak against the Chicago Bulls.

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