A really good NBA game on ABC tonight: Warriors at Clippers. I'll probably watch some of it. Last night I was watching the Rockets beat the Suns (116-100) and I also caught some of that exciting Trail Blazers versus Warriors game. The Warriors lost only their 5th game of the season, 137-105 at Portland. Damian Lillard put on a show with 51 points. The Warriors are still an NBA best 48-5 entering tonight's game.

The Rockets don't play again until Tuesday Night at Utah. In fact, the Rockets' next three games are all big games against playoff teams. On Tuesday Night at Utah, on Thursday Night at red-hot Portland (who beat the Rockets twice this month already), and next Saturday Night the Rockets come home to face the San Antonio Spurs who have the second best record in the NBA.

The Rockets are currently in the 8th seed (tied with Utah) and only a half game back of Portland for the 7th seed. Only 1 game back of Dallas for the 6th seed as well. Which makes the Houston Rockets next two games against Utah and Portland really huge in the playoff race. If the Rockets can win these games coming up they can go from out of the playoffs to the 6th seed just with a little winning streak.

We'll see what happens. It all comes down to how well both James Harden and Dwight Howard play. Last night I thought they both played well on both ends of the court. Harden just missed a triple-double with 27 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists. He also had three steals and a block while playing a respectable defensive game. That's the type of performance I'd rather see from him more consistently (a good all-around game) as oppose to jacking up too many shots and looking to score all the time without playing defense on the other end. Also Patrick Beverley and Trevor Ariza were knocking down shots and playing good defense.

Ariza tied a season high with five steals and also scored 25 points (4-7 threes) and 6 rebounds. It's nice to see more players stepping up. As bad a season as the Houston Rockets are having all they have to do is win a few games in a row coming up next week and they're right back in the thick of the playoff race like I mentioned before.

Hopefully the Rockets can keep it up. Tuesday Night at Utah is going to be a really tough game for them to win.
Also the Rockets at Portland game on Thursday will be a nationally televised game on TNT. 10:35 PM Eastern.

If they can make it back home next Saturday Night to face the Spurs still in position to make the playoffs I'll feel good.

This post was edited by Madmartigan on Feb 20 2016 07:30pm

Late night and I'm watching the Game Show Network. The new Chain Reaction show is awesome.
I also like to watch that dating show called Baggage. My favorite is Family Feud with Steve Harvey.

I'm excited for the 2016 Houston Astros Baseball season to start in April. They've been practicing for a week now.
Spring Training has arrived but I'm ready for Monday, April 4 (Opening Day) when the Astros play the Yankees.
Dallas Keuchel, Carlos Correa, Jose Altuve, Ken Giles and George Springer: I believe all five can make the all-star team this year.
I'm also expecting a big year out of Lance McCullers, Colin McHugh, Doug Fister, Carlos Gomez and rookie A.J. Reed.

The Houston Rockets and the 2015-2016 NBA season has been a roller coaster ride but it's been fun to watch.
I've never seen a more talented team struggle so much, overcome adversity, and still try to make the playoffs.
These final few months are going to be interesting. Everything begins and ends with James Harden and Dwight Howard.

I wanted to say something nice about the 2016 Houston Texans. It's a boring NFL off-season so far (pre-draft, pre free agency). But I can't really find too many good things to say. When you don't have a franchise quarterback it's hard to stay upbeat and excited. Yeah, our defense is pretty good and J.J. Watt is the best player in the NFL who has never advanced past the divisional round of the playoffs before.

What I can say is that the Texans plan to draft a quarterback in the first or second round of the 2016 NFL Draft. Bill O'Brian may favor Christian Hackenberg, who he used to coach at Penn State. That would strike me as some blind loyalty that could be good and bad, because the NFL is a business about winning games and not trying to re-ignite past relationships.

If Bill O'Brien feels confident that Christian Hackenberg can run his offensive system better than anybody else then that's fine. It's ultimately his job on the line if that decision doesn't pan out two or three years down the road. And if it does work out then he will look like a genius.

A lot of mock drafts have the Houston Texans drafting running back Ezekiel Elliott out of Ohio State with the #22 overall pick in round one (makes sense if Arian Foster is released), and then quarterback Christian Hackenberg out of Penn State in the second round. But we'll see what happens. Free agency usually plays a large part in what some of our team needs will end up being on draft night.

This post was edited by Madmartigan on Feb 21 2016 01:09am

I need some good "cleaning the house" music. Something to get me inspired and in the mood. Already started doing a little cleaning but I still have a lot more to do before I'm finished, because my cats always make a mess and just multiply the task at hand. It could take me a few hours before I'm sipping on some lemonade and watching the Cavaliers at Thunder game on ABC. That's a good Sunday game scheduled for today.

Sundays, especially when the NFL season is over, is a good day for me to clean. During the NFL season I prefer to get it done on Friday evening or Saturday morning. Ironically, some Tonic (late '90s music) is going to have to do. It's all I could find and I don't want to waste anymore time. Time to pick up the mop, duster, broom, vacuum and crush it like a champion!

Welcome back, Donatas Motiejunas and Marcus Thornton.

Four days after the Houston Rockets had worked a trade with the Detroit Pistons involving their protected first-round draft pick and center Joel Anthony, who was later sent to the 76ers as a salary dump (Rockets were sending a second-round pick to Philadelphia), the deal is officially voided by Detroit.

The NBA league office had granted Detroit extra time, until this afternoon, to further test Donatas Motiejunas' back.

The Pistons team doctors and physicians were unable to clear Donatas Motiejunas to play because of a lingering back injury. The weird thing is the Rockets say D-Mo is fine and may return to play tomorrow night at Utah. He's been cleared to play by Houston's medical staff but apparently the Pistons' medical staff saw something that our guys didn't.

Either way, I'm glad to see both players coming back. They can help us make the playoffs down the stretch.
We need that depth and scoring ability if nothing else. Both guys will provide instant offense off the bench.

I'm looking forward to watching the Rockets at Jazz game tomorrow night. The winner will be all alone in the 8th seed, and they will also have only one more loss than the 6th-seeded Mavericks and 7th-seeded Trail Blazers. One game at a time: It's a boring cliche but it rings true for the Houston Rockets right now.

I decided to finally install DC Universe Online. It looks like it will take me a long time to download (a lot of game content).
Seems like I've been installing the software for quite a while and I'm only 15 % of the way finished so you can only imagine.

I'm looking forward to playing this game for the first time. The character creation looks very detailed and a lot of fun.
I may end up spending an hour or so creating my character judging by the YouTube tutorials and trailers. #OhMyLanta

But I don't know how many hours I plan to invest into this cool-looking MMO action game. I still play Marvel Heroes 2016, Diablo II, Diablo III and Path of Exile. There's just not enough time to really focus on one game in particular. But if DC Universe Online turns out to be as good as I think it is then I'll find room for it.

Any game I play now a days is just for fun even if I don't play that often. I'm more of a casual gamer compared to hardcore.
I'm also going to get back into Immortal Night: It's more of a text-based interaction role-playing game: Vampires vs. Lycans.



I'm likely going to create a character on DC Universe Online that is largely inspired by Wonder Woman.

People keep saying Dwight Howard isn't what he used to be with the back and knee injuries. James Harden just threw a sweet lob off the back board that Dwight Howard slam dunked with one hand in shoot-around. It was nearly as impressive as his slam dunk contest days when he played for Orlando. Dwight is still a freakish athlete. If he's on the decline, just because he turned 30, he's still more athletically gifted and stronger than most of the players in the NBA.

I hope the Rockets defeat the Jazz on the road tonight. Easier said than done but we need this win tonight. Especially to own the tiebreaker in case we need it to make the playoffs as the 8th seed (over Utah), but I still believe we'll end up as high as the 6th seed much less 7th or 8th seed. But going into these final 26 games there is nothing for certain unless you go out and win games.

I downloaded DC Universe Online and played it a little bit. It's difficult to control using just the mouse and keyboard. I have to set up my old Logitech or wireless XBOX 360 controller. I have both but I need to upgrade to something new, controller wise, to better play it. I'm not really in the mood at the moment to go through all the hassle of setting one up on my new gaming laptop.

I've been using up a lot of my new batteries with my wireless mouse playing a lot of games. I kind of just want to stick to Marvel Heroes 2016 as my superhero go-to game (action MMORPG), but I may go to Best Buy this weekend and pick up a new controller to play DC Universe Onine.

My first reacion was DC Universe Online is awesome but I think it lacks the character diversity (options) that Marvel Heroes 2016 has. Creating a character on DC Universe Online was cool but it's still the same type of options just with a lot of customized textures and inspirational-themed gear. You're not really playing a wide variety of superheroes (the actual superheroes) like you do on Marvel Heroes 2016.

I currently have five games installed that I can play but I'm probably going to add a new RPG or two to my collection. I'm more into those action RPGs or MMORPGS with a bird's eye view or zoom-in camera (most importantly plays well with a simple mouse and keyboard), that are just like Marvel Heroes 2016, Path of Exile, Diablo II and Diablo III, etc... etc... I'm searching for any games like that because I enjoy those more.

Why weren't D-Mo and Thornton available last night? J.B. Bickerstaff said on the pre-game show they would talk about both of them with general manager Daryl Morey tomorrow (which is now today). The plan is to hopefully have both in uniform at Portland tomorrow night but it's tough not having our full compliment of players. It's a really thin, and for the most part, ineffective bench for the Rockets at the moment.

We fought so hard in that game at Utah only to lose 117-114 in overtime. James Harden's 42 points and Dwight Howard's 16 rebounds went to waste. I'm still not sure how Jason Terry's three-pointer at the buzzer in overtime didn't go down. It went in and out of the basket, bounced back up off the rim at the last second (looked like the supernatural was not on our side), and that sums up our 2015-2016 season. It just seems if things were going our way it would have stayed down and we'd have seen a double overtime.

And look at Marc Stein, writer for ESPN and a well known Dallas Mavericks fan, calling the Rockets a hot mess on ESPN Sportscenter this morning. He should worry about his Mavericks instead. We have two more losses than they do despite losing so many games. It's been a tough year for the Rockets but they are playing hard. A hot mess would describe the Phoenix Suns season. A team that has just given up on the season and is playing for more lottery ping pong balls in the draft. I mean really, ESPN pays Marc Stein good money to write that garbage and nonsense?

The Rockets play at Portland tomorrow night. The hottest team in the NBA. I hope we have a deeper bench. Not sure if D-Mo will play with his bad back but Marcus Thornton should play tomorrow. We don't have the luxury of holding guys out anymore especially if they are healthy enough to play.

The tough part is a good guy like J.B. Bickerstaff, interim head coach, is going to be fired this off-season if the Rockets miss the playoffs or get bounced in the first round. I feel like he's doing the best he can under the circumstances. We shouldn't have fired Kevin McHale in the first place. Good men are being fired because of our struggles this season.

Although, I wouldn't mind hiring Scott Brooks (if it helps lure Kevin Durant in free agency), or Tom Thibodeau this summer. He was an assistant coach for Team USA on the Olympic team when James Harden actually played good defense and was looking like a two-way player.

Coach Thibs had spent several days and hours teaching Harden how to commit himself to playing good defense. That is why Harden was 2nd in the MVP voting last year and we reached the Western Conference Finals. He entered last season determined and playing good on both ends of the court. He entered this season out of shape, overweight and with a bum ankle.

Scott Brooks (2012 NBA Finals) and Tom Thibodeau (gold medal, taught great defense) have both coached James Harden before and both had good results with him. While I like J.B. Bickerstaff I think the previously named head coaches, either one, would be an upgrade.

When you see a team playing hard and losing games, I'm okay with that because that's all you can ask for.
It's not like this team has quit and isn't giving it all they have out there. They aren't a hot mess like Marc Stein suggests.
So if J.B. Bickerstaff is fired this summer he has nobody to blame but himself. It's a bit unlucky but that's the NBA for you.

We'll see what happens on Thursday Night: Rockets at Portland: 10:35 PM Eastern on TNT. Nationally televised game.

44-16 Rockets run to end the game at Portland (final 14 minutes) after being down by as many as 21 points at one point.

The Rockets out-scored them 33-12 in the fourth quarter like a championship caliber team to win 119-105. We played lockdown defense, Harden included. It was just a total team effort. I was proud of Dwight Howard, Trevor Ariza and even Corey Brewer, who had been struggling most of this season.

That was a red hot Portland Trail Blazers team (11 wins in their last 12) the Rockets defeated on the road.
They had spanked the Golden State Warriors in that same building earlier in the week. Lillard dropped 51 points.
The Rockets held the great Damian Lillard to only 23 points on 6-for-20 shooting tonight. He had only 14 points halfway in the fourth quarter.

James Harden with 46 points and 42 points in his last two games. He's been on quite the run recently.
He's like 12 or so 40+ games away from surpassing Hakeem Olajuwon for a Houston Rockets franchise record.

This win kept the Rockets very much alive in the Western Conference playoff race.
If we play like we did in the fourth quarter we can beat anybody, road or home.

The Rockets host the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday Night. Second best team in the NBA this season (record wise).
But I think the Rockets will beat the Spurs if they play like they did to end tonight. Harden can be pretty unstoppable at times.

As far as my PC gaming goes: I decided to cut back a little bit. I'm going to focus more on Marvel Heroes 2016 for now.
I just wore myself out in the past week playing too many games at once and I really can't keep up with all of them.

I'm just so thrilled the Rockets are back in the 8th seed (final playoff spot) and they can still pass the Trail Blazers and Mavericks for the 7th and 6th seed. Only one more loss than the Trail Blazers and Mavericks after tonight's big win. If the Rockets can end up in that 6th seed I would love their chances to knock out whoever the 3rd-seeded team is in the first round, OKC Thunder or L.A. Clippers.

This post was edited by Madmartigan on Feb 26 2016 12:52am

I just unlocked the exciting Howard the Duck team-up hero on Marvel Heroes 2016. It was my achievement reward for completing my fourth A.R.M.O.R. defense mission. Howard the Duck is really cool and it has some strong sentimental value (nostalgia) for me. One of the first films I ever remember watching at the movie theaters with my uncle as a little kid, in Kindergarten at the time, was Howard the Duck. He'll always be one of my favorite Marvel heroes.

So far I have eight total team-up heroes: Doctor Doom (classic), Holiday Groot, Howard the Duck, Magik, Pirate Deadpool, S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent, She-Hulk and Spider-Gwen. The last last one I had purchased for 400 eternity splinters was Spider-Gwen. I had finally caved in because of Emma Stone's excellent portrayal of Gwen Stacy in the Amazing Spider-Man 1 and 2.



I'm going to target Spider-Woman (600 ES) and Spider-Man (400 ES) next. That will give me ten team-up heroes and the entire Spider clan. I also want the Agent Coulson team-up hero but I have to save up 2000 omega access files and I have roughly 1,100 total so I'm more than halfway on him.

I'm still trying to expand my team-up hero roster because I want to have more options as I unlock more playable heroes, which I only have 14 of the 55 total (soon to be 62). I'm more or less focusing on the Black Widow (level 60 cosmic prestige) and Emma Frost right now, who I plan to cosmic prestige next. But in due time I will reach new heights in this amazing game (best PC game I have ever played). I don't even know if I'll be able to unlock all of the playable heroes. 14 out of 62 is such a small percentage that I have now. That's a lot of saving up eternity splinters. And I'm using my hard earned eternity splinters on team-up heroes at the moment.

Marvel Heroes 2016 has truly topped Diablo II, Diablo III and Path of Exile in my eyes. Every time I play I feel like I'm aiming for something new and cool. As oppose to the other three games where I feel like I'm grinding and forcing myself to play just to become good. And it's been all free-to-play for me. A friend sent me some amazing Black Widow outfits as a gift that I continue to rock and display. My favorite is the original costume which features a mask, cape and fishnet stockings.

I feel super excited about the eight team-up heroes I have right now (I want to double that in time). That's what I'm trying to build up a little bit. Even with as much as I have played Marvel Heroes 2016 (four months total), I've only scratched the surface. There's still plenty of game content that I haven't unlocked or seen yet.

I don't know if I'll ever do everything I want to in this game, probably not (I'm a newbie), but it's a lot of fun trying.
The experience and good times is what it's all about. Slow and steady is still progression. #MarvelHeroes2016

Spring training games are about to start but I can't wait until opening day. The 2016 Houston Astros have a chance to win their first division title in 15 years, but I expect the AL West to be highly competitive this year so it won't be easy. The Rangers and Angels are looking like solid teams, and the Mariners and Athletics should be much improved.

The Astros had last won a division title back in 2001 when they still played in the National League Central. I still remember the final out of that game against the St. Louis Cardinals way back in 2001. Vinny Castilla had fielded a hot grounder at third base and he made a strong throw to first base. Jeff Bagwell, who was one of the best all-around first basemen of his era and hopefully will make the Hall of Fame this year (great defensive player too), had fielded the throw with a low scoop of his glove off the ground. At the time we had Billy Wagner as our closer.

After the game the players were popping champagne and celebrating inside the St. Louis visitor's clubhouse.
You could hear the song "Wanna Be a Baller" by Houston's own hip-hop artist Lil' Troy. It was a fun time indeed.

They Houston Astros have had some exciting postseason runs since then but all of them have been as a wild-card team. The 2015 AL wild-card champions that took the eventual World Series champion Royals to a full five games in the ALDS (The Royals had trailed by at least two runs or more in all five games), and 2005 and 2004 NL wild-card champions, when they appeared in their only World Series and two straight NLCS as well.

the Houston Rockets host the San Antonio Spurs tonight at 7:05 PM central time. Huge game against the second best record team in the league. Coming off that exciting win at Portland, I expect the Rockets to keep their momentum with another huge win tonight. More importantly, a win tonight over the big bad Spurs would keep them in playoff positioning.

And who knows, the Rockets versus Spurs could be a first-round playoff preview in a 7 vs. 2 seed matchup.
So it's important for the Rockets to play well tonight against a team that many are expecting to win the NBA Title.

We released Marcus Thornton yesterday, which I kind of understand after he was upset over the failed trade that was rescinded by the Pistons, so it's important for a guy like Corey Brewer to step up and provide us with good bench scoring. Plus with Josh Smith starting games at power forward lately it will allow us to use Terrence Jones off the bench, as he slowly returns back into playing condition coming off his second concussion injury.

This post was edited by Madmartigan on Feb 27 2016 10:56am