VIDEO: The Houston Rockets Threw an Imperfect Game

The bad news for the Houston Rockets is that they squandered away two straight games in which they were in total control. Winning either would have secured the franchise’s first NBA Finals berth since 1995.

The good news for the Rockets?

They made history, setting a playoff record by missing 27 consecutive three-pointers. Twenty-seven up. Twenty-seven not down. The imperfect game.

And look, it takes a special team to miss 27 straight from beyond the arc. It takes a special team to keep jacking with no return. It takes a special team to stay so committed to dancing with the one that brought them there even after it’s clear she doesn’t love them any more.

The Rockets won 65 games in the regular season and 11 in the playoffs by shooting an enormous amount of threes, so that commitment is understandable. At the same time, sports are about making adjustment, including in-game ones. There’s a certain air of fatalism this morning when it comes to Houston’s exit, as though they had no choice. That abandoning the threes-first offense wasn’t even a possibility.

That’s odd to me. No one was forcing James Harden and, gulp, Trevor Ariza to lay brick after brick. There’s no honor in losing but remaining true to oneself. But oh well.

History will long remember the display of ineptitude. Twenty-seven in a row. Perfect imperfection.