How-To Guide: Understanding the Undermanned, Jekyll and Hyde Houston Rockets

The Houston Rockets roared past the Los Angeles Lakers 101-91 Sunday night at Staples Center.

In light of this stupendous upset, you have a few questions.

Such as:

How did the Rockets lose in Sacramento to the team that finished with last season’s worst record before out-classing the defending champions on the road?

How did the Rockets win the rebounding battle 60-38 against the Lakers but lose it 57-36 against the Kings?

Why did center David Andersen play six listless minutes at Arco Arena with two points, then explode for 19 at Staples to key a victory?

How did the bench manage 48 points on 48 percent shooting in L.A. after a dismal 12-point, 16-percent shooting effort in Sac Town?

Did Aaron Brooks score a measly 10 points versus a defensive laughingstock and then pile up a career-high 33 on a unit that hoisted the Larry O' Brien trophy in June?

Carl Landry made just one of six shots at Arco. He drilled five of 10 at Staples.

Chase Budinger improved from 1-of-8 to 5-of-13 from the field.

Explain those discrepancies.

The Lakers jumped out to a 16-0 lead. How did the Rockets come back from that deficit to win by 10 points?

There is one answer to all of these questions. Knowing and embracing it will make it easier to understand the team’s inconsistency.

Expect to see many more weekends like this one. The Rockets are a competitive team without Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, not a championship-level one.

Consistency is for title contenders—Boston, San Antonio, Los Angeles, Orlando and Cleveland. The starless Rockets can only hope to stay in every game long enough to have a chance to steal it.

If they can beat anyone—the champs and the Utah Jazz on the road—they can also lose to anyone.

The guys in red who dismantled the Lakers were the same guys who struggled to hang with the Kings and the same guys the Mavericks smashed by 18 points in Dallas.

When the Mavs amassed a 26-3 run in Tuesday’s loss, the Rockets were playing hard. When the Kobe Bryant missed 15-of-20 field goal attempts, the Rockets were playing hard.

The squad will always give fans a consistent effort, but the results will vary.

Talent matters, as does interior muscle. On nights when the basket looks like a peephole to the Rockets' shooters, they can lose by 20 points to any team. When it looks bigger than the Permian Basin, as it did much of Sunday night, they can beat anyone by double figures.

A cadre of streaky long-distance shooters and a commitment to running ensure the team can climb out of many holes. It also means the team’s fate rests on how those shots fall or bounce.

No one can drain 15 of 30 trey attempts 82 times in a season, not even if all 2,460 of those shots are wide open.

Imagine how tough it will be this spring against a defensive-minded title contender.

The Lakers might give up wide-open jumper after wide-open jumper, but the Celtics and Spurs won’t. The Lakers will compensate for their screen-and-roll defensive deficiencies with a lineup as hard to stop as a Formula One car with no brakes.

Sometimes, it won’t matter how hard or high Chuck Hayes, Luis Scola and Landry jump for a loose ball. The Kings used a size advantage to pound the Rockets on the glass.

Sometimes, they will fast-break to perfection and lose to an opponent who did it better.

Tuesday’s foe, Phoenix, comes to mind.

If Charles Barkley said this team lives and dies by jumpers, he would be right. Give the Chuckster some charity.

It must feel awful to be so wrong so much of the time.

Hayes’ and Battier’s competitive streaks make a last-place finish impossible. Can you think of better team captains than these two?

The rookies respect their tenure. The other Rockets youngsters and veterans see everyday how they sap so much from limited abilities.

Hayes' hustle would inspire anyone to compete at the highest level. A 6-6 center is not supposed to frustrate seven-foot future Hall of Famers Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett.

Yet, Duncan shot 6-of-14 in a game at Toyota Center. Garnett has twice posted 5-of-14 nights against Hayes.

The Rockets could have an All-Star or two by season’s end, and that does not include Yao or McGrady. They don’t have one now.

Brooks has shown the special abilities that accompany the prized February tag. His 18-point, six-assist average might look attractive to reserve voters—the coaches—if those numbers hold.

Guess what, confused Houston fan: They might not.

Kyle Lowry and Brooks are crafty enough to create easy buckets for themselves and teammates. Crafty enough means neither should be confused for Chris Paul or Steve Nash.

At second place in the Southwest Division and sixth in the West, with an early 6-4 record, the Rockets have announced themselves as a playoff contender and nothing more.

The Friday and Sunday performances looked as different as "Die Hard" and "Cats."

You might call them Jekyll and Hyde.

The results will vary. The efforts never will.

This isn’t the same loaded team that alternated victories over playoff squads with inexcusable defeats to lottery ones. Those Rockets sometimes begged you to call them Edward Hyde.

Count on these Rockets to scrap, push, run, attack the rim, dive for every loose ball and fight for every rebound.

Friday, none of that mattered.

Sunday, it did.

Now, you know why.

Additional Rockets notes on Mensah-Bonsu:

Daryl Morey waived forward Pops Mensah-Bonsu over the weekend, and the move should surprise no one.

He's Gerald Green in a heavier, taller frame, a supreme athlete with inadequate knowledge of how to play the game.

For those who wanted to see Morey cut Andersen instead, maybe you needed the wake up call.

Andersen cannot defend a lick in the post, struggles to rebound and clanged his go-to shot early. He's still a better NBA player than Mensah-Bonsu.

Why did the Rockets cut him so early in the year?

Andersen has a lot more upside. Mensah-Bonsu can jump out of the gym, but he's already had five chances too many to prove he belongs on a pro roster.

If he could not cut it with the Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs or Toronto Raptors, why would anyone think he would fare differently as a Rocket?

In his inconsistent court time, Andersen has been, well, inconsistent. Still, he has shown enough improvement to warrant a full-season look.

In this tough economy, it makes little sense to pay 15 players when one of them barely plays in garbage time.

Against the Lakers, Andersen battled for position in the pivot, finished a pair of easy layups off smart cuts to the rim and showcased the sweet stroke that captured the front office's attention.

His defense is still atrocious, but the Rockets want to see over 82 contests if he can convalesce that area of his game.

Mensah-Bonsu had his chances. This is just Andersen's first.