Houston Rockets Drop Preseason Finale To Dallas Mavericks: Regular Season Looms

The Houston Rockets dropped their preseason finale to the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night at Toyota Center.

But now the real fun begins as the regular season looms right around the corner.

Houston tips things off on Tuesday Oct. 27, at Portland in a game slated to begin at 9 p.m.

And according to returning Rockets players such as Shane Battier, Houston’s tough road to begin the season is fairly normal.

“The last three years I’ve been here it’s been very similar,” Battier said following the Rockets 98-94 loss to the Mavericks. “We’ve had a brutal November and December, we’ve tried winning as many games as we can and just not get in a funk. Then usually around the new year, our fortunes change schedule-wise. We have a lot more home games, but just like the last two years, we need to be in a position to take advantage of the schedule change and use it in our favor.”

For Houston Head Coach Rick Adelman, he’s learned a whole lot about his team this preseason.

“I think tonight is kind of what we’re going to face and this team has to find a way to fight through it,” Adelman said. “They can play really well for stretches and then they just fall off; you get in a lull and the other team’s going to turn it on. It’s just something we have to find a way and find people who are going to keep contributing and we had some guys who had some tough nights and off the bench we shot it poorly. We just have to find answers. I think that’s what we’re going to face right now but if we keep working at it, we’ll be alright.”

One thing remains certain, and I have stated this before in prior Rockets' columns: Houston is never going to give up in any given game and will continue to fight until the final buzzer sounds.

With a coach like Adelman and a leader like Battier, it’s just come to be what’s expected of this team.

“I think one thing fans will find out is that these guys are going to play their tails off,” Adelman said. “But there’s one thing to playing hard and there’s one thing to playing with both your heart and your mind. We had a lot of good things tonight but we know there’s going to be areas we’re going to have to keep working at. With Luis [Scola] out, it’s kind of like, how are you going to rotate your big guys? The next three days [prior to the regular season tipping off] we have to concentrate at the key parts of the game.”

Hopefully, the Rockets have done just that.

Because come Tuesday, the regular season begins and it’s time for Houston to take off.

The Rockets have a tough road that lies ahead, but I believe they can handle the pressure.

After Tuesday night’s road game against the Blazers, Houston heads to Golden State on Wednesday, Oct. 28, for a 9:30 p.m. matchup before returning home to host Portland on Saturday, Oct. 31, at 7:30 p.m.

Houston’s first two November games call for a trip to Utah on Monday, Nov. 2, at 8 p.m. and a home game against the L.A. Lakers on Wednesday, Nov. 4, at 7:30 p.m. at Toyota Center.

Check back soon for a trio of answers regarding this season’s Rockets from all three of your Featured Columnists for Houston’s NBA team.

The Q&A on the 2009-10 Houston Rockets should be posted by Wednesday, Oct. 28, and if there are any particular questions fans would like for us to answer feel free to send them our way.

Denton Ramsey may be reached via email at [e-mail]