COLUMN: The heart of a champion

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by Steve Gauvain

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It is that time of the year again. Time for the Rockets to lick their collective wounds and shake off yet another terrible January. The Rockets went a typically disappointing 7-8 which included losing to powerhouses like Chicago and Orlando and lowlifes Boston and Washington.

After winning back-to-back championships, which came during seasons in which they also had bad Januarys, they are not ready to jump ship yet. At 31-18, they are still ahead of last season's record at this point, and their schedule is much nicer finishing out the season.

The Rockets have played a league-leading 27 road games of their 49 games and have a very nice finishing stretch of the regular season where they play six out of their last seven at home.

The injury bug has also been bad for the Rockets with Clyde Drexler, Robert Horry, Mario Elie and Sam Cassell all sitting out multiple games. Hakeem Olajuwon was also off to a slow start after missing the entire preseason.

Elie's injury is particularly bad for the Rockets since he takes away that pesky defender that can shut a guy down and also spot up from the outside when the Rockets get their inside-outside game going.

Horry, nagging knees aside, has just had a bad year. After having a brilliant NBA finals performance and giving fans from all over a tantalizing taste of what his potential is, he has failed to live up to it.

The defense is still there, but the intensity is not. The same goes for Kenny Smith, except that he is a defensive liability as well an offensive one.

Smith, pulling the best Houdini impersonation in recent history, has been demoted all the way back to third string. What is worse is that he is not upset over getting benched and is not showing any desire to get his starting job back.

After two championships, the fans of the Rockets expect their team to flourish when their team is down, and now is the time to start doing it.

Although the Rockets have a lot of home games left, they have only 33 total games left, including key game pairs against the Lakers, Sonics and Suns.

Also lacking seems to be the Rockets mentality of getting up for the big games. They have been consistently losing to the premier teams in the league, including all six of their games against Chicago, Orlando and Seattle. The two Magic games were close losses in which Orlando outperformed Houston in the clutch.

Why does this happen to the Rockets year after year? Are they trying to lull opponents into writing them off? Do they really enjoy being the underdog time and again? If so, they are doing a great job of rolling over and playing dead.

However, after last year it will be a lot harder to fool teams.

As tough it will be, here is why I think the Rockets will make a repeat finals appearance and win another championship.

Olajuwon -- The best on the planet. After a slow start, he has really picked up the pace and is on track to add to his list of phenomenal seasons. His leadership and ability to pick up the slack is a huge asset for this team.

Drexler -- You can't really mention Hakeem without putting in a word for Clyde. Is he 33 or 23? He is looking and playing like a kid again, giving the Rockets a multitude of offensive options.

Rudy T -- Possibly the most underrated coach in the league. These guys would do anything for him, and they completely believe in his system. Rudy has an intuition that is almost unrivaled.

Chemistry -- No, not that class that most freshman take, but the intangible of a team that works as one. No team is closer, and no team knows more about each other.

Heart of a Champion -- Rudy coined the phrase, and he and his team live by it every day. Never underestimate the heart of a champion. That's what these guys are, champions.

This item appeared in the Sports section of the February 16, 1996 issue.

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