Dikembe Mutombo suffered a horrible fall on Tuesday night, tangling legs with Greg Oden before crumbling to the ground. He stayed down for quite some time, too, before being taken off the floor on a stretcher -- and based on his quotes following the game, Mutombo has played his last professional basketball game.
Elie Seckbach, the Embedded NBA Correspondent, brings his exclusive NBA reporting to FanHouse. Check back here regularly for more videos.
In this video, Lakers star Derek Fisher shares with FanHouse something few people know about his pregame routine. Around 2:05 into the video a veteran NBA Pastor tells us how faith saved his life.
It's playoff time, and FanHouse has got you covered. Our previews will give you the critical points of every series, so you can talk to your friends like you've been following every team in the Association all season long. Which you probably haven't.
Biggest Reason You Should Watch: (***Warning -- Please watch your step, there's a large, bloody horse in front of you***) Because Tracy McGrady still has to win a playoff series. It seemed like we'd moved on, accepted T-Mac's career for what it was (a superb athlete and near-MVP candidate but a guy who just wouldn't advance in the postseason), then the Rockets started playing well. And then Yao Ming got KO'd for the season. And then they played better. Like 22 consecutive games better. Then they finished out 9-7 and here we are again. Rockets. Jazz. A chance to change history. Only team can suuuuuuurvive. (/movie preview voice) Or something like that. Feel free to kick the horse on your way out. Everyone else in America already has.
Houston Can Win if: If Luis Scola can justify his v. UTA and April splits. Scola averaged nearly 16 points and 10 boards a game (sample size!) in three contest against the Jazz this year and posted 14 points and nine boards for the month of April. He and Dikembe Mutumbo have to nullify the post presence of Carlos Boozer; the Rockets already play stupendous perimeter defense (43 eFG%) but they need to take the paint too.
Utah Can Win If: Mehmet Okur can get hot they'll run away with it. If Okur hits his threes and draws a big body to the perimeter to guard him, Boozer is going to go absolutely apesmell down low. And judging by their late season matchup, Rick Adelman is probably concerned about how much Deke will factor into the Rockets' ability to control the paint. And possibly his age. Rumor is he's older than Tejada.
Video Clip to Get You Pumped:Bill. Shatner. (I'm rolling with the obvious Rocket theme here and if you ask, some convoluted Elton John>piano>Jazz type of stretch.)
The Lakers have Jack Nicholson. The Clippers have that kid from Malcolm. And apparently the Houston Rockets have Roger Clemens, who was present for Houston's fifteenth straight victory last night; a statement game against the Denver Nuggets that might have been as important as any one contest we saw or will see this season, up to and including the the one that ended earlier with a Dirk Nowitzki airball.
See, I could take this time to talk about how if I were the Rockets, I'd be nudging Clemens and his attorney, Rusty Hardin, and asking them not to roll their negative publicity our way, even if him waltzing around Texas acting "normal" (you know, sitting courtside, showing up at Astros training camp - no big deal) makes it seem like he's innocent. Because right now, the Rockets are trying to make a statement and the last thing they want is what they're doing on the court to get diluted by who is watching it from the seats nearest the cameras floor.
B-Ball, B-Fast is a weekdaily look at last night's NBA action from a fantasy perspective. Bookmark it and visit often.
Cup of Coffee The whole Yao Ming out-for-the-season thing sure came on suddenly didn't it. The bad news? You're not going to replace his production. Yeah, I know, you needed that. The not-really-but-kinda good news? There's more fantasy love to go around. Witness Luther Head, Carl Landry, Rafer Alston, Luis Scola and, of course, Tracy McGrady all scoring in double figures last night. Expect point totals -- across the board for the most part -- to go up while percentages drop. Dikembe Mutumbo is *shudder* a very real and possible fantasy option at center. He won't wow you with scoring ... in fact, he won't wow you with anything, but he did block four shots last night. And blocks are rare, so he's got that going for him.
Hot Cakes Was that a Spencer Hawes sighting last night? The Kings rook had 16 points, two boards and two assists in 25 minutes. Hawes could be a surprise option going forward in terms of low-end fantasy production -- the Kings are out of the playoffs and need to see what they've got in the young guys, so consider him in deeper leagues. (And yeah, the fact that the Kings shot 42% as a team might have something to do with his bump in PT).
B-Ball, B-Fast is a weekdaily look at last night's NBA action from a fantasy perspective. 
